A shocking firsthand account from a SpaceX engineer in storm-battered North Carolina reveals that Biden-Harris’ Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) blocked shipments of critical goods for relief efforts into the region. There have been numerous reports this week of FEMA actively hindering relief efforts in the western part of the state, including threatening private helicopter pilots with arrests for conducting rescue missions. We also learned that the Biden-Harris administration drained FEMA funds to support illegal aliens, prioritizing non-citizens (future voters) over American citizens.

Around lunchtime, Elon Musk shared a dire message from one of his SpaceX engineers on the ground in the storm-ravaged state. Musk said, “FEMA is not merely failing to adequately help people in trouble, but is actively blocking citizens who try to help!”

Musk shared a dire warning from one of his engineers on the ground:

“Hey Elon, update here on site of Asheville, NC. We have powered up two large operating bases for choppers to deliver goods into hands. We’ve deployed 300+ starlinks and outpour is it has saved many lives.

“The big issue is FEMA is actively blocking shipments and seizing goods and services locally and locking them away to state they are their own. It’s very real and scary how much they have taken control to stop people helping. We are blocked now on the shipments of new starlinks coming in until we get an escort from the fire dept. but that may not be enough.”

Just received this note from a SpaceX engineer helping on the ground in North Carolina. @FEMA is not merely failing to adequately help people in trouble, but is actively blocking citizens who try to help!

“Hey Elon, update here on site of Asheville, NC. We have powered up two…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2024

SpaceX engineers are trying to deliver Starlink terminals & supplies to devastated areas in North Carolina right now and @FEMA is both failing to help AND won’t let others help. This is unconscionable!!

They just took this video a few hours ago, where you can see the level of… pic.twitter.com/abpOsfNenF

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2024

Yeah, it’s not just SpaceX. They won’t let anyone help!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2024

There are hundreds of reports of FEMA/FAA blocking flights. This literally just happened.

I will follow you. Please DM me the number to call.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2024

Radio transmissions from first responders in Mecklenburg County provided firsthand accounts of the government blocking relief efforts by private citizens. This is disturbing.

Why is Fema blocking civilians?? pic.twitter.com/xB00fBcWaE

— theREALhotdoggity (@hotdoggitylife) October 3, 2024

“FEMA’s involvement has seriously complicated the rescue efforts,” one X user wrote, citing individuals on the ground.

Just got off the phone a Pastor in the midst of the flooding in TN/NC. He is in one of the most devastated locations. He verified a few things about the situation:
– Almost all help is being done by private citizens, mainly churches.
– Private helicopters are flying in the vast… pic.twitter.com/jCAfZT4Klx

— Spencer Smith 🇺🇸🇰🇪🇩🇴 (@BroSpencer) October 4, 2024

Americans quickly understood by the end of the week the big theme in Biden-Harris’ botched hurricane response efforts, very similar to the dismal response in East Palestine, Ohio, as explained by The Bishop of Mises Institute: “This horrific natural disaster is a reminder of the extent to which the regime [Biden-Harris] hates the people who live there.”

Folks were even more shocked when the US Homeland Security secretary warned that FEMA funds were running dry for hurricane disaster funding. This is because the Biden-Harris team diverted $1.4 billion to address the migrant crisis they helped create through open southern border policies.

It makes sense. pic.twitter.com/TaMJkj2Mz3

— Planet Of Memes (@PlanetOfMemes) October 4, 2024

Prepper All Naturals on the ground

A group of citizen responders from Prepper All Naturals – a veteran-owned emergency food company which delivered $60,000 of meat and arranged for sanitary stations – reports that the scene is chaotic and unmanaged by FEMA.

“Things here are far worse than expected, or that is being reported. I won’t go into detail on the deaths. Too gruesome. There will also be more out there, especially in the remote places that will starve or die from disease,” said team lead Scotty Clay. “Search and Rescue Team here this morning. The team in our vicinity found 135 dead yesterday. The death toll will be bad. Many were way up high in the trees.”

“The damage is unprecedented. Many places look like a nuclear war zone, with more than I could count (e.g., fire station) just totally washed away. Nothing but dirt left.”

Clay continued;

I remember going down to Winne and Beaumont after Rita hit. This is far far worse than that. How can that (hurricane force winds) happen 800 miles inland?

It will be at least six months, and maybe as much as year or more in some places to get power, water, roads, bridges and communications restored.

He also suggested that “it will be at least two years to restore power in many areas.”

“In Chimney Rock, NC, there was a meeting this morning with FEMA. They plan to bull doze the entire town, bodies, and all. Some stuck in the trees there as well.”

Even before the storm was churning in the Gulf of Mexico, the Biden-Harris administration of far-left radicals weaponized the FCC against Musk and blocked Starlink from a rural federal contract that would’ve supplied the state with 20,000 terminals. If these terminals had been active ahead of the storm and during its early days, they could’ve saved lives.

… to get the proper response from White House officials who despise those living in the Southeast because they’re Trump supporters.

Here’s what X users are saying:

Unacceptable! Kamala Harris and this administration have to be held accountable! Americans are dying.

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) October 4, 2024

So at first, they didn’t help, and now they are *hindering* people from helping.

This is criminal.

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 4, 2024

Everyone should read this thread to help understand at least partially why this is happening: $$$ ⬇️ https://t.co/z7nrZMyP1v

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) October 4, 2024

Garth Brooks is denying sexual assault allegations against him as claimed in a bombshell lawsuit.

A “Jane Roe” filed the complaint against the country superstar on Thursday, claiming she started as a hairstylist and makeup artist for his wife, Trisha Yearwood in 1999 and was then hired by Brooks for the same role in 2017.

The lawsuit accuses Brooks, 62, of instances of sexual battery, as well as violently raping her in a Los Angeles hotel room in May 2019.

In a statement to Newsweek late Thursday, Brooks wrote, “For the last two months, I have been hassled to no end with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future would be if I did not write a check for many millions of dollars. It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face.”

“Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money. In my mind, that means I am admitting to behavior I am incapable of—ugly acts no human should ever do to another,” Brooks said.

He continued, “We filed suit against this person nearly a month ago to speak out against extortion and defamation of character. We filed it anonymously for the sake of families on both sides.

“I want to play music tonight. I want to continue our good deeds going forward. It breaks my heart these wonderful things are in question now. I trust the system, I do not fear the truth, and I am not the man they have painted me to be.”

Brooks is currently in the middle of his Garth Brooks/Plus ONE residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

After news of the lawsuit broke, Brooks shared a photo of his Thursday night concert, writing “If there was ever a night that I really needed this, TONIGHT was that night! Thank you for my life!!!!! love, g” he captioned the post in the early hours of Friday morning.

Brooks has several upcoming shows in 2024 and 2025 for his residency. There have been no reports that he plans to pause the residency amid news of the lawsuit.

Yearwood has yet to address the allegations.

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood’s Relationship

Brooks and Yearwood are considered one of country music’s most beloved couples. They married in 2005.

The couple does not have any kids together but Brooks shares three daughters, Taylor, August, and Allie, with his ex-wife Sandy Mahl.

In a November 2023 interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Brooks said that he found Yearwood in a past life and will find her again in the next. Yearwood has said that her relationship with Brooks is like “always a first date.”

The Life and Career of Garth Brooks

Brook’s self-titled debut album was released in 1989, but it was his subsequent albums, like No Fences (1990) and Ropin’ the Wind (1991), that catapulted him to superstardom.

Brooks is known for blending rock and pop elements with country music. He’s won numerous awards, including multiple Grammys and Country Music Association Awards, and holds the record for the best-selling solo artist in US history.

In the late 1990s, Brooks briefly stepped away from music to focus on family but made a major comeback in the mid-2000s. He continues to tour and record, maintaining a significant influence on the country music scene. His signature hits include Friends in Low Places, The Dance, and If Tomorrow Never Comes.

Elon Musk says he will “be there to support” Donald Trump on Saturday when the former president returns to Butler, Pennsylvania, to hold a rally at the site where the first assassination attempt against him unfolded earlier this year.

The Republican presidential nominee is slated to speak on Oct. 5 at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds in the suburb north of Pittsburgh.

“I will be there to support!” Musk wrote on X late Thursday in response to an image Trump shared promoting the upcoming event.

“Butler on Saturday – historic!” Trump wrote on X, alongside an image of him raising his fist that was taken on July 13, moments after he had been shot.

Musk had said following that rally that “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery.”

Trump’s campaign said last week that “President Donald J. Trump will return to Butler, Pennsylvania, to hold a rally on the very same ground where he came within a quarter of an inch of losing his life less than three months ago.”

During a rally last week in North Carolina, Trump said that he wanted to return to the venue in Butler to “finish our speech.”

“As you know, there have been two assassination attempts on my life that we know of… and the first case in Butler, Pennsylvania, great place, and we’re going back to Butler,” he said. “We’re going to go back and finish our speech.”

Trump’s campaign said that the former president would honor those lost in the assassination attempt during the rally.

Corey Comperatore, 50, was a firefighter and a father of two daughters. He “historically sacrificed his life to shield his wife and daughters” during the assassination attempt against Trump, the campaign said.

Trump will also recognize the two other Americans who were wounded by the shooter, David Dutch and James Copenhaver.

“He will express his deep gratitude to law enforcement and first responders and thank the entire community for their outpouring of love and support in the wake of the attack,” the campaign said.

“And when a shooter attacked our democracy and tried to end this movement, President Trump will return to the site, joined by tens of thousands of proud citizens, and together, they will celebrate a unifying vision for America’s future in an event like the world has never seen before,” his campaign added.

Israel targeted Hezbollah’s likely successor to slain leader Hassan Nasrallah with heavy airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs Friday, as it continues to try to dismantle the Lebanese militant group’s leadership structure.

The attempt on Hashim Safieddine was the latest in a series of aggressive Israeli attacks on the group, including an intelligence operation that caused thousands of electronic devices carried by Hezbollah to explode at roughly the same time, an airstrike that killed most of the leadership of the group’s elite Radwan force, and an air campaign that has hit more than 3,000 targets across Lebanon.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Safieddine had been killed.

Israel on Friday hit Beirut’s southern suburbs with a number of intense airstrikes causing large explosions that leveled several buildings in the Lebanese capital. Swaths of the capital were shaken by the blasts, and large plumes of smoke billowed toward the night sky from raging fires on the ground.

The Israeli military had warned residents overnight to evacuate specific buildings, days after much of the population fled following the massive strike that killed Nasrallah. It wasn’t clear which of the attacks were aimed at Hezbollah leadership.

Safieddine is Nasrallah’s cousin and has long been considered his likely successor. He was born in 1964 and spent years in the top ranks of the Lebanese militant group and was often viewed as Hezbollah’s number two, even if not technically reflected on organization charts.

Safieddine has led Hezbollah’s executive council, which manages many of the group’s social and political activities, and developed strong ties with Iran, completing religious studies there and maintaining relations with senior Iranian officials. His son is married to the daughter of Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian military leader who was assassinated in a U.S. drone strike in 2020, say analysts who track the group, including Lina Khatib, an associate fellow at Chatham House, an international affairs institute in London.

The U.S. under the Trump administration in 2017 added Safieddine to its specially designated terrorist list.

Hanin Ghaddar, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank, said the strike against Safieddine signals that Israel is determined to continue operations to eliminate Hezbollah’s leadership.

“This drastically adds to Hezbollah’s humiliation within its community, and further erodes the trust between its ranks,” Ghaddar said. “It also means that Israel won’t stop or even shift gears after Nasrallah’s assassination.”

More than 1,000 people have been killed since Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah in September, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The Israeli military on Thursday urged civilians in more than 20 towns and villages across southern Lebanon to leave their homes, expanding on its evacuation warnings in the country as it intensifies its campaign to push militant group Hezbollah back from its border. For the first time, some of the areas it identified for evacuation were north of the Litani River, the northern limit of a border zone established by the United Nations after the 2006 war.

The military called on residents to move north of the Awali River, roughly halfway between the Israeli border and Beirut, for their own safety. It comes after Israel sent troops into Lebanon in a ground operation targeting Hezbollah that began earlier this week.

The evacuation announcement in southern Lebanon, along with a strike in central Beirut near the country’s Parliament on Thursday, raised concerns that Israel could widen its campaign, a move that would likely further destabilize Lebanon. Lebanon is scrambling to cope with hundreds of thousands of displaced people after Israel launched 3,000 airstrikes in recent weeks.

An expansion of the ground war could also pose risks for Israel, which has struggled militarily against Hezbollah in two previous invasions of Lebanon. The military on Thursday said another Israeli soldier had died in combat in Lebanon, bringing the death toll of Israeli soldiers in the ground offensive to nine.

Hezbollah launched about 230 projectiles toward Israel on Thursday, according to the Israeli military, with some intercepted and others crashing. The military said it shot down an aerial drone near Tel Aviv after a pair of drones were detected over the Mediterranean near Israel’s largest city. A second drone crashed, the military said.

A strike in Beirut’s Bachoura neighborhood early Thursday killed at least six people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Witnesses said there were strikes on two different apartments on the same floor of a building shortly after midnight on Thursday. The Israeli military said that the air force targeted 15 Hezbollah targets in Beirut, including what it said were intelligence operatives and weapons sites.

The Bachoura strike was the second time that Israel had struck within the city limits of the Lebanese capital since it escalated its campaign against Hezbollah and other militant groups in Lebanon. Most of its other airstrikes have targeted the southern suburbsof Beirut, targeting what Israel says are Hezbollah facilities.

Hezbollah’s main backer, Iran, launched a ballistic-missile attack on Israel on Tuesday that it said was retaliation in part for the killing of Nasrallah.
Israel says its air and ground offensive on Lebanon is intended to roll back Hezbollah’s presence along the country’s shared border to return tens of thousands of residents of northern Israel to their homes after a year in which they have been uprooted by the militant group’s attacks.

“Returning the residents means destroying the terrorist infrastructure that Hezbollah has built near the border,” Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi said Thursday. “The damage to Hezbollah in all sectors—Beirut, the Beqaa Valley and southern Lebanon—will continue.”

Both Israel and Hezbollah have said they have engaged in close fighting in southern Lebanon since Israeli forces breached the border earlier this week. Israel’s announcement of a ninth death in its ground offensive points to the dangers of engaging Hezbollah on terrain where the militia group has twice fought the Israeli military to a standstill in recent decades.

The war has displaced more than 340,000 people in Lebanon since last year, according to data from the United Nations’ migration organization. Thirty-seven people were killed in attacks across Lebanon on Thursday, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. More than 1,000 people were killed in less than two weeks after Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah in September, it said.

Israeli officials have said in the past that they want Hezbollah to pull its forces north of the Litani River, a waterway that is roughly 18 miles north of the Israeli border and within 8 miles of the boundary at its closest point. The latest evacuation notices urge Lebanese civilians to move even farther north past the Awali River, within 20 miles of Beirut. The notices on Thursday followed a series of other statements calling on residents of other towns in the south to leave for their safety.

“There’s really nothing but questions about what the Israelis’ aims are in Lebanon,” said Sam Heller, a Beirut-based security analyst with Century International, a policy institute based in New York. “There’s very little clarity about how far they intend to go.”

An Israeli military spokesman said this week that Israel doesn’t plan to send forces to Beirut or to cities in southern Lebanon. Among the towns included in the notices on Tuesday was Nabatieh, a large community within 8 miles of the Israeli border.

Utah State University has become the fourth college to protect their women’s volleyball team from playing against San Jose State University with a trans-identifying male on the women’s team.

On Wednesday, a statement from the school’s athletic department read, “Utah State University will not participate in its scheduled October 23, 2024, volleyball match at San Jose State University. The University will abide by Mountain West Conference policy regarding how this match is recorded.”

Former collegiate swimmer and advocate for women’s sports Riley Gaines praised the move by the school and wrote that it was the “fourth school to forfeit their match against SJSU due to a man playing on the women’s volleyball team. Major kudos to @USUAthletics THIS. IS. THE. WAY.”

A movement is in motion. It’s becoming increasingly clear that the NCAA has a decision to make. So far, the NCAA has prioritized inclusion over safety & fairness.

Will the @NCAA keep letting girls take matters into their own hands or will they step up & protect their athletes? https://t.co/21VHlX5YF5

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) October 3, 2024

“A movement is in motion,” she added in a second post. “It’s becoming increasingly clear that the NCAA has a decision to make. So far, the NCAA has prioritized inclusion over safety & fairness. Will the @NCAA keep letting girls take matters into their own hands or will they step up & protect their athletes?”

Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox wrote on X that he stood with “the students, coaches and leadership at @SUUtbirds and @USUAggies in their decision to forgo their women’s volleyball matches against San Jose State.”

“It is essential that we preserve a space for women to compete fairly and safely,” he added. “Our female athletes are left grappling with this difficult issue because the NCAA has failed in its responsibility to protect female athletes and women’s sports. It’s time for the NCAA to take this seriously and protect our female student athletes.”

On Monday, the women’s volleyball team at the University of Wyoming became the third school to refuse to play against SJSU because of the California school’s trans-identifying male on the women’s team, as previously reported.

In a statement posted on X from Wyoming Cowgirl Volleyball, the team stated, “After a lengthy discussion, the University of Wyoming will not play its scheduled conference match against San José State University in the UniWyo Sports Complex on Saturday, Oct. 5.”

“Per Mountain West Conference policy, the Conference will record the match as a forfeit and a loss for Wyoming,” the statement added. “The Cowgirls will host Fresno State on Thursday, Oct. 3 at 6:30 p.m. in the UniWyo Sports Complex.”

SJSU’s star volleyball player is a trans-identifying male who goes by the name of Blaire Fleming, OutKick’s David Hookstead previously reported.

On Friday, the Boise women’s volleyball team announced that it would forfeit its match over the weekend against SJSU, OutKick noted.

Toyota Motor Corp. is planning to move away from DEI and pro-LGBTQ events after recently facing online controversy, according to a new report.

Bloomberg reported the company sent out a memo to its US employees Thursday saying it will “narrow community activities to align with STEM education and workforce readiness” and no longer participate in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.

One week earlier, anti-woke activist and filmmaker Robby Starbuck detailed several woke initiatives within the company, including funding groups that oppose laws to ban gender transition treatments on minors, forming Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) divided by race and gender orientation and sponsoring a drag queen program at a summer camp for kids.

Starbuck complimented Toyota on the decision Thursday and shared more of the memo.

In the message to employees, Toyota reportedly said while it will continue to “encourage an inclusive environment where diversity of thought can flourish,” the company will be primarily focusing on activities that promote the quality of the business.

“We will work to ensure that the activities and events are focused on professional development, networking, mentoring and volunteering—team member engagement that drives our business. Furthermore, we will work to ensure all company activities are aligned with our values and create an inclusive environment for our team members,” the memo reportedly read.

“I have to give the executives credit for taking this unifying action. It’s not easy to do but they’re preparing their business for future success by adopting corporate neutrality. The companies who adopt neutrality will win the future because they don’t violate the core beliefs of the consumers they rely on,” Starbuck wrote on X.

A Toyota spokesman told Bloomberg, “Starbuck’s public attack drew a few hundred queries from employees, questions from a ‘small population’ of dealers and about 30 customer calls to its call center.

He described the impact as ‘negligible.’”

Fox Business reached out to Toyota.

Toyota follows several major businesses that have recently announced moving away from DEI initiatives following an extensive online campaign against them by Starbuck.

In August, Ford Motor Company also confirmed that it would distance itself from woke policies in a letter from Ford CEO Jim Farley to employees.

In the letter, Farley laid out a series of bullet points, telling the Ford workforce that the company does not utilize quotas in hiring, and saying that it prioritizes its resources for business purposes “versus publicly commenting on the many polarizing issues of the day.”

Farley said that the company has “evolved” its ERGs, noting that all its ERGs are open to all employees.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas set off outrage Wednesday when he told reporters that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “does not have the funds” to see Americans through the rest of this Atlantic hurricane season — after the agency spent more than $1.4 billion since the fall of 2022 to address the migrant crisis.

“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have,” Mayorkas said during a press gaggle on Air Force One en route to tour damage from Hurricane Helene in South and North Carolina.

“We are expecting another hurricane hitting,” he added. “We do not have the funds. FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season and what — what is imminent.”

Critics pointed out that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) allocated $640.9 million this year in FEMA-administered funds to aid state and local governments coping with the influx of asylum seekers — though Mayorkas’ office fired back late Thursday, insisting that those funds couldn’t be used for hurricane relief because Congress authorized them specifically for the migrant crisis.

“This is easy. Mayorkas and FEMA — immediately stop spending money on illegal immigration resettlement and redirect those funds to areas hit by the hurricane. Put Americans first,” Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Wednesday in response to the DHS chief.

“Yeah!” agreed Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.

Abbott is a top critic of Mayorkas’ mass parole of asylum seekers into the US after President Biden repudiated former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy — with the governor busing migrants to Democrat-led jurisdictions such as New York City, forcing local budget cuts to house them.

Over two years, more than $1.4 billion has been committed from FEMA-administered programs to support non-federal entities that are taking care of migrants.

DHS allocated $780 million for the migrant crisis last year initially through the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which funds relief not associated with natural disasters, and then through the new FEMA Shelter and Services Program, which was authorized in late 2022 by Congress to respond to the migrant crisis.

The $640.9 million spent this year comes solely from the Shelter and Services Program.

“These claims are completely false,” DHS said in a statement Thursday to Fox News following the Republican outcry.

“As Secretary Mayorkas said, FEMA has the necessary resources to meet the immediate needs associated with Hurricane Helene and other disasters. The Shelter and Services Program (SSP) is a completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress and is not associated in any way with FEMA’s disaster-related authorities or funding streams.”

It’s unclear if federal officials have the power to redirect migrant-focused funds to natural disaster victims.

The original program from which migrant funds flowed aimed to alleviate homelessness — with 1983 legislation setting up the Emergency Food and Shelter Program and calling for “projects and activities in civil jurisdictions with high unemployment, or in labor surplus areas, or in political units or in pockets of poverty.”

The December 2022 funding bill authorizing the split-off program for spending on migrants vaguely described the purpose as for “providing shelter and other services to families and individuals encountered by the Department of Homeland Security.”

A relatively paltry $4 million has been paid directly to families and individuals in the week since Hurricane Helene ravaged the Southeast, killing at least 202 people and causing severe flooding damage from Florida to North Carolina, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday.

Those funds are from a $10 million FEMA allocation that allows storm victims grants of $750 for groceries.

Biden said Wednesday during an operational briefing on Hurricane Helene in North Carolina that “It’s going to cost billions of dollars to deal with this storm and all the communities affected. And Congress has an obligation to ensure the states have the resources they need.”

The lack of available FEMA funds stoked outrage among congressional Republicans, who are not due back in session until after Election Day.

“The Biden-Harris administration took more than a billion tax dollars that had been allocated to FEMA for disaster relief and used it to house illegal aliens,” fumed Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). “Now, they’ve abandoned American hurricane victims in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee.”

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), whose district neighbors the disaster zone, tweeted: “FEMA spending over a billion dollars on illegals while they leave Americans stranded and without help is treasonous. U.S. citizens are dying. Pray for our country folks.”

Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) added: “‘The Biden-Harris FEMA spent over $1 BILLION on funding illegal aliens. America LAST.”

“Connect the dots, if you can,” wrote Tim Murtaugh, an adviser to former President Donald Trump’s campaign. “DHS says FEMA might not have enough cash to help people through hurricane season. But in 2 years of a new Biden-Harris program, they’ve spent $1 BILLION on housing and other services for migrants.”

Tens of thousands of dock and port workers are heading back to work after their union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) reached a tentative agreement to end the labor dispute on Oct. 3.

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), North America’s largest union of maritime workers, established a provisional wage deal with the USMX.

The breakthrough came after port employers reportedly offered a 62 percent wage increase over six years. The agreement also extends their master contract to add more time to iron out details over a new contract.

“The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues,” ILA and USMX officials said in a joint statement.

All current job action will stop immediately, and as many as 50,000 maritime workers will return to work on Oct. 4.

For the first time in nearly 50 years, the United States witnessed the largest shutdown of Atlantic and Gulf coast ports.

At midnight on Oct. 1, tens of thousands of dock and port workers from Maine to Texas went on strike. The ILA had rejected the offer from USMX of a nearly 50 percent wage increase, improved retirement benefits, and enhanced automation and semi-automation protections.

Work stoppages were estimated to affect billions in daily trade volumes. ILA President Harold Daggett earlier said the union was “prepared to fight as long as necessary”

Economists projected that a week- or month-long disruption could have harmed the economy and potentially rekindled inflationary pressures.

According to The Conference Board, a one-week port strike could have cost the economy $3.78 billion, or $540 million per day.
Grace Zwemmer, associate U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, estimated that the strike would trim gross domestic product growth by as much as 0.13 percent, or $7.5 billion, for each week.

As for inflation, U.S. businesses and consumers were worried about higher prices. The ports handle between 35 percent and 49 percent of all U.S. imports and exports, with the ports of New York–New Jersey and Houston–Galveston handling a substantial share of these shipments.

These ports receive a wide range of goods, including agricultural products, electronics, European automobiles and parts, and household goods.

The American Farm Bureau Federation estimated that ILA-handled ports manage $1.4 billion of weekly agricultural trade. Ninety percent of cherries, 85 percent of canned food, 82 percent of hot peppers, 80 percent of chocolate, and 75 percent of the nation’s bananas arrive at these terminals.
Industry leaders have been urging President Joe Biden to intervene by invoking the 1947 Taft–Hartley Act. This would have allowed the White House to file a court order and institute an 80-day cooling-off period, allowing both sides to return to the negotiating table.

“Americans experienced the pain of delays and shortages of goods during the pandemic-era supply chain backlogs in 2021,” Suzanne Clark, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a letter to the president. “It would be unconscionable to allow a contract dispute to inflict such a shock to our economy.”

President Joe Biden welcomed the announcement.

“Today’s tentative agreement on a record wage and an extension of the collective bargaining process represents critical progress towards a strong contract,” he said in a statement. “I congratulate the dockworkers from the ILA, who deserve a strong contract after sacrificing so much to keep our ports open during the pandemic. And I applaud the port operators and carriers who are members of the US Maritime Alliance for working hard and putting a strong offer on the table.”

The White House had repeatedly indicated that it would not intervene, urging the ILA and USMX to engage in contract talks and negotiate in good faith.

A federal judge in Missouri put a temporary hold on President Joe Biden’s latest student loan cancellation plan on Thursday, slamming the door on hope it would move forward after another judge allowed a pause to expire.

Just as it briefly appeared the Biden administration would have a window to push its plan forward, U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp in Missouri granted an injunction blocking any widespread cancellation.

Six Republican-led states requested the injunction hours earlier, after a federal judge in Georgia decided not to extend a separate order blocking the plan.

The states, led by Missouri’s attorney general, asked Schelp to act fast, saying the Education Department could “unlawfully mass cancel up to hundreds of billions of dollars in student loans as soon as Monday.” Schelp called it an easy decision.

The Education Department vowed to defend its proposal in court.

“This lawsuit was brought by Republican elected officials who made clear they will stop at nothing to prevent millions of their own constituents from getting breathing room on their student loans,” the department said in a statement.

Biden’s plan has been on hold since September, when the states filed a lawsuit in Georgia arguing Biden had overstepped his legal authority. But on Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall decided not to extend the pause after finding that Georgia doesn’t have the legal right to sue in this case.

Hall dismissed Georgia from the case and transferred it to Missouri, which Hall said has “clear standing” to challenge Biden’s plan.

Proponents of student loan cancellation briefly had a glimmer of hope the plan would move forward — Hall’s order was set to expire after Thursday, allowing the Education Department to finalize the rule. But Schelp’s order put the question to rest.

“This is yet another win for the American people,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a statement. “The Court rightfully recognized Joe Biden and Kamala Harris cannot saddle working Americans with Ivy League debt.”

Biden’s plan would cancel at least some student loan debt for an estimated 30 million borrowers.

It would erase up to $20,000 in interest for those who have seen their original balances increase because of runaway interest. It would also provide relief to those who have been repaying their loans for 20 or 25 years, and those who went to college programs that leave graduates with high debt compared to their incomes.

Biden told the Education Department to pursue cancellation through a federal rulemaking process after the Supreme Court rejected an earlier plan using a different legal justification. That plan would have eliminated up to $20,000 for 43 million Americans.

The Supreme Court rejected Biden’s first proposal in a case brought by Republican states including Missouri.

In his order Wednesday, Hall said Georgia failed to prove it was significantly harmed by Biden’s new plan. He rejected an argument that the policy would hurt the state’s income tax revenue, but he found that Missouri has a strong case.

Missouri is suing on behalf of MOHELA, a student loan servicer that was created by the state and is hired by the federal government to help collect student loans. In the suit, Missouri argues that cancellation would hurt MOHELA’s revenue because it’s paid based on the number of borrowers it serves.

In their lawsuit, the Republican states argue that the Education Department had quietly been telling loan servicers to prepare for loan cancellation as early as Sept. 9, bypassing a typical 60-day waiting period for new federal rules to take effect.

Also joining the suit are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, North Dakota and Ohio.

Employers in the United States added 254,000 workers to their payrolls in September, the Department of Labor said Friday, and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.1 percent.

Economists had been expecting 150,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 4.2 percent.

The number far exceeded even the most optimistic estimates. Some analysts had estimated as few as 70,000 workers would be added to payrolls.

Adding to the strength of the report, the estimate for July was revised up by 55,000 to 144,000 and the estimate for August was revised up by 17,000 to 159,000. These revisions together added 72,000 jobs.

The numbers indicate that the labor market was much stronger than it appeared to be when the Fed decided to cut interest rates by 50 basis points last month.

The much stronger than expected numbers are likely to cause the market to anticipate a slower pace for cuts in the months ahead.

The three-month average, which economists see as a better guide to underlying employment trends, moved up to 186,000.

Private payrolls were expected to rise by 125,000. The government said Friday that they rose by 223,000.

The only clear spot of weakness was manufacturing employment, which contracted by 7,000 after a loss of 27,000 in the prior month.

GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp will on Friday appear together for the first time since 2020, when their differences over the state’s presidential election results sparked a years-long feud.

Trump criticized Kemp for not helping him challenge the results in Georgia, a state he needed to win for a second term but lost to then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

They have since publicly put aside their differences to try winning back Georgia for the GOP on Nov. 5.

Trump and Kemp are scheduled to be briefed in the unincorporated community of Evans on Hurricane Helene damage and speak to the press.

Officials in Columbia County, in which Evans is located, invited Trump and Kemp to attend the briefing, according to Politico, based on information from a source.

The latest Napolitan News national survey shows Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump tied at 49% (including leaners). This is the first time the candidates have been tied in our national polling since mid-August.

Since then, Harris has consistently maintained a very modest lead. Last week, Harris had a two point edge.

Harris leads by five among women while Trump has a six point advantage among men.

Harris leads by an astounding 30 points among voters with a postgraduate degree (64% to 34%). Trump leads among all other voters by six (52% to 46%). Harris’ lead among postgraduates highlights some of the disparity between Elites and everyday Americans. The Napolitan Institute released a report today further highlighting other disparities between the Elite 1% and the rest of America.

A tie in the popular vote would likely lead to an Electoral College victory for Trump. A two-point popular vote victory by Harris would make the Electoral College race a toss-up.

Polling released yesterday showed Trump leading by four in Florida. Other recent Napolitan News surveys have shown close races in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Trump has significant leads in Ohio and Montana.

Napolitan News surveys ask an initial question to determine the voter preference for each candidate. Then, a follow-up question is asked of uncommitted voters to see which candidate they are leaning towards. The results are then reported “with leaners.”

On the initial ask this week– the number without leaners– the candidates were tied at 48%.

Napolitan News Service will conduct its last national poll for the presidential race 2 weeks before election day. As election day gets closer, we strive to “offer a voter-centric view of the race, measuring underlying attitudes more than attempting to define likely voters“.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) weighed in on the deadly hurricane which wreaked havoc in her state of Georgia and across the southern United States on Thursday, suggesting that the hurricane had been controlled.

After the Hurricane Helene death toll rose to over 200, Greene wrote in a social media post, “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”

Yes they can control the weather.

It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) October 4, 2024

Greene also posted a map of the areas most affected by the hurricane overlaid with an electoral map by political party.

“This is a map of hurricane affected areas with an overlay of electoral map by political party shows how hurricane devastation could affect the election,” she warned.

Following her election to Congress in 2020, Greene received criticism over previous comments she had made suggesting the wildfires in California had been started by space lasers connected to the wealthy Rothschild family.

Greene’s remarks came to be known as the “Jewish Space Laser” remarks – despite the congresswoman never using those exact words – and Greene went on to capitalize on the controversy earlier this year when she filed an amendment to an Israel aid bill proposing that funds “be used for the development of space laser technology on the southwest border.”

More than three decades after Erik and Lyle Menendez killed their parents in a sensational murder case that captivated the nation, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón said Thursday that his office would review what he described as new evidence that the brothers were molested, a move that could lead to their resentencing.

Gascón said there was no question the brothers committed the murders but said the issue was whether the jury heard evidence that their father molested them. Evidence detailing sexual abuse was presented during the brothers’ first trial, which ended in hung juries, but was largely withheld during their second trial, where they were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

“We’re not at this point ready to say we believe or do not believe that information,” Gascón said. “But we’re here to tell you that we have a moral and ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us and make a determination.”

The process could pave the way for the brothers to be retried, resentenced to a lesser prison term or released from custody. Gascón said he had not made a final decision.

In 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez bought a pair of shotguns with cash, walked into their Beverly Hills home and shot their parents while they watched a movie in the family living room. Prosecutors said Jose Menendez was struck five times, including in the back of the head, and Kitty Menendez crawled on the floor wounded before the brothers reloaded and fired a final fatal blast.

Initially, police speculated the killings were a mafia hit based off the gruesome scene. Erik and Lyle Menendez were eventually charged with murder after Erik, who was 18 years old, confessed to the killings to his therapist in March 1990.

Prosecutors argued the brothers’ motivation in the killings was simple: to gain access to their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate. But the brothers’ defense attorneys countered that years of violent sexual abuse at the hands of their father preceded the shootings, justifying the killings as a form of self-defense.

Gascón’s announcement comes more than a year after Erik and Lyle Menendez filed a writ of habeas corpus asking the court to vacate their 1996 conviction, citing new evidence. A hearing on the habeas corpus is expected to be held on Nov. 26. Gascón said he wanted to “bring finality” to the case by the time the hearing was held but did not say that his review would be completed by then.

“They’re obviously looking at it closely, which is great,” said Cliff Gardner, one of the attorneys representing the brothers. “I’m encouraged by it because I think that anyone that takes a look at that evidence is going to walk away with the understanding those boys were molested as children.”

Gardner said, since the filing last year, prosecutors had asked the court several times to push back a date for the hearing in order to review the case. Despite the length of time it’s taken for a decision to be reached, he said he found it to be encouraging.

“The fact that they’re taking their time lets me know they’re taking it seriously,” he said.

The petition pointed to evidence from a Peacock docuseries, “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” which raised allegations that Jose Menendez sexually assaulted a former underage member of the 1980s pop band Menudo.

The three-part series, reported by journalists Nery Ynclan and Robert Rand, alleged that the creator of the internationally known music group, Edgardo Díaz, took one of the underage members of the band to Jose Menendez’s New Jersey home, where he was raped and drugged by the elder Menendez.

In the docuseries, Roy Roselló said he was 13 or 14 years old at the time, and suggested the trip was to help seal a deal between the band and RCA Records, where Jose Menendez worked as an executive.

“This new evidence is indisputable,” Ynclan told The Times on Thursday, “and Lyle and Erik’s life didn’t end that horrible day.” The journalist added that the two brothers had been model prisoners and led rehabilitation programs for other inmates. “After 35 years, it’s past due to show these victims of incest the mercy they deserve.”

The brothers’ petition states that the new allegations of sexual abuse back their argument that the murders were an act of self-defense after facing years of abuse by their parents, and fears that their parents would kill them if they told.

The petition also details a recently discovered letter that defense attorneys say was written by Erik Menendez eight months before the 1989 shooting that suggests sexual abuse by his father continued into his late teenage years.

“I never know when its going to happen and its … driving me crazy,” the letter, submitted in court filings, reads. “Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.”

The brothers’ first trial, which included testimony detailing the abuse, ended in two hung juries. In the second trial, much of the evidence of the abuse was excluded, according to the habeas petition. Prosecutors argued at the time that the allegations of abuse were “a total fabrication.”

The news comes on the heels of another show based on the Menendezes, an eight-part dramatic series on Netflix called “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” The show focuses on the events leading up to the killings and the cultural moment in Los Angeles in which the brothers faced murder charges.

Last month, Erik Menendez’s wife, Tammi Menendez, posted a statement on social media from him about the series and how the brothers were depicted, calling it “inaccurate” and that Lyle’s depiction was a “caricature” that was “rooted in horrible and blatant lies.”

“Monsters” co-creator Ryan Murphy defended himself in an interview with The Times last month.

“I think it’s faux outrage,” he said. “I think that this story, this Netflix series, is the best thing that has happened to the Menendez brothers in 30 years because it’s getting people to talk about it, and it’s getting people to ask the questions that are important.”

The renewed spotlight on the case has prompted support for the incarcerated brothers. Kim Kardashian visited them in prison three weeks ago and penned a personal essay in which she called the brothers “kind, intelligent and honest men” and said their sentences should be reconsidered.

“We owe it to those little boys who lost their childhoods, who never had a chance to be heard, helped or saved,” she wrote.

Tina Peters, a former Colorado Republican county clerk who espoused the conspiracy theory that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election due to ballot fraud, was sentenced Thursday to nine years in prison for crimes related to a breach of her county’s voting system.

“You are no hero,” state District Court Judge Matthew Barrett told Peters.

“You’re a charlatan who used and is still using your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that’s been proven to be junk time and time again.”

“Your lies are well documented, and these convictions are serious. I’m convinced you’d do it all over again if you could,” Barrett told the 68-year-old former Mesa County clerk, who was accused of using another person’s security badge to allow someone else to gain access to her county’s election system.

The person who used that badge was affiliated with Mike Lindell, the CEO of My Pillow and a leading proponent of the claim that Trump’s defeat for a second term was due to ballot fraud.

“You’re as defiant a defendant as this court has ever seen,” Barrett told Peters.

Peters, who had requested probation, told the judge before being sentenced, “I’ve never done anything with malice to break the law. I’ve only wanted to serve the people of Mesa County.”

Mesa County District Attorney Daniel Rubenstein told Barrett that, “Ms. Peters has demonstrated repeatedly that she does not think she did anything wrong.”

“She submitted a statement to the court in the pre-sentence investigation report, giving excuses, giving justifications, but never once acknowledging that she did something wrong, that this was not the way to handle this,” Rubenstein said.

“What does every 12-step program start with? It starts with acknowledging you have a problem, and she has not done that, and there’s no purpose in rehabilitation for somebody who does not think they did anything wrong.”

Peters was immediately taken into custody after Barrett rejected her lawyer’s request that she remain free.

Peters was convicted by a trial jury in August of seven criminal counts, including attempt to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, violation of duty, and failure to comply with secretary of state requirements.

Shortly after Peters was sentenced, the Republican presidential nominee Trump told attendees at a campaign rally in Michigan that in the 2020 election, “We won, we won, we did win.”

“It was a rigged election,” Trump said.

“That’s why I’m doing it again. If I thought I lost I wouldn’t be doing this again,” said Trump, who is facing Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, in this year’s presidential race.

A federal judge will let expire a temporary restraining order against the Biden administration’s sweeping new student loan forgiveness plan, which could deliver relief to tens of millions of Americans.

The plan could benefit as many as three in every four federal student loan holders, when combined with the administration’s previous efforts, according to an estimate by the Center for American Progress.

U.S. District Judge Randal Hall in Georgia, appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush, delivered the win for the Biden administration late on Wednesday.

The ruling means President Joe Biden may move forward with his administration’s student loan forgiveness plan, just weeks before the November election.

The development stems from a lawsuit against the aid package brought by seven GOP-led states. The states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Dakota and Ohio — said the U.S. Department of Education’s new debt cancellation effort is illegal.

However, Hall found that Georgia lacked standing to sue against the relief plan, and could not be the venue for the case.

The judge directed the case to be transferred to Missouri, since the states claim Biden’s plan would most harm student loan servicer Mohela, or the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education said it appreciated the judge’s ruling that Georgia had “no legal basis” to bring the case, but slammed the GOP movement to stop the relief.

“The fact remains that this lawsuit reflects an ongoing effort by Republican elected officials who want to prevent millions of their own constituents from getting breathing room on their student loans,” they said.

“We will not stop fighting to fix the broken student loan system and provide support and relief to borrowers across the country.”

Biden’s plan would forgive student debt for four groups of borrowers: those who owe more than they originally took out; people who’ve been in repayment already for decades; students from schools with a low financial value; and those who qualify for loan forgiveness under an existing program, but haven’t applied for it yet.

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff reportedly paid $80,000 in “hush money” to his former nanny as part of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) but was not prosecuted, unlike Trump.

Former President Donald Trump was prosecuted in New York and convicted on 34 counts for failing to list NDA payments to porn star Stormy Daniels (a.k.a. Stephanie Clifford) as campaign expenses (he denies the affair).

Democrats, including Emhoff’s wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, have referred to Trump as a “convicted felon,” referring to the New York case. Yet Emhoff, too, allegedly paid “hush money.”

The UK Daily Mail revealed in August that Emhoff’s first marriage broke up because of his affair with the family nanny, whom he allegedly impregnated. The affair was hidden during Harris’s Senate and presidential campaigns.

Emhoff acknowledged the affair to CNN once the story broke, but did not mention impregnating the nanny, or the fate of the child. Democrats and the media nonetheless praised Emhoff for reshaping “the perception of masculinity.”

On Wednesday, the Daily Mailreported that Emhoff had “forcefully slapped” a girlfriend in 2012, which prompted her to leave him. It added that Emhoff allegedly paid the nanny a “settlement of around $80,000, and had the nanny sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).”

It was not clear when the amount was paid, or over what period of time. The nanny lives in New York, where Trump was prosecuted.

Emhoff divorced his first wife in 2009 and married Kamala Harris in 2014; she ran for Senate in 2015-2016.

It is not clear if Emhoff also has an NDA with the alleged victim of his assault. Her story has not emerged until now, and the Daily Mail‘s sources are all the alleged victim’s friends; she herself declined to comment (as did Emhoff).

Garth Brooks has been accused of raping a makeup artist who worked for his wife Trisha Yearwood, in a new lawsuit.

The Grammy-winning artist was accused of sexual assault and battery, in a complaint filed in a state court in California on Thursday,

The plaintiff alleges the country icon brought her with him to Los Angeles for a Grammy event honoring the R&B singer Sam Moore in May 2019.

According to the suit, he booked only one hotel room there for both of them, and when she asked for a separate accommodation, he would not provide one.

She accuses him of then accosting her in the doorway nude, hauling her into another room, dangling her upside down by the ankles and raping her, in court documents obtained by TMZ.

The plaintiff was originally hired to do hair and makeup for Yearwood, and Brooks eventually enlisted her to do so for him, she claims.

Before the makeup artist filed her lawsuit, Brooks anonymously filed to fight back, using the name ‘John Doe,’ as reported by CNN.

According to the makeup artist’s suit, Brooks first made advances to her at his home in 2019, before the Los Angeles trip when she says the rape occurred.

She claims she was at Brooks’ house, waiting for him to meet her so that she could apply his makeup, when he emerged naked and erect from the shower.

She alleges that he then placed her hands on his erection, telling her that he harbored fantasies that she would perform fellatio on him while wearing her glasses until he eventually climaxed onto her face.

The makeup artist accuses Brooks of raping her later that year when they traveled to Los Angeles for his appearance at the Sam Moore tribute.

In her lawsuit, the plaintiff claims that she and Brooks did not usually travel alone together, but the Los Angeles trip was an exception.

She only found out that she and Brooks would be unaccompanied by anyone else when she boarded his private jet in Nashville to head to California, she claims.

In her court filing, the makeup artist asserts that when she arrived in Los Angeles, she learned that she would have to share a hotel room with Brooks.

She allegedly raised her objections to the arrangement and asked for a room of her own, but she claims Brooks would not budge on the matter.

In the hotel room, she says, he suddenly arrived naked in the doorway and then pulled her bodily into a separate room, onto a bed.

The plaintiff, who is said to be about five foot tall, says he grabbed her by her ankles and held her upside down while he vaginally raped her.

The makeup artist accuses Brooks of thrusting himself into her so violently that she ‘felt as if she were breaking in two.’

She continued working on his hair and makeup throughout the trip because her financial situation was such that she needed the job, she says.

The makeup artist added that Brooks exploited her circumstances to his advantage.

She accuses Brooks of groping her breasts while she was applying makeup to him, even though she asked him not to, as well as of masturbating once she was finished.

An 81-year-old Illinois man was shocked to receive a mail-in ballot for his wife, who died in October 2022.

George, who lives in Kane County about 50 miles west of Chicago, showed The Daily Wire the ballot which he found in his mailbox on Saturday. He also received a ballot addressed to his late wife ahead of the Illinois primary in March. This was especially confusing, George said, because he had shown his wife’s death certificate to Kane County election officials — who also told The Daily Wire that George’s wife was no longer on the voter rolls.

The saga has George concerned about the integrity of the presidential election — and he’s not alone. Voters in several swing states have reached out to The Daily Wire to share stories like George’s, and raise concerns about what’s going on with mail-in ballots.

“There are states that do better than others in terms of identifying and removing all forms of inaccurate voter registration,” says Honest Elections Project executive director Jason Snead, adding that there are “widespread” issues with voter rolls throughout the country.

George, who has lived in Illinois for over six decades, said his ballot issues began with the 2022 midterms, when he got to his polling place on Election Day, only to be told he couldn’t vote in person because he had a pending mail-in ballot.

In the end, George said he had to go home and pick up his mail ballot, which he hadn’t used, and take it in to get it voided. He also brought the ballot that had been sent to his late wife, which he said really “upset” the election officials. He said he was eventually able to vote, but only after about 45 minutes of discussions with election officials and showing his wife’s death certificate to have her ballot voided.

While Illinois law allows voters to request permanent mail-in vote status for primary and general elections, George told The Daily Wire that he never signed up to get a mail-in ballot, and always votes in person.

“My assumption is that they are just sending everyone they can think of a ballot,” George said.

Kane County Clerk John Cunningham told The Daily Wire that George’s wife was no longer on the rolls, and that the county’s signature verification process would have caught any attempted voter fraud.

“Even if someone got a ballot and they mailed it in, and filled it out, it would not be counted because the signature would not be right,” he said. “Because we check for signature on our voter database with the signature on the ballot and if they don’t match, then we don’t count them.”

He said that he did not know how she could have ended up with a ballot for the primary election.

“She’s not on our records, so I don’t know how she would have gotten that,” he said, but said he couldn’t tell when she was removed from the record.

Several current and former Arizona voters told The Daily Wire they have received ballots for people who had moved out of the state.

Skyler, a former Army medic, told The Daily Wire that he and his wife have received 2024 mail-in ballots from Arizona at their home in Colorado, where he is now registered to vote. Previously a resident of Maricopa County, Skyler said that he voted absentee throughout his military career before retiring in May 2024, when he registered to vote in Colorado.

Despite changing his voter registration and informing Maricopa County that he was no longer an Arizona voter, Skyler said that received mail-in ballots for both the July primary election and the November general election. He doesn’t know how Maricopa County got his Colorado address.

Another Maricopa County resident told The Daily Wire they had been receiving a ballot for their daughter for the past three years, even though she had moved to Utah. They said they returned the ballots every year, indicating that their daughter no longer lived there, but that they still had been receiving her ballot.

One Maricopa County woman told The Daily Wire that she had received a ballot to her home for her son for years, as recently as the 2024 primary elections, even though he had lived in Alabama for six years.

According to Arizona law, voters on the Active Early Voting List (AEVL) are automatically sent a ballot “for all elections in which they are eligible to vote.” However, voters are supposed to be taken off the list if they do not vote in two consecutive federal elections.

“A voter may be removed from AEVL if the voter does not cast an early ballot in at least one candidate election over the course of two consecutive federal election cycles and fails to respond to an official notice from the Elections Department,” Maricopa County’s election website says.

“If you don’t vote the ballot, why do they keep sending you one?” the concerned Arizonan asked, noting that her son has not voted in the 2018, 2020, or 2022 federal elections, but received a ballot for the 2024 primaries.

She said that she also had received a ballot for a prior resident of a home she and her husband had purchased in Tucson. She said this raised concerns about how many ballots may be floating out there for people who have not moved out of Arizona, or even to a different home.

When asked about concerns with mail-in ballots, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office said voters could “fill out a voter cancellation form” online and pointed to the county’s “voter list maintenance practices” posted online.

“Under Recorder [Stephen] Richer, more than 400,000 voters have been removed from our voter rolls due to diligent list maintenance. Our office reviews multiple databases to ensure our voter rolls remain as accurate as possible,” the recorder’s office told The Daily Wire in a statement.

Voting by mail in Arizona begins on October 9. The deadline to request a ballot by mail is October 25.

With just 34 days until the election, issues with mail-in ballots have begun to make headlines. Last week, election officials in Madison, Wisconsin, sent out 2,215 duplicate ballots to the heavily-Democratic city.

“This was a mistake,” said city spokesman Dylan Brogan. “The clerk’s office moved to rectify it as quickly as possible.”

In response, Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) has called for an independent investigation into the incident, saying that voters “deserve clear answers regarding the full scope of this blunder.”

In Pennsylvania, another battleground state, the Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit last month alleging that Montgomery County officials had sent out 2024 election ballots without conducting accuracy testing required by state laws. The suit said that the county, the commonwealth’s third most populous, did not conduct logic and accuracy tests before sending out absentee ballots.

Former President Donald Trump has long raised concerns about mail-in voting, arguing that it opens up the door to fraud. And while Trump has encouraged supporters to vote however they can in the coming cycle, he has said he would restrict mail-in voting if he wins the White House.

“Any time you have a mail-in ballot, there’s going to be massive fraud. What we have to do is, get control, and then we have to change it,” he said during an interview in August. “And it’s a very simple change, same day voting.”

A listening device was found in Boris Johnson’s personal bathroom at the Foreign Office after it had been used by Benjamin Netanyahu, the former Prime Minister has claimed.

Mr Johnson has alleged that when the Israeli Prime Minister visited his department in 2017, his security team found bugging devices in the toilets after he had used the facilities.

During their meeting in his old office, Mr Johnson says Mr Netanyahu, who he calls Bibi, excused himself to go to the bathroom, which Mr Johnson describes as similar to “the gents in a posh London club” which exist within a “secret annexe”.

In his book, ‘Unleashed’, Mr Johnson writes: “Thither Bibi repaired for a while, and it may or may not be a coincidence but I am told that later, when they were doing a regular sweep for bugs, they found a listening device in the thunderbox.”

When asked during an interview with The Telegraph if he could give any more detail on what happened, Mr Johnson said: “I think everything you need to know about that episode is in the book.”

It is not clear whether Israel was questioned or rebuked over the incident.

Around a similar time, Israel was accused of planting listening devices in the White House.

According to US officials, Washington concluded that Israel was likely behind the placement of cellphone surveillance devices that were found near the White House and other sensitive locations around the capital.

Although having never worked in Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, Mr Netanyahu is known to have worked closely with them.

As the second-largest espionage agency in the Western world after the CIA, it focuses on foreign intelligence gathering and covert operations.

During the meeting with Mr Netanyahu, Mr Johnson, then the foreign secretary, describes how he felt like “Willy Wonka” as he showed him around his place of work in what was his first visit to the Foreign Office.

He writes how he joked about having the very walnut desk where the Balfour Declaration was written by Arthur James Balfour, where he set out “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”.

In response, Mr Netanyahu supposedly uttered “wow” and appeared “genuinely awestruck”.

Mr Johnson then claimed to have the “very pen that he used”, only to pull a Bic biro out of his drawer.

He then confesses that he does not know how Balfour came to write the letter and that the walnut desk was unlikely the one at which it was composed by the former foreign secretary.