Israeli Prime Minister to Be Indicted

By Daily Wire. On Thursday, Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced that his office would be formally indicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on one count of bribery and two counts of fraud and breach of trust. The indictments pertain to three different cases that spanned two years of investigations.

The timing of the indictments gives off the perception of potential political motivation — Israel will hold national elections on April 9, and Netanyahu is currently triangulating an episode of turmoil and pushback that has followed his controversial decision to welcome fringe party Otzma Yehudit into his possible Right-of-center governing coalition. (Read more from “Israeli Prime Minister to Be Indicted” HERE)

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Be Indicted on Bribery, Fraud and Breach of Trust, Pending Hearing

By Fox News. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be indicted on corruption charges, the country’s attorney general said Thursday, just weeks before the country goes to the polls.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said the charges of one count of bribery and two counts of fraud and breach of trust relate to three different cases, and came after two years of investigation.

The indictments are subject to a hearing, and marks the first time in Israeli history that a sitting prime minister has been charged with a crime. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert served time in prison for corruption, but had already resigned by the time he was charged.

Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and calls the various allegations a media-orchestrated witch hunt aimed at removing him from office. He has vowed to carry on and is deadlocked in the polls ahead of national elections on April 9.

“The Left is on a hunting spree against me,” Netanyahu said Thursday, adding that the accusations are a political ploy because “they know they can’t defeat me at the ballot.” (Read more from “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Be Indicted on Bribery, Fraud and Breach of Trust, Pending Hearing” HERE)

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After Trump’s Walkout, What Comes Next in the U.S.-North Korea Nuclear Negotiations?

There was no grand bargain in Hanoi between President Trump and Kim Jong-un at the second summit between the two leaders. After meeting and taking some questions from reporters in which both were optimistic (Trump was more guarded about what would be accomplished at this summit), they didn’t even go through with a planned lunch. While disappointing for some hoping for concessions from Trump and Kim that would yield at the minimum “confidence building” measures, the news of a no-deal outcome came to me as a relief. Here’s why. . .

President Trump has already been over-the-top generous towards Kim and owes him exactly nothing. The first summit in Singapore was a PR victory for Kim, who is known internationally for what he is: a cruel, ruthless dictator who sits atop a strange (though don’t confuse it for irrational) brand of Communist authoritarianism and deserves global isolation. The state’s official ideology is juche, which infuses racism and dynastic rule and has Communist influence. It’s dangerous and still deserves global isolation.

But Trump, committed to decreasing the hostility of the two countries in the hopes of making progress on the issue peacefully, has taken an unprecedented approach: give Kim the flattery and photo opps not as a reward for disarmament, but instead as an inducement for more. Trump is trying to get the young Kim drunk on praise and fame with the promise that more will follow in greater degrees, if only Kim will accept the deal of all deals with President Trump and choose economic prosperity in exchange for his nuclear missile program.

So far, Kim has rebuffed this offer. According to the president, in Hanoi, Kim demanded total sanctions relief upfront in exchange for only minimal steps towards denuclearization. It is an absurd demand and if those disappointed with the results of the summit want someone to blame, the blame rests with Kim Jong-un and him alone. . .

One, every missile and nuclear weapon that was in North Korea at the time of the Singapore Summit is still there. And just because the regime has stopped testing missiles doesn’t mean it has stopped producing them or producing nuclear (and chemical and biological) weapons. In fact, we have reason to believe the regime is doing just that. Moreover, there are reports that indicate North Korea continues to proliferate weapons outside its borders including chemical weapons technology to Assad in Syria. Recall, North Korea and Iran have a history of cooperation. (Read more from “After Trump’s Walkout, What Comes Next in the U.S.-North Korea Nuclear Negotiations?” HERE)

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Trump Conveys ‘Great Respect’ for Kim, as North Korean Leader Compares Scene to ‘Fantasy Movie’

Long-awaited nuclear negotiations between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were underway in Vietnam on Thursday morning, after a whirlwind day on Capitol Hill that threatened to steal the spotlight from the second historic summit between the two leaders.

“I just want to say: I have great respect for Chairman Kim, and I have great respect for his country,” Trump told reporters as he sat at a table across from Kim in Hanoi. “And I believe it will be something — hard to compete with for other countries. It has such potential.” . . .

Kim, for his part, said the “whole world” was watching the talks and suggested that, for some, the image of the two “sitting side by side” must resemble “a fantasy movie.”

Trump added that while reaching a lasting agreement was critical, “speed is not important.” The two leaders then retired to begin their negotiations privately, but were photographed shortly afterwards walking on the Metropole hotel’s pool patio, where they were joined by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean official Kim Yong Chol.

Trump, Kim and their aides were in Hanoi after long journeys by plane, train and automobile — Trump on Air Force One, Kim in an armored railcar and limousine — for two days of talks addressing perhaps the world’s biggest security challenge: Kim’s nuclear program, which stands on the verge of realistically threatening targets around the planet. (Read more from “Trump Conveys ‘Great Respect’ for Kim, as North Korean Leader Compares Scene to ‘Fantasy Movie'” HERE)

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How the Asylum Invasion Allows the Cartels to Flood Us With Criminals

It’s not just five-year-old children coming to our border, as depicted in many media accounts. Every week, we see more examples of violent criminal aliens in this country who have often been deported multiple times but find their way back into the country while our border agents are drafted into babysitting services for Central American migrants. This point was brought to the forefront last week when the Yuma sector Border Patrol caught two individuals with guns at our border within 48 hours.

Last Tuesday, according to CBP, while “a group of 25 Guatemalans made up of family members and juveniles surrendered to agents several miles east of the port of entry” in San Luis, Arizona, three Mexican human smugglers were caught bringing in six other Mexicans. They were caught with several loaded 9mm pistols, and the Special Operations Division was sent out to interdict them.

This was a very significant development, according to retired Texas Department of Public Safety Captain Jaeson Jones. In an interview with CR, Jones said he believes these people who come in armed while Border Patrol is dealing with the family units are working for the cartels. The question is how many more we don’t catch. “Firearms carried by smugglers into the United States bring extreme risk to our law enforcement and citizens,” said Jones. “Smugglers carry firearms into the country to protect high-value commodities that usually belong to higher-ranking members of the Mexican cartels.” Jones explained that the concern of them reacting in “desperation” to protect goods for the cartels is “why you see more specialized law enforcement units like Special Operations Division being utilized to arrest when intelligence indicates firearms are being used by smugglers.”

Jones told me his concerns about cartel smuggling were further confirmed when less than 48 hours later, CBP recovered another firearm from a multinational group arrested in the same area. Here is a picture of the firearm posted by CBP:

Notice the aftermarket changes and personalized markings on the weapon, from the initials to the diamond shapes on the polymer grips. Jones believes they are very significant. “Given that Mexico has some of the most stringent gun laws in the world, the only people carrying weapons will be those in authority or members of the cartels.”

Jones observed that the aftermarket personalization of the firearm is a hallmark of cartel weapons. “This weapon has had multiple enhancements like an aftermarket trigger, the slide has been cut to reduce slippage during manipulation under stress by the shooter, and the grip has diamonds cut into it to indicate wealth. … These are classic signs of the cartels.”

Now, consider the fact that the Border Patrol chief just testified yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee that 68 large groups of 100 or more Central American families have come over the border so far this year compared to 13 during the entire fiscal year 2018. Can you imagine how many more cartel and criminal elements were able to slip in while our agents were tied up, just as bad as the guys caught in Arizona?

We need not imagine. We see this every day in interior crimes committed not only by those whom we fail to deport, but by those who are deported and make it back into the country.

Last week, in Napa County, California, a sheriff’s deputy was nearly killed when an illegal alien fired at her at point-blank range during a traffic stop. Javier Hernandez, an illegal alien from Mexico, had an extensive criminal record. He was arrested for DUI and battery on a peace officer and had four ICE detainers placed on him, but got away because California is a sanctuary state. This is the all-important story of sanctuary cities and interior enforcement on display. But it’s also about border security. Hernandez was previously deported three times! How was he able to get back in?

There are examples of this huge problem every week.

Bionel Cervin-Gomez, another Mexican illegal alien, was arrested over the weekend for a hit-and-run homicide of an eight-month-old unborn child in Florida after allegedly driving while drunk and without a license. These stories go untold every day, as was the story of one mother, Aileen Smith, who related on my podcast last year her tragedy of losing her unborn child in an illegal alien drunk driving wreck. In this case, he was already previously deported. My wife just had to spend five hours one day this week waiting in line to renew her driver’s license because of the need to prove identity, while illegal aliens are able to break all our laws and steal identity with our own government accommodating it.

In another example of criminal aliens getting back into the country, the Justice Department just successfully convicted a Honduran illegal alien for re-entering the country on top of state rape charges. Juan Ramon-Vasquez was deported to Honduras in 2009, but came back again. In 2014, ICE placed a detainer on him, but the city of Philadelphia let him go. He went on to repeatedly rape a child. Once again, the mix of sanctuary cities and the ability to re-enter the country undetected is creating the ultimate public safety problem.

How do people like that keep entering our country? They do so while our Border Patrol is used as a hospital, babysitting service, bed and breakfast, and transportation hub for the world’s migrant populations. Nobody truly knows how many criminals come in undetected, and nobody even knows all of the illegal aliens who commit crimes but whose identities are covered up by sanctuary cities and judges. But clearly, it’s easy for even those with prior criminal records here to continuously come back.

Over the weekend, Tucson sector Border Patrol encountered 10 small groups totaling 75 people who, “in stark contrast to the large groups of Central American family units surrendering in recent months,” were “wearing camouflage clothing to avoid apprehension” in more remote areas. Thanks to the National Guard serving as a force multiplier, they were apprehended, but again, how many more are not?

This is why we not only need more border fencing and beefed-up military presence, but an end to all cross-border migration, which Trump can shut down through use of his executive and delegated authority to shut off all immigration. Just remember, every time you see a new caravan of poor Central Americans, another murderer, rapist, drug trafficker, and armed robber is able to sneak in with the help of cartels and transnational gangs so they can harm more Americans. (For more from the author of “How the Asylum Invasion Allows the Cartels to Flood Us With Criminals” please click HERE)

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Sad: People Search Garbage Truck for Food in Socialist Venezuela

By Daily Wire. Starving Venezuelans rummaged through a trash truck this week in a search for food, following Venezuela’s collapse due to its socialist policies.

“Amid the increasingly dire situation in Venezuela, Univision’s left-leaning anchor Jorge Ramos traveled into the rapidly imploding socialist country for an interview Monday with dictator Nicolas Maduro,” The Daily Wire reported. “But after Ramos said he took the conversation in a direction Maduro didn’t appreciate, things quickly devolved, resulting in Ramos and his team having all their equipment confiscated and a frightening two-hour encounter with agents.”

In a video posted on the “Real American with Jorge Ramos” Facebook page, Ramos “said the last straw for Maduro was when the Mexican-American journalist held up his iPad and showed him footage he had filmed himself of three children on the streets of Venezuela rummaging through the back of a garbage truck for scraps of food,” Fox News reported.

“He just couldn’t stand it,” Ramos said. “He didn’t want to continue the interview. He tried to close my iPad. They confiscated all of our cameras, all our videos.”

“He didn’t like the things we were asking, about the lack of democracy in Venezuela, the torture of political prisoners, about the humanitarian crisis that they are living,” Ramos later told Univision. “I told Nicolas Maduro that millions of Venezuelans and many governments in the world do not consider him a legitimate president and they consider him to be a dictator.”

(Read more from “WATCH: People Search Garbage Truck for Food in Socialist Venezuela” HERE)

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Venezuela Soldiers Who Choose Defection Hope More Join Their Ranks

By NBC News. A high-stakes plan by the Venezuelan opposition to bring humanitarian aid into the country floundered Saturday when troops loyal to Maduro refused to let the trucks carrying food and medical supplies cross, but it did set off a wave of military defections unlike any seen yet amid the country’s mounting crisis. Over 320 mostly low-ranking soldiers fled in a span of four days, Colombian immigration officials said Tuesday.

With no relatives in Colombia, several dozen have ended up in a shelter run by a priest. The home on a street with low-hanging electrical wires is where they are nervously keeping track of relatives left behind, figuring out how to apply for asylum and deciding what should come next. . .

In interviews with The Associated Press, nine National Guard soldiers described the day that they were ordered by commanders to stop the humanitarian aid from entering Venezuela. Fearful of being jailed, many complied with orders and admitted to launching tear gas at protesters. Two said they were part of a failed plot to get the aid in. All fled after making unplanned, split-second decisions with only the uniform on their backs. (Read more from “Venezuela Soldiers Who Choose Defection Hope More Join Their Ranks” HERE)

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Trump Secures Release of American Hostage in Yemen

On Monday, President Donald Trump announced that he had secured the release of Danny Burch, a U.S. citizen from Texas who was held hostage in Yemen for 18 months.

Burch was an employee for the Yemeni Safer oil company when Houthi rebels reportedly abducted him from the capital in broad daylight while dropping his children off at a school event in September 2017, the National Review reports.

“It is my honor today to announce that Danny Burch, a United States citizen who has been held hostage in Yemen for 18 months, has been recovered and reunited with his wife and children,” Trump tweeted. “I appreciate the support of the United Arab Emirates in bringing Danny home.” . . .

“Danny’s recovery reflects the best of what the United States & its partners can accomplish. We work every day to bring Americans home. We maintain constant and intensive diplomatic, intelligence, and law enforcement cooperation within the United States Government and with our foreign partners. Recovering American hostages is a priority of my Admin, and with Danny’s release, we have now secured freedom for 20 American captives since my election victory. We will not rest as we continue our work to bring the remaining American hostages back home!”

“In 2017, U.S. citizen Danny Burch was taken hostage from Sanaa, Yemen. Today he is safe and secure, and is reunited with his wife and children,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement, USA Today reports. “The family has asked for privacy as they recover from this ordeal.” (Read more from “Trump Secures Release of American Hostage in Yemen” HERE)

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Bernie Sanders Won’t ‘Condemn the Genocidal Dictator’ in Venezuela ‘Because He Believes in His Ideology’

Friday on the radio, LevinTV host Mark Levin explained why socialism and collectivism are so effective in winning over American hearts and minds, despite their pernicious effects on society.

Levin read from his book “Rediscovering Americanism” and discussed the political philosophy of Russian-British political theorist and philosopher Isaiah Berlin, who said that not enough concern is given to the political academics and intellectuals, whose ideas determine the future of politics and of humanity itself.

“In fact, ladies and gentlemen … there is no debate,” Levin said. “We never engage, except at a very superficial level. We never explain humanity, nature, individualism, freedom. ‘Who’s gonna pay for that? Who’s gonna pay for that?’ It’s a good question, but we’re not going to win hearts and souls and minds.”

Levin explained that Berlin found this both surprising and dangerous, since so many societies today have been significantly changed or violently upset by fanatical social and political ideas, which Berlin called “dangerous.”

“‘When ideas are neglected by those who ought to attend to them’ — that is, the citizen,” Levin read, “‘That is to say, those who have been trained to think critically about ideas, they sometimes acquire an unchecked momentum, and are irresistible, an irresistible power over multitudes of men and women that may grow too violent to be affected by rational criticism.” And so yesterday when I played Bernie Sanders saying, ‘Well, what we need is a vote, a fair election in Venezuela,’ and I was pointing out they’re beyond that. He will not condemn the genocidal dictator, because he believes in his ideology. Berlin would say that’s preposterous, Bernie Sanders. You’re taking about a vote, when the man is destroying his country.”

Listen:

“It’s not a question of governing yourself, it is the extent to which you can compel other people to do what you want them to do, so you can be all you can be. You see what I’m saying? ‘I want universal healthcare. I want free college. I want this, I want that.’ Well, you’re enslaving other people. You’re denying them their liberty. Maybe they don’t want it,” Levin said. (For more from the author of “Bernie Sanders Won’t ‘Condemn the Genocidal Dictator’ in Venezuela ‘Because He Believes in His Ideology'” please click HERE)

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Pope Francis Calls for ‘All out Battle’ Against Sex Abuse but Completely Disappoints Victims

Pope Francis spoke Sunday at the conclusion of a four-day Vatican summit addressing the sexual abuse of minors in light of recent scandals in the Church. The Church has been grappling with the Pennsylvania grand jury report which uncovered the abuse of thousands of minors by 300 priests in addition to revelations of abuse perpetrated by prominent Church leaders, such as former D.C. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

“I make a heartfelt appeal for an all-out battle against the abuse of minors both sexually and in other areas, on the part of all authorities and individuals,” the pope said, “for we are dealing with abominable crimes that must be erased from the face of the earth: this is demanded by all the many victims hidden in families and in the various settings of our societies.” . . .

Summit moderator and former Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi later said that the Vatican will soon release a child protection policy and guidelines for preventing sexual abuse of minors for Vatican City State and a handbook for bishops to better comprehend their duties in these matters.

