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Whoopi Goldberg Doubles Down and Defends her Holocaust Slur That Led to Suspension from The View
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Whoopi Goldberg has once again claimed that the Holocaust was not about race, insisting the Nazis ‘were not killing racial’ and repeating the argument that saw her suspended in February from her $8 million-a-year role hosting talk show The View.

The Oscar-winning actress was suspended from The View in February for saying the Holocaust was not about race, but rather ‘white on white’ violence and ‘man’s inhumanity to man’ – and the interviewer was told in advance not to discuss the chat show.

Yet Goldberg readily repeated her controversial comments, when it was pointed out that the Nazis certainly believed the Holocaust was about race.

‘Yes, but that’s the killer, isn’t it?’ she told The Times of London.

‘The oppressor is telling you what you are. Why are you believing them? They’re Nazis. Why believe what they’re saying?’

She said the Holocaust ‘wasn’t originally’ about race.

‘Remember who they were killing first. They were not killing racial; they were killing physical. They were killing people they considered to be mentally defective. And then they made this decision.’

She said being Jewish was not a race like being black, because it was not identifiable.

‘It doesn’t change the fact that you could not tell a Jew on a street,’ she said. ‘You could find me. You couldn’t find them. That was the point I was making.

‘But you would have thought that I’d taken a big old stinky dump on the table, butt naked.’ The star was born Caryn Elaine Johnson, and says her stage name is a nod to her distant Jewish ancestry.

Goldberg was asked about controversy last year when a white artist depicted Emmett Till – the subject of her new film – in a painting shown at the Whitney, in New York City.

Some critics said that a white person should not be using black suffering for art.

Goldberg disagreed.

‘Well, they said the same thing about Steven Spielberg shooting The Color Purple, right?’ she said.

‘I don’t think you have to be [black] in order to recognize and empathize. But that’s me.’

She said there was a necessary debate about casting people, to ensure that there is equality of opportunity and representation.

‘As an actor I like to feel like I can do anything; I can play anybody,’ she said.

‘And I know now that there are things that I probably should not do, not be.’

She added: ‘You think, ‘Wait a minute. Yes, I could do it, but who’s around who should do it?

‘And sometimes it’s hard, because you don’t want to give it up.

‘But sometimes you must, because you have to get people in the habit of hiring Asian people to play Asian people.’

This spring, Goldberg tried to apologize for saying the ‘Holocaust isn’t about race’ during an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, but angered more people.

‘When you talk about being a racist, you can’t call this racism,’ she said. ‘This was evil. This wasn’t based on skin. You couldn’t tell who was Jewish. You had to delve deeply and figure it out. My point is: they had to do the work.

‘If the Klan is coming down the street and I’m standing with a Jewish friend, I’m going to run, but if my friend decides not to run, they’ll get passed by most times because you can’t tell who is Jewish. You don’t know.’

Her appearance on Colbert, where she also plugged her return to the Star Trek franchise, came hours after she apologized for her comments, which sparked backlash worldwide, earlier that day.

‘The Holocaust was about the Nazi’s systematic annihilation of the Jewish people — who they deemed to be an inferior race. I stand corrected,’ she tweeted.

‘The Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never waiver. I’m sorry for the hurt I have caused.’

She also said during the interview: ‘I feel, being black, when we talk about race it’s a very different thing to me.

‘So I said I thought the Holocaust wasn’t about race. And it made people very angry. I’m getting a lot of mail from folks and a lot of anger.

‘But I thought it was a salient discussion because as a black person I think of race as being something that I can see.’

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  • kweenie says:

    It was about Jews, the Polish, the Gypsies, and any other race that had ever made Hitler feel small and insignificant. But yes, you can’t tell for sure about being Jewish just by looking.

  • Rita says:

    Whoopie if you are unsure of what a racist is just look in the mirror. They come in ALL colors.

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    The Sad Truth About Nex Benedict

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    Now that we have the full autopsy report for Dagney (Nex) Benedict, many of the questions surrounding her overdose have been answered. The full report, released by the Chief Medical Officer and Board of Medicolegal Investigations on March 27th, 2024, confirms what the earlier Medical Examiner’s Office reported on March 13th, 2024. There were “massive” amounts of Diphenhydramine, more commonly known over the counter as Benadryl,” in Dagney’s blood.

