Posts on Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) may argue that his wife “withheld information” and led him to believe nothing illegal was occurring when the couple allegedly accepted cash and gold bars in exchange for political favors, court documents in the senator’s federal corruption case show.
The senator’s legal team laid out the New Jersey Democrat’s possible defense strategy in a motion filed in January, but only unsealed Tuesday following a request by more than a dozen media organizations, including The Post.
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough had a tough morning. Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from its soil over the weekend, hurling drones and ballistic missiles at the Jewish state, humiliating Biden, who warned Tehran with a simple word: “Don’t.” He then proceeded to go on vacation, knowing that our only democratic ally in the Middle East was about to be attacked. The inflation numbers remain high; this entire presidency has been shipwrecked by incompetence, arrogance, and, yes, Joe’s decrepit state.
Beauty, poise, and classical pageantry might not be what first springs to mind when you think of AI.
But contestants in the world's first AI beauty pageant will need all of these in spades if they are to claim their share of a $20,000 (£16,000) prize pool.
The Fanvue Miss AI pageant will see AI-generated ladies go head-to-head in front of a panel of judges, including two AI influencers.
These synthetic competitors will be judged on beauty, social media clout and their creator's use of AI tools.
Will Monanage, Fanvue Co-Founder, says he hopes that these events will 'become the Oscars of the AI creator economy.'
Venezuela closes its embassy in Ecuador
to protest the police raid on the Mexican
Embassy there replies
to protest the police raid on the Mexican
Embassy there replies
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ordered the closure of his country’s embassy and consulates in Ecuador on Tuesday in solidarity with Mexico in its protest over a raid by Ecuadorian authorities on the Mexican Embassy in Quito. Maduro and other presidents participating in a virtual meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States expressed their support for Mexico’s request to have the United Nations suspend Ecuador from the world body over the April 5 raid. But Maduro was the only one to announce the closure of diplomatic outposts and recall of personnel.
On an October morning, a small army arrived to evict Rudy Ortega from his home in the Crash Zone, an encampment located near the end of the airport runway in San Jose, California, Silicon Valley’s largest city. As jets roared overhead, garbage trucks and police squad cars encircled Ortega’s hand-built shelter. Heavy machinery operators stood by for the signal to bulldoze Ortega’s camp.
As the workers closed in, Ortega grew increasingly upset.
“They’re going to have to drag me out of here,” he said.
At least three reported members of a covert Iranian government-controlled influence network visited the Biden White House on numerous occasions for meetings with senior U.S. officials, records show.
The trio, Dina Esfandiary and Ali Vaez of the global International Crisis Group think tank, plus now-Pentagon official Ariane Tabatabai, was outed through the release of leaked Iranian government emails last year as being linked to a network called the Iran Experts Initiative, a project of Iran’s foreign ministry that helped push Tehran talking points in the United States and Europe.
By the end of day two of Donald Trump's hush money trial, seven prospective jurors had survived a 42-question questionnaire, a 30-minute grilling by prosecutors, followed by another 30 minutes of probing by the defense.
Some had had their social media posts scrutinized, or been glared at by the defendant.
Their prize is a ringside seat at one of the most momentous trials in American history.
No wonder some looked terrified at they walked to the jury box to take up their seats and be sworn in.
Donald Trump left his criminal trial on Tuesday and visited a bodega worker cleared of murder for stabbing an ex-con to death in self-defense in his Manhattan store.
The former president headed to Hamilton Heights to speak to Jose Alba, who knifed Austin Simon to death in July 2022, when he jumped the counter in his store.
Alba's case sparked widespread scrutiny across New York City, until charges against him were dropped in July by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who has become a frequent target of Trump's attacks on the campaign trail.
About 100 people squeezed into City Council chambers Monday night (April 15) to express their views on BBH Pride Fest, which is scheduled for June 8 on the City Hall campus.
Most of those who spoke were against the LGBTQ+ event and scolded Broadview Heights officials for allowing it on city property.
“We are Broadview Heights,” resident Robert Kilo told council. “We are not Lakewood. We are not Cleveland.
“This city (Broadview Heights) was destined to be one that has family values that represent all of God’s people in truth, in righteousness and in order,” said Kilo.
It is the weakest case against the former president, but like the bogus civil fraud case, it’s one where Trump could get screwed. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is arguing that Trump’s hush money arrangement with adult entertainment star Stormy Daniels, a supposedly critical piece of information for the wider public in the lead-up to the 2016 election. The former president is accused of falsifying records in what essentially is a super-sized campaign finance violation. It’s also a charge that district attorneys seldom bring to court. Those who do are rare cases, and in most cases where jail time was handed down, the sentence was no more than a month.