The address by Pope Francis met with criticism from some survivors and the media, given his unwillingness to address allegations of his own cover-up in the case of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

The summit follows the laicization, or dismissal from the priesthood, of McCarrick after a Church investigation deemed sexual assault allegations against him were credible. The allegations included that he abused a minor during the sacrament of confession and sexually abused seminarians. (Read more from “Pope Francis Calls for ‘All out Battle’ Against Sex Abuse but Completely Disappoints Victims” HERE)

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El Chapo’s Team Believes He Deserves Another Trial. Here’s Why.

By Townhall. Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s legal team on Friday announced that they would be seeking a new trial for the alleged Mexican drug lord. According to Guzman’s team, multiple jurors violated a federal judge’s instructions when they followed the media’s account of the trial, the Associated Press reported.

Guzman’s team plans to ask U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan to perform an evidentiary hearing “to determine the extent of the misconduct.”

The decision comes after a VICE News article was published with an interview from one of the jurors. In the interview, the juror said at least five other jurors broke protocol and followed media coverage of the case. (Read more from “El Chapo’s Team Believes He Deserves Another Trial. Here’s Why.” HERE)

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Inside El Chapo’s Jury

By VICE. For the first time since the trial of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán ended on Feb. 12, a member of the jury has described what it was like be part of the historic case.

In an exclusive interview with VICE News, the juror claimed that at least five fellow jurors violated the judge’s orders by following the case in the media during the trial. The juror also shared details of the deliberations, the extraordinary security precautions that were in place, and the jury’s views on Chapo, his lawyers, the prosecution, and several key witnesses.

The jury deliberations dragged on for six days largely because of one stubborn holdout, the juror claimed. The juror said another factor before the deliberations began was the prospect that Chapo would be forced to spend the rest of his life alone in a prison cell. . .

Now that Chapo has been convicted, he’ll likely be sent to the so-called “Alcatraz of the Rockies,” a federal “supermax” prison in Colorado where many high-profile inmates are kept in solitary. (Read more from “Inside El Chapo’s Jury” HERE)

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Israeli Archaeologists Find 2,700-Year-Old Artifact That Backs Biblical Record

By The Blaze. According to Reuters, archaeologists in Israel have discovered a 2,700-year-old seal impression that they say validates part of the biblical record.

According to the Israeli Antiquities Authority, the seal was excavated by Shimon Cohen and bears an inscription in ancient Hebrew that reads “belonging to the governor of the city.” The seal was unearthed near the plaza of the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Bible references governors of Jerusalem on multiple occasions in the Old Testament.

The seal is made of clay, and is about the size of a small coin and depicts two men facing each other. It measures 13 x 15 mm across its face and 2-3 mm thick. According to the Antiquities Authority, it was most likely originally attached to a shipment or sent as a souvenir.

According to the excavator, Dr. Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah, the seal “supports the Biblical rendering of the existence of a governor of the city in Jerusalem 2,700 years ago.” (Read more from “Israeli Archaeologists Find 2,700-Year-Old Artifact That Backs Biblical Record” HERE)

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Israeli Archaeologists Discover 2,700-Year-Old Clay Seal That Once Belonged to a Biblical Governor of Jerusalem

By Daily Mail. Israeli archaeologists have unveiled a 2,700-year-old clay seal which once belonged to a biblical governor of Jerusalem.

The tiny object depicts two men in striped robes facing one-another above the inscription ‘lesar ha’air’ which in ancient Hebrew means ‘belonging to the governor of the city.’

Researchers an unsure of the exact purpose of the seal, but speculate it could have been attached to some kind of transport and served either as a logo or a souvenir for the recipient, likely a figure of importance. . .

Hebrew University Professor Tallay Ornan and Tel Aviv University Professor Benjamin Sass wrote of the seal: ‘The title “governor of the city” is known from the Bible and from extra-Biblical documents, and refers to an official appointed by the king.

‘Governors of Jerusalem are mentioned twice in the Bible: in 2 Kings, Joshua is the governor of the city in the days of Hezekiah, and in 2 Chronicles, Maaseiah is the governor of the city in the days of Josiah.’ (Read more from “Israeli Archaeologists Discover 2,700-Year-Old Clay Seal That Once Belonged to a Biblical Governor of Jerusalem” HERE)

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