Juror in Alex Murdaugh Double Murder Trial Speaks out on Court’s ‘Crazy’ Decision to Toss Convictions

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A juror who helped convict Alex Murdaugh in the killings of his wife and son was left stunned by the South Carolina Supreme Court’s “crazy” decision Wednesday to overturn the verdict.

Juror Ami Williams insisted she was never swayed into convicting the disgraced legal scion in the grisly 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and 22-year-old son, Paul, after the state’s top court unanimously found that a court clerk improperly influenced his dramatic six-week trial.

Judges ruled that Colleton County court clerk Becky Hill tainted the 2023 trial by meddling with the jury.

“I never felt that the clerk of court was pushing an agenda or trying to push me to come to a certain verdict,” Williams told NBC News Wednesday. “Never felt that way about her at all.”

The shocked juror blasted the court’s decision to toss the murder convictions as “crazy” while hailing Hill – who oversaw the jury – for being “so gracious” and “super helpful.” (Read more from “Juror in Alex Murdaugh Double Murder Trial Speaks out on Court’s ‘Crazy’ Decision to Toss Convictions” HERE)

‘Porn is Warping our Lives,’ admit Gen Z Men, who Reveal Their Addictions got ‘Totally out of Control’

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Men now in their 20s are the first to grow up with easy access to pornography from childhood, and they say it changed how they see women and how they form and maintain relationships, a Post investigation has found.

Six heterosexual men in the age group each admitted they had habitually used pornography to a point where it became part of their daily routine.

“Starting in like middle school, it was like, I’d come home and watch porn after school and take a nap, and it became daily pretty quickly,” one man told The Post. “By the time I was 18, it was like two or three times a day.”

The 26-year-old from DC was only in sixth grade when he first encountered porn — and it transformed the way he saw the world around him. . .

He is a member of Gen Z, the first generation to have smartphones as tweens. With unfettered access to the internet in their pocket, many boys inevitably found their way to pornography. Today, the typical child first comes across porn at age 12, according to one survey.

“In the ’70s and the ’60s, people had to go to the dingy movie theaters, the red light districts. They had to actively seek good stuff out,” a 28-year-old from Florida said. “Now it’s in your pocket.” (Read more from “‘Porn is Warping our Lives,’ admit Gen Z Men, who Reveal Their Addictions got ‘Totally out of Control’” HERE)

Multiple Oil Spills May Plague The Persian Gulf Because Of Iran War

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The Iran War’s effects are moving past economics and into the environment.

Multiple instances of what appear to be oil spills have occurred this week in the Persian Gulf, Reuters reported. One apparent spill appears to be emanating from Kharg Island, while another spill appears to be streaming behind an ADNOC Logistics & Services oil tanker that was hit by Iranian drones on May 4.

The images are probably indicative of oil slicks, Reuters reported, citing Louis Goddard, co-founder of Data Desk, a climate- and commodities-focused consultant.

“The ADNOC Logistics & Services vessel Barakah remains at anchor off the coast of Oman ​after being impacted by two Iranian drones on May 4,” Reuters reported, citing an ADNOC company spokesperson. “A small amount of what is understood to be bunker fuel was unfortunately released as a result of the incident.”

The Barakah is classified as a crude oil tanker, according to MarineTraffic. It remains unclear how much fuel leaked into the Persian Gulf from the vessel. (Read more from “Multiple Oil Spills May Plague The Persian Gulf Because Of Iran War” HERE)

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CIA Whistleblower Alleges Cover-Up Of Lab Leak Intelligence

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Spy scientists repeatedly concluded that a lab accident caused the COVID-19 pandemic but more senior bureaucrats watered down and suppressed their conclusions, a CIA senior operations officer testified to Congress on Wednesday.

The CIA officer and whistleblower, James E. Erdman III, described under oath in a hearing called by Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday a pattern of obstruction that promoted the conclusions of a tight knit group of virologists close to Anthony Fauci while downplaying the conclusions of the intelligence community’s own biological experts. Erdman recently departed from a task force organized by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to dig into whether the CIA violated its own analytic standards in its assessment of the cause of the deadliest pandemic in a century. Even from that perch — Gabbard’s office ostensibly oversees the CIA — Erdman faced continued bureaucratic stonewalling from the spy agency.

As Erdman and Gabbard dug into the apparent cover-up, the CIA denied the task force documents, illegally surveilled its members and fired one of its witnesses the day after the committee interviewed that witness, the whistleblower testified.

