Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid Denounces ‘Extremist and Failed Government,’ Calls for ‘New Direction’

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Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s opposition, denounced the “extremist and failed government” of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, blaming it for the country’s current precarious position.

In an essay published in Foreign Affairs on the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas, Lapid let loose some of his most scathing criticisms of Netanyahu’s government yet, buoyed by the possible end of the war in Gaza. Lapid blames the current government for trashing Israel’s diplomatic position in the world, harming its relationship with the United States, failing to combat rising antisemitism, harming Israel’s democratic foundations, failing to respond to Hamas’s surprise attack properly, and more.

“Israel is not a failed state. It is a great state with a failed government. Its foundations remain strong. Israel is undeniably in crisis, but the source of the crisis is not structural. It is political,” Lapid wrote.

He contrasted the current situation Israel has found itself in with three years ago, when the country was normalizing relations with the Arab world, boasted world-class research and business fields, and “blended a profound philosophical and historical depth with the best of modernity.” . . .

“The crisis is the result of an extremist and failed government, led by a prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is implicated in criminal cases and has lost the support of the Israeli public. His years in power have corrupted him and those around him. This government is openly contemptuous of the principle of a democratic State of Israel committed to Western liberal values. In its place, it seeks to install a theocratic and illiberal regime, one that is exempt from media scrutiny and free of the nuisance of concepts such as the rule of law and the constant threat of free and fair elections,” Lapid ruled. (Read more from “Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid Denounces ‘Extremist and Failed Government,’ Calls for ‘New Direction’” HERE)

Illegal Gangbanger Placed Bounty On Top Border Official, Feds Say

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An illegal migrant gangbanger allegedly offered thousands of dollars to kill one of the top enforcers of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.

Federal law enforcement agents arrested Juan Espinoza Martinez, a criminal illegal migrant and member of the ruthless Latin Kings gang, on Monday, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Martinez is accused of offering at least $10,000 to take down Commander at Large of the Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino.

“Depraved individuals like Juan Espinoza Martinez – who do not value human life and threaten law enforcement– do NOT belong in this country,” Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a public statement. “We will not allow criminal gangs to put hits on U.S. government officials and our law enforcement officers.”

“Thanks to ICE and our federal law enforcement partners, this thug is off our streets and behind bars,” McLaughlin continued.

A confidential source provided information to law enforcement on Friday that a “hit” had been placed on Bovino, according to DHS. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) received a screenshot of a Snapchat conversation from a user named “Juan” who appeared to place a $2,000 reward for information on catching Bovino and a $10,000 bounty “if you take him down.” (Read more from “Illegal Gangbanger Placed Bounty On Top Border Official, Feds Say” HERE)

Young Adult Suicide Rates Are Rising Almost Nationwide

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The young adult suicide rate increased in most U.S. states from 2014 to 2024, a new analysis finds. . .

Driving the news: The suicide rate for U.S. adults aged 18-27 increased nearly 20% between 2014 and 2024, rising from 13.8 per 100,000 people to 16.4, per a new analysis of CDC data from Stateline, a nonprofit newsroom.

That came as Gen Zers entered that age range and millennials left it, and was driven largely by Black and Hispanic men, especially in the South and Midwest.

By the numbers: The young adult suicide rate increased the most in Georgia (+65%), North Carolina (+41%), Texas (+41%), Alabama (+39%) and Ohio (+37%).

The rate decreased in a few states, including North Dakota (-39%), Vermont (-37%) and Delaware (-34%). (Read more from “Young Adult Suicide Rates Are Rising Almost Nationwide” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Trump To Designate Antifa As Foreign Terrorist Group

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President Donald Trump said Wednesday he will classify Antifa as a “foreign terrorist organization.”

Trump convened a White House roundtable on Antifa on Wednesday to pledge an aggressive crackdown against the group. The event followed his order and Federal Register entry listing Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization — no State Department action has yet placed “Antifa” on the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list.

“Would you like to see it done? You think it would help?” Trump asked of the FTO designation. “I’d be glad to do it. I think it’s the kind of thing I’d like to do. Does everybody agree? If you agree, I agree. Let’s get it done, OK? Let’s get it done. Marco, we’ll take care of it … Sounds good to me.”

“The epidemic of left-wing violence and Antifa-inspired terror has been escalating for nearly a decade,” the president said earlier in the roundtable. “We’re going to be far more threatening to them than they ever were with us — and that includes the people that fund them.”

(Read more from “Trump To Designate Antifa As Foreign Terrorist Group” HERE)

Democratic Rep Freaks Out After Trump Admin Auto-Emails Reportedly Blame Shutdown On Democrats

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Democratic Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott accused Trump administration officials of violating federal law Wednesday by setting automatic email replies that blamed the government shutdown on Democrats.

Scott, the top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, urged Republicans to hold a hearing on whether the messages breach the Hatch Act, which bars political activity by federal employees. He said the out-of-office emails are “in apparent violation of the Hatch Act and other statutes” and called for “hearings on these acts as soon as possible” in a letter obtained by ABC News.

Scott’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller’s request for clarification on how the emails might constitute a Hatch Act violation.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had encouraged employees at the Departments of Labor, Justice and Education to set automatic replies blaming “Democrat senators” for the shutdown, the outlet reported. Several furloughed Education Department staffers told the outlet their out-of-office messages were automatically configured to include the partisan language.

When ABC News pressed for comment, an agency spokesperson responded, “Where’s the lie?”

“The email reminds those who reach out to Department of Education employees that we cannot respond because Senate Democrats are refusing to vote for a clean CR and fund the government,” the spokesperson told the outlet. (Read more from “Democratic Rep Freaks Out After Trump Admin Auto-Emails Reportedly Blame Shutdown On Democrats” HERE)

Mutilated Birds Found Drained of Blood in NY as Conspiracies of Dark Rituals and Cult-Like Killings Loom

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The chilling discovery of two roosters and a white dove — all decapitated and drained of blood — has authorities in upstate New York investigating a possible link to dark ritualistic sacrifices.

The gruesome find near Lake Carmel in Putnam County on Friday is just the latest in a series of recent troubling discoveries in the upstate community — with locals wondering if there’s a cult in their midst.

“The area where this bag was found was only a short distance from where other bags of mutilated animals have been found in recent months, possibly the result of ritualistic killings,” the Putnam County SPCA said in a Facebook post this week.

Photo credit: Putnam County SPCA

The bodies of the two roosters were found stuffed in a plastic bag, not far from where the white dove was found along a wooded area on Holland Drive near the lake in the town of Kent, officials said.

So far this year, 10 similar discoveries have been made in the area, including an incident in April when two butchered birds were stuffed in a garbage bag and dumped nearby, News12 reported.

The station said that the birds, which were found shortly after 4:30 p.m. Friday, had been drained of blood. (Read more from “Mutilated Birds Found Drained of Blood in NY as Conspiracies of Dark Rituals and Cult-Like Killings Loom” HERE)

Man Accused of Removing IV and ‘Spraying HIV Blood’ Into Hospital Employees’ Eyes

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A North Carolina man was arrested nearly six months after he allegedly unhooked an IV from his arm and squirted HIV-positive blood at two hospital staffers while receiving treatment for his diabetes, according to reports.

Kameron Gilchrist, 25, was cuffed on Sept. 11 and slapped with two charges for assaulting emergency personnel during a bizarre incident at The University of North Carolina’s REX hospital on March 21, according to an arrest warrant.

Gilchrist reportedly tore his IV from his arm and “[sprayed] HIV blood into the eyes of [the] victim” as the pair of medical staff were “discharging [their] official duties,” the warrant, obtained by People, stated.

It’s unclear if the HIV-positive blood belonged to Gilchrist or if the two staffers contracted HIV after the exposure.

Raleigh police clarified that it only took so long to book Gilchrist because he was receiving medical and psychiatric treatment at the time of the incident, WRAL News reported. (Read more from “Man Accused of Removing IV and ‘Spraying HIV Blood’ Into Hospital Employees’ Eyes” HERE)

Man Arrested in Connection with Start of Deadly Pacific Palisades Fire

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A man was arrested Tuesday as a suspect in setting the deadly Pacific Palisades fire in Los Angeles that claimed 12 lives and destroyed more than 6,000 homes in January.

Justice department officials announced at a news conference that Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, a.k.a. “Jonathan Rinder,” and “Jon Rinder,” of Melbourne, Florida, 29, had been detained.

He is charged with destruction of property by means of fire.

The BBC reports authorities said evidence collected from the suspect’s digital devices showed an image he generated on ChatGPT depicting a burning city.

The fire was sparked on 7 January near a popular hiking trail overlooking the wealthy coastal neighborhood. (Read more from “Man Arrested in Connection with Start of Deadly Pacific Palisades Fire” HERE)

Russia Cuts Deals with Cuba, Venezuela to Challenge U.S. in the West

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Russia’s rubber-stamp legislature passed an “intergovernmental agreement on military cooperation” with the communist government of Cuba on Tuesday, formalizing an already existing alliance providing cannon fodder for the invasion of Ukraine.

Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro also announced on Tuesday that he had solidified a “strategic partnership” with Russia that could allow Moscow greater ability to leverage influence in the Western Hemisphere, challenging the United States.

According to the Russian news agency Tass, the upper house of the Duma ratified an agreement that “will provide legal grounds to define the goals, areas and forms of bilateral military cooperation,” suggesting that such cooperation already existed between the two countries informally. The agreement is one step below the commitments of the mutual defense treaty that Russia signed with North Korea in June 2024, which preceded Pyongyang admitting that it had deployed troops to the war theater against Ukraine in Kursk.

Alexander Stepanov, a purported Russian “military expert,” told Tass that the military agreement with Cuba was a form of retaliation against President Donald Trump for his ongoing support for Ukraine, in particular concerns that the United States may soon provide Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles.

“This is about a symmetrical response to the potential supply of Tomahawks,” Stepanov stated plainly. “The ratified agreement maximally expands our military cooperation and allows, within the framework of bilateral interaction and in coordination with the government of the Republic of Cuba, to deploy virtually any offensive systems on the island’s territory.” (Read more from “Russia Cuts Deals with Cuba, Venezuela to Challenge U.S. in the West” HERE)

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Trump Considering Pardons for Maxwell, Diddy; Supporters Outraged

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By The Independent. President Donald Trump on Monday said he’d consider a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker who conspired with the president’s late friend, pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, to traffic and abuse minor girls in multiple states.

He also said he’d been asked for a pardon by Sean “Diddy” Combs, the hip-hop mogul who was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison following a federal prostitution conviction last week.

Speaking in the Oval Office during an event on approving a new mining road in Alaska, Trump was asked whether he’d consider clemency for Maxwell, a British socialite who was indicted on sex trafficking charges after Epstein, who once described himself as Trump’s best friend, hanged himself in a New York detention cell while awaiting trial on similar charges in 2019.

“You know, I haven’t heard the name in so long. I can say this, that I’d have to take a look at it. I would have to take a look,” Trump said.

He then said he would have to “speak to the DOJ” and stressed that he did not know “anything” about the matter despite the case dominating headlines for months over a bipartisan effort to force release of case files from the Justice Department’s attempt to prosecute Epstein. (Read more from “Trump Considering Pardons for Maxwell, Diddy; Supporters Outraged” HERE)

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Laura Loomer warns against lobbying Trump to pardon Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell: ‘Do not do it. I repeat. Do not do it’

By The Independent. Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist who has growing influence with President Donald Trump, warned against those “lobbying” the administration for a Ghislaine Maxwell pardon, insinuating there could be consequences.

Shortly after the president told reporters Monday that he would “speak” to the Department of Justice about considering clemency for the convicted sex offender, Loomer posted a warning on X to those who may be advocating for Maxwell.

“I strongly advise AGAINST anyone lobbying the Trump admin and the DOJ to Pardon Ghislaine Maxwell,” Loomer wrote. “Do not do it. I repeat. Do not do it. There will be no coming back from that.”

Loomer added: “I repeat again. For the love of God. Do Not Do It.”

The political operative, 32, did not specify what exactly could happen to those who advocate for Maxwell but she has previously wielded her influence with the president to get people fired for what she perceives as disloyalty. (Read more from “Laura Loomer warns against lobbying Trump to pardon Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell: ‘Do not do it. I repeat. Do not do it’” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr