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Bob Menendez’s sister to testify at bribery trial about ‘family history’ of stashing cash
The veteran lawmaker’s kin is expected to explain that Menendez had a habit of stashing cash in his home and office because of a family tradition of distrusting banks after their parents left Cuba and lost their life savings before raising them in a Union City tenement, a court filing shows.
Prosecutors rested their case Friday after detailing an alleged scheme in which the senator, 70, and his wife Nadine Menendez are accused of accepting more than $150,000 in gold bars, $566,000 in cash payments and other gifts in exchange for favors to local businessmen and the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
Jurors at the trial saw photos of stacks of bills and gold bars — including some stuffed inside a well-worn Timberland work boot — stashed around the couple’s cluttered Englewood Cliffs house when the FBI raided it in June 2022.
Witnesses called by federal prosecutors during the six-week trial included New Jersey insurance broker Jose Uribe, who testified that he bought Nadine a new Mercedes in exchange for help killing a state criminal probe.
“I saved your ass, not once but twice,” Bob Menendez bragged to the businessman during one of several meetings at swanky New Jersey restaurants, Uribe told jurors.
Menendez’s lawyers have attempted to shift blame for the alleged scheme away from the senator and toward his “dazzling, tall” wife, who they claimed in last month’s opening statements stashed the gold bar trove away in her closet without his knowing…
Tractor Supply’s DEI Reversal Shows The Power Of Citizen Activism
“We work hard to live up to our Mission and Values every day and represent the values of the communities and customers we serve,” a company press release reads. “We have heard from customers that we have disappointed them. We have taken this feedback to heart. Going forward, we will ensure our activities and giving tie directly to our business.”
The announcement came after conservative filmmaker and former congressional candidate Robby Starbuck unearthed the company’s infatuation with so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI),” a poisonous left-wing framework that dismisses merit and instead discriminates based on characteristics such as skin color and sex.
Individuals who qualify for a certain position on merit but don’t meet the discriminating entity’s goal of being more “diverse” are often passed over in favor of those who meet institutionally preferred identitarian standards.
Over the course of several weeks, Starbuck revealed how Tractor Supply implemented these left-wing ideologies throughout its company and financially supported related causes.
Some of the policies adopted by the outdoor retail giant included publishing charts analyzing how many racial minorities it hired, flying LGBT flags at distribution centers, and partaking in LGBT “pride” events.
In its Thursday release, Tractor Supply pledged to reverse these policies and shift its focus back toward “rural America priorities.”..
Chuck Schumer’s ‘Dear Friend’ Invested in Solar as Schumer Secretly Negotiated Climate Bill
Around the time that Democratic leaders were secretly negotiating the details of President Joe Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Democratic Party megadonor James Simons’s hedge fund substantially upped its financial stake in several solar energy companies, which reaped windfalls from the bill.
According to federal elections filings, eight days before Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) publicly unveiled the IRA on July 27, 2022, Simons wired $2.5 million to Schumer’s Senate Majority PAC. Then, in August, one week after President Joe Biden signed the bill into law, Simons sent another $2.5 million check to the same PAC.
Simons’s trading activity, coupled with his aptly timed donations to the Senate Majority PAC, raises questions about whether he had advance knowledge of the IRA negotiations, which were supposedly kept private until Schumer and Manchin’s announcement in late July.
At the very least, it suggests Simons sought to take advantage of the solar industry handouts earmarked in the IRA by increasing his exposure to various solar companies, some of which are based in China, including one tied to forced labor. The fund was far less bullish on those companies prior to the IRA negotiations.
Simons, who died in May, had a close personal relationship with Schumer. Simons once said he helped Schumer craft legislation, the Associated Press reported, and the Senate majority leader characterized Simons as a “dear friend and mentor.”
“It is incredibly concerning that some of President Biden’s largest donors financially benefited from his marquee legislation,” said Caitlin Sutherland, the executive director of Americans for Public Trust….
Russia Freaked: The U.S. Navy Surfaced a Ohio-Class Submarine as a Warning
The United States Navy’s Ohio-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines remain a key component of the nation’s nuclear triad and serve as a nuclear deterrent. The warships are often spoken/written about – yet rarely seen. As part of the “Silent Service,” the submarines spent much of their patrols under the sea, with their locations rarely disclosed.
However, on Tuesday the U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet posted on X – the social media platform formerly known as Twitter – to announce that USS Tennessee (SSBN-734) was operating in the Norwegian Sea, while the nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed sub was joined by the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG-60) and P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft. In addition, an E-6B Mercury strategic communications plane was also reported to be flying over ahead.
The unusual disclosure–the submarine was surfaced and not under the waves operating in stealth–of the movements of any of the U.S. Navy’s 14 Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines is already highly unusual.
However, the fact that an E-6B jet – one of the Navy’s 16 modified Boeing 707s that serves as an airborne strategic command post and like the U.S. Air Force’s E-4B is often known as a “doomsday plane” – makes it especially noteworthy….
Haitian migrant accused of raping teen girl in Boston freed on $500 bail
A Haitian migrant accused of raping a 15-year-old at a Massachusetts shelter has been released on bail — despite a request from federal immigration officials to hold him.
Cory Alvarez, who had been held without bail since his March arrest, was freed on a measly $500 bail on Tuesday after the Plymouth County Superior Court ignored a request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to keep the suspect in custody, the Boston Herald reported.
Prosecutors also had requested $25,000 bail had the court opted not to order continued pretrial detention, according to the Boston Globe.
Alvarez, 26, was released with an ankle monitor, but ICE officials can’t track him because Boston is a sanctuary city — meaning local authorities don’t have to cooperate with the feds.
The suspect was also ordered to surrender his passport and check in twice monthly with probation, according to legal filings obtained by the Globe. He is due back in court on Aug. 13.
Federal immigration authorities said in March that they had filed an immigration detainer against Alvarez with the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office….
Suspect In Deadly Chick-Fil-A Shooting In US Illegally, ICE Confirms
An ICE spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital that the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Dallas “lodged an immigration detainer with the Irving Police Department on Mendoza.”
The document states Mendoza Argueta is the spouse of a Chick-fil-A employee who was a witness and “identified the defendant with certainty.”
Police say the second victim’s name was redacted from the document due to next-of-kin notification needing to be made.
During the manhunt, police released a photograph of Mendoza Argueta alongside a picture of the 1997 Honda 4-door car he was last seen driving.
An official said they believed the shooting was “a targeted incident and that this was not a random act of violence.”
Patrick to push for bail reform, death penalty for child capital murder charges
After the murder of a 12-year-old girl in Houston, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he would prioritize two legislative reforms in the legislative session next year.
He made the announcement after citizens called for the accused to receive the death penalty.
On June 17, the body of Jocelyn Nungaray was found in a bayou in north Houston, bound and without clothing from the waist down. She was strangled to death, but not without a fight. According to investigators, one of the alleged assailants had bite marks and scratches on his arms when he was arrested.
The men charged with her murder are Venezuelan nationals who illegally entered the country and instead of being processed for removal were released by Border Patrol agents in El Paso earlier this year. The men were charged with capital murder, held in the county jail on $10 million bonds each.
At a news conference last week, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said that if forensic evidence comes back showing Nungaray was sexually assaulted, they could ask for the death penalty and no bond.
On Thursday, Patrick blamed House Democrats and House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, for not having stronger bail reform legislation passed…
University study: ‘vast DEI bureaucracy’ negatively impacting U.S. Armed Forces
“The massive DEI bureaucracy, its training and its pseudo-scientific assessments are at best distractions that absorb valuable time and resources,” the executive summary states. “At worst they communicate the opposite of the military ethos: e.g. that individual demographic differences come before team and mission.”
Donald Critchlow, the director of the center, wrote in the studies introduction that it was focused on looking at the influence of Critical Race Theory in the United States Armed Forces training.
“The Commission on Civic Education in the Military began as a project to review civic education in the military. Our research team did not expect to find Critical Race Theory so embedded and pervasive. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs are found throughout the U.S. Armed Forces and our service academies,” Critchlow wrote. “This year long study documents just how pervasive these training programs are in our Armed Forces and Service Academies and that DEI extends well beyond just formal training programs in the military and service academies.”
“The Founders of our nation understood and feared a politicized military. History had shown them that a politicized army easily became the tool of tyranny. The Armed Forces of the United States has proudly upheld this long tradition of separating mission from politics,” he continued.