    Dr. Paul Wax, the Executive Director of the American College of Toxicology, reviewed the results and confirmed she could have consumed 50 to 100 pills to reach that toxicity level. Her routine medication, fluoxetine, for bipolar disorder was present and may have contributed, a second authority concluded. Her death was intentionally self-inflicted.

    The report indicated, “The 11 pages released indicate handwritten notes ‘suggestive of self-harm’ were found in Nex’s room by family members, and that the teen has a history of ‘bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, self-harm (cutting).’”

    While advocacy groups remain insistent that her distress sourced from bullying at school, Dagney did not indicate this in her last notes. The Owasso Police Department released a statement saying, “Although the notes do not make any reference to the earlier fight or difficulties at school, the parents indicated that Benedict reported being picked upon for various reasons while at school.”

    As is usual in these cases, there is much more to the story. A hint was provided by the Washington Post on February 21st, 2024, that never made it beyond that report. Describing Dagney’s funeral, the article states that Dagney’s cousin spoke “along with her mother and Benedict. Nex’s biological mother was among the mourners; their father, who is in prison for abuse, was not.” That last detail may have been more impactful than realized.

    On July 17th, 2019, when Dagney was 11 years old, an arrest warrant was issued for James Everette Hughes, Dagney’s father. He was arrested on July 31st, 2019, in Sebastian County, AR. The charge was for rape of a minor under the age of 14, during the time period between May 2017 and August 2017, when Dagney was nine years old. Among many witnesses was Sue Benedict, the grandmother who would adopt Dagney in 2019.

    Hughes would accept a plea deal to sexual assault in the second degree on November 27th, 2019. He was sentenced to five years in prison with ten years suspended. He would be placed on the sex offender list and have no contact with his daughter. He was arrested again on January 25th, 2024, by the Little Rock Police Department for failing to comply with reporting as a sex offender, two weeks before Dagney would take her own life.

    Hughes’ new case, in Pulaski County, AR, 60CR-24-894: State v. James Everette Hughes, was filed on March 5th, 2024 for the offense of failing to register as a sex offender or report address change. His next court date is scheduled for May 2nd, 2024. Hughes’ arrest record can be found here, LRCR-24-389, filed on January 26th, 2024.

    Case details are difficult to read, and the following information is graphic. In the report, Dagney, age 11, would tell investigators her father anally raped her when she was nine years old. She reported he had molested her for years prior.

    The case details and documents can be found here, 66FCR-19-560: State v. James Everette Hughes, and the Sebastian County AR Inmate Inquiry. Jeremy L. Quinn, a reporter, broke the details of her father in a series of tweets and TikTok videos, which launched this investigation into official records. He provides additional details of family members sharing their experience, including the recent arrest of her father.

    The group, Bikers Against Child Abuse, was named as a beneficiary for donations at Nex’s funeral, as reported by Quinn and they provided a funeral procession. He states, “A rep confirmed to me that Nex was ‘a BACA kid’ who would receive support. Fellow survivors in the program get road vests, a road name, and support other survivors.”

    Quinn also provided screenshots from Dagney’s aunt, sharing childhood photos and describing the abuse her brother committed, disowning him.

    Dagney, referred to as D.H. in the files, along with her birth name and the name of a younger sibling, would be adopted by Sue Benedict and relocated to Oklahoma to rebuild her life. She was a survivor who endured extreme trauma from someone she was supposed to be able to trust. Her life was upended, and she understandably struggled greatly. Bullying from other students may have impacted her more deeply than she let on, but from the evidence she provided, her pain was much, much more profound.

    Dagney, who went by Nex, Roach and Roachie, according to her friends and social media accounts, again provided by the research of Quinn above, identified as gender fluid, nonbinary, two-spirited and trans. She used they/them and he/him pronouns off and on, and her preferred identity changed depending on her social environment — something common with many teenagers.

