27 Tren de Aragua members, associates charged by feds
Twenty-seven people who are either members of or have connections to the Tren de Aragua Venezuelan prison gang have been charged with a series of criminal offenses, including sex and drug trafficking conspiracy, robbery and weapons offenses, federal prosecutors have announced.
President Donald Trump designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization shortly after he took office in January.
The first indictment charges six current members of Tren de Aragua. The second indictment charges 19 alleged members of a splinter organization known as “Anti-Tren,” which officials said is made up of former Tren de Aragua members.
Two other associates of the splinter organization, the U.S. Justice Department announced, were also charged as part of the indictments.
Of the 27 people charged, 21 are in federal custody, including 16 who were in federal, criminal, immigration or state detention centers. Five other people were arrested either Sunday or Monday, officials said.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the indictments and arrests span three states and will “devastate” Tren de Aragua’s infrastructure as federal officials work to “completely dismantle and purge this organization” from the United States.
Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said that those indicted were charged in connection with “committing murders and shootings, forcing young women trafficked from Venezuela into commercial sex work” as well as robbing and extorting small businesses.
In addition, federal officials said that those charged as current members of Tren de Aragua were involved in drug trafficking, including a mixed substance called “tusi” that contains ketamine…
Andrew Cuomo CRIMINALLY REFERRED To DOJ Over ‘COVID Nursing Home Disaster’
Justice Kavanaugh Questions Maryland School’s Ban On Religious Opt-Outs For LGBTQ+ Storybooks
Justice Brett Kavanaugh expressed surprise Tuesday that schools in a state founded on religious liberty are now banning parents with religious objections from opting their young children out of LGBTQ storybook lessons.
In Mahmoud v. Taylor, a majority of the Supreme Court appeared ready to side with parents who want to opt their children out of Montgomery County Board of Education’s mandated storybook readings involving pronouns, transgender children and pride parades.
“I guess I am a bit mystified, as a lifelong resident of the county, how it came to this,” Kavanaugh said during oral arguments. “Can you just tell us what happened in March 2023?”
Eric Baxter, senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said the district promised for an entire year that parents would be notified and allowed to opt-out of the lessons.
“The last notice happened on March 22, 2023,” he said. “The very next day, overnight, with no explanation, the board came out and said we’re changing the rule because we want all students to be instructed on inclusivity.”
Alan Schoenfeld, attorney for the school district, told the justices it stopped offering opt-outs when it became unworkable…
Anthony Fauci: A lucrative retirement after the pandemic
Anthony Fauci earned about $3.5 million in his first year after retiring as a medical advisor to the White House and director of NIAID. Also, he may have misled Congress about his retirement date, revealed an exclusive by The Daily Caller.
Despite announcing his plans to retire in December 2022 and testifying before Congress that he was stepping down from government duties at that time, his Immediate Retirement Application shows that his final working date was actually Jan. 6, 2023.
Fauci’s earnings did not stop rising in 2023, just as a congressional investigation focused on the ways in which he betrayed the public trust during the pandemic.
According to documents obtained by Open The Books, following his purported retirement, Fauci received several six-figure deposits throughout 2023, totaling $1.15 million.
The financial disclosures do not fully explain the source of that money.
The payments include $100,000 in April 2023, $100,000 that May, $100,000 in June, $150,000 in September and $700,000 in November of that year.
“Dr. Fauci’s assets soared during the worst of the draconian Covid lockdowns while families and small businesses struggled through school closures and lost income. Now it’s clear the cash kept coming during his first year of ‘retirement,’” said Open The Books CEO John Hart. “He was rubbing elbows with groups like AHIP flanked by taxpayer-funded security — even as his wife remained the top bioethicist at NIH.”…
Conor Mcgregor Goes NUCLEAR On The Political ELITE
Trump Admin Launches the Biggest Shake-Up ‘In Decades’ at the State Department
The Trump administration has begun an aggressive shake-up at the State Department that will close 132 agency offices, including those launched to further human rights, advance democracy overseas, counter extremism, and prevent war crimes.
The plans to reorganize the leading foreign policy agency in the United States are outlined in internal documents obtained by The Free Press.
They show how the State Department will eliminate or restructure hundreds of offices in Washington, D.C.—a revelation that comes after reports in recent weeks of a rumored overhaul at the agency. The State Department is bringing its number of offices down from 734 to 602, a 17 percent reduction.
Separately, under secretaries at the State Department are also being instructed within 30 days to present plans to reduce their U.S. personnel in individual departments by 15 percent, according to a senior State Department official.
These include six top offices employing thousands of people. The reorganization comes as the Trump administration seeks to drastically reduce the size and scope of the federal government.
Earlier this morning, roughly a dozen top officials at the State Department were briefed on the plans by leadership at the agency, according to a second senior State Department official.
The State Department also sent a brief letter to Congress on Tuesday informing lawmakers that there will be changes to the department, although it is expected to send a more detailed congressional notice in the near future that will outline them. Officials say it is the biggest shake-up at the State Department “in decades.”…
Lawmaker wants answers after inmate allegedly kills 3 inside state prison
State Sen. Kevin Payne, R-Peoria, on Monday sent a letter to the head of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry giving him a May 1 deadline to produce copies of reports, staffing levels and rosters and other information regarding the April 4 incident.
That day, an inmate serving 16 life sentences and linked to a 2004 prison hostage crisis allegedly inflicted fatal injuries on three fellow inmates at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Tucson.
“What transpired within this prison is inexcusable and incredibly troubling,” Payne said in announcing the probe. “I fear for the lives of the correctional officers and staff who are reporting to duty every day and risking their safety in a facility that has proven it cannot prevent dangerous criminals from inflicting violence.”
