News of the World
12-20-2024, 04:20 AM
(12-03-2024, 06:26 AM)kyonides Wrote:Quote:Mexican immigration authorities dissolved one of the large migrant caravans moving through southern Mexico as they provided the group with bus transportation to other parts of Mexico and promised to help them with their paperwork. The move comes soon after Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum had phone calls with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump over the threats of tariffs if Mexico does not halt the flow of drugs, migrants, and asylum seekers headed north.
That was then. This is now:
by Holly Honderich, BBC News
Canada has promised to implement a set of sweeping new security measures along the country's US border, including strengthened surveillance and a joint "strike force" to target transnational organised crime.
The pledge follows a threat from President-elect Donald Trump to impose, when he takes office in January, a 25% tariff on Canadian goods if the country does not secure its shared border to the flow of irregular migrants and illegal drugs.
Economists say such tariffs could strike a blow to Canada's economy.
Announcing details of the plan, Canada's minister of finance and intergovernmental affairs said the federal government would devote C$1.3bn ($900m; £700m) to the plan.
The measures "will secure our border against the flow of illegal drugs and irregular migration while ensuring the free flow of people and goods that are at the core of North America's prosperity", Minister Dominic LeBlanc said on Tuesday.
The five pillars of the plan cover the disruption of the fentanyl trade, new tools for law enforcement, enhanced coordination with US law enforcement, increased information sharing and limiting traffic at the border.
They include a proposed aerial surveillance task force, including helicopters, drones and mobile surveillance towers between ports of entry.
The government is also giving the Canada Border Service Agency funds to train new dog teams to find illegal drugs, and new detection tools for high-risk ports of entry.
And LeBlanc provided further detail on the so-called "joint strike force" for Canadian and US authorities, saying it would include "support in operational surges, dedicated synthetic drug units, expanded combined forces, special enforcement units, binational integrated enforcement teams, and new operational capacity and infrastructure".
The new plan appears to correspond to the concerns publicly disclosed by Trump in recent weeks: the flow of fentanyl and undocumented immigrants into the US.
The number of crossings at the US-Canada border is significantly lower than at the southern border, according to US Border Patrol data on migrant encounters, as is the amount of fentanyl seized.
. . .
The pledge follows a threat from President-elect Donald Trump to impose, when he takes office in January, a 25% tariff on Canadian goods if the country does not secure its shared border to the flow of irregular migrants and illegal drugs.
Economists say such tariffs could strike a blow to Canada's economy.
Announcing details of the plan, Canada's minister of finance and intergovernmental affairs said the federal government would devote C$1.3bn ($900m; £700m) to the plan.
The measures "will secure our border against the flow of illegal drugs and irregular migration while ensuring the free flow of people and goods that are at the core of North America's prosperity", Minister Dominic LeBlanc said on Tuesday.
The five pillars of the plan cover the disruption of the fentanyl trade, new tools for law enforcement, enhanced coordination with US law enforcement, increased information sharing and limiting traffic at the border.
They include a proposed aerial surveillance task force, including helicopters, drones and mobile surveillance towers between ports of entry.
The government is also giving the Canada Border Service Agency funds to train new dog teams to find illegal drugs, and new detection tools for high-risk ports of entry.
And LeBlanc provided further detail on the so-called "joint strike force" for Canadian and US authorities, saying it would include "support in operational surges, dedicated synthetic drug units, expanded combined forces, special enforcement units, binational integrated enforcement teams, and new operational capacity and infrastructure".
The new plan appears to correspond to the concerns publicly disclosed by Trump in recent weeks: the flow of fentanyl and undocumented immigrants into the US.
The number of crossings at the US-Canada border is significantly lower than at the southern border, according to US Border Patrol data on migrant encounters, as is the amount of fentanyl seized.
. . .
First...
by Anna Young, NY Post
The Biden administration is reportedly spending its final weeks quietly clearing away unused southern border wall materials to put up for auction — a move characterized by some lawmakers as an apparent ploy to sabotage President-elect Donald Trump’s goal to secure the US-Mexico border.
Alarming footage taken by a US Customs agent captured numerous flatbed trucks hauling away dismantled sections of the steel wall near Tucson, Arizona — a hotspot for illegal crossings — with the agent estimating a half-mile’s worth of parts are being removed daily, the Daily Wire reported.
“They are taking it from three sections: Nogales, Tucson, and Three Points,” the agent, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, told the outlet.
“The goal is to move all of it off the border before Christmas.”
The materials are being transported to Pinal Airpark in Marana, Arizona, where it’s being sold through GovPlanet, an online auction house specializing in military surplus, with bidding starting at just $5.
. . .
Up to $300 million worth of taxpayer-funded wall components have been left to rust since Biden came to office, Republicans have said, condemning the Democratic president for worsening the migrant crisis.
. . .
Alarming footage taken by a US Customs agent captured numerous flatbed trucks hauling away dismantled sections of the steel wall near Tucson, Arizona — a hotspot for illegal crossings — with the agent estimating a half-mile’s worth of parts are being removed daily, the Daily Wire reported.
“They are taking it from three sections: Nogales, Tucson, and Three Points,” the agent, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, told the outlet.
“The goal is to move all of it off the border before Christmas.”
The materials are being transported to Pinal Airpark in Marana, Arizona, where it’s being sold through GovPlanet, an online auction house specializing in military surplus, with bidding starting at just $5.
. . .
Up to $300 million worth of taxpayer-funded wall components have been left to rust since Biden came to office, Republicans have said, condemning the Democratic president for worsening the migrant crisis.
. . .
But after being caught...
by Billal Rahman, Newsweek
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton submitted a motion on Tuesday to halt the sale of sections of the border wall.
Paxton said in a statement that he took action "following reports that the Biden administration is illegally selling segments of the border wall at the United States-Mexico border."
It comes after reports emerged that material intended for the wall was removed in Arizona and set for auction, just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, the barrier's staunchest advocate, returns to the White House to implement his hard-line immigration agenda.
Newsweek contacted the White House for comment via email outside of normal office hours.
Video footage obtained by The Daily Wire revealed sheets of the border wall being towed near Tucson, Texas, en route to a government surplus equipment auction site called GovPlanet.
. . .
A narrow majority of respondents support Trump's flagship border wall policy initiated in 2016, with 53% backing a major expansion of wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border, a 13-point increase since 2019, according to polling by Gallup.
. . .
Paxton's motion claims the sale of border wall pieces violates a May 2024 federal court order that ruled that the Biden administration must continue border wall construction using roughly $1.4 billion that Congress allocated for a barrier along the southern border that the administration had previously tried to redirect.
. . .
Paxton said in a statement that he took action "following reports that the Biden administration is illegally selling segments of the border wall at the United States-Mexico border."
It comes after reports emerged that material intended for the wall was removed in Arizona and set for auction, just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, the barrier's staunchest advocate, returns to the White House to implement his hard-line immigration agenda.
Newsweek contacted the White House for comment via email outside of normal office hours.
Video footage obtained by The Daily Wire revealed sheets of the border wall being towed near Tucson, Texas, en route to a government surplus equipment auction site called GovPlanet.
. . .
A narrow majority of respondents support Trump's flagship border wall policy initiated in 2016, with 53% backing a major expansion of wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border, a 13-point increase since 2019, according to polling by Gallup.
. . .
Paxton's motion claims the sale of border wall pieces violates a May 2024 federal court order that ruled that the Biden administration must continue border wall construction using roughly $1.4 billion that Congress allocated for a barrier along the southern border that the administration had previously tried to redirect.
. . .
To this day, you're gonna hear news repeating that the FBI had no agents at the Capital on January 6. However...
by Ashley Oliver, Washington Examiner
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz confirmed Thursday that the FBI used confidential sources as part of its response to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, a revelation that lends clarity to an aspect of the event that has long been a source of speculation.
Horowitz said in a long-awaited 84-page report that 26 FBI sources were in Washington for the riot. Some of them were embedded among rioters in restricted areas, and four FBI sources also entered the Capitol with the rioters. He noted, however, that the FBI did not authorize any of those sources, also known as informants or “confidential human sources,” to enter restricted areas or the Capitol or to otherwise break the law.
The FBI sources who entered the restricted areas have not faced any charges to date, Horowitz said.
Horowitz also noted that no FBI employees, which are different than the FBI confidential human sources, were working undercover at the riot.
The FBI had tasked three of the 26 sources with being in Washington on Jan. 6 to “report on domestic terrorism subjects,” Horowitz said. The other 23 traveled to the city “on their own initiative and were not tasked by the FBI to do so,” he said. The FBI used these 23 sources in advance of Jan. 6 to gather information about the riot.
. . .
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) told the Washington Examiner that the report raised several questions for him that he planned to follow up on, including how four FBI sources entered the Capitol.
. . .
Horowitz said his investigation did not include reviewing the DOJ’s prosecutorial activity, but rather it involved reviewing the FBI’s preparations and responses to the riot. He said he interviewed more than 200 witnesses and reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents as part of his investigation.