    However, despite media headlines, there is no evidence she was specifically targeted for her gender identity. While much of the conversation has surrounded the confrontation in the bathroom with younger girls and the resulting physical injuries suffered by everyone involved, it truly no longer matters. Alleged anti-LGBTQ legislation or alleged anti-LGBTQ rhetoric by Republicans or conservative figures outspoken against progressive LGBTQ activism in schools was simply not involved.

    Dagney was fighting an internal battle, suffering with serious mental health issues, depression, and anxiety. She engaged in self-harm, experienced mood swings, and, per her grandmother’s 911 call, had to be carefully monitored for potential overdose concerns. We don’t know if she was aware of her father’s release or his arrest in January. Her suicide notes only tell us, from vague reporting by the police, that her family and her personal experience influenced her decision.

    What we do know is she did not deserve to become an icon for a social justice movement determined to use her name and her face to push political outrage and policy demands. The girls she started a fight with did not deserve to be targeted with online hatred and vile accusations from the media, with even the President releasing a statement implicating them indirectly in a hate crime.

    None of this should have happened. Her death should have remained with her family, allowing them peace to mourn, especially considering all they had gone through. The media took a deeply traumatized young girl and exploited her suffering for their own political purposes, lying, fabricating, and continuing to twist the story into a narrative they could use to push their own agenda.

    The truth, however, is far more likely the result of a failed legal system, trauma, struggles with mental health, and a young girl far too overwhelmed to handle it all on her own, despite the brave persona she presented to the world. We must remember her life and all she survived in context over and above the last two days of her life. Anything else is exploitation.

    Go deeper ( 4 min. read ) ➝

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    Pentagon in Talks to Fund Peacekeeping Force in Gaza

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    Biden administration officials are in preliminary “conversations” about options for stabilizing post-war Gaza, including a proposal for the Pentagon to help fund either a multinational force or a Palestinian peacekeeping team.

    The options being considered would not involve U.S. troops on the ground, according to two Defense Department officials and two other U.S. officials, all granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door diplomatic and military negotiations. Instead, DOD funding would go toward the needs of the security force and complement assistance from other countries.

    Asked for comment, a senior administration official said “we are working with partners on various scenarios for interim governance and security structures in Gaza once the crisis recedes,” declining to detail specifics. “We’ve had a number of conversations with both the Israelis and our partners about key elements for the day after in Gaza when the time is right.”

    It could be weeks or months before Washington and its partners approve any plan, especially since regional players want to see a commitment to a two-state solution before seriously engaging with the options. There are also questions about the viability of training a potential Palestinian-led force in time to maintain order in Gaza, which has been decimated after five months of brutal fighting.

    And Israel is reluctant to have these conversations until it defeats Hamas militarily and secures the release of hostages being held by the group. Some officials within the Israeli government have called for Israel to occupy Gaza after the war, a proposal the U.S. opposes.

    “Israel is the long pole in the tent,” said one of the DOD officials, noting that Israel “has their hands full with other things.”

    “It would be one thing if the administration and the Israeli government were aligned on the way ahead, but that is just not the case,” said the official.

    The talks include the White House, Pentagon, State Department and their foreign counterparts about what a potential day-after security force would look like, the four officials confirmed. The discussions indicate such forces remain serious and viable options for what follows Israel’s retaliation against Hamas.

    Under initial plans being drawn up, DOD would provide funding for some type of security force that would not include U.S. troops on the ground in Gaza, according to the two DOD officials. One of the officials added that aid could be used for reconstruction, infrastructure, humanitarian assistance and other needs. The enclave is in rubble, and the vast majority of its 2.2 million people are displaced with strained access to food, water and medicine.

    The Pentagon would likely need to shift funds from elsewhere in the department to pay for the plan. American assistance would supplement contributions from other countries, per the two U.S. officials.

    As for a potential Palestinian-led peacekeeping team, it’s still unclear who would train and equip its members, which could include some of the nearly 20,000 security personnel backed by the Palestinian Authority since Hamas took control of the enclave in the mid-2000s.

    DOD began looking at options for supporting some kind of multinational force to stabilize Gaza around the new year, when there were expectations that Israel could soon start wrapping up its operations, according to the DOD official.

    Then in January, Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel to work with regional countries and moderate Palestinians to rebuild, stabilize and govern Gaza once the war ended. “This can only come through a regional approach that includes a pathway to a Palestinian state,” he said during a visit to Israel.

    Although U.S. officials have had conversations with regional partners about what the makeup of such a force would look like, none has confirmed participation because the plan is not finalized, the DOD official said. Many countries in the Middle East told the Biden administration they would consider participation only when there was a serious two-state solution plan in place.

    “Even though we have had conversations on the margins with regional partners about what they’d be willing to do, contribute, accept, that has not received serious consideration from our Israeli partner,” the official said.

    Israel “is not looking to signal an end because they have not achieved the aims they are pursuing” yet in Gaza, the official added.

    In the meantime, DOD is focused on increasing the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, including ensuring the security of the U.S. military’s plan to build a pier to deliver resources by sea to the enclave, and urging Israel to consider “alternatives” to a full-scale Rafah invasion, the DOD official said.

    The “what comes after” talks also include the possibility of a two-state solution, the official added.

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    WATCH: Pro-Palestine Protesters Disrupt Biden’s Lavish NYC Fundraiser with Obama, Clinton

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    President Joe Biden’s appearance at a $25 million Radio City Music Hall fundraiser with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton descended into chaos as the trio of presidents being interviewed by Stephen Colbert got interrupted by protesters.

    A handful of pro-Palestinian protesters shouted down the presidents, with one woman telling Biden ‘you have blood on your hands,’ as another loud guest warned of a nuclear war with Russia: ‘you’re out of your f***ing minds.’

    The event was supposed to be a star-studded evening with major donors, with some tickets costing as much as $500,000.

    Former President Donald Trump also traveled to New York Thursday, to pay his respects at a wake for slain NYPD officer Jonathan Diller.

    Colbert kicked the conversation off by noting how he was giving Obama and Clinton give minutes each to answer his questions – adding that Biden would get seven minutes.

    ‘Because as the sitting president, you can order SEAL Team 6 to take me out, which according to Donald Trump’s lawyers is perfectly OK,’ the Late Show host said.

    Biden, Obama and Clinton all took shots at Trump – without saying his name – in the opening minutes, with Biden recalling what motivated him to be president – the Republican’s dealing with the racial unrest in Charlottesville in 2017.

    Obama said that Trump and the Republican Party ‘increasingly seems unconcerned with the essence of America,’ while Clinton slapped the ex-president even harder.

    Clinton said Trump ‘stole from Barack Obama’ a good economy.

    ‘I listened to him tell us how terrible the American economy was all during 2016. And then, by January 2017, after the inauguration, it had become wonderful, miraculously, overnight,’ Clinton said.

    Clinton noted how job growth was slower under Trump, but people didn’t feel it yet.

    ‘Then all of a sudden, Joe Biden comes along and creates roughly twice as many jobs,’ he said. ‘So I believe in keeping score. Not in a vindictive way but in a positive way.’

    Colbert then quickly went to a lightning round – asking each of the leaders if they planned to sell any golden sneakers.

    ‘No golden sneakers,’ Biden confirmed.

    The demonstrators pounced as Colbert was asking the Obama and Clinton what they missed about living in the White House, turning the conversation to Israel’s war in Gaza.

    ‘That’s alright. Let them go. There’s a lot of people who are very, very – there are too many innocent victims, Israeli and Palestinian,’ Biden said. ‘We’ve got to get more food and medicine, supplies into the Palestinians.’

    ‘But we can’t forget, Israel is in a position where its very existence as at stake. You have to have all those people. They weren’t killed. They were massacred. They were massacred,’ the president continued.

    He noted a grisly story from the October 7 terror attack by Hamas of an Israeli mother and daughter tied together and the Hamas terrorists were ‘pouring kerosene on them, burning them to death.’