President Trump made a stop Tuesday evening at the Harlem bodega where an employee acted in self-defense, resulting in death of thug two years ago.
The Harlem crowd was chanting, “USA! USA! USA!…” and ‘Trump! Trump! Trump!…” (Photo) What an amazing sight – in Harlem, New York! (X Video) The crowd started singing the National Anthem – in Harlem! (X Video) And they were chanting, “We love Trump!… We love Trump!… We love Trump!…”
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan reportedly allowed a juror who celebrated former President Donald Trump’s 2020 loss on social media to remain in the jury pool.
Trump’s unprecedented trial began Monday morning with jury selection, the first day of a process that could span two weeks. The trial could last until June.During Tuesday’s jury selection, Trump’s defense attorneys tried to prevent a potential juror from staying on the case because she celebrated Trump’s 2020 loss, Fox News reported.
“They wanted to have a peremptory challenge to excuse the juror because they thought that she said she could be impartial, but had social media posts that apparently had her celebrating
NEW YORK — The first seven jurors for Donald Trump’s hush money trial were seated Tuesday after lawyers grilled the jury pool about their social media posts, political views and personal lives to decide who can sit in fair judgment of the former president.
The panelists who were selected are an information technology worker, an English teacher, an oncology nurse, a sales professional, a software engineer and two lawyers. Eleven more people still must be sworn in before opening statements begin as early as next week in the first criminal trial of a former commander in chief. It’s a moment of reckoning for Trump, who has tried to
When Contempt Is Necessary
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~The eminent barrister (and later Lord Chancellor) F E Smith was famously asked by an irritated judge: "Are you trying to show contempt for this court, Mr Smith?" To which he replied: "No, my Lord, I am trying to conceal it." If you have a corrupt revenue agency, corrupt law enforcement and corrupt courts, what else do you need? Much of America is institutionally evil, and so-called conservative media are just stringing along for the ride.
"Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed sentenced
to 18 months in prison over deadly 2021 shooting replies
to 18 months in prison over deadly 2021 shooting replies
The "Rust" armorer who last month was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the deadly shooting of Halyna Hutchins, the film's cinematographer, was sentenced in a New Mexico state court today to 18 months' imprisonment. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed received the maximum penalty for her part in the 2021 tragedy that several experts have since characterized as a preventable incident, where actor Alec Baldwin discharged live rounds from a prop gun on the movie set during a rehearsal.
House Republicans delivered articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate on Tuesday, setting up a trial over the cabinet secretary’s complicity in the record surge in illegal immigration that emerged under President Biden.
A group of GOP impeachment managers walked over to the Senate Tuesday afternoon to officially deliver the articles and initiate an impeachment trial as Democrats seek to expedite the process or dismiss the charges altogether. Senators will be sworn-in as jurors on Wednesday to begin trial proceedings.
A district judge who previously presided over a woman’s capital murder case recommended last week that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturn Melissa Lucio's 2008 conviction after a district attorney’s office admitted that prosecutors withheld evidence from her defense.
Decades after a jury sentenced Lucio to death for the murder of her 2-year-old daughter, the Cameron County district attorney and Lucio’s legal team cosigned court filings that found key evidence, which included interviews with Lucio’s other children, was suppressed by prosecutors at the time of the case.
The United States Supreme Court is holding arguments in Fischer v. US, a case that could reduce criminal charges filed against more than 350 Trump supporters who participated in the US Capitol protest on January 6, 2021.
The Department of Injustice (DOJ) is using a statute called “obstructed a Congressional proceeding” to prosecute hundreds of these protesters simply for exercising their First Amendment rights. This statute is a serious felony with the potential of 20 years behind bars.
CNN notes that this case also has implications for President Donald Trump, who was charged by corrupt special counsel Jack Smith for exercising his First Amendment rights on that fateful day.
Exclusive – Trump Lawyer: ‘Extremely
Improper’ that Judge in Trump Criminal
Case Is a Biden Donor replies
Improper’ that Judge in Trump Criminal
Case Is a Biden Donor replies
The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s New York criminal case, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, is a Biden donor, Trump lawyer Jesse Binnall said during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily.