Horowitz said in a long-awaited 84-page report that 26 FBI sources were in Washington for the riot. Some of them were embedded among rioters in restricted areas, and four FBI sources also entered the Capitol with the rioters. He noted, however, that the FBI did not authorize any of those sources, also known as informants or “confidential human sources,” to enter restricted areas or the Capitol or to otherwise break the law.
The FBI sources who entered the restricted areas have not faced any charges to date, Horowitz said.
Horowitz also noted that no FBI employees, which are different than the FBI confidential human sources, were working undercover at the riot.
The FBI had tasked three of the 26 sources with being in Washington on Jan. 6 to “report on domestic terrorism subjects,” Horowitz said. The other 23 traveled to the city “on their own initiative and were not tasked by the FBI to do so,” he said. The FBI used these 23 sources in advance of Jan. 6 to gather information about the riot.
. . .
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) told the Washington Examiner that the report raised several questions for him that he planned to follow up on, including how four FBI sources entered the Capitol.
. . .
Jordan Wrote:Now when regular Americans do that, they get in trouble for that,. So how did they get in? Did they go through a broken window? They walk right in the door? What’d they do? Another fundamental question is, why weren’t they charged? How much did they get paid? … We know one guy who was being reimbursed actually entered the Capitol. So, we’re paying a guy for information who actually didn’t follow the rules and broke the law. What did we pay him?
Horowitz said his investigation did not include reviewing the DOJ’s prosecutorial activity, but rather it involved reviewing the FBI’s preparations and responses to the riot. He said he interviewed more than 200 witnesses and reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents as part of his investigation.
And along with that...
Steven Nelson, NY Post
A House Republican-led panel on Tuesday called for a federal criminal investigation of former Rep. Liz Cheney for possible “criminal witness tampering” with a star witness while serving as vice chairman of the since-disbanded House select committee that investigated the 2021 Capitol riot.
Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Cassidy Hutchinson, a first-term White House aide to then-President Donald Trump, communicated via the encrypted Signal app before her explosive and later largely debunked public testimony in June 2022, according to documents previously released by House Republicans.
Citing those communications, the Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight on Tuesday issued an interim report calling for the Justice Department to investigate Cheney as Trump prepares to retake the White House.
“Evidence uncovered by the Subcommittee revealed that former Congresswoman Liz Cheney tampered with at least one witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, by secretly communicating with Hutchinson without Hutchinson’s attorney’s knowledge,” the report from chairman Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) says.
“This secret communication with a witness is improper and likely violates 18 U.S.C. 1512. Such action is outside the due functioning of the legislative process and therefore not protected by the Speech and Debate clause.”
. . .
Much of what Hutchinson testified publicly later was called into question by other witnesses — most notably her testimony that she was told that Trump was so enraged when Secret Service agents refused to take his motorcade to the Capitol on the day of the attack that he “lunged” for the steering wheel.
. . .
Photos showed that Hutchinson had misidentified the vehicle where the alleged encounter took place and the driver later denied it was true.
Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Cassidy Hutchinson, a first-term White House aide to then-President Donald Trump, communicated via the encrypted Signal app before her explosive and later largely debunked public testimony in June 2022, according to documents previously released by House Republicans.
Citing those communications, the Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight on Tuesday issued an interim report calling for the Justice Department to investigate Cheney as Trump prepares to retake the White House.
“Evidence uncovered by the Subcommittee revealed that former Congresswoman Liz Cheney tampered with at least one witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, by secretly communicating with Hutchinson without Hutchinson’s attorney’s knowledge,” the report from chairman Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) says.
“This secret communication with a witness is improper and likely violates 18 U.S.C. 1512. Such action is outside the due functioning of the legislative process and therefore not protected by the Speech and Debate clause.”
. . .
Much of what Hutchinson testified publicly later was called into question by other witnesses — most notably her testimony that she was told that Trump was so enraged when Secret Service agents refused to take his motorcade to the Capitol on the day of the attack that he “lunged” for the steering wheel.
. . .
Photos showed that Hutchinson had misidentified the vehicle where the alleged encounter took place and the driver later denied it was true.
Press release by Chairman Barry Loudermilk Wrote:Cassidy Hutchinson’s most outrageous claims lacked any evidence, and the Select Committee had knowledge that her claims were false when they publicly promoted her.
President Trump did not attack his Secret Service Detail at any time on January 6. President Trump did not have intelligence indicating violence on the morning of January 6. Cassidy Hutchinson falsely claimed to have drafted a handwritten note for President Trump on January 6.