“Coincidentally, whenever the CIA investigates itself it never finds any wrongdoing,” Erdman said. “The accountability piece has to happen or this is just going to keep happening.”

Fauci and the CIA didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. (Read more from “CIA Whistleblower Alleges Cover-Up Of Lab Leak Intelligence” HERE)

Trump Tells Reporter He Doesn’t ‘Think About’ Americans’ Finances In Waging Iran War; Cost Of Iran War Balloons To Nearly $30,000,000,000

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By Daily Caller. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the deteriorating financial situation of Americans is not playing any role in pushing him to make a deal with Iran.

The Daily Caller’s White House Correspondent Reagan Reese pressed the president on whether increasing inflation — including energy and food prices — is influencing the White House’s decision to seek a deal to end the ongoing war with Iran. Trump dismissed the idea, declaring, “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation.”

“What extent are Americans’ financial situation motivating you to make a deal?” Reese asked.

“Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters, when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation, I don’t think about anybody.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for April revealed that inflationary pressure in the U.S. economy has been rising, with prices for energy and groceries heavily contributing to the spike. The cost of everyday goods rose 0.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis in April, after increasing 0.9% in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported. (Read more from “Trump Tells Reporter He Doesn’t ‘Think About’ Americans’ Finances In Waging Iran War” HERE)

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Cost Of Iran War Balloons To Nearly $30,000,000,000

By Daily Caller. The estimated cost of the war in Iran has now hit nearly $30 billion, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Department of War Comptroller and Chief Financial Officer Jules W. Hurst III said during a congressional testimony on Tuesday that the Iran war has cost about $29 billion in total thus far, citing an “updated repair and replacement of equipment cost and also just general operational cost” as the main reasons for the increase. The announcement comes after the Pentagon estimated on April 29 that the total cost of the war was roughly $25 billion, Reuters reported.

Hurst also said during the hearing that “at the time of testimony… it [the estimated cost of the Iran war] was $25 billion dollars,” in reference to War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s cost estimate from April.

However, the total cost of the Iran war may actually be closer to $50 billion, CBS News reported on April 30, citing anonymous U.S. officials familiar with internal assessments.

The Pentagon requested $200 billion from Congress to fund the war in March. (Read more from “Cost Of Iran War Balloons To Nearly $30,000,000,000” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Marine Vet With Concealed Carry Permit Helped Halt Felon’s Brazen Shooting Spree

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A Marine veteran helped Massachusetts State Police halt a gunman’s brazen shooting rampage Monday, the Cambridge Police Department said in a release.

Cambridge Police received word at 1:00 p.m. EDT Monday from the Boston Police Department that a person acting erratically armed with a rifle might be in the area. State Police came upon what was described as “an active shooter scene,” and confronted the gunman alongside the military veteran who had a concealed carry permit.

“After being confronted, the suspect allegedly continued to fire the weapon striking the State Police Cruiser,” Cambridge police said in the statement. “Both the civilian and the Trooper fired their weapons and the suspect was struck multiple times in the extremities. The suspect was treated on scene by police officers and transported to a Boston hospital.”

Video obtained by CBS News Boston showed the gunman brazenly firing a rifle while on Memorial Drive, with authorities saying at least 60 rounds were fired. The civilian who aided law enforcement has been described by multiple media outlets as a former Marine who had a concealed carry permit.

The suspect, 46-year-old Tyler Brown, had a lengthy criminal record, including receiving a five-to-six-year prison sentence for firing multiple rounds at police officers in 2020, according to a 2021 release from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. (Read more from “Marine Vet With Concealed Carry Permit Helped Halt Felon’s Brazen Shooting Spree” HERE)

REPORT: AI Giant Resisted CCP Infiltration As US Extends Tech Lead Over China

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AI giant Anthropic rebuffed an attempt from a Chinese think tank to gain access to its newest AI model, Claude Mythos, during a private meeting in Singapore, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Anthropic unveiled Mythos in April, but has limited its release to around 40 American companies, which include Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, over concerns that it is so powerful it could threaten national security systems and potentially disable companies that use it. During the April meeting organized by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a representative from a Chinese think tank asked Anthropic officials to loosen their stance and give Beijing access to the AI model, The New York Times reported.

The request was not an official ask from the Chinese government, The Times reported, but Trump administration officials at the National Security Council were nevertheless alarmed. Some officials saw it as a daunting sign that Beijing will try to infiltrate American companies by any means possible to gain access to new and powerful AI models, according to the report.

China is meanwhile scrambling to build out an AI model as powerful as Claude that is focused on cyber defense and can compete with American products, according to a report from the South China Morning Post.

“Our assessment is that China’s own Mythos will definitely emerge, though currently the overall capabilities of its cybersecurity models are far from those of Mythos,” Austin Zhao, senior research manager at International Data Corporation (IDC) China, told the outlet. “But the overall trend is inevitable because the capabilities of China’s models are also rapidly increasing.” (Read more from “REPORT: AI Giant Resisted CCP Infiltration As US Extends Tech Lead Over China” HERE)

Hantavirus Patient in Critical Condition after Doctors Dismissed Symptoms as ‘Anxiety’

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A French woman who tested positive for hantavirus after disembarking from the virus-stricken cruise ship is now in critical condition after doctors initially dismissed her symptoms as anxiety.

The passenger’s condition started to deteriorate rapidly after she was finally able to leave the ill-fated MV Hondius vessel when it docked in Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday, the Guardian reported.

The woman had initially developed flu-like symptoms on the luxury liner but appeared to be recovering — prompting doctors to speculate she was likely anxious or stressed amid the deadly outbreak.

“They were not thinking that these symptoms were compatible with hantavirus. Why? Because what she was telling [them] was [that she had] an episode of coughing some days ago that had disappeared, and what she was having at that moment was kind of like stress or anxiety or nervousness. So it was not catalogued [as hantavirus],” said Spanish Health Minister Javier Padilla Bernáldez.

The woman, who was one of five French passengers who left the ship on Sunday, was flown to a hospital in Paris, where her condition worsened overnight. (Read more from “Hantavirus Patient in Critical Condition after Doctors Dismissed Symptoms as ‘Anxiety’” HERE)

The Capacity of Americans to Produce Babies Crashed to a Record Low in 2025

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. . .Just in time for Mother’s Day, the CDC has published a report showing the total US fertility rate falling below 1.6 births per woman of reproductive age.

That’s a 1% decline from 2024 and a 23% drop since 2007 — and far below the 2.1 births per woman needed just to keep our population stable.

As with so many other aspects of contemporary life, we seem to have offshored the manufacture of human beings.

There should be nothing startling or unusual about this trend. It’s in line with the expressed opinions of large swaths of the great American public.

According to a 2024 poll, the share of American adults under 50 who have sworn off the messy business of reproduction increased from 37% in 2018 to 47% in 2023.

In an even more remarkable finding, only 48% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 think raising a family is a particularly important life goal. (Read more from “The Capacity of Americans to Produce Babies Crashed to a Record Low in 2025” HERE)

Trump Rejects Iran’s Latest Peace Offer after Tehran Refuses to Negotiate its Nuclear Program: ‘TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!’

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By New York Post. President Trump on Sunday appeared to reject Iran’s latest proposal in ongoing negotiations over a peace deal, calling the Islamic Republic’s offer “totally unacceptable.”

“I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The president also warned the country against “playing games” after Tehran refused to discuss its nuclear program in its latest response to America’s peace proposal through Pakistani mediators.

Trump slammed the rogue Mideast country for delaying negotiations historically, ranting on the social platform.

“Iran has been playing games with the United States, and the rest of the World, for 47 years (DELAY, DELAY, DELAY!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.’ (Read more from “Trump Rejects Iran’s Latest Peace Offer after Tehran Refuses to Negotiate its Nuclear Program: ‘TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!’” HERE)

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Pentagon reveals location of secret Navy submarine capable of launching nukes after Trump rejects Iran peace offer

By New York Post. The Pentagon revealed the location Monday of one of the US Navy’s most secretive vessels – a stealthy, nuclear-armed submarine – a day after President Trump rejected Iran’s latest peace offer.

The Navy’s Sixth Fleet shared an image of the Ohio-class submarine and its crew docked Sunday in Gibraltar, a British territory off Spain’s southern coast.

“The port visit demonstrates US capability, flexibility, and continuing commitment to its NATO allies,” the Sixth Fleet said in a press release.

“Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines are undetectable launch platforms for submarine-launched ballistic missiles, providing the US with its most survivable leg of the nuclear triad,” the fleet added.

The Navy, which operates 14 nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed Ohio-class submarines, did not share the name of the vessel docked in Gibraltar. (Read more from “Pentagon reveals location of secret Navy submarine capable of launching nukes after Trump rejects Iran peace offer” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr