$86K for Plane Trips, $60K for Hotel Stays, $50K for Jesse Jackson: Labor Leader Used Union Funds as ‘Unlimited Piggy Bank,’ Report Finds
The head of the nation’s largest health care union “has for years used the politically influential union’s funds to benefit himself, his family and political allies,” Politico reported after reviewing thousands of pages of financial records and interviewing more than 20 current and former union staffers.
George Gresham, president of the 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, spent more than $60,000 in union funds on hotel stays, meals, and transportation for his daughter to accompany him as a caregiver on business trips, according to Politico.
The union also paid over $86,000 for Gresham’s flights to South Africa and $17,000 for his extended stay at a Bronx hotel—even though he owns a home nearby and earns a $300,000 annual salary.
“Whatever George needs, they find the money to do it,” one union employee told Politico, while a former staffer said that “it was clear I wasn’t supposed to ask questions about a whole bunch of stuff.” Another staffer said that, unlike Gresham, “our members don’t get an unlimited piggy bank where they can just tap it anytime they need something.” Nearly all of the interviewed staffers requested anonymity for fear of retaliation by Gresham and his allies, Politico reported.
The bombshell revelations come as unions nationwide grapple with record-low membership and growing internal unrest. Gresham’s union, which represents around 450,000 health care workers on the East Coast, is facing its first competitive leadership election in decades as critics look to oust Gresham, who has been president for nearly 20 years…
Facebook Worked ‘Hand in Glove’ With China, Ex-Executive Tells Senate Panel
Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former Facebook executive, testified on Wednesday on explosive allegations about the social media company’s relationship with China.
In her prepared opening statement for a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, Wynn-Williams accused company founder Mark Zuckerberg of pledging himself as a “free speech champion” while working “hand in glove” with the Chinese Communist Party to “construct and test custom-built censorship tools that silenced and censored critics of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Wynn-Williams—who worked for Facebook from 2011 to 2017 and served as director of global public policy—also claimed that the social media behemoth has been willing to capitulate to the Chinese government, including deleting the account of a notable Chinese dissident living in the United States, and then lying about it in a Senate hearing.
According to Wynn-Williams, the company continues to be deceptive about its relationship with China.
“As recently as this Monday, they claimed they do not operate services in China. Another lie. In fact, they began offering products and services in China as early as 2014. That hasn’t stopped. Their own [Securities and Exchange Commission] filings from last year show that China is now Meta’s second-biggest market,” she contended…
Dem Senator Blocks Hundreds of Trump Nominees
Democrat Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz is blocking more than 300 of President Donald Trump’s nominees from swift confirmation votes despite previously criticizing efforts to stall nominations during the Biden administration.
Schatz’s blockade on hundreds of Trump nominees and at least nine bipartisan foreign relations bills comes as Senate Democrats are escalating opposition tactics against the Trump administration to appease their left-wing base.
Schatz, a member of Senate Democrat leadership, previously criticized Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s decision to place holds on military officials’ promotions as “obstruction” and “antithetical” to the Senate’s “advice and consent” responsibilities.
Schatz expanded his holds on Trump nominees to include individuals tapped to serve across 12 agencies, such as former New York Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito whom Trump appointed to a Department of Labor position, Axios reported.
Schatz suggested he would never impose blanket holds on a wide swath of nominees or legislation in a July 2023 speech on the Senate floor. In his speech, he argued that blanket holds are a clear abuse of a senator’s power to stall Senate business that is primarily conducted by unanimous consent.
By withholding consent on the 300-plus Trump nominees, Schatz will force Senate GOP leadership to use valuable floor time to process each nominee individually….
Networks Ignore Bombshell Report Team Biden Hid About U.S. Covid Cases…IN 2019!
Our friend and 2023 MRC Bulldog Award winner Andrew Kerr put a spotlight Tuesday on the revelation that a previously censored 2022 Biden administration report on the coronavirus pandemic that he said showed “[s]even Americans may have contracted COVID-19 in Wuhan in October 2019, several months before the reported start of the pandemic.”
Of course, ABC, CBS, and NBC wanted nothing to do with this and ignored it on their flagship broadcast morning and evening newscasts. The went for all shows on CNN and MSNBC.
Kerr explained the report was required in 2022 as part of the annual reauthorization of the National Defense Authorization Act into the COVID-like symptoms seven U.S. troops contracted afterwards (which they “all recovered…within six days”).
Specifically, the demand was the report be made “‘publicly available on an internet website in a searchable format’ by summer of 2022” and it was delivered “to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees in December 2022,” but its whereabouts were unknown “until sometime in late March when the Trump administration quietly uploaded it to a Defense Department website.”