Discussing the case involving Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who charged Trump with 34 felonies, accusing him of falsifying business records in relation to a “hush money” payment made to Stormy Daniels, Binnall reminded listeners that the entire case “is based on the word of Michael Cohen,” an “admitted perjurer.” “That’s the kind of the best they have. That’s what they’re building their case around is someone who … has lied to courts and
As was widely expected, the Indiana Fever selected Iowa standout Caitlin Clark with the No. 1 overall pick in Monday’s WNBA Draft.
Soon after Clark walked across the draft stage in Brooklyn, New York, basketball fans took to social media to discuss what her first professional contract might looks like.
According to Spotrac, a media outlet that specifically focuses on pro sports contracts, Clark’s first WNBA deal could be worth up to $338,056 over the course of four years.
Monday has been Trump Trial Day in the media, especially for those outlets openly cheering the prosecution of former President Donald Trump on felony charges relating to recordkeeping for a nondisclosure agreement he made with a former porn star. The excitement on some networks is palpable.
The scenario of a Democratic district attorney, Manhattan’s Alvin Bragg, putting Trump on trial amid a presidential campaign is striking in part because of a new survey showing a plurality of the public believing the Trump presidency was better for America than the presidency of Trump’s opponent, the sitting President Joe Biden.
The news is deep inside a New York Times-Siena poll
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices on Tuesday raised concerns about the Justice Department's use of an obstruction statute to charge those involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The case that could have bearing on the election interference prosecution of former President Donald Trump. The justices heard an appeal brought by defendant Joseph Fischer, a former police officer who is seeking to dismiss a charge accusing him of obstructing an official proceeding, namely the certification by Congress of Joe Biden’s election victory, which was disrupted by a mob of Trump supporters.
The law in question criminalizes efforts to obstruct, influence or impede any official proceeding.
Each year, more than $500 million of your hard-earned tax dollars get funneled through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and into the bank account of National Public Radio (NPR), a far-left media outlet dedicated to tearing down America and the values you believe in.NPR claims to be "an independent news organization committed to informing the public about the world around us." But for decades, NPR has been dedicated to attacking conservatives and carrying water for Democratic politicians. Remember this from the 2020 presidential election?
Exclusive — Trump Lawyer: Prosecution
Seeks to ‘Stack the Deck Against’
Trump in Jury Selection replies
Seeks to ‘Stack the Deck Against’
Trump in Jury Selection replies
The prosecution in former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial — at the hands of Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — is attempting to “stack the deck” against Trump in the jury selection, “trying to find out if you have ever been involved in supporting President Trump at all over the years” but failing to ask the same questions about supporting President Joe Biden, Trump lawyer Jesse Binnall said during an interview on Breitbart News Daily.
Binnall, a Trump lawyer involved in the former president’s civil case and January 6 case, discussed the current criminal trial, as Bragg has charged Trump with 34 felonies, accusing him of falsifying business records.
It needs to be said, and it needs to be said loudly, the FBI is the 2024 equivalent of the 1984 Soviet-era KGB, now FSB.
The modern FBI is the police agency of a weaponized U.S government, with a direct and purposeful mandate to keep the American people under control through strict surveillance and a violent police state.
Understand and accept this with great seriousness, there are no honorable “rank and file” inside this organization.
Every member of the FBI is a participant in the weaponization of power and government. The members are jackboots recruited from ideological college campuses for exactly the purpose of supporting a Stasi-like police state.
More potential jurors were dismissed Tuesday from Donald’s Trump’s hush money case as lawyers worked for a second day to find a panel of New Yorkers to decide whether the Republican will become the first former president convicted of a crime.
The first day of the historic trial in Manhattan ended Monday with no one yet chosen to be on the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates. In short order Tuesday morning, eight others were excused after saying they could not be impartial or because they had other commitments. Dozens of potential jurors have yet to be questioned.
The Democratic Party walks a waffled line on Israel. What used to be a no-questions-asked backing is no more. The party’s base is becoming increasingly anti-Israel and antisemitic, which Joe Biden must navigate. Or, more accurately, Biden’s aides must navigate to avoid political disaster. Michigan could be in play for Republicans if this war continues, which reached a new level of potential escalation when Iran launched a massive drone and missile barrage against the Jewish state.
There are many reasons to criticize Donald Trump.
He’s a deliberately polarizing public figure who likes to shoot from the verbal hip, revels in viciously taunting opponents and displays an often brutally uncompromising style that riles up a lot of people to the point of apoplexy.
But one thing you can’t say about Trump is that he’s a bad father.
I’ve been around him many times when he was with his five children — Don Jr., Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany and Barron — and he’s a proud, loving dad, and that feeling is reciprocated by each of them.