. . .
by Kate Brumback, AP News
A state appeals court on Thursday removed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others, the latest legal victory for the president-elect in criminal cases that once threatened his career and freedom.
The case against Trump and more than a dozen others had already been stalled for months over an appeal related to a romantic relationship Willis had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she had hired to lead the case.
Citing an “appearance of impropriety” that might not typically warrant such a removal, a Georgia Court of Appeals panel said in a 2-1 ruling that “this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings.” Willis’ office immediately filed a notice of intent to ask the Georgia Supreme Court to review the decision.
But pursuing a criminal case against a sitting president is a virtual impossibility. And Trump will return to the White House having overcome efforts to prosecute him and empowered by a Supreme Court ruling granting him presumptive immunity for any “official acts” he takes in office.
The development comes weeks after Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith abandoned two federal prosecutions against the incoming president, and as sentencing in a separate hush money case in New York is indefinitely on hold as a result of Trump’s victory in November over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
. . .
Representatives for Willis did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment on the ruling.
. . .
The case against Trump and more than a dozen others had already been stalled for months over an appeal related to a romantic relationship Willis had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she had hired to lead the case.
Citing an “appearance of impropriety” that might not typically warrant such a removal, a Georgia Court of Appeals panel said in a 2-1 ruling that “this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings.” Willis’ office immediately filed a notice of intent to ask the Georgia Supreme Court to review the decision.
But pursuing a criminal case against a sitting president is a virtual impossibility. And Trump will return to the White House having overcome efforts to prosecute him and empowered by a Supreme Court ruling granting him presumptive immunity for any “official acts” he takes in office.
The development comes weeks after Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith abandoned two federal prosecutions against the incoming president, and as sentencing in a separate hush money case in New York is indefinitely on hold as a result of Trump’s victory in November over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
. . .
Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia Wrote:This decision puts an end to a politically motivated persecution of the next President of the United States.
Representatives for Willis did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment on the ruling.
. . .
by Kyle Schnitzer and Chris Nesi, NY Post
Accused UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter Luigi Mangione stood before a judge in Manhattan for the first time Thursday since allegedly gunning down Brian Thompson in the city, as his attorney griped she was blindsided by the concurrent state and federal charges brought against him.
Mangione entered the courtroom in civilian clothes – a black quarter-zip sweater over a white shirt, tan khakis and orange prison shoes with a “12” on his right foot. He was not wearing handcuffs, but the sound of ankle shackles being removed rang out in the courtroom.
The alleged killer sat calmly between his attorneys as magistrate Judge Katharine Parker read him his rights followed by the charges against him, which include murder through the use of a firearm, two counts of stalking and one count of possession of a firearm.
She asked if he understood what he was being accused of, to which Mangione replied “yes.”
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Mangione’s lead attorney – who a short time earlier arrived outside Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse relying on crutches to walk – told the court she was blindsided by the new spate of federal charges, saying she’d never encountered anything like it in her career of “over three decades.”
She said she had initially been prepared to go to Manhattan Supreme Court for a hearing at 2 p.m. before Judge Gregory Carro.
“I don’t think they knew this was going to happen,” Agnifilo said, seemingly insinuating that the Manhattan DA’s office didn’t know that the feds were going to have the accused gunman appear today.
She went on to say that Mangione is being charged with two separate crimes, and doesn’t understand how the charges can be so different.
“These seem like two different cases,” Agnifilo said.
“The theory of the murder charge of the Manhattan DA case is terrorism and intimidating a group of people. This is stalking an individual,” she added.
. . .
“Is there one case, two cases, two investigations? Is there a joint investigation? Frankly, I’ve never seen anything like that and what’s happening here.”
“This is a highly unusual situation that we find ourselves in,” she said, questioning the logistics regarding the parallel state and federal cases.
Mangione entered the courtroom in civilian clothes – a black quarter-zip sweater over a white shirt, tan khakis and orange prison shoes with a “12” on his right foot. He was not wearing handcuffs, but the sound of ankle shackles being removed rang out in the courtroom.
The alleged killer sat calmly between his attorneys as magistrate Judge Katharine Parker read him his rights followed by the charges against him, which include murder through the use of a firearm, two counts of stalking and one count of possession of a firearm.
She asked if he understood what he was being accused of, to which Mangione replied “yes.”