Crucially, Kerr said the bombshell finding ran counter to public declarations by the Biden administration, including their Swiss army knife of a spokesman, John Kirby:…
US Coast Guard seizes $500M worth of narcotics in bust
The U.S. Coast Guard has seized 25 tons of narcotics in what Attorney General Pam Bondi is calling a massive victory for the U.S.
Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel were in Florida on Wednesday to talk about the operation, saying it has saved the lives of Americans and protected the public.
“There is no lethal force on planet Earth that is responsible for an overdose death of an American citizen every seven minutes more so than these federal terrorist organizations,” Patel said.
The Coast Guard used drones, aircrafts, ships and surveillance technology in order to interdict the traffickers. The Justice Department said the drugs were tied to the CJNG and Sinaloa cartels.
A member of the Coast Guard who was part of the group that intercepted the drugs called it a personal mission.
“I get a really good feeling knowing that these drugs aren’t getting on to our streets,” USCG Officer Diego Alejandro Soto said. “I’ve had friends succumb to cocaine, it’s a personal mission because I’ve seen it happen firsthand.”..
Trump admin fining illegal border crossers who don’t self deport $1k a day
The Trump administration is forging ahead with a range of border security efforts, including implementing penalties for those in the U.S. illegally who don’t self deport and expanding detention facility capacity for those being apprehended.
This is after President Donald Trump deployed 10,000 U.S. troops to shut down the southwest border, negotiated repatriation and extradition of violent foreign nationals with the governments of multiple countries, is aggressively deporting violent criminals, ended parole programs and a phone app created by the Biden administration to facilitate the entry of millions of inadmissible foreign nationals, and is prosecuting record numbers of illegal border crossers.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly warned foreign nationals living illegally in the U.S. to voluntarily leave or they will be targeted for removal, criminally prosecuted, and subject to civil fines and penalties,
The Center Square reported. DHS repurposed the Biden administration CBP One app to a new Home app instructing foreign nationals to use it to document their departure. DHS also notified nearly one million who were released into the country using the app that their parole and work authorization permits had been terminated and to “depart the United States immediately.”
Now, the administration is proposing fining illegal foreign nationals $998 a day if they don’t voluntarily leave the U.S., citing the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act, which the administration first enforced in 2018…
Tim Pool MEETS With Benjamin Netanyahu, FAKE NEWS ERUPTS Over Meeting
The Rise Of ‘Assassination Culture’ In America | Ep. 1572
Today on the Matt Walsh Show, a majority of left-leaning Americans say that it would be justified to assassinate Donald Trump. So-called “assassination culture” is rising in America. Why is this happening?
Also, Republicans introduce a bill designed to make it easier for mothers to stay home and raise their children. It’s well past time to start having this conversation.
And scientists claim that they have resurrected an extinct species. Have they really done that? And more importantly: why?
Nasdaq surges more than 10%, Dow jumps over 2,600 points after Trump pauses some tariffs — with exception of China
U.S. stocks were extending their rally on Wednesday afternoon after President Donald Trump said he would pause tariffs on global trading partners — with the exception of China.
The Nasdaq Composite was flying over 10% higher as of 2:13 p.m. Eastern time, on pace for its best day since Oct. 13, 2008. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was rising over 2,600 points, or 6.3%, and the S&P 500 was up 7.5%, according to FactSet data.
The rally in U.S. stocks is “not quite reversing the losses of recent days, but it does mean that some indexes are out of bear-market territory,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.
The news on a pause in tariffs is exceptionally good for global risk assets and for global economic prospects, Brooks told MarketWatch in emailed commentary. But she added the latest development might be “just only kicking the can down the road as the market needs to see progress made on cutting deals to ensure that tariff levels are lowered, and fairness prevails.”…
France warns Trump plan threatens Israel; U.S. demands direct talks with Iran TV7 Israel News 09.04
1) Prime Minister Netanyahu lays out four points that were thoroughly discussed with U.S. President Donald Trump – during his visit to Washington.
2) U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff warns Iran that he would not travel to Oman unless it agrees to meet directly.
3) French President Emanuel Macron warns that pursing President Donald Trump’s proposal for post-war Gaza – would threaten the security of Israel.
Flights and ferries suspended across Greece as unions call 24-hour general strike
A nationwide general strike in Greece has disrupted public services across the country, with ferries tied up in port, flights grounded and public transport running only part time as labour unions press for an end to lingering austerity measures imposed on Greece by international creditors a decade ago.
Thousands of protesters marched through the centre of the capital Athens in two separate demonstrations that both ended peacefully.
The 24-hour strike was called by the two main umbrella unions covering the public and private sectors.
They are seeking increases in salaries and a full return of collective bargaining rights which were scrapped as part of international bailouts during Greece’s financial crisis.
Commercial flights to and from Greece and between domestic destinations were cancelled from midnight on Wednesday until midnight on Thursday, while in the Greek capital buses, trolleys, trains, trams and the subway system were operating for only part of the day.
The country is currently battling a rise in the cost of living amid concerns that global financial turmoil triggered by US tariffs could lead to further hardship….
Teen seen shoving guns through border wall into Mexico
An Arizona teen allegedly was caught slipping guns and knives through the border wall south into Mexico.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the 16-year-old boy was seen on surveillance approaching the wall and trying to force a large duffel bag through the barrier before running away about 1:45 a.m. Friday in his hometown of Nogales, Arizona.
Agents from the U.S. Border Patrol’s Nogales Station responded, arrested the teen, and recovered the duffel bag, which they said contained an AR-style rifle, a pistol, two knives and various ammunition magazines.
Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent Sean McGoffin, who posted pictures of the weapons on X, called the attempted gun smuggling “a miss!”
“Local teen attempts to smuggle guns into Mexico but ends up in handcuffs,” he posted…
4 teenagers charged in Spotsylvania Co. mass shooting
Four teenagers were arrested and charged Wednesday morning following a shooting in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, that left three young men dead and three people wounded, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office received calls about a shooting just outside of Fredericksburg, in the area of Olde Greenwich Drive and Lafayette Boulevard around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening.
Deputies responded to find multiple people shot at the town house complex following what they now believe was an “illegal gun sale/robbery,” according to a Wednesday morning news release.
Three young men were killed and three people were wounded — including at least one of the suspects who is 16 years old.
The department identified two of the men who died as Chase Feaster and Alonzo Goffney. Both were 18 years old and Spotsylvania County residents.
Lianna Golden, a reporter with WTOP’s partners at 7News, reported that witnesses on the scene described the gunshots sounding “like a machine gun,” and that they had seen young men walking down the street with “guns in their hands.”
The mass shooting prompted dozens of officers to respond to the scene Tuesday as law enforcement searched for the suspects and worked to preserve the crime scene, according to Maj. Elizabeth Scott, spokesperson for the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office…
Trump DOJ Creates Second Amendment Task Force
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the creation of a Second Amendment Task Force on Tuesday, using a memo to tell DOJ employees the task force was created to prevent 2A rights from being treated like second class rights.
NBC News published parts of the memo, which said, “For too long, the Second Amendment, which establishes the fundamental individual right of Americans to keep and bear arms, has been treated as a second-class right. No more.”
Rep. Riley M. Moore (R-WV) reacted to Bondi’s announcement with a post to X, noting, “The Second Amendment is the premier constitutional right — it guards all others.”
Earlier this week, FBI director and acting ATF director Kash Patel ended the ATF’s zero tolerance policy, a policy which had been used under President Biden to shut down licensed firearms dealers over paperwork errors.
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara a No-Show at State Farm Hearing
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara failed to show up Tuesday at a hearing he himself had demanded into State Farm’s proposed new rate hikes for home insurance in the wake of the recent wildfires in Los Angeles.
State Farm and other insurers have been leaving the state and canceling existing policies over the past several years, as California has prevented them from raising premiums to account for future risks, forcing them to lose money.
As a result, many households in Los Angeles, especially in Pacific Palisades, lost their insurance in the months or even days before the January 7 Palisades fire. Some were forced to use the public option, the California FAIR Plan, which covers much less; others were left without any insurance at all. Lara finally announced new rules in December that would allow insurers to price future risk into their premiums, but the change came too late for many homeowners.
Last month, Lara “provisionally” granted State Farm permission to raise rates 22%, but demanded that it explain its decision “in an open, transparent hearing” scheduled for April 8.
Yet on the day of the State Farm hearing, according to Bay Area ABC affiliate KGO, Lara was absent:
The state’s top insurance boss, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, was not present.
…
7 On Your Side attended the hearing Tuesday with the expectation of seeing the commissioner listening to arguments from both sides — specifically the data he requested from State Farm to prove these hikes are justified.
…
State Farm is now asking for an average 17% rate increase for homeowners, 15% for renters and up to 38% for rental dwellings, arguing the increase is needed to rebuild capital following the Los Angeles County fires.
As Breitbart News noted at the time, Lara had already skipped a relevant legislative hearing last month to attend a conference with insurance executives in Bermuda…
Trump press secretary doesn’t engage with reporters using pronouns in emails, says they deny reality
The Trump White House press office is refusing to respond to emailed questions from reporters who display their pronouns in their email signatures, saying they deny “biological reality” and can’t be trusted to write honest stories.
New York Times reporter Michael Grynbaum said the press office has rejected emails on “three recent occasions” from reporters who display the gender-identifying label, and attributed quotes to press secretary Karoline Leavitt expressing it as policy.
“As a matter of policy, we do not respond to reporters with pronouns in their bios,” Leavitt told a Times reporter with pronouns in their signature, who had inquired about a climate research observatory.
The reporter mentioned another instance where Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) senior adviser Katie Miller allegedly refused to answer a pronoun-displaying reporter about DOGE records.
“As a matter of policy, I don’t respond to people who use pronouns in their signatures as it shows they ignore scientific realities and therefore ignore facts,” Miller told the reporter. In a separate message, she added, “This applies to all reporters who have pronouns in their signature.”
Grynbaum also reached out to Leavitt for comment, inquiring whether this type of response was a press office policy. The press secretary replied via email, “Any reporter who chooses to put their preferred pronouns in their bio clearly does not care about biological reality or truth and therefore cannot be trusted to write an honest story.”..
Amazon Considers $15B US Warehouse Expansion Plan
The company is asking potential capital partners to submit proposals, according to the report, which said the facilities are expected to be mostly delivery hubs, but some of the properties would also include large fulfillment centers packed with robots.
Separately, the e-commerce company has canceled orders for multiple products made in China and other Asian countries, Bloomberg reported, citing a document it reviewed and people familiar with the matter.
The orders for beach chairs, scooters, air conditioners and other merchandise from multiple Amazon vendors were halted after the Trump administration’s April 2 sweeping tariff announcements, Bloomberg said, adding that timing of the cancellations, which had no warning, led the vendors to suspect it was a response to tariffs.
China and the European Union announced new trade barriers on U.S. goods on Wednesday in response to steep duties imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, escalating a global trade war that has hammered markets and raised the likelihood of recession….
Doctor Ordered to Pay $1.6B in Sexual Abuse Case
A pediatrician from Long Island, New York, was ordered to pay $1.6 billion to 104 women who accused him of sexual abuse.
The ruling came after a Nassau County court reviewed each of the suits against Dr. Stuart Copperman, who did not present a defense, Newsday reported.
Debra Zuckerwise was awarded $25 million after she said Copperman repeatedly sexually assaulted her starting at age 5.
“This man ruined my life,” Zuckerwise, who became a heroin addict after the abuse, told Newsday. “I went to heroin because it helped to numb the pain. I didn’t want to feel, I didn’t want to think. I didn’t want to know anything.”
Copperman’s medical license was revoked by the state in 2000, though he was never charged criminally with a crime. He previously denied the allegations, claiming he was being thorough in his examinations, conducted after he ushered the parents out of the room, Newsday reported…
Judicial Watch Sues for Emails of Anti-Trump FBI Executive Accused of Harassing Whistleblowers
Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for emails of Dena Perkins, a section chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), regarding whistleblower retaliation (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No, 1:25-cv-00891)).
Perkins was identified by Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, as an official who retaliated against whistleblowers who were considered pro-Donald Trump:
So, now I’m going to spend some time sharing statements from the whistleblowers who were retaliated against by some of the FBI officials Trump has recently fired.
A third FBI whistleblower said, “On January 6, 2021, I took leave and went to see the President speak on the Ellipse. Later, my wife and I were among a crowd southwest of the Capitol. Even though we were involved in no violence, never set foot on the steps leading to the Capitol building, and never entered it, I self-reported my presence to the FBI after seeing the violence in news reports. The FBI did nothing at first, but more than a year later suspended my security clearance. Under the supervision of Jeff Veltri and Dena Perkins, investigators questioned my co-workers about whether I ever vocalized support for President Trump or objections to the COVID-19 vaccine. I was forced to take early retirement to pay bills and have essentially been sidelined from employment opportunities due to FBI abuse of the clearance system to target me for my political beliefs.”
A fourth FBI whistleblower and a registered Democrat said, “As a Security Division employee, I witnessed abuses committed against multiple employees by FBI senior leaders, particularly by Jeff Veltri and Dena Perkins. I also saw Security Division retaliate against five of its own employees for protesting these unlawful practices. Because I spoke out against these abuses, Perkins and Timothy Dunham suspended my security clearance, costing me my job and continuing employment, totaling approximately $700,000 in lost wages and retirement benefits.”…
Illegal migrant soccer coach accused of murdering 13-year-old player
The California youth soccer coach charged with murdering a 13-year-old boy who was reported missing by his family is in the United States illegally, multiple law enforcement sources told Fox News.
Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino, 43, allegedly killed his player Oscar “Omar” Hernandez in Lancaster on March 28, according to Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman. Sources told Fox News on Tuesday that Garcia-Aquino is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador.
Newsfeed News.com 