The department of corrections earlier confirmed inmate Ricky Wassenaar is a suspect in the deaths of Saul Alvarez, a convicted murderer, and Thorne Harnage and Donald Lashley, two convicted sex offenders.
KSAZ earlier reported that a prison advocate said Wassenaar called her last November telling her he had just “strangled his cellmate to death” and asking her to intervene before he “did it again.”…
Terror attack on tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir leaves at least 20 dead, reports say
At least 20 tourists were killed and many others injured Tuesday when suspected militants opened fire on civilians in Indian-controlled Kashmir, according to reports on Indian and international media. Many outlets, including the French news agency AFP, cited unnamed security officials who put the death toll as high as 24, but there was no immediate confirmation on casualties from authorities.
Two senior police officers, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press at least 20 bodies had been recovered after multiple gunmen fired at dozens of tourists from close range Tuesday. The officers said at least three dozen others were injured, with many in serious condition.
The attack took place in South Kashmir’s Pahalgam area, a scenic destination dotted with meadows and glaciers that attracts hundreds of thousands of Indian and foreign tourists every summer. That tourist traffic has increased over the last year, as militant violence in the wider Kashmir region, which is disputed between India and neighboring Pakistan, has waned.
People injured in Tuesday’s attack were taken to nearby hospitals. Police, army and paramilitary forces launched a search operation to find those responsible for the attack….
Israel will never give-in to Hamas; Iran will never attain nuclear weapons TV7 Israel News 22.04.25
1) Hamas rejects the latest outline for a hostage release deal – insisting that any final agreement will include Israel’s defeat.
2) The United States and Iran are set to hold technical discussions on a viable nuclear agreement.
3) U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee stresses that Iran seeks to annihilate both Israel and the United States of America.
Meet The Wealthy Private Firms Controlling The Democrat Party
While Democrats prepared for November’s election, which they lost by a landslide, they began wondering whether it was a good idea for a private firm to control their entire voter database, according to The New York Times.
The multinational private equity firm Apax Partners acquired the parent company of NGP VAN — the Democrat Party’s comprehensive voter database — in 2021 and subsequently placed it under subsidiary Bonterra.
Just before that, in 2020, a subsidiary of the Financial Investment Corporation had purchased majority ownership of the infamous Arabella Advisors — which controls the American left’s dark money empire. In doing so, Financial Investment Corporation and Apax Partners gained a chokehold on the Democrat Party.
“They’ve seen the houses that the grifters can buy, and they realize how much money there is in lefty political organizing,” Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher at the Capital Research Center, told The Federalist. “This is an enormous industry, a multibillion-dollar-per-year industry. So, of course, private equity is going to come in and try to get a piece of it.”
If these companies hypothetically wanted to secure policies to boost their incomes, Thayer said, they could simply pull the rug out from under Democrats ahead of an election.
“The Democrats are absolutely, completely reliant on that stuff,” Thayer said. “If they wanted to, they could make all kinds of bets on oil companies, and then sabotage the Democrats right before midterms.”…
Climate Change Myths Part 2: Wildfires, Drought, Rising Sea Level, and Coral Reefs
Activists say, “Climate change is worsening droughts!”
But:
Globally, drought has not increased since 1900.
And in the U.S., the EPA says the last 50 years were wetter than average.
The activists and the media (is there a difference?) get so much wrong about climate change.
Here is Climate Change Myths Part 2:
Trump border policies prompt cartels in Mexico to change gears
As border crossings continue to decline, some Mexican cartels are appearing to change tactics by targeting civilians, including Americans.
One tactic involves kidnapping civilians for ransom. Mexican authorities recently rescued two Americans who were abducted outside a sports bar in the border town of Juarez.
With fewer migrants at the border, cartels are receiving fewer “floor fees,” which migrants looking to cross into the United States pay to travel through the territory.
Some have resorted to targeting both American and Mexican civilians whom they believe have something to lose, like a business or a job, or those who have family members willing to pay for their release.
In the case of the two Americans abducted in Juarez, Mexican authorities say they were taken to a stash house where they were later found with migrants from Central America and China. The group had reportedly been severely beaten and tortured in an attempt to get their families to pay a ransom.
The rescue mission was put together by Mexican authorities, and the FBI provided technical support for tracking down the suspects….
Florida couple that allegedly dismembered teen they lured on dating app should get the death penalty, prosecutors say
Steven Gress, 35, is accused of kidnapping and killing Miranda Corsette in February. He was arrested last month and charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder, which he pled not guilty to.
According to the St. Petersburg Police Department, Corsette was staying with Gress and his girlfriend, 37-year-old Michelle Brandes, after she was lured to their home via a social media app. The teenager was reported missing to the Gulfport Police Department on Feb. 24.
Investigators believe a dispute happened on Feb. 20 where Gress and Brandes beat Corsette. According to arrest affidavits filed for the couple, they “repeatedly beat” and tortured the teen while holding her captive for a week, and eventually suffocated her by stuffing a billiard ball into her mouth and wrapping her face with plastic wrap.
“The defendant and co-defendant then dismembered the body of the victim and discarded the victim in a dumpster in Ruskin, Florida,” the court documents state….
Karoline Leavitt: We now have trade proposals on paper from 18 nations
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt gave an update on the Trump administration’s progress trade negotiations with multiple nations.
“This Scares The CRAP Out Of China” – JD Vance & Modi’s U.S. – India Trade Deal THREATENS China
As Trump targets China with heavy tariffs, the U.S. shifts its focus to India. A new trade agreement between the U.S. and India sends positive signals to the markets. Meanwhile, Chinese factories are shutting down and U.S. small businesses feel the heat. Can India become the next global powerhouse?
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