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Mangione’s lead attorney – who a short time earlier arrived outside Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse relying on crutches to walk – told the court she was blindsided by the new spate of federal charges, saying she’d never encountered anything like it in her career of “over three decades.”
She said she had initially been prepared to go to Manhattan Supreme Court for a hearing at 2 p.m. before Judge Gregory Carro.
“I don’t think they knew this was going to happen,” Agnifilo said, seemingly insinuating that the Manhattan DA’s office didn’t know that the feds were going to have the accused gunman appear today.
She went on to say that Mangione is being charged with two separate crimes, and doesn’t understand how the charges can be so different.
“These seem like two different cases,” Agnifilo said.
“The theory of the murder charge of the Manhattan DA case is terrorism and intimidating a group of people. This is stalking an individual,” she added.
. . .
“Is there one case, two cases, two investigations? Is there a joint investigation? Frankly, I’ve never seen anything like that and what’s happening here.”
“This is a highly unusual situation that we find ourselves in,” she said, questioning the logistics regarding the parallel state and federal cases.
Do note, the charges being questioned are because this was a murder months in planning...
by Jason Lemon, Newsweek
Mangione, 26, is accused of shooting and killing Brian Thompson, the then CEO of United Healthcare, outside his Manhattan hotel on the early morning of December 4, as the executive headed to speak at an annual investor's conference. The alleged killer on Thursday was extradited to New York from Pennsylvania, where he was arrested at a McDonald's in Altoona five days after Thompson's shooting.
Thompson's murder has captured the attention of the nation, with some in society expressing a level of understanding for Mangione's alleged actions. While many also have condemned the killing and expressed disgust at the support Mangione has received, others have said they struggle to feel empathy for a murdered executive of a private health insurer.
The criminal complaint filed by federal prosecutors included several quotes allegedly from Mangione's notebook.
What was in Luigi Mangioni's Notebook?
What was in the Criminal Complaint?
"'I wasn't working with anyone. This was fairly trivial: Some elementary social engineering, basic CAD, a lot of patience.' Based on my own research, I believe that 'CAD' refers to 'computer-aided design.' The Feds Letter also stated: 'P.S. you can check serial numbers to verify this is all self-funded. My own ATM withdrawals.'"
In New York on Thursday, people stood outside court holding signs reading "healthcare reform now" and "health over wealth." At least one apparent Mangione supporter was also photographed outside the courthouse wearing a shirt featuring a now iconic photo of the suspect.
. . .
Thompson's murder has captured the attention of the nation, with some in society expressing a level of understanding for Mangione's alleged actions. While many also have condemned the killing and expressed disgust at the support Mangione has received, others have said they struggle to feel empathy for a murdered executive of a private health insurer.
The criminal complaint filed by federal prosecutors included several quotes allegedly from Mangione's notebook.
What was in Luigi Mangioni's Notebook?
- On August 15, Mangione allegedly wrote, "the details are finally coming together" and "I'm glad - in a way procrastinated, bc [because ] it allowed me to learn more about [acronym for Company- 1] ." The notebook allegedly went on to say that "the target is insurance."
- On October 22, the notebook included the following, "1.5 months. This investor conference is a true windfall . . . and most importantly-– the message becomes self evident," according to the criminal complaint. The notebook also included an intention to "wack" the CEO of the health insurance company.
What was in the Criminal Complaint?
- "Hostility": The complaint stated that "the Notebook contained several handwritten pages that express hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular."
- Gun photos: The Thursday complaint filed in Manhattan also included photos of the gun allegedly used in the attack and a backpack that allegedly belonged to the suspect. It outlined a timeline of Mangione's alleged movements surrounding the shooting and other evidence prosecutors plan to present against him in court.
- "Manifesto": Quotes a separate letter allegedly recovered from Mangione, which was dubbed my some as his "manifesto", which was first reported by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein on his Substack blog, and later confirmed to be a legitimate transcription by law enforcement authorities:
"'I wasn't working with anyone. This was fairly trivial: Some elementary social engineering, basic CAD, a lot of patience.' Based on my own research, I believe that 'CAD' refers to 'computer-aided design.' The Feds Letter also stated: 'P.S. you can check serial numbers to verify this is all self-funded. My own ATM withdrawals.'"
In New York on Thursday, people stood outside court holding signs reading "healthcare reform now" and "health over wealth." At least one apparent Mangione supporter was also photographed outside the courthouse wearing a shirt featuring a now iconic photo of the suspect.
. . .
Up is down, left is right and sideways is straight ahead. - Cord "Circle of Iron", 1978 (written by Bruce Lee and James Coburn... really...)
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