The U.S. government is reportedly close to finalizing a deal with Moderna to fund its bird flu mRNA vaccine trial.

The Financial Times reported that an agreement to fund Moderna’s late-stage trial of its bird flu vaccine has nearly been reached, citing sources close to the decision.

According to the outlet, funding that could total several tens of millions would come from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

Moderna confirmed last week that it was engaged in discussions with the federal government for funding its trials. The company did not comment on the Financial Times report.

“Moderna can confirm we are in discussions with the U.S. Government on advancing our pandemic flu candidate, mRNA-1018. The Phase 1/2 dosing of mRNA-1018 is complete, with data expected soon,” the company said in a statement.

“The H5 vaccines in this trial cover the same clade as the currently circulating variant in the United States. We remain committed to using our mRNA platform to respond to public health concerns.”

Major flu vaccine manufacturer CSL Seqirus announced Thursday it had been selected by BARDA to deliver nearly 5 million doses of a prepandemic vaccine that is matched to the currently circulating strain of the bird flu.

“The [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] maintains the risk to public health as low. We are closely monitoring the situation because we are acutely aware of the threat that influenza virus strains like H5N1 can pose and take seriously our role in preparedness efforts alongside our government and public health partners,” Marc Lacey, global executive director for pandemics at CSL, said in a statement.

The risk of human-to-human bird flu transmission is extremely low.

Most cases are found in livestock workers who are in close proximity to infected poultry or cattle.

Infections can be treated with antiviral drugs, with treatment recommended as soon as symptoms occur.

In a debate hosted by Patrick Bet-David of PBD Podcast fame, “Part of the Problem” podcaster and comedian Dave Smith took on former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.

From lockdowns to masks, vaccines, Ivermectin and the vilification of resisters, the debate covered a lot of ground, with Smith dropping one laser-guided bomb after another on Cuomo.

I am against nuking civilians but whatever Dave Smith does to Chris Cuomo today will be completely justified.

— Joel Ellenwood (@_InfiniteZeal) May 31, 2024

Let’s dive right into the highlights. First, Smith opened the debate with a gentlemanly gesture, giving Cuomo a copy of the Tom Woods book, “Diary of a Psychosis: How Public Health Disgraced Itself During Covid Mania.” Tongue in cheek, he said, “I know you like following the science, and there’s a whole lot of science in that book.”

Right off the bat, @ComicDaveSmith hits @ChrisCuomo with, “I know you like science; there’s a lot of science in that book” as he gives Cuomo @ThomasEWoods‘ book “Diary of a Psychosis” #DaveCuomoDebate pic.twitter.com/Su4IylP9j3

— Christian Malazarte (@ChristianMalaza) May 31, 2024

Before the next clip, recall that, in an infamous segment on CNN, Cuomo and Don Lemon smugly battered Joe Rogan and others who used Ivermectin to battle Covid. Despite the fact that Ivermectin has been used since 1975 with great success against a wide variety of human maladies, Cuomo and Lemon ran hard with the regime narrative that referred to the wonder drug solely as a veterinary de-wormer.

Earlier this month, Cuomo revealed to Bet-David that he’s now himself taking a “regular dose of Ivermectin” for purported long Covid. However, In this jaw-dropping sequence, Cuomo stunned anyone with a memory of his exchange with Lemon by saying, “I don’t like what people did to Joe Rogan about Ivermectin.” A stunned Smith replied, “YOU did it!” Cuomo denied it and challenged Smith to “find the clips.” The PBD crew obliged, promptly rolling the damning video:

Chris Cuomo: “I don’t like what people did to Joe Rogan about Ivermectin—”

Dave Smith: “You did it!”

Cuomo: “No, no. Find the clips.”

Smith: “Find the clips.”

👀 pic.twitter.com/MWnBSdCKaT

— Holden Culotta (@Holden_Culotta) May 31, 2024

Flashback bonus video: Here’s the Rogan-Sanjay Gupta exchange Smith referred to:

Oh, look. Ivermectin is trending (again)…

Remember Dr. Sanjay Gupta with Joe Rogan?pic.twitter.com/YJzo6MM4hE

— E 🇺🇸 (@Simply4Truth_) June 19, 2023

Smith condemned Cuomo for failing to do his job, which was to “be skeptical of power and to shine a light against the propaganda…you ate up every piece of propaganda, repeated all of it without any thought to whether it was true or not, and then smeared millions of Americans like myself who were opposed to this stuff.”

Dave Smith CONFRONTS Chris Cuomo Over Failure to Apologize for COVID Smears

“You, sir, were smearing people like us for having this view.”

“It was kind of amazing to watch you admit… pic.twitter.com/fHRG3LrFbt

— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) May 31, 2024

Cuomo said Smith was guilty of using “hyperbole” in referring to the Covid regime as “totalitarian.” An unwavering Smith had a pointed and compelling response:

🔥 Chris Cuomo Says the COVID Lockdowns Were Not Totalitarian & Gets Instantly Cooked by Dave Smith

“When you’re waking up every morning to watch your TV to find out from your governor what you’re allowed to do today, including am I allowed to go to work, am I allowed to have a… pic.twitter.com/V7tdaRZAak

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) May 31, 2024

Smith elaborated, explaining why “it was completely criminal for all of these governments to lock down”…

.@ComicDaveSmith BODY BAGS @ChrisCuomo on criminal Covid lockdowns:

“It was completely criminal for all of these governments to lockdown, they had no authority!” 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/BanrmV4j8M

— Young Americans for Liberty (@YALiberty) May 31, 2024

Asked whether lockdowns were a net benefit — or instead erred on the side of catastrophe — Cuomo drew audience laughter when he said, “The people I talked to — who made these decisions — stand by them.” Smith quipped, “I’m sure Dick Cheney stands by the war in Iraq too!”

Cuomo is such a slimeball.

Dave: “Do you think lockdowns worked?”
Cuomo: “I can argue yes, and I can argue no.”@ComicDaveSmith vs @ChrisCuomo Debate pic.twitter.com/h0EBlrwxe5

— Christian Malazarte (@ChristianMalaza) June 1, 2024

Smith grew indignant when Cuomo suggested that Smith’s focus was on drawing attention to himself — to the detriment of society. Smith countered: “You’re attacking my motives…meanwhile, when those CNN checks were coming in, you said nothing that would have put them in jeopardy, but now that you’re here, you’re starting to tell a little bit of the truth.”

Watch Chris Cuomo Get What He Deserves After Accusing Dave Smith of Seeking Attention

“It’s really wild, Chris, for you to psychoanalyze me and say my interest here is in generating attention. You’re the guy who went at CNN [who] said everything to defend the vaccine when you… pic.twitter.com/teKbftAHAE

— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) May 31, 2024

The debate also covered the Russiagate hoax. Here, Smith rakes Cuomo over the coal for “repeating mindlessly every day that there was some giant conspiracy with Trump and Russia and leading the entire country to believe that our election had been stolen by a hostile foreign power.”

Dave Smith Helps Chris Cuomo Recall How CNN Accused Trump of Colluding w/ Russia Everyday for Three Years

“You guys were repeating mindlessly everyday that there was some giant conspiracy with Trump and Russia and leading the entire country to believe that our election had been… pic.twitter.com/cyFmN2XmMp

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) May 31, 2024

Finally, here’s Smith giving the audience a big-picture view of a dumbed-down, late-empire America — where the “decadence” of “two guy slapping their buttcheeks together” in a Pride parade is dressed up as “standing up for our rights,” and where people in power pit Americans against each other, diverting their attention from universally-experienced woes like the Federal Reserve’s destruction of the dollar:

You can tell when @ComicDaveSmith is saying something that really connects because everyone’s listening to him. The room is silent… 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/WDHPXWtSst

— Christian Malazarte (@ChristianMalaza) June 1, 2024

Alas, amid the joy of Smith’s outstanding performance, there was a wistful element too, as many who’d hoped Smith would carry the flag of liberty as the 2024 Libertarian Party presidential candidate were reminded of what a remarkable champion he would have been — in stark contrast to the leftist, open-borders, drag-queen-promoting, kid-transing doozie the party ended up with.

Boy Dave Smith would have made a great libertarian presidential candidate.