In terms of recommendations, the study suggests that DEI office’s be completely scrapped, but said it may be politically unlikely for the time being…
When Federal Agents Knock At Your Door | Dr. Ethain Haim
This is a clip from yesterday’s podcast release with Dr. Eithan Haim. In it, he and Dr. Jordan Peterson walk through his story of being approached by federal agents after blowing the whistle on an illegally operating gender care clinic.
Video shows surrender of 17 junta soldiers in Myanmar | Radio Free Asia (RFA)
Israel deploys additional forces to its north; U.S. hopes for de-escalation TV7 Israel News 28.06.24
1) Israel intends to grant diplomacy a chance vis-à-vis the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. 2)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledges to thwart Iran’s belligerent aggression against the state of Israel.
3) German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser aims to deport foreigners who stir up Islamist or anti-Semitic hatred throughout Germany.
Italy signs deal for final submarine in four-strong U-212 NFS series
Standing for Near Future Submarine, the new NFS vessels are destined to serve alongside Italy’s four U-212 submarines, and replace its four Sauro-class subs which are due to be retired.
While the first four U-212 subs were built using German technology thanks to a partnership with Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, the new platforms are a mix of German and Italian know-how with Fincantieri holding the design authority role.
The Italian firm said it was now installing lithium batteries to replace traditional lead-acid batteries on the new submarines, increasing range…
Shabbat tables to bomb shelters: Wave of drones pours into northern Israel
Sirens indicating rocket attacks and possible drone incursions sounded across northern Israel on Friday after the IDK struck Hezbollah targets earlier in the day.
The sirens sounded in northeastern Israel near the Lebanon border and lasted nearly 15 minutes.
The IDF later updated that approximately 25 launches were identified, no injuries were reported, but some property damage was caused.
The IDF stated during the barrage that the Israel Air Force had struck a Hezbollah infrastructure belonging to the terror group’s Aerial Unit in the Jabal Safi area, north of Nabatieh, in the center of the country.
The IDF said this particular site had been used to launch surface-to-air missiles toward Israeli aircraft over the preceding months….
The mainstream media are trying to stitch us up.
The mainstream media are trying to stitch us up because they are terrified. A new poll just out puts us on 21% — 3 points ahead of the Conservatives.
Border Patrol union immediately sets the record straight after Biden falsely claims presidential endorsement
While the debate was still underway, NBPC posted on X in response to Biden’s statement, “To be clear, we never have and never will endorse Biden.”
Biden’s comment during the debate that Border Patrol endorsed him may have been referring to the union’s lukewarm support of the Senate bill introduced in February. The union referred to the legislation as “not perfect” but “far better” than nothing.
In an earlier post, the union wrote, “Biden claimed this morning that Congressional Republicans have blocked his hiring of thousands of Border Patrol Agents. In reality, Republicans have actually funded more agents in recent appropriations bills in spite of Biden—not because of him.”
The Border Patrol union wished Trump “luck” in the debate and noted that it hoped he would have “enough time to point out all of the ways Biden’s border policies have failed.”
The union has been an outspoken critic of Biden’s open border policies that have resulted in over 2.8 million illegal aliens entering the country.
In a June statement, the group noted that the number of illegal immigrants allowed into the United States under Biden is “more than the population of Chicago, our third-largest city.” The union slammed the president for previously claiming that he could not use his executive power to “fix the abuse of the asylum system.”…
Migrant families will no longer be allowed to sleep overnight at Logan Airport, Gov. Healey says
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey announced Friday that migrant families will no longer be permitted to sleep overnight at Boston’s Logan International Airport come July.
The Healey-Driscoll administration said that the decision comes as a result of recent efforts to open a new safety-net site at the old Norfolk prison, move more families out of shelters, and share a message at the U.S. southern border that Massachusetts is out of shelter space.
Families currently sleeping at Logan will be forced to leave the airport as of Tuesday, July 9. Those who are on the Emergency Assistance shelter waitlist will be offered transfers to the state’s new safety-net system, including in Norfolk, which opened this week and will accommodate up to 140 families at full capacity.
The number of migrants sleeping at Terminal E has been an issue for months. The crowding recently led to a physical altercation between two migrant families inside the terminal….
Bans on Homeless Camps Upheld: Supreme Court Ruling Grants Cities Authority to Clear Streets — A Massive Blow to Democrat-Run Cities
Sanity has won. In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 6-3 in favor of allowing cities to prohibit homeless encampments in public spaces.
The ruling stems from the case City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson et al., where the city sought to enforce ordinances prohibiting camping on public property.
Grants Pass, a city of approximately 38,000 residents, has struggled with homelessness, with an estimated 600 individuals experiencing homelessness on any given day. In response, the city implemented ordinances prohibiting camping on public property and parking overnight in city parks. Initial violations could result in fines, while repeated offenses could lead to imprisonment.
This legal battle began after the Ninth Circuit’s 2019 decision in Martin v. Boise, which held that cities could not enforce such ordinances against homeless individuals if the number of homeless individuals exceeded the available shelter beds. Following this precedent, the district court in Oregon prohibited Grants Pass from enforcing its camping bans….
Texas Rep. Chip Roy Says He Will File 25th Amendment Resolution To Yank Biden From Office After Debate Implosion
Roy announced his intentions in a post to X on Friday morning, saying that his 25th amendment resolution would mobilize Biden’s cabinet officials to formally declare that the president is incapable of fulfilling his official duties.
During Thursday night’s debate against former President Donald Trump, Biden’s performance has been broadly characterized as a complete disaster, even by Democratic insiders and media outlets that have largely covered Biden’s presidency and campaign favorably.
Section four of the 25th amendment, which Roy says he plans to invoke, empowers the vice president and majority of cabinet officials to effectively pronounce the president unfit to continue and replace Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris, according to the National Constitution Center.
“I intend to put forth a resolution calling upon the [vice president] to immediately use her powers under section 4 of the 25th Amendment to convene & mobilize the principal officers of the Cabinet to declare the [president] is unable to successfully discharge the duties and powers of his office,” Roy wrote in his post….
House passes defense spending bill amid F-35, submarine purchase spats
The House on Friday passed 217-198its annual defense spending bill for fiscal 2025, with appropriators rebuffing intense bipartisan pressure from their colleagues over attack submarine and F-35 fighter jet purchases.
The $833 billion legislation would buy additional F-35s beyond the Pentagon’s budget request while only procuring one Virginia-class attack submarine for FY25 instead of the usual two vessels the bill usually provides.
The spending bill also includes several socially conservative policy riders, such as limits on abortion access for troops and military diversity initiatives, which prompted most Democratsto vote against the bill.
McCollum also criticized the legislation for omitting $300 million in annual Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funding that the defense spending bill has provided annually since FY16.
Still, $300 million is a small trickle compared to the $13.7 billion in the initiative’s funding Congress passed in April as part of a massive foreign aid bill, which included a total $60 billion in economic and security assistance for Ukraine.
The House voted down 308-103 an amendment from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to cut off all aid to Ukraine. It also struck down 335-76 another Greene amendment to reduce Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s salary to $1 – a provision Republicans adapted last year before stripping it from the final spending bill after negotiations with the Senate….
Biden To Return For Second Debate Against Trump After Abysmal Performance
President Joe Biden is committed to performing in the upcoming second presidential debate despite a horrific showing on Thursday night in Atlanta, Georgia.
The 81-year-old president will return to the debate stage in September, CNN Senior White House Correspondent Kayla Tausche reported Friday morning, citing an advisor.
Meanwhile, Biden is also not considering dropping out of the race, despite groans from members of his own party to do so.
Meanwhile, per a CNN poll conducted by SSRS, 67% said Trump performed better than Biden, with a low 33% still thinking that Biden would be the clear winner for the presidential election. ..
Wife Poisons Husband’s Soda After He Wasn’t Appreciative of Birthday Party
Michelle Peters, 47, is facing first-degree domestic assault and armed criminal action charges, according to court records.
Investigators say Peters added the Roundup weed killer to her husband’s Mountain Dew drinks several times in May and June. They claim she also used insecticide to poison the beverages.
Peters’ husband reportedly began to feel ill and started to suspect something might be wrong with his drinks.
That prompted the man to take a look at surveillance footage from inside his home, at which point he saw Peters take one of his sodas from his refrigerator in their garage just before she grabbed a bottle of Roundup and walked outside, police said, according to Fox 59…
Iowa Supreme Court rules 6-week abortion ban can go into effect
It will take the law at least 21 days to go into effect, as it will need to go back down to the district court for a final decision, according to the ACLU of Iowa. Until then, abortions will remain legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
In a 4 to 3 decision, the Iowa Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling, which issued a temporary injunction blocking the law into effect.
The majority opinion written by Justice Matthew McDermott stated that the district court issued the temporary injunction incorrectly using the “undue burden” test, which is the legal basis that Planned Parenthood had argued abortion laws are subjected to under the state constitution.
The law bans abortion when a “fetal heartbeat” or cardiac activity is detected, which can be as early as six weeks of pregnancy. That is before many people know they’re pregnant. It effectively bans most procedures in Iowa. It does offer exceptions for rape or incest…
Rep. Thomas Massie Announces His Wife Has Passed Away
Massie wrote she was valedictorian of their high school class. Rhonda then went on to earn a mechanical engineering degree from MIT, Massie said. Rhonda was also the mother of their four children together and a grandmother.
“Yesterday my high school sweetheart, the love of my life for over 35 years, the loving mother of our 4 children, the smartest kindest woman I ever knew, my beautiful and wise queen forever, Rhonda went to Heaven,” reads the social media post from Massie. “Thank you for your prayers for our family in this difficult time.”
Following his announcement on Thursday, members of the Republican party and others have issued statements in support of Massie:…
US Army armor rumbles into new NATO storage facility in Poland
The first Army tanks and vehicles that could one day supply an entire armored brigade as a bulwark against Russian aggression along NATO’s eastern flank have arrived at a new storage facility in Poland.
Fourteen M1 Abrams battle tanks and an M88 armored recovery vehicle arrived by rail Thursday at the Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in Powidz, Army spokesman Terry Welch said in an emailed statement Friday.
The site, approximately 250 miles west of the Ukrainian border, will soon host as many as 85 battle tanks, 190 armored combat vehicles, including the M2 Bradley, and 35 artillery pieces, such as the M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer and munitions.
The facility, maintained by the 405th Army Field Support Brigade, is NATO’s most significant single infrastructure endeavor in over three decades, an Army statement said Friday. It will be fully operational sometime next year…
Anti-Israel Group to Host Webinar With Hamas Official Who Vowed to Carry Out Oct. 7 Massacre ‘Again and Again’
A prominent anti-Israel group is hosting a webinar next month for a Hamas official who pledged that the Palestinian terrorist organization will repeat its Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis “again and again” to bring about the Jewish state’s “annihilation.”
Samidoun, which identifies itself as a “Palestinian prisoner solidarity network,” announced on social media this week that it will hold a “live interview and discussion” with Ghazi Hamad on July 29. Hamad is a member of Hamas’ political bureau and a spokesman for the Iran-backed terrorist organization.
The event is part of a “series of Palestine Media discussions that highlight often-silenced voices of the Palestinian, Arab, and regional resistance,” according to Masar Badil, a movement closely affiliated with Samidoun.
Samidoun is a radical anti-Israel advocacy organization that has taken part in pro-Hamas protests across the West, including in the United States, Canada, and countries in Europe, according to its Instagram pages.
Germany banned Samidoun, whose demonstrations in Berlin have featured cries of “Death to the Jews,” in the days following the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7….
US Supreme Court curbs federal agency powers, overturning 1984 precedent
The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a major blow to federal regulatory power on Friday by overturning a 1984 precedent that had given deference to government agencies in interpreting laws they administer, handing a defeat to President Joe Biden’s administration.
The justices ruled 6-3 to set aside lower courts rulings against fishing companies that challenged a government-run program partly funded by industry that monitored overfishing of herring off New England’s coast.
It marked the latest decision in recent years powered by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority that hemmed in the authority of federal agencies.
The precedent that the court overturned arose from a ruling involving oil company Chevron that had called for judges to defer to reasonable federal agency interpretations of U.S. laws deemed to be ambiguous. This doctrine, long opposed by conservatives and business interests, was called “Chevron deference.”
“Chevron is overruled. Courts must exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority,” conservative Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the ruling.
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Steve Bannon: We Have A National Security Crisis That’s Going To Lead To A Constitutional Crisis On 25th Amendment
MSNBC Admits Spiering’s Reporting On Democrat Leaders Discussing Biden’s Abilities To Run For 2024
Supreme Court issues major ruling on Jan. 6
Fox News contributors Jonathan Turley and Andy McCarthy joined ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss the Supreme Court’s latest opinion and the justices’ views on how the obstruction law doesn’t apply
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