A challenge by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to dismiss an open records lawsuit about her office has attracted the scrutiny of one of Donald Trump's co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case.
Willis is leading the case against the former president, who is accused in an indictment of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. [snip] In the latest development on the open records complaint, Willis' office said in court papers that it is "an entity not capable of being sued" and has immunities under Georgia law that make it "exempt from disclosure under the Open Records Act."
The Biden administration has granted Iran’s foreign minister a U.S. visa so that he can attend upcoming United Nations proceedings in New York City, generating outrage in the wake of Tehran’s weekend strike on Israel.Lawmakers are already calling on the Biden administration to revoke Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian’s entry visa into America, which will enable him to attend U.N. meetings later this week, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. While the State Department would not confirm whether it had granted the Iranian diplomat an entry visa, regional outlets are reporting that a U.S. entry visa has already been issued.
Sen. James Lankford (R., Okla.), in a letter
The first quarter of 2024 has seen the number of measles cases recorded in the U.S. stand significantly higher than in recent years, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) details.
Americans have reported a total of 338 cases since January 1, 2020—and 97 cases, or 29 percent of the total, came between the start of 2024 and March 28, per the report. And as of April 11, the number of cases in 2024 had risen to 121.
“What was surprising about 2024 is that we’ve seen a significant increase,” John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, told ABC News’ Mary Kekatos.
Report: NPR Punishes Senior Editor Who
Blasted Network’s Leftist Mindset and
‘Angered’ Colleagues replies
Blasted Network’s Leftist Mindset and
‘Angered’ Colleagues replies
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NPR senior Editor Uri Berliner is reportedly facing consequences after publicly criticizing the outlet’s progressive leanings.
According to a Tuesday article by NPR’s David Folkenflik, Berliner has been suspended for five days without pay, a term that began on Friday after he penned an essay for the Free Press. “It angered many of his colleagues, led NPR leaders to announce monthly internal reviews of the network’s coverage, and gave fresh ammunition to conservative and partisan Republican critics of NPR, including former President Donald Trump,” Folkenflik wrote.
The Anti-Israel Delusion
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Surely, you’ve heard of the brutal conflict that has displaced millions of people and killed more than 14,000, while aid convoys have trouble getting where they need to go? No, the Sudanese civil war hasn’t been on your radar screen?(Snip) These are terrible situations that get very little or almost no attention, in contrast to the overwhelming level of focus on Israel’s war in Gaza, almost all of it through a hostile lens.
Though America’s economy has shown some signs of health and growth, two experts warn it’s more "wobbly" than it seems. "The economy is growing. However, the gold price commodity prices are telling us the dollar is wobbly," Forbes Media founder and CEO Steve Forbes said on a "Kudlow" panel, Monday.
"The Fed's got problems ahead," he continued, "and you don't cure it by raising interest rates and depressing the economy."
Following up on Forbes’ commentary, ex-Council of Economic Advisors Chair and Trump administration senior advisor Kevin Hassett echoed unstable concerns.
Top Biden adviser ripped after Middle
East claim resurfaces amid Iran attack:
'Moron extraordinaire' replies
East claim resurfaces amid Iran attack:
'Moron extraordinaire' replies
President Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan faced renewed scrutiny on social media this weekend for a 2023 comment claiming the Middle East was "quiet" after Iran launched the first-ever direct attack on Israel. "What we said is [we] want to depressurize, de-escalate and ultimately integrate the Middle East region," Sullivan said at The Atlantic Festival on Sept. 29.
"The war in Yemen is in its 19th month of truce. For now, the Iranian attacks against U.S. forces have stopped. Our presence in Iraq is stable. I emphasize for now because all of that can change and the Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades,"
President Joe Biden’s Energy Department canceled its plan to purchase millions of barrels of oil to refill the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The cancellation means the Biden administration is unlikely to fulfill its promise of fully replenishing the SPR by the end of the year, and the SPR will remain at a historically low level after the administration depleted it in 2022.
The depletion of the SPR was caused by the Biden administration’s own failed energy policy. Shortly after he came into office, President Biden issued a series of anti-fossil fuel energy policies, including canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline project and halting leasing on federal lands for oil
They're said to be low in fat, good for cholesterol and an overall healthier choice than the real deal.
But a new trial suggests that plant-based fake meat products are not in fact a nutritious choice - and could increase the risk of heart disease.
The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that people who ate a diet high in fake meats like Beyond burgers and Impossible burgers for eight weeks had higher blood sugars than those who ate real meat.
This puts them at higher risk for developing heart disease and diabetes down the line, the authors wrote.
Take a dip in the murky waters of recent Trump Apocalypse journalism—it says there’s gonna be a civil war and dictatorship. But don’t worry, not really—it’s just the politics of fear.
In a scary article subtitled “Donald Trump is warning that 2024 could be America’s last election,” New Republic alerts us that, if Trump wins, America is pretty much done being a democracy. “If we don’t win on November 5, I think our country is going to cease to exist. It could be the last election we ever have. I actually mean that,” Trump said out loud at a recent rally, so it couldn’t possibly be hyperbole
Thirty-four of the 96 potential jurors remain from the first pool in the juror selection process for President Donald Trump’s criminal trial, courtroom journalists reported Monday.
“The rapid disqualification of at least 50 possible jurors underscores the difficult reality of finding a dozen New Yorkers to form the jury in one of the most high-profile cases in U.S. history,” Axios reported:
“I just couldn’t do it,” one prospective juror said in the hallway outside of the courtroom, per the pool.
Of the jurors who said they couldn’t be fair or impartial in the case, over two dozen were white women, 1 Hispanic woman, and
Joe Biden’s Wars
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It’s long been known around Washington, as former Defense Secretary Robert Gates once said, that Joe Biden “has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four” – now five – “decades.”
So the conflicts raging around the world and forecasts of World War III should have been expected.
But, hey, at least we didn’t elect in 2020 the guy who sent impetuous tweets that upset elites and snowflakes.
As president, Biden has projected American weakness in a Carter-esque fashion, starting with his chaotic and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan, which a State Department report said
Vandals keyed the cars of at least 10 members of the state Republican Party while the group held its biennial convention inside Concord High School on Saturday. “There’s already too much vitriol in partisan politics,” Party Chair Chris Ager said. Ager said he had heard of as many as two dozen attendees, all parked together, who said they had found key scratches on their cars. “Any acts of violence, or vandalism or vitriol on either side, I don’t think, helps the people of New Hampshire.”
Former GOP Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who made waves for being the youngest challenger to Donald Trump in the race and perhaps the most likable, came out with a statement on Monday condemning Soros-funded Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s lawfare against President Trump.
Vivek always stood up for President Trump in the ongoing attempts by Democrats to take him out by other means, like sham indictments and challenges to remove him from the ballot, and destroyed GOP Primary opponents who refused to condemn the Biden Regime’s fascism. He frequently took aim at and destroyed neocon Nikki Haley for being a member of the RINO establishment who was happy to let
Caitlin Clark admitted she was a bit nervous before being chosen with the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever, even though it was no surprise.
"I dreamed of this moment since I was in second grade, and it's taken a lot of hard work, a lot of ups and downs, but more than anything, just trying to soak it in," Clark said
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) told Breitbart News exclusively on Monday afternoon that the trial that Democrats are dragging former President Donald Trump through in New York is only driving more black voters away from Democrats — like President Joe Biden — and toward the Republican Party and Trump.
“There’s no doubt that when you see a nearly 75 percent increase in black men wanting to support President Trump, that’s not an insignificant increase,” Scott told Breitbart News as Trump sat in a New York courtroom facing criminal charges from District Attorney Alvin Bragg. “That is a gargantuan step in the right direction. Why? Because the Democrat stronghold on power
Iran's unprecedented missile and drone strike on Israel is unlikely to prompt dramatic sanctions action on Iran's oil exports from the Biden administration due to worries about boosting oil prices and angering top buyer China, said analysts.
Shortly after Tehran launched its weekend attack - retaliation for Israel's suspected April 1 strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus - House Republican leaders accused President Joe Biden of failing to enforce existing measures and said they would take up this week a series of bills to sharpen sanctions on Iran.
New York Times Reporter Maggie Haberman:
Donald Trump ‘Appears to Doze Off’
During New York Trial replies
Donald Trump ‘Appears to Doze Off’
During New York Trial replies
New York Times (NYT) reporter Maggie Haberman claimed that former President Donald Trump appeared to “doze off” during the start of his hush money criminal trial in Manhattan.
In an article that Haberman wrote in the NYT, Trump was described as being “alternately irritated and exhausted” as jury selection for the trial, which centers around alleged hush-money payments the former president made to adult entertainment star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election, began. Haberman wrote:
Even as a judge was hearing arguments on last-minute issues in a criminal case that centers on salacious allegations and threatens to upend his bid for the presidency, Mr. Trump appeared to