— HoustonWeHaveAProblem (@Anon69691139265) May 31, 2024

That said, far be it from us to end a feel-good story on a down note. Our highlight reel just scratched the surface: If you’re looking for weekend entertainment, here’s the entire debate, which also covers much more Covid ground, Trump’s trumped-up conviction and a lot more:

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg committed “political malpractice” in his choice to pursue charges against former President Trump.

The Utah Republican on Saturday morning issued a statement, days after the guilty verdict against former President Trump, criticizing both Bragg and Democrats over the case’s result.

“Bragg should have settled the case against Trump, as would have been the normal procedure. But he made a political decision,” Romney told his biographer McKay Coppins, a writer at the Atlantic. His office confirmed the comments to Fox News Digital.

“Bragg may have won the battle, for now, but he may have lost the political war,” he warned. “Democrats think they can put out the Trump fire with oxygen. It’s political malpractice.”

Trump was found guilty by a New York jury on Thursday on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up payments that were made to pornographic performer Stormy Daniels, who claimed she had an affair with Trump. Trump denied the affair and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In the latter part of Romney’s Senate tenure, he has often aligned with more moderate conference members such as Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine. Due to this association, his response to the verdict was less predictable than other Republican senators, many of whom are close Trump allies.

Collins also denounced “the political underpinnings of this case” in her post-verdict statement.

But Murkowski avoided opining on the legitimacy of the case or verdict in her own reaction. Instead, the Alaska Republican lamented the drama and legal “baggage” that she said distracts voters from President Biden’s failures.

Members of the right-wing flank of the Republican conference reacted more strongly to the guilty verdict.

Several senators signed on to a letter to the White House on Friday, led by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, in which they vowed to make the legislative process as difficult as possible for Democrats going forward.

“As a Senate Republican conference, we are unwilling to aid and abet this White House in its project to tear this country apart,” the letter read.

Trump has pledged to appeal the verdict.

Romney previously suggested President Biden had made a mistake in not opting to pardon Trump, his political opponent. “You may disagree with this, but had I been President Biden, when the Justice Department brought on indictments, I would have immediately pardoned him,” Romney said in a mid-May interview on MSNBC.

“I’d have pardoned President Trump. Why? Well, because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned a little guy,” the senator added.

Many celebrities are opting not to endorse a candidate for president in 2024 and some have even expressed regret for previously backing President Biden in 2020.

Here are five celebrities who aren’t endorsing Biden after doing so four years ago.

“The View” co-hosts urge Charlamagne tha God to endorse President Biden, radio host rebukes attempt

Radio host Charlamagne tha God joined “The View” on May 22 where the show’s co-hosts repeatedly urged him to endorse Biden, after he repeatedly publicly questioned his own decision to do so in 2020.

Charlamagne said he prefers to focus on issues rather than individuals and noted that he has seen the co-hosts try to influence other guests into a Biden endorsement, specifically rapper Killer Mike.

“I’ve seen y’all do this on ‘The View’ before,” Charlamagne said. “I saw y’all do this to Killer Mike when he was on ‘The View,’ and Killer Mike literally sat here and said, ‘Hey, I supported Keisha Lance Bottoms, I supported Ralph [Raphael] Warnock, I supported Jon Ossoff’ … that’s your opportunity to say, ‘Well, clearly he’s talking about President Biden.’ Why do y’all need us to say this if we don’t feel comfortable saying it?”

Charlamagne did say that he still planned to vote in November despite the fact that he thinks “both candidates are trash.”

“I’m going to vote my best interest, and I’m going to vote for who I think can preserve democracy,” he said. “So if I think both candidates are trash and I don’t feel like endorsing one, would you rather me endorse an individual or endorse the fact that, hey, we need to go out and protect democracy.”

Charlamagne may still vote for Biden, though, given he recently told Fox News that Donald Trump was a “threat to democracy.”

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson regrets division caused by his endorsement of Biden in 2020

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson told “Fox & Friends” in April that he would not be backing Biden a second time around.

Johnson, who identifies as an independent, made his first endorsement of a political candidate during the 2020 election with Biden.

“The endorsement that I made years ago with Biden was what I thought was the best decision for me at that time,” he said.

But the actor and former WWE superstar said he regretted the division caused by wading into politics and said he would not be publicly endorsing a candidate in 2024.

“Am I going to do that again this year? That answer’s no. I’m not going to do that,” he said. “Because what I realized that what that caused back then was something that tears me up in my guts back then and now, which is division. And that got me.”

“The takeaway after [those] months and months and months, I started to realize like, ‘Oh man, that caused an incredible amount of division in our country,'” he added. “So I realize now going into this election, I’m not going to do that. I wouldn’t do that because my goal is to bring our country together. I believe in that, in my DNA. So in the spirit of that, there’s going to be no endorsement.”

Michael Rapaport withdraws Biden endorsement, would consider voting for Trump

Liberal comedian Michael Rapaport announced in May that he would no longer support President Biden, over what he deemed his insufficient support of Israel in its war against Hamas.

“Smoking Joe Biden. Cadaver Joe Biden,” Rapaport said in a viral video on May 9 where he denounced the Democratic president. “I never thought I would say this. I’m not voting for you. You’re not getting my vote.”

“And plenty of us also ain’t voting for you. You f—, you,” he said.

The comedian, who has been an outspoken critic of Trump, said he would even consider voting for the former president.

“This is why voting for d— stain Donald Trump, pig d— Donald Trump, is on the f—ing table!” he said.

His comments came just after Biden had vowed not to send weapons to Israel if it engaged in a major offense in the south Gaza city of Rafah.

Cardi B won’t endorse Biden, says she feels ‘betrayed’

Rapper Cardi B said that while she still believes Trump to be a threat to the country, she’s felt “layers of disappointment” under Biden’s leadership. She cited the high cost of living and a lack of action as reasons why she is reconsidering voting in the 2024 election at all.

“I feel like people got betrayed,” she told Rolling Stone in an interview published last month. Cardi B interviewed Biden ahead of the 2020 election and ended up endorsing him for president, after previously endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

“It’s just like, damn, y’all not caring about nobody,” she said. “Then, it really gets me upset that there is solutions to it. There is a solution. I know there’s a solution because you’re spending billions of dollars on any f—-ing thing.”

Director Oliver Stone says voting Biden was a ‘mistake,’ worried he may start World War III

Filmmaker Oliver Stone warned last year on Russell Brand’s talk show “Stay Free” that unless the U.S. changes its “suicidal” course, it faces a “potential World War III.”

“If we don’t stop this, what Biden is doing, this guy is – I voted for him – I made a mistake, I was thinking he was an old man now that he would calm down, that he would be more mellow and so-forth, I didn’t see that at all,” he said. “I see a man who maybe is not in charge of his own administration. Who knows?”

The Trump campaign said Friday it nearly doubled its single-day fundraising record after a New York jury found Donald Trump guilty in his criminal hush money trial.

The Republican’s campaign said it raised $34.8 million from small-dollar donors in less than seven hours following the historic verdict Thursday afternoon that convicted the former president of 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Nearly 30% of those donors were brand new to the Trump donation site WinRed, senior campaign advisors Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a press release.

The advisors echoed Trump’s post-trial vow that the “real verdict” will come on Election Day, Nov. 5, when he is set to face President Joe Biden in a rematch of their 2020 contest.

Trump is set to be formally nominated as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate days after his scheduled July 11 criminal sentencing in Manhattan Supreme Court.

He is the first former U.S. president, and first presumptive major-party nominee, ever to be convicted of a crime.

The Trump campaign told NBC News that its latest fundraising figure only includes donations sent between Thursday’s verdict, which came just after 5 p.m. ET, and midnight Friday.

The massive windfall comes less than two weeks after Trump reported a higher monthly fundraising haul than the Democrat Biden for the first time in 2024.

According to an exclusive snap poll for DailyMail.com which found that the guilty verdict in Manhattan only improved the former president’s standing with likely voters ahead of the 2024 election.

UPDATE:

Trump’s campaign boasted Friday that it had received $52.8 million in donations in the 24 hours since a Manhattan jury found him guilty in his hush money trial.