    Biden spoke of the work he was doing with Arab countries – including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar – to recognize Israel and that there needed to be post-war plan.

    ‘There has to be a train to a two state solution,’ the president reiterated.

    Obama spoke about how being in the White House ‘is a lonely seat’ and talked about the unenviable position Biden was in.

    ‘And so when you look at a situation like we’re seeing in Gaza and in Israel, and your heart breaks, initially for a massacre of unbelievable cruelty,’ he said.

    ‘It is also possible for us to say we unequivocally support the people of Israel and their ability to live and raise families and so forth. Which is what Joe’s position has been, and it is also possible for us to have our hearts broken, watching innocent people being killed and trying to manage through that in a way that ultimately leads to both people being able to live in peace side by side,’ Obama continued.

    He was interrupted by more protesters.

    There were lighthearted moments too.

    Biden repeated the well-known saying about life in D.C.: ‘And as Harry Truman said, the president, if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.’

    ‘I got one and get a Secret Service agent,’ the president joked.

    He also said when asked if he feared flying on Air Force One – which is a Boeing – ‘I don’t sit by the door.’

    ‘I’m only kidding. I shouldn’t even joke about it,’ Biden added.

    Biden confirmed that he was not changing the iconic plane’s color scheme, something Trump tried to accomplish when he was in office.

    ‘Yeah, we’re not doing that,’ Obama chimed in.

    Colbert also asked Biden to push back on concerns that he’s too old to serve a second term.

    ‘I know I don’t look much over forty, I know that,’ Biden replied.

    ‘You know, this last guy that I ran against and am running against again this time, is – his ideas are from the 18th, 19th century. No, I’m serious,’ the president also said. ‘This is the way he talks about when he says he’s gonna suspend the Constitution, all the things he said.’

    The president made a similar point about Trump during his State of the Union address.

    All three presidents and Colbert donned Biden’s trademark aviators to conclude the show, with Biden saying he was a man who ‘loves two things: Ray Ban sunglasses and ice cream.’

    ‘By the way, Dark Brandon is real,’ he said of his alter ego – an online creation who’s more sinister by nature.

    Lizzo was there and performed her hit ‘About Damn Time’ ahead of the presidents’ arrival onstage, while The Mindy Project’s Mindy Kaling played the role of emcee.

    She joked that it was nice to be in a room with ‘so many rich people’ and said it felt good to support a president who ‘openly’ promises to ‘raise your taxes.’

    Vogue editor-in-chief and Conde Nast executive Anna Wintour was spotted in the audience.

    Kaling, 44, also said – looking upon Biden, 81, Clinton, 77, and Obama, the youngest at 62 – that while she was getting older, she looked like a ‘cast member of Euphoria’ compared to them.

    HBO’s Europhia is a high school drama, though most of the cast is in their 20s.

    Other entertainers included Queen Latifah, Ben Platt, who sang a soulful rendition of Get by With a Little Help From My Friends, Cynthia Erivo, and Lea Michele, who sang Don’t Rain on My Parade from Funny Girl, a show she starred in on Broadway.

    Meanwhile, outside the venue, many more pro-Palestinian protesters had swarmed Radio City Music Hall.

    Biden was called a ‘war criminal’ by those gathered, with one demonstrator holding up a sign that read, ‘Joe Biden Retire B****,’ a message aimed at the 81-year-old leader.

    One video, shared by conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, shows a man getting shoved by members of the crowd and asking for police to assist.

    ‘Democrats you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!’ protesters shouted out, with drum beats helping them keep the time.

    The trio of presidents have been at the venue for most of the afternoon – taping a podcast with comedians Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett for an episode of their SmartLess podcast.

    Videos shared to social media by attendees show loud music playing as donors took their seats, with audience members seemingly unaware of the chaos happening outside.

    Earlier Thursday, Biden arrived in New York with Obama in tow to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
    On the flight Obama could be heard briefly saying hello to the White House press corps, as press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters the conversation was off the record.
    Obama’s involvement with the Biden campaign comes after several reports said the 62-year-old ex-president has been sounding the alarm about Biden’s reelection prospects.