New York City police said Saturday that they had 34 people in custody following a pro-Palestinian protest at the Brooklyn Museum, which reported damage to some artwork and harassment to security staff by demonstrators.

Hundreds of protesters marched to the museum on Friday afternoon, set up tents in the lobby and unfurled a “Free Palestine” banner from the building’s roof before police moved in to make arrests.

New York City police officers tackled and punched some protesters during scuffles that broke out in the crowd outside the museum while some demonstrators hurled plastic bottles at officers and shouted insults. Other protesters held banners, waved Palestinian flags and chanted boisterously on the steps of the grand, Beaux Arts museum, which is the city’s second largest.

City police said the 34 people in custody were being processed and charges were being determined.

Museum spokesperson Taylor Maatman said in a statement that the museum closed an hour early because of concerns about people’s safety and the art collections.

”Unfortunately, there was damage to existing and newly installed artwork on our plaza, and our public safety staff were physically and verbally harassed,” Maatman said.

The rally started Friday afternoon across the street from the Barclays Center, home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets. Marchers banging drums and chanting then made their way to the museum about a mile away.

BREAKING: Hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters have taken over the Brooklyn Museum. They reportedly broke through barricades and assaulted staff.pic.twitter.com/Dbmb3O6PbK

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 31, 2024

Organizers, including the group Within Our Lifetime, called on supporters to “flood” and “de-occupy” the museum, saying they wanted to take over the building until officials “ disclose and divest ” from any investments linked to Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Videos posted on social media showed guards at the museum trying to secure its doors against the surging crowd, and demonstrators finding other ways inside.

Within Our Lifetime posted on social media that its chair, Nerdeen Kiswani, was “targeted and violently arrested” by police.

New York City has seen hundreds of street demonstrations since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began in October.

The Brooklyn Museum sits at the edge of Crown Heights, which is home to one of the city’s largest communities of Orthodox Jews.

On June 2, Mexicans will vote to pick their next president in a historic race that could see a woman take the top job for the first time.

In addition to the presidency, there are more than 20,000 positions to fill and an estimated 70,000 candidates vying for those offices, including 128 senate seats and 500 deputy seats; the mayorship of Mexico City; and governor’s offices in Chiapas, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos, Puebla, Tabasco, Veracruz and Yucatán.

Here’s who is running for president:

Claudia Sheinbaum

The 61-year-old Sheinbaum is a former Mexico City mayor and climate scientist. A longtime political ally of incumbent President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, she was the Mexico City environment secretary from 2000-2006 when he was mayor.

If she wins, Sheinbaum would be not only the first female president in Mexico, but the first president with Jewish heritage, although she rarely speaks publicly about her personal background and has governed as a secular leftist.

Her close alignment with López Obrador has been both a blessing and a curse politically. Sheinbaum has said she’s “not a close copy” of López Obrador – but she also doesn’t shy away from touting the principles they share, even repeating his slogans on the campaign trail.

(López Obrador has repeatedly dismissed whispers that he favors a candidate that he could influence, telling press in February that he would “retire completely” after his term.)

Among her policies, Sheinbaum has promised:

• Continuing Lopez Obrador’s pension for all senior citizens
• Scholarships for more than 12 million students
• Free fertilizers for small farm owners
• On security, she proposed consolidating the National Guard, reform of judiciary, strengthening intelligence and research and coordination with law enforcement authorities.

Xóchitl Gálvez

Backed by an opposition coalition of Mexico’s PRI, PAN and PRD parties, Xóchitl Gálvez is a former senator and previously served as the top official for indigenous affairs under former President Vicente Fox.

The daughter of an indigenous father and a mixed-race mother, the 61-year-old was a businesswoman before entering politics.

For a relative newcomer, Galvez’s entry into the presidential race has gained impressive momentum, experts say.

Her proposals include:

• Continuing Lopez Obrador’s pension for all senior citizens
• A “universal social protection system” of welfare programs for middle and lower classes
• A security approach that would strengthen local and state police
• Galvez has also hinted that that oil-rich Mexico should invest more in renewable energy, saying earlier this year: “We haven’t done it because we are dumbasses.”

Jorge Álvarez Máynez

A late entrant in the race, Jorge Álvarez Máynez shot to international attention earlier this month, when a stage collapsed at his campaign event in the northeastern city of San Pedro Garza García, killing nine people and leaving at least 121 people injured.

The 38-year-old has pledged to:

• Eliminate the crime of simple drug possession to to stop criminalizing poverty, and move from prohibitionism to regulation of drugs
• End the longstanding militarization of Mexico and instead focus on training and strengthening police
• He has also proposed a gradual economic reform including a universal pension system, guaranteed labor rights and income and progressive tax reform
• Máynez has also called for transforming the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and Pemex into renewable and clean energy companies, and for closing some refineries

The key issues: Security and migration

Security and immigration are top issues for all of Mexico’s presidential candidates.

Campaigning in the run-up to the election has been marred by dozens of assassination attempts and other political violence. There are concerns now that that the attacks have already cooled off campaigns; experts and political parties say some candidates have renounced their bids in fear of their lives.

But electoral violence is just a part of Mexico’s broader security crisis, with sky-high crime and homicide rates. In the first four and a half years of López Obrador’s government, 160,594 homicides were recorded – a figure surpassing that of the previous administration.

However, a report from the Mexican Peace Index (MPI), prepared by the Institute for Economy and Peace (IEP), has offered some reason for optimism, reporting improvements in five key indicators: homicides, crimes with violence, fear of violence, crimes committed with firearms, and crimes of violence. Homicides and crimes committed with firearms peaked in 2019, according to the May 2024 report, and have since improved.

Meanwhile, pressure is growing on Mexico’s southern and northern borders.

In 2023, the National Migration Institute (INM) recorded a 77% increase in migrant arrivals compared to 2022. And as it grapples with the surge of migrants and asylum seekers entering and crossing its own territory, Mexico will also have to contend with external policies on migration.

As an example, Myriam Guadalupe Castro Yáñez, an academic at the National School of Social Work of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), points to a recent state law in Texas that has already caused waves in Mexico.

In December, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill that would allow state officials to detain and deport people suspected of having entered the United States illegally. The law is currently blocked in a US federal court, but the López Obrador government has warned that it will not receive people deported by Texas and that it will only discuss immigration issues with Washington.

Both Sheinbaum and Gálvez have stated their support for this stance.

Progressive leaders across the Western world, along with non-governmental organizations, are continuing to facilitate an unprecedented migrant invasion into Europe and the US. This poses a significant national security risk as terror threats surge into summer.

Jumping across the Alantic to Europe, the French interior minister told AP News that security officers foiled an attack ahead of soccer events during the Paris Olympics.

Gerald Darmanin said in a statement that the members of the General Directorate of Internal Security arrested an 18-year-old man from Chechnya on May 22 on suspicion of being behind a plan to attack soccer events that will be held in the city of Saint-Etienne, southwest of Lyon. -AP

The report continued:

The man was preparing an attack targeting the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in the city of Saint-Etienne that will host several soccer matches during the Summer Games. The planned attack was to target spectators and police forces, the statement said. The suspect wanted to attack the Olympic events “to die and become a martyr,” the statement also said. -AP

Besides the person from Chechnya, Israel’s Mossad was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as also saying there are rising threats of terrorism ahead of the soccer events in France.

Iran is increasing its support of terror in Europe through proxy criminal groups in the 60-day lead-up to the Paris Olympics, the Mossad revealed on Thursday.

It highlighted in particular the activities of two criminal groups — FOXTROT and RUMBA — alleging that they were “directly responsible for a violent activity and the promotion of terrorism in Sweden and throughout Europe” and that they receive funds and direction directly from Iran.

Israel’s spy agency charged that Iran was behind the grenade attack against Israel’s Embassy in Belgium this past weekend and the gunshots near the embassy in Sweden on May 17. -JPost

Let’s not forget in the US, the terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has been linked to fueling chaos across colleges and universities. Through public records analysis, we have found links with PFLP to one sanctioned Iranian bank.

Remember the warning from the UAE Foreign Minister in 2017.

Today, COVID Select Subcommittee released the transcript from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s two-day, 14-hour transcribed interview. On Monday, Dr. Fauci will testify publicly for the first time since retirement.

Key takeaways from his closed-door testimony.

SOCIAL DISTANCING: The “6 feet apart” social distancing recommendation forced on Americans by federal health officials was arbitrary and not based on science.

Dr. Fauci testified that this guidance “sort of just appeared.”

MASKING: Dr. Fauci testified that he did not recall any supporting evidence for masking children.

Mask-wearing has been associated with severe learning loss and speech development issues in America’s children.

TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS: Dr. Fauci unequivocally agreed with every travel restriction issued by the Trump Administration at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

VACCINE MANDATES: Dr. Fauci admitted that vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic could increase vaccine hesitancy in the future.

He also claimed that these mandates were not sufficiently studied.

LAB LEAK THEORY: Dr. Fauci acknowledged that the lab leak hypothesis is not a conspiracy theory.

This comes roughly four years after he prompted the publication of “Proximal Origin” — a paper which attempted to vilify and disprove the lab leak hypothesis.

GAIN-OF-FUNCTION RESEARCH: Dr. Fauci repeatedly played semantics with the definition of “gain-of-function” research.

This appears to be an effort to avoid conceding that the NIH funded this dangerous research in China.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: Dr. Fauci claimed his staff had no conflicts of interest regarding the origins of COVID-19. Yet, his Senior Advisor was “best-friends” with the disgraced President of EcoHealth Alliance.

It is highly unlikely Dr. Fauci was unaware of this relationship.

GRANT APPROVAL PROCESS: Dr. Fauci testified that he signed off on every foreign and domestic NIAID grant without reviewing the proposals.

He was also unable to confirm if NIAID has any mechanisms to conduct oversight of the foreign labs they fund.

FEIGNED IGNORANCE: Dr. Fauci claimed he “did not recall” numerous issues & events surrounding the pandemic more than 100 times.

For example, Dr. Fauci testified that he did not recall details about EcoHealth Alliance’s controversial grant, which operated under his jurisdiction.

MORE

Read COVID Select Subcommittee’s staff memo highlighting key takeaways from the transcribed interview here.

Read the full transcripts from Dr. Fauci’s transcribed interview below:

• Dr. Fauci’s Day 1 Transcript
• Dr. Fauci’s Day 2 Transcript

COVID Select Subcommittee released four additional transcripts from transcribed interviews with leading public health officials. See below:

• Dr. Fauci’s Chief of Staff, Greg Folkers
• Former Acting NIAID Director, Dr. Hugh Auchincloss
• Deputy Director for Clinical Research at NIAID, Dr. Cliff Lane
• Associate Director for International Affairs at NIAID, Gray Handley

Robert De Niro will no longer be honored at the National Association of Broadcasters award ceremony following his anti-Trump rant outside the former president’s criminal trial.

The Oscar-winning actor, 80, was set to be handed the group’s Leadership Foundation’s Service to America Award next week.

But the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has rescinded the award after De Niro hit out at Donald Trump in a press conference in support of Joe Biden outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday.

‘I owe this city a lot. And that’s why it’s so weird that Donald Trump is just across the street because he doesn’t belong in my city,’ he told reporters.

The NAB which describes itself as ‘proudly bipartisan’ said De Niro would no longer be attending their event.

‘This event is proudly bipartisan, uniting those from across the political spectrum to celebrate the impactful work of local broadcasters and our partners,’ an NAB spokesman told The Hill.

‘While we strongly support the right of every American to exercise free speech and participate in civic engagement, it is clear that Mr. De Niro’s recent high-profile activities will create a distraction from the philanthropic work that we were hoping to recognize.

‘To maintain the focus on service of the award winners, Mr. De Niro will no longer be attending the event.’

It comes days after De Niro said he joined the Biden campaign because it was the only way to ‘preserve our freedoms’.

‘I don’t mean to scare you. No, wait, maybe I do mean to scare you,’ he told reporters.

‘If Trump returns to the White House, you can kiss these freedoms goodbye that we all take for granted.’

The actor cast himself as the true New Yorker and mocked Trump’s history of sometimes-unsuccessful business ventures and self-promotion, saying Trump was looking to ‘destroy’ the city.

‘We New Yorkers used to tolerate him when he was just another crappy real estate hustler masquerading as a big shot,’ De Niro said.

‘I love this city. I don’t want to destroy it. Donald Trump wants to destroy not only the city but the country, and, eventually, he could destroy the world.’

He said if Trump gets reelected he will never relinquish power.

‘I can tell you right now. He will never leave. He will never leave. You know that. He will never leave,’ De Niro said.

Watch the entire remarks from Robert De Niro.

He calls Trump a “grubby real estate hustler masquerading as a big shot. A two-bit playboy lying his way into the tabloids.”

“A loser.”

“A tyrant.”

“Clown.”

And he shuts down a MAGA calling officers Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone… pic.twitter.com/7B5MPrVBal

— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) May 28, 2024

Last week, the Biden campaign released a new ad that was narrated by De Niro sharply criticizing Trump’s presidency and plans if he’s reelected.

Trump labeled De Niro a ‘wacko’ following his rant outside Manhattan Criminal Court and posted a deepfake video that manipulates the actor’s own voice to call himself ‘washed up.’

The former president posted the video from his Truth Social account where the actor calls himself a ‘scared little man’ and a ‘sicko’ with ‘lots of skeletons in my closet.’

It also insults his stature, calls Trump a ‘real man,’ and includes crude references to gay sex.

‘I don’t know why they made this podium so high. I told them I’m coming straight from the bathhouse and didn’t have my platform shoes with me,’ the actor says in a manipulated voice that resembles his own in the video blasted out by Trump to his followers.

‘I’m speaking to you today because I’m a scared little man, a washed up actor with lots of skeletons in my closet. People like me need Joe Biden and power not because he’s any good, but because he enjoys the same sick perversions,’ it says.

The manipulated ‘Goodfellas’ and ‘Godfather Part II’ actor then says he only gets to ‘pretend to be tough and powerful on a movie set.’

‘If Donald Trump was in front of me right now I’d punch myself right in the face, get down on my hands and knees …’ the deepfake version of De Niro says, with a crude reference in the video posted by the former president.

Watch:

Authored by Shaun Maguire via X

I just donated $300k to Trump. I’m prepared to lose friends. Here’s why.

Back in 2016 I had drunk the media Kool-Aid and was scared out of my mind about Trump. As such I donated to Hilary Clinton’s campaign and voted for her.

By 2020 I was disillusioned and didn’t vote – I didn’t like either option.

Now, in 2024, I believe this is one of the most important elections of my lifetime, and I’m supporting Trump.

I know that I’ll lose friends for this. Some will refuse to do business with me. The media will probably demonize me, as they have so many others before me. But despite this, I still believe it’s the right thing to do.

I refuse to live in a society where people are afraid to speak.

The 2016 Election

I’m going to start off with something provocative, but I think it leads to a different take on the most controversial Trump issue, which is obviously January 6th. So here goes nothing.

I believe the 2016 election was manipulated to hurt Hilary Clinton and to help Donald Trump.

Hilary Clinton herself believes this, she has denied the 2016 election result dozens of times, and still does to this day. Plot twist: I agree with her! Look into Guccifer 2.0 which was the “hacker group” that strategically leaked her emails (through Wikileaks) in a drip campaign at just the right moments. Turns out it was the Russian GRU. And remember all those fake news and bot farms? These incidents are the tip of the spear — some of the publicly known incidents. There was extreme manipulation happening during the 2016 election.

Before proceeding, please watch at least 30 seconds of this video. It’s “24 straight minutes of Democrats denying election results.”

Russia (and others) interfering in the 2016 election was nothing new, this happens in every election, everywhere in the world. Obviously.

But for me, as someone that used to work in National Security, Russia’s implicit support for Trump made me deathly afraid of him getting elected as President.

I was wrong, and Russia miscalculated. President Trump turned out to be a master of foreign policy and particularly strong towards Russia. If you’ve never seen it before, please watch this two minute clip from Trump at a NATO breakfast 5 years ago.

If you’re too lazy, Trump told Germany that they’re a) owned by Russia via their energy dependence b) financing Russia’s war machine by buying their energy c) not investing enough in defense, investing only 1% of GDP, which was below the 2% NATO commitment, meanwhile the US was investing 4.2% of GDP. And yet the world said he’s owned by Russia?

For other Trump foreign policy wins, he: a) signed the Abraham Accords b) successfully put Iran in the penalty box, which the Biden administration immediately unwound and c) he helped India see the dangers of having their comms networks controlled by China resulting in Huawei and TikTok bans there.

My “radicalization” towards the center

August 16th, 2021 was the day I knew I could never support Joe Biden or any of the senior officials in his administration. This was the day that Afghans fell to their deaths from US C-17 airplanes at the Kabul International Airport, or KAIA as ISAF forces referred to it.

Back in 2012 I deployed to Afghanistan working for DARPA. I used to fly out of KAIA at least weekly, usually taking a Blackhawk to Bagram Airfield (BAF), but sometimes jumping on a C-130 down to Kandahar (KAF).

I’m not going to go into all of the details here, but this was personal for me — as it was for anyone that served in Afghanistan. Most have the wrong impression of what happened there. Afghanistan wasn’t Iraq. And real progress had been made. It took roughly 15 years to stabilize most of Afghanistan, but the ISAF coalition had gotten it to the place that little girls were going to school in Kabul, sometimes walked there by their mothers who weren’t even wearing Burkas anymore. All of this was unimaginable a decade prior.

And then there’s the strategic aspect. The US’s most strategic base in Afghanistan was Bagram Airfield. Unless you’ve been there it’s impossible to imagine how strategic this base is, and how easy it is to defend. Nestled in a remote valley at the foothills of the Himalayas. Within a couple hour flight of China and Iran, and a few minute flight to Pakistan. I believe this airfield could have been held for 50+ years with 50,000 men. A similar scale to the US permanent forces stationed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany or the US bases in Okinawa, Japan.

We gave up one of the most strategic air bases in the world, and arguably stability in Kabul, for political gain — to be able to say that President Biden ended the War in Afghanistan. And we did it in the most incompetent manner possible, literally with people falling from our airplanes. Everyone I have spoken with that served in Afghanistan knows this.

Global instability

It wasn’t just Afghanistan, I believe that the Biden administration has had some of the worst foreign policy in decades. And this has manifested in two major Wars breaking out during their administration, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Iran’s proxy attack against Israel.

Was the timing just bad luck? I don’t believe so. I believe that a weak America leads to a chaotic world.

The failed Afghanistan pull-out showed the weakness of the Biden administration. They failed to adapt to changing facts on the ground, chiefly the Afghan army putting up no resistance as the Taliban drove towards Kabul. If the US can’t adapt quickly in a theater where we’re already active, how can it react quickly to a blitz in a new theater, Ukraine? Granted the Russian’s botched their blitz, miscalculating the weather, almost certainly to keep China happy as they hosted the Olympics in Feb 2022.

The most damaging foreign policy has been the Biden administration’s approach to Iran. Biden resuscitated Obama’s braindead Iran doctrine. Somehow believing that the theocratic Islamic Regime could be turned towards the West.

But it’s much worse than this. After Hamas’ attack against Israel on October 7th, Iran took credit for planning the attack publicly. Moreover, Iran was so bold that their proxies carried out over 300 attacks against US bases and Naval ships. Many of the attacks haven’t been disclosed or publicized. At least 4 US soldiers have been killed in these attacks. And yet somehow despite this, the Biden administration has been rewarding Iran by unfreezing their funds, mourning the death of President Raisi and hamstringing Israel in its proxy battle.

This level of weakness is unprecedented in my opinion. The US has been kissing the ring of its attacker, literally while attacks against our Armed Forces are carried out. If you start looking, it’s hard to see anything other than Iranian foreign influence in the Biden administration, such as what Semafor reported on, and which was effectively buried by our mainstream media.

The Biden administration has been a dream come true for foreign adversaries, and a nightmare for US allies. Trusting of enemies, and fickle with friends.

Israel

To anyone that follows me on X you know that I’m a staunch Israel supporter and also Zionist. I believe that Israel is one of America’s most important allies in the world. Unfortunately, in a post-Snowden world, Israel is now arguably the world’s top cyber power. And it’s a critical intelligence ally for any US operations in the Middle East. It’s also becoming an advanced weapons partner, co-developing the hypersonic missile defense system Arrow 3 and also Iron Dome + Iron Beam.

The Islamic Regime in Iran terrorizes its own people and their proxies terrorize the entire region. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has been modernizing at an exceptional pace. Somehow the Biden administration has chosen to cuddle up to Iran while driving Saudi Arabia and Israel away. This is unforgivably disastrous policy in my opinion.

Double standards

The next topic that has boiled my blood are the double standards and lawfare that Trump has faced. Here are some examples:

• Classified documents: Hilary Clinton, Joe Biden, Mike Pence and Donald Trump were all caught with classified documents. Only Trump was indicted. Either it’s a crime for all of them or none of them. All of the arguments about quantity of documents or obstruction are distractions to justify a double standard.
• The Border Wall: remember how Trump was villainized for promoting a border wall? Biden resumed building sections of it after pausing them, which the legacy media has been very quiet about.
• Election denialism: yes, Trump denied the 2020 election results. But as we linked to above, so did Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden regarding the 2016 results. As have hundreds of other politicians since 2000. Either they’re all election deniers, or none of them.
• Corruption charges: every inch has been searched for Trump corruption while Joe Biden’s involvement with foreign countries (through Hunter) have been swept under the rug. Here are some examples.
• Three strikes for thee but not for me: Joe Biden was the architect of the 1994 Crime Bill, which most attribute as the source of the mass incarceration we saw over the next two decades (especially amongst black communities). Crack cocaine in particular was treated harshly when combined with the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act. Watch this video. Hunter Biden would be locked up for life if the same rules were applied to him that Joe Biden imposed on thousands of others.

This is just the tip of the double standard iceberg.

Lawfare

This is too broad of a topic to go into detail here, but suffice to say I’ve spent hundreds of hours following the trials and researching the charges against Trump. This has been another radicalizing experience. I understand that normally when there’s smoke there’s fire, but in this case I think when there’s smoke there’s lawfare.

To anyone with a curious mind, I implore you to go deep on any of the charges against Trump, whether civil or criminal. Here’s a very quick summary of some of the fishy aspects:

• Election Interference Case: Jack Smith was appointed Special Counsel to prosecute Trump. Jack Smith previously got the Governor of Virginia convicted of corruption charges… WHICH WERE THEN UNANIMOUSLY OVERTURNED BY THE SUPREME COURT. Basically Jack Smith misled the Jury. Why would you choose Jack Smith to be the Special Counsel for this case? Maybe if all you’re trying to do is to get charges to stick before an election, even if you know they’ll be overturned subsequently by the Supreme Court?
• The Classified Documents Case: once again Jack Smith is the Special Counsel.
• Georgia Election Interference: The Fulton County DA, Fani Willis, has a history of corruption. It turns out that the outside lawyer she selected to prosecute Trump … is someone she was having a romantic relationship with, Nathan Wade.Wade’s Law firm made about $700k after Willis appointed him. This was concealed. Wade has since resigned from the case but Willis is still involved.
  The Hush Money Case: The key witness, Michael Cohen, is a proven liar. His testimony has been filled with contradiction after contradiction.
• Bank Fraud: Trump was ordered by Judge Engoron to pay over $350M in civil judgment that he committed bank fraud. This whole case reeked of corruption. This was an incident where no harm had been done: the banks had already been fully repaid with interest. The most important point in the case was Judge Engoron arguing that Mar-a-Lago was worth only between $18M and $27.6M when Trump had said it’s worth between $426.5M and $612M. Judge Engoron tried to compare apples to oranges, with an appraised value vs market value for a property that is very clearly worth something close to Trump’s range.
• Sexual Assault / E Jean Carroll: the background to this case was almost unbelievable. In simple terms, a woman in 2019, E Jean Carroll, came out and said that 20+ years prior, in the late 1990s, Donald Trump had sexually assaulted her. The statute of limitations on this case had expired more than a decade prior to her claims. But the state of New York did something unprecedented and opened a one year window where people could file claims for sexual abuse going back to exactly the window when E Jean Carroll accused him. So that’s point #1, there was lawfare around the statute of limitations. Point #2 is that the case was highly irregular and ultimately the Jury determined that Trump did not rape E Jean Carroll, despite her claims. But they did determine that he sexually assaulted her (a lesser charge than rape.)

All of these cases are too complicated for most to follow, almost by design. As someone that has been following the cases closely, I’ve had the opposite reaction of what was intended: a) every single case seems to have had impropriety and b) after going through Trump’s entire life, if these are the worst things they can find, then he did less wrong then I otherwise would have assumed.

Fairness is one of my guiding principles in life and simply, these cases haven’t been fair for Trump.

Where do I disagree with Republicans?

The number one area is abortion. This is obviously a lightning rod issue. As someone with libertarian leaning views, I believe the Republicans have the wrong stance around imposing their views on others. That said, I think Democrats misunderstand the constitutional argument that this should be a states issue.

Domestic policies

Other than abortion, I believe that President Trump and the Republicans have been better on most domestic issues. Look at the quality of life in Red States such as Florida and Texas vs that in Blue States like California, Oregon and New York. I used to live in San Francisco and now live in Los Angeles. The crime and homelessness is out of control.

Trump was villainized for his stance on building a border wall, but we’ve had about 10M illegal immigrants cross into the US already during President Biden’s tenure.

The Democrats have been trying to regulate technology — especially open source AI and crypto in ways that incentivize the best builders to build outside of America.

25 years ago I believe the Far Right was vastly more dangerous than the Far Left. But today I believe the Far Left, and especially Antifa, is more dangerous. Our attention and maintenance was on the Far Right while we ignored the Far Left.

The 2020 election and January 6th

Now onto the elephant in the room, the 2020 election. The topic so taboo that if you talk about it you’re immediately cancelled. I’m willing to wade into this fire — some of us need to be willing to.

I believe America has conflated two issues: the 2020 election itself and January 6th.

Just as Hilary Clinton and dozens of other democrats claimed the 2016 election was stolen (which I agree with). I believe there was a similar scale, or even more interference in the 2020 election. We need to be able to talk about this, so that we can fix the problems. Democracy doesn’t work without secure elections. But it also doesn’t work without peaceful transitions of power. Both are essential.

I believe there was extreme election interference but I don’t believe January 6th was the right response. Bear with me.

So what was going on during the 2020 election?

I held a Top Secret (TS/SCI) clearance for about 7 years and used to work in information warfare, and also cybersecurity. I’ve seen nation-state tactics that most can’t imagine. It is from this lens, and through access to lots of non-public information, through which I viewed the election.

If you go back to the 2020 election, arguably the most sophisticated cyberattack in history was taking place. This was the SolarWinds supply chain attack. This attack was so sophisticated that it’s impossible to know exactly what it was used for. And much of what we do know has never been reported.

Washington has an interesting phenomenon where when something incredibly damaging is learned, people oftentimes clam up and refuse to deal with it. I’ve seen this first hand multiple times now.

But we also have things like the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, which the FBI was in possession of for roughly a year before the election, and despite it being easy to verify its authenticity, the FBI was actively telling Facebook and Twitter that it is fake news and they recommended banning sharing of the NY Post article about it.

But there were so many other issues. Not least of which was a global pandemic that almost certainly leaked from a Chinese lab, but we weren’t allowed to talk about that. Nor the mail-in ballot issues.

Many point to the 2020 election and say “there’s no smoking gun evidence so therefore there was no interference!” My retort is that there’s not public evidence and in general the DoD/IC is afraid to push too far on the issue, knowing how damaging it would be to find interference. There’s things I can’t say.

The end result is a 2020 election where Biden and Trump combined received 155.5M votes vs the 128.8M combined for Hilary and Trump in 2016. That’s 26.7M more votes in 2020 compared to 2016. That’s a 20% increase in voter turnout in a period where the population only grew by a few percent. In an election where people weren’t inspired by either candidate. And where there was more voting friction than ever before due to COVID-19.

Personally I don’t think it’s fair for Hilary Clinton to be able to claim the 2016 election was stolen, but Donald Trump to be indicted for the same thing.

Regarding the January 6th protests. I don’t agree with them. Even if an election is stolen I think the correct democratic response is to accept it, have peaceful transition of power, and then to fight like hell on the backend to make sure it never happens again.

Regarding Trump’s involvement in January 6th. The clearest thing he did was deny the election results, but again, so did Hilary Clinton. So if this isn’t a crime in and of itself, then what else did he do?

The rest is fuzzy. There is conflicting testimony, especially around when the National Guard was requested. On the one hand you had the testimonies of General Charles Flynn and Lt. General Walter Piatt. But on the other side you have the testimonies of Colonel Earl Mathews, Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and The Head of the Capitol Police at the time, Steven Sund. The media reports on Trump’s January 6th involvement in absolute terms but again, if you go deep, it’s unclear. For me, if Trump actually asked for the National Guard to be ready to go during January 6th it’s a major counterpoint against the allegations that he was inciting an insurrection.

Summary

In 2016 there were two primary reasons I voted for Hilary (and was deathly afraid of Trump)

#1) Russia helped him in the election by hurting Hilary. This made me susceptible to the media narrative that he’s owned by Russia and will be a foreign policy disaster.

#2) Candidly the clip where he said “I grab them by their pussy” deeply bothered me.

These two things built a pattern in my mind that Trump was out of control.

But now with the benefit of hindsight, revisiting these two points:

#1) To my shock, I believe Trump was one of the best foreign policy Presidents in decades, and during the most complex period in almost a century, as the East rises, which leads to a changing set of rules.

#2) That clip still sits in the back of my mind, but I personally consider the double standards and lawfare against Trump to be 10x worse, and 10x more dangerous for our Democracy.

What’s next?

Do I agree with Trump on everything? Of course not. The area where I disagree with Republicans the most is on Women’s rights. And I’m sure I’ll disagree with some of Trump’s policies in the future.

But in general I think he was surprisingly prescient, such as with the border wall, and he was also a masterful negotiator, such as with the Abraham accords.

There’s a real chance President Trump is convicted of felony charges and sentenced to prison. Bluntly, that’s part of why I’m supporting him. I believe our justice system is being weaponized against him.

If abortion is your most important issue, then I get it, vote for Biden. If any other topic is your most important issue, then do your homework and investigate the manipulation I outlined above.

Given the two choices, I believe President Trump is overwhelmingly the stronger candidate. Again, this is something I couldn’t have imagined saying in 2016.

Conclusion

Speak up. Don’t be silenced. Freedom of speech is worth nothing if you’re afraid to use it. We can’t let cancel culture win.

There’s no greater country in the world than America. But America has had a bad decade. America is blessed with a robust constitution, abundant natural resources and diverse people. The way out from here is by focusing on our strengths, which are liberalism and hard work. We need to start building again.

Best of luck to President Trump.

—–

*Note that everything in this post reflects my personal views and not the views of my employer. I work in Silicon Valley which traditionally leans very far left. I’m lucky to work at a place that tolerates spirited debate and independent thinking. If the truth is in the middle, it’s impossible to find it without sharing our ideas and debating each other.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama announced Friday afternoon that her mother, Marian Shields Robinson, passed away at the age of 86-years-old.

Michelle Obama noted in a post on Twitter from her and former President Barack Obama that Robinson was “her rock” and was “always there for whatever I needed.”

“Marian Lois Shields Robinson — our mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother — had a way of summing up the truths about life in a word or two, maybe a quick phrase that made everyone around her stop and think. Her wisdom came off as almost innate, as something she was born with, but in reality it was hard-earned, fashioned by her deep understanding that the world’s roughest edges could always be sanded down with a little grace,” the Obamas and Robinsons wrote in a reflection of her life.

My mom Marian Robinson was my rock, always there for whatever I needed. She was the same steady backstop for our entire family, and we are heartbroken to share she passed away today. We wanted to offer some reflections on her remarkable life: https://t.co/F7T6q625PC

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) May 31, 2024

From the South Side of Chicago, Robinson was one of seven children and the daughter of Parnell Shields and Rebecca Jumper, according to the statement.

By October 1960 Robinson married Fraser Robinson, who passed away in 1991 and was described as “another South-Sider with a boxer’s strength and jazz-lover’s cool,” eventually giving birth to Michelle Obama and her brother Craig Robinson.

“As a grandmother, at every stage of their lives, from infancy through adulthood, she stood secondary watch over her grandchildren’s growth and development, inspiring them, listening to them, telling them she was proud of them, making them feel loved, like they were remarkable in every way,” the statement reads.

“And as a sister, aunt, cousin, neighbor, and friend to so many, she was beloved beyond words by countless others whose lives were improved by her presence. We will all miss her greatly, and we wish she were here to offer us some perspective, to mend our heavy hearts with a laugh and a dose of her wisdom.”

A retired Vice Chief of Naval Operations was arrested Friday on charges of bribery stemming from an alleged government contract scheme between 2020 and 2022.

Robert Burke, a retired four-star admiral, allegedly worked with two chief executive officers to arrange a contract with their company to provide training for the Navy in exchange for a position with the company.

Burke is charged with bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery, performing acts to affect a personal financial interest and concealing material facts. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, according to the Department of Justice. Burke denies the charges, his lawyer Timothy Parlatore told USNI News on Friday.

Yongchul “Charlie” Kim and Meghan Messenger, the co-CEOs of the company, which was not named in the Department of Justice release, were also arrested.

The two face charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery and each face up to 20 years in prison. The two are listed as the co-chief executives of a training company called Next Jump based out of New York City.

Allegedly, Kim and Messenger secured a government contract to provide training for a group in the Navy from 2018 to 2019, when the Navy ended the contract and ordered Burke to no longer contact the two CEOs.

Kim and Messenger allegedly reached out multiple times to Burke, eventually having a call in which Burke said he wanted to work with the company, which Kim said would need to be attached to a deal, according to the indictment.

Messenger allegedly “felt slimy” following the call, but Kim was calm, reads the indictment.

Instead, the three met in 2021 to set up a situation in which Burke would use his influence as a Navy admiral to get the company a contract with the Navy, the release alleges.

“They allegedly further agreed that Burke would use his official position to influence other Navy officers to award another contract to Company A to train a large portion of the Navy with a value Kim allegedly estimated to be ‘triple digit millions,’” reads the release.

The DoJ alleges that in 2021, while serving as the Navy’s top officer in Europe, Burke ordered his staff to award a contract to Messenger’s and Kim’s company to train naval personnel in Italy and Spain. The contract was worth $355,000, according to the release.

As part of the agreement, Burke also would stay in the Navy for six months in order to convince other naval officers to award Next Jump contracts, according to the indictment. For example, Burke introduced Kim and Messenger to Fleet Forces U.S. Fleet Forces Commander Adm. Daryl Caudle via a March 14, 2022 email, reads the indictment. On March 28, 2022, Burke forwarded a proposal from Next Jump to Caudle to provide their services for a foreign military.

In a May 25, 2022 email from Burke to what the DoJ identifies as a “senior foreign military official,” Burke tells the official he had “put together a proposal for wider U.S. Navy implementation.”

“To conceal the scheme, Burke allegedly made several false and misleading statements to the Navy, including by creating the false appearance that Burke played no role in issuing the contract and falsely implying that Company A’s employment discussions with Burke only began months after the contract was awarded,” the release reads.

Burke started working with Next Jump in October 2022. A post on social media announces Burke as a senior partner.

We are delighted to welcome Bob Burke as a Senior Partner at Next Jump! He joins our team of world experts in growing Next Jump’s human performance community. Bob brings a wealth of leadership experience from serving four decades in the US Navy. pic.twitter.com/9d7jpzYATm

— Next Jump (@nextjump) October 17, 2022

The DoJ release lists Burke’s compensation with Next Jump as $500,000 and 100,000 stock options.

Burke made his first appearance in court in Florida late Friday afternoon and is set to be arraigned in Washington, D.C., shortly, Parlatore said.

“We intend to go to trial and we expect that he will be found not guilty,” Paralotre said.
“The biggest problem with this indictment is the timeline. The DOJ wrongly believes that there was a job offer and job agreement far earlier than there was. There is no quid pro quo, no job for contracts whatsoever … It looks odd he did later go work for them but he did not get into serious contract negotiations until the appropriate time and with the appropriate permissions.”

In a statement, the Navy said the service “cooperated with this investigation from the onset. We take this matter very seriously and will continue to cooperate with the Department of Justice.”

The service referred USNI News to the DoJ for additional information.

Parlatore confirmed the investigation began while Burke was still on active duty. His final retirement grade as a four-star admiral was under review as a result.

“We’ve known about this investigation for a while,” Parlatore told USNI News.

Burke, a native of Portage, Mich., earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in electrical engineering from Western Michigan University and the University of Central Florida, respectively. He has served on both attack and ballistic missile submarines, including USS Von Steuben (SSBN-632), USS Maryland (SSBN-738) and USS Bremerton (SSN-698). Burke commanded USS Hampton (SSN-767) and was the commodore of Submarine Development Squadron (DEVRON) 12 based in Groton, Conn., according to his Navy biography.

Earlier this month, Google’s cloud platform deleted the entire customer account, including some backups, of UniSuper.

Fortunately for the $135 billion Australian pension fund’s 647,000 members, some of UniSuper’s backups on Google Cloud’s servers and elsewhere were salvageable, and the fund was able to recover its data, teaching us all a lesson about having multiple redundancies.

This was not a “systemic issue,” Google says.

“An inadvertent misconfiguration” during a setup left a data field blank, which then triggered the system to automatically delete the account.

Google is having a rough 2024. In addition to this mishap, the company is reeling from its AI Overview debut and its disastrous AI-generated image tool launch.

Mike Tyson, at 57 years old (and 58 by the time of the fight), actually making it inside the ring at AT&T Stadium on fight night, with no complications, for his heavily-anticipated bout against Jake Paul was certainly never a given.

Well, just two and a half weeks after their first press conference, a complication arose.

The bout is postponed and will no longer take place on July 20 as expected after Tyson suffered an ulcer flare up while onboard a plane from Miami to Los Angeles on Sunday.

A new date for the fight is set to be announced on June 7, according to Most Valuable Promotions, Paul’s promotional company who is organizing the event.

The new fight is expected to remain at AT&T Stadium.

“I want to thank my fans around the world for their support and understanding during this time,” Tyson said in a statement. “Unfortunately, due to my ulcer flareup, I have been advised by my doctor to lighten my training for a few weeks to rest and recover. My body is in better overall shape than it has been since the 1990s and I will be back to my full training schedule soon.

“Jake Paul, this may have bought you some time, but in the end you will still be knocked out and out of boxing for good. I appreciate everyone’s patience and can’t wait to deliver an unforgettable performance later this year.”

Tyson had posted on Tuesday that he was “feeling 100 percent” after the flare-up, and Paul, a 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer, had originally said after the medical scare that “nothing changed” about the status of the fight.

The bout is an officially sanctioned heavyweight fight that will count on both their professional records.

It is set to be streamed live on Netflix with no additional pay-per-view for subscribers, when — or if — it actually takes place.

Tyson has not fought a professional fight since a 2005 loss to Kevin McBride, though he did fight Roy Jones Jr. in an exhibition in 2020, which ended in a split-draw.

Previously purchased tickets will be honored for the new date, and those who can’t attend will be eligible for a refund.

“I fully support postponing the event so Mike Tyson has no excuses come fight night,” Jake Paul said. “My fans know I don’t want to face Iron Mike at anything but his best, but let there be no mistake — when he steps into the ring with me, I will be ready to claim my W with a sensational finish. Paul vs Tyson will be one for the ages, and I promise to bring my best for this once-in-a-lifetime matchup.”

A trans-identified male is in custody on charges of manslaughter after it was reported that he fatally stabbed a Syrian security guard at a refugee shelter in Potsdam, Germany. The suspect, who is said to be from South Africa, was arrested after contacting the police to report a misgendering incident hours after he fled the crime scene.

Details are currently limited as the story is developing, but German police have confirmed that the incident took place within the Schloßgarten Hotel – a building which was converted into a shelter in 2022 and houses approximately 30 asylum seekers. At approximately 4 a.m. on May 30, a dispute broke out within the facility, culminating in a security guard being stabbed. The 33-year-old guard, who is a Syrian national, was rushed to hospital but died of his injuries.

The perpetrator fled the scene, resulting in a wide-scale manhunt conducted by the Brandenburg West Police Department. The area surrounding the shelter was closed off, and police began to search through nearby Sanssouci Park using sniffer dogs.

But just three hours after the manhunt began, the perpetrator called on the police himself to report that he had been the victim of misgendering at an Edeka supermarket in nearby Schöneberg.

Responding officers took his complaint without knowing he was connected to the manhunt in Potsdam because it is not standard practice to run the names of “victims” through police systems following a report. Had they done so, the officers would have likely seen he was wanted in Potsdam, but because they did not, the suspect was allowed to continue on his day after he lodged his complaint for the “transphobic incident.”

Some time later, authorities in Potsdam became aware of the “transphobic incident” report, which assisted them in determining the area the suspect would be in.

He was ultimately apprehended after an off-duty police officer saw him boarding a train at the Berlin Zoologischer Garten station. The public prosecutor’s office has issued manslaughter charges at this time.

#News
Nach einem tödlichen Angriff auf einen Wachmann einer Gemeinschaftsunterkunft in #Potsdam wurde der Tatverdächtige im Zusammenwirken mit der @polizeiberlin in #Berlin festgenommen. Weitere Ermittlungen übernimmt die Mordkommission. Infos: https://t.co/31XBSBE9pT

— Polizei Brandenburg (@PolizeiBB) May 30, 2024

While the identity of the suspect has not been released, it is known that he is a South African trans-identified male, and was likely not a resident of the refugee shelter where the stabbing took place. Why he was at the shelter is unclear at this time. Police are also investigating whether the alleged perpetrator’s gender identity was a factor in the crime.

The Mayor of Potsdam, Lord Mike Schubert, released a short statement on the incident, noting that it was a sad day for the community.

“A person working on behalf of our city who was protecting those seeking asylum has become the victim of a violent crime – the news of his death has hurt me deeply,” Schubert said. He also raised questions as to why a Syrian national had been hired to guard a refugee shelter.

Because the Schloßgarten Hotel has now been closed in order to preserve evidence, an emergency maritime care center has agreed to temporarily take the residents of the shelter, along with the colleagues of the slain security guard.

The trans-identified male suspect is expected in court on May 31.

Sen. Joe Manchin is registering as an independent, according to a person familiar with the matter — a move that is sure to stoke speculation he could run for Senate or governor without a party affiliation this fall.

A longtime Democrat, Manchin’s decision comes ahead of a deadline for filing as an independent in West Virginia. He’ll have several more weeks to decide whether to run for his Senate seat or mount a bid for his old job as governor.

My commitment to do everything I can to bring our country together has led me to register as an independent with no party affiliation. pic.twitter.com/tvMB2N87AW

— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) May 31, 2024

The move is no guarantee he will run for either office, however.

Manchin previously announced he would not run for reelection, a move that essentially ceded his seat to Republicans. But Democrats have held out hope he’d make a last-minute decision to run as an independent, and Friday’s move is sure to increase pressure on him to do so. Gov. Jim Justice, a Manchin rival, won the GOP primary and is heavily favored in November.

State Republicans are divided after a fierce primary in the governor’s race, which Attorney General Patrick Morrisey won. Manchin defeated Morrisey in the 2018 Senate race. Manchin is friends with the Democratic nominee Steve Williams, but he would likely be a more viable general election candidate.

Manchin will be the fourth independent in the Democratic Caucus and has long flirted with leaving a party he thinks is far too liberal. In recent interviews, he’s said his biggest fear is a future Senate that weakens the filibuster, a move he opposed last Congress.

West Virginia is one of the most conservative states in the nation, so either bid would be challenging for Manchin. But running as an independent would be easier than running as a Democrat in the deep-red state. And Manchin is a talented retail politician who has won both offices in the past.

Manchin likes to stay in the mix both nationally and regionally and may ultimately decide against running for anything. He turned down an independent presidential bid, for example, after considering one for months.

President Joe Biden on Friday detailed a three-phase deal proposed by Israel to Hamas militants that he says would lead to the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza and could end the grinding, nearly 8-month-old Mideast war.

Biden added that Hamas is “no longer capable” of carrying out another large-scale attack on Israel as he urged Israelis and Hamas to come to a deal to release the remaining hostages for an extended cease-fire.

The Democratic president in remarks from the White House called the proposal “a road map to an enduring cease-fire and the release of all hostages.”

Biden said the first phase of the proposed deal would would last for six weeks and would include a “full and complete cease-fire,” a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza and the release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly and the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

American hostages would be released at this stage, and remains of hostages who have been killed would be returned to their families. Humanitarian assistance would surge during the first phase, with 600 trucks being allowed into Gaza each day.

The second phase would include the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza.

“And as long as Hamas lives up to its commitments, the temporary cease-fire would become, in the words of the Israeli proposals, ‘the cessation of hostilities permanently,’” Biden said.

The third phase calls for the start of a major reconstruction of Gaza, which faces decades of rebuilding from devastation caused by the war.

But Biden acknowledged that keeping the deal on track would be difficult, saying there are a number of “details to negotiate” to move from the first phase to the second.

Biden’s remarks came as the Israeli military confirmed that its forces are now operating in central parts of Rafah in its expanding offensive in the southern Gaza city. Biden called it “a truly a decisive moment.” He added that Hamas said it wants a cease-fire and that an Israeli-phased deal is an opportunity to prove “whether they really mean it.”

Israel has faced growing international criticism for its strategy of systematic destruction in Gaza, at a huge cost in civilian lives. Israeli bombardments and ground offensives in the besieged territory have killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250. Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.

Cease-fire talks ground to a halt at the beginning of the month after a major push by the U.S. and other mediators to secure a deal, in hopes of averting a planned Israeli invasion of the southern city of Rafah. The talks were stymied by a central sticking point: Hamas demands guarantees that the war will end and Israeli troops will withdraw from Gaza completely in return for a release of all the hostages, a demand Israel rejects.

Former President Donald Trump gave a freewheeling press conference the day following his historic felony conviction.

On Thursday, Trump became the first president in United States history to be convicted of a felony. He was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

The former president unleashed on the trial process and his general election opponent President Joe Biden in a 40-minute speech that was at times rambling.

Though the speech was billed as a press conference, Trump did not take questions at the end, as expected.

Police have shot a knifeman who injured several people in an attack at a right wing event in the German city of Mannheim.

It happened in the southwestern city’s Marktplatz square shortly after 11.35am local time.

German news site Bild showed a video in which the bearded attacker is shot as he stabs a policeman in the neck from behind.

The officer was bent over and appeared to be helping another person at the time.

Moments before, the video shows the attacker wrestling with a man on the ground and swinging wildly with a knife as others try to pull him off.

The victim appears to have a leg wound.

A Muslim man has stabbed an anti Islam protester in Germany while at the same time a Police officer tackles another anti Islam protester to the ground. The Muslim man then proceeds to stab the police officer from behind while he’s on the ground.

These knife attacks are getting… pic.twitter.com/hCoPrP0vEm

— Rod Caddies (@RodCaddies) May 31, 2024

In a livestream earlier in the morning, anti-Islam activist Michael Stuerzenberger was seen preparing to speak to a small crowd in the square.

Bild said he was one of those injured.

Mr Stuerzenberger has been a member of several far-right groups, including the PEGIDA movement that holds regular marches in German cities.

German interior minister Nancy Faeser said the policeman was “seriously injured” and called Islamist extremism a “great danger”.

She didn’t confirm the condition of the attacker.

“I would like to thank the police officers who intervened immediately and the doctors and paramedics who are fighting for the lives of the victims of this terrible crime,” said the minister.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, posting on X, said images of the attack were “terrible” and his thoughts were with the victims.

“Violence is absolutely unacceptable in our democracy. The perpetrator must be severely punished,” he said.

Mannheim is a city of about 300,000 people south of Frankfurt.