    Earlier Thursday Trump attended the wake of slain officer Diller at the Massapequa Funeral Home on Long Island.

    Diller was shot and killed in the line of duty in Queens on Monday.

    Guy Rivera, the suspect arrested in the slaying, has been arrested 21 times.

    Time Magazine’s cover story last week chronicled two in-person meetings Obama had with Biden last year – one in June and then a follow-up in December, when the ex-president didn’t see the president’s campaign operation improve.

    ‘He expressed concern the re-election campaign was behind schedule in building out its field operations, and bottlenecked by Biden’s insistence on relying upon an insular group of advisers clustered in the West Wing,’ Time wrote, citing a Democratic insider.

    A follow-up story in The New York Times Tuesday said that Obama is regularly dialing Biden – but he’s also phoning White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients too.

    A senior aide told the paper that Obama has ‘always’ been worried about a Biden loss to Trump, and so he’s prepared to ‘eke it out’ alongside his former VP through Election Day in November.

    Obama’s reported warnings are similar to what Clinton was saying behind closed doors ahead of the 2016 presidential election, which saw his wife, Democrat Hillary Clinton, shockingly lose to Trump, who had never held elected office.

    In the book Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign authors Amie Parnes and Jonathan Allen detailed how Bill Clinton feared that his wife and her campaign aides were taking some support for granted.

    He suggested she go into communities that wouldn’t necessarily naturally vote for the Democrat just to show she was making an effort.

    ‘He knew there was some power just in showing up,’ co-author Allen said in a 2017 interview with ABC News.

    Obama has reportedly advised Biden that his field operations are being built out too slowly – bottlenecked by the president’s reliance on a ‘insular group of advisers clustered in the West Wing,’ Time said.

    During Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign – which he successfully won against Republican Mitt Romney – he had hired 900-plus staffers by summer.

    The Biden campaign, which is headquarted in Biden’s adopted hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, ended 2023 with just around 70 paid employees, though there’s a goal to hire 350.

    Biden’s team said that the campaign is also planning to rely on staff at the Democratic National Committee to aid the state-level effort.

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    DeSantis Signs Bill That Cracks Down on Squatters in Florida

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    Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation into law Wednesday that ends squatters’ rights in the Sunshine State, stating that “squatting” is a scam that violates private property rights.

    After alarming stories about squatters commandeering homes and depriving the owners of their property rights made nationwide news in recent weeks, DeSantis took action.

    “We are in the state of Florida are ending this squatters scam once and for all. And momentarily I’ll be signing HB 621, which will give the homeowner the ability to quickly and legally remove a squatter from a property and which will increase criminal penalties for squatting,” DeSantis said during a press conference on the signing at the Orange County State Attorney’s Office.

    “You are not going to be able to commandeer somebody’s private property and expect to get away with it. We are in the state of Florida are ending this squatters scam once and for all, DeSantis added.

    The common sense law allows property owners to file an affidavit to prove they legally own a property. Squatters will quickly face criminal charges once its proven that they illegally moved into a home.

    If the suspect is unable to produce documents authorizing his residency, the property owner can call on the sheriff’s office to immediately remove the squatter from his home.

    The law establishes harsher penalties for squatting crimes, including “a second-degree felony charge against squatters who damage a home, a first-degree felony charge against those who fraudulently sell or lease a property, and a misdemeanor charge against those who purposefully present a fraudulent lease.”

    Previously, squatters in Florida, as well as other states, were considered tenants after a specific length of time and legal property owners often had to launch lengthy and expensive court battles to legally remove them from their homes.

    “Now, we have not had the same type of issues here, as you’ve seen in California or New York. Nevertheless, our laws were really geared towards this not necessarily being a fad,” DeSantis said.

    The governor said that unlike Democrat-led states that protect squatters, Florida will crackdown on the criminals.

    “They’re siding with the squatters,” he said of the blue states.

    “In fact, we have seen squatters move in and claim residence. This forces a massive, long, drawn-out judicial review before they can even be removed from the property. These are people that never had a right to be in the property to begin with. Earlier this month in New York, a woman returned to a property she inherited to find squatters living there. She changed the locks to get them out, and the state of New York arrested her instead of the squatters.”

    During the signing ceremony in Orlando, Sheriff Dennis M. Lemma said the word “squatter” is too kind and the perpetrators should instead be referred to as “criminals and con artists.”

    “I want to thank our legislative body, both our delegates here in central Florida and abroad, because this received unanimous support, and it’s been long too often where we’ve seen homeowners that have spent their entire life working and earning. Some have inherited homes of parents and to knock on the door and be met with squatters,” Lemma said.

    “Squatters actually is a very, very kind term. These are criminals and con artists that need to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” he continued.

    Florida, similar to other states across the nation, has seen repeated incidents of squatters fraudulently moving into a home or property, including a squatter in September who moved into a multimillion-dollar home in Bonita Springs and was found wearing the homeowner’s clothing. Another homeowner in June, who was on vacation abroad before returning to his Ocala house, was forced to confront a squatter who trashed his property in his absence.

    While residents in a neighborhood in Winter Park sounded off in September that squatters had turned the area into a “nightmare” because the police department was “handcuffed” from arresting the suspects as it was considered a civil matter.

    DeSantis pointed out that in Florida, there are many seasonal residents who reside in the state for half the year and leave their houses unattended when they return to their home states in the north.

    The governor said those people shouldn’t have to worry that “some rogue person moves in and tries to assert rights against the lawful property owner.”

    DeSantis said that he believes Florida is the first state to decisively handle this problem.

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    CPAC’s Matt Schlapp Accuser Was Paid $500,000 to Drop Sexual Groping Lawsuit

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    The Republican operative who accused American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp of sexual assault last year received a significant financial settlement in exchange for dropping his lawsuit against Schlapp, multiple sources familiar with the case told CNN.

    The $480,000 settlement was paid to Carlton Huffman through an insurance policy, according to a source familiar with the details. Schlapp’s legal team did not respond for comment when asked about the financial settlement, but on Tuesday said that Huffman dropped the lawsuit and Schlapp claimed he had been exonerated.

    “From the beginning, I asserted my innocence,” Schlapp said in a statement. “Our family was attacked, especially by a left-wing media that is focused on the destruction of conservatives regardless of the truth and the facts.”

    Schlapp’s lawyers also released a statement by Huffman, the language of which was part of their private agreement.

    “The claims made in my lawsuits were the result of a complete misunderstanding, and I regret that the lawsuit caused pain to the Schlapp family,” Huffman said, according to that statement. “Neither the Schlapps nor the ACU paid me anything to dismiss my claims against them.”

    But multiple sources familiar with the allegations and legal proceedings told CNN that Huffman did, in fact, receive a financial settlement via an insurance company.

    When reached for comment, Huffman told CNN, “I am only legally allowed to say five words, and that is ‘We have resolved our differences.’ Those are the only five words that I’m legally allowed to say.”

    His lawyer, Tim Hyland, also declined to comment on any financial settlement terms or other details of the case, saying only, “The parties have resolved their differences.”

    Asked whether there had been a settlement, the spokesman for Schlapp’s legal team, Mark Corallo, told CNN, “We refer you to Mr. Huffman’s statement.”

    Schlapp initially touted the end of the lawsuit on social media with a link to a Washington Examiner story headlined, “CPAC’s Matt Schlapp cleared in assault case, accuser apologizes.” The post included a pointer-finger emoji directed at the headline. The original story is still online, but Schlapp’s tweet has since been deleted.

    The original lawsuit filed by Huffman against Schlapp asked for more than $9 million in damages.

    Schlapp runs the ACU, the organization most widely known for staging the Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC. Schlapp and the group occasionally butted heads with Donald Trump before he was elected president in 2016, but have since become fierce loyalists. After serving in the George W. Bush White House as director of political affairs, Schlapp took over the ACU in 2014. His wife, Mercedes Schlapp, who was also named in the lawsuit, worked as Trump’s communications director for nearly two years, from 2017 to 2019.

    At the time of the alleged assault, Huffman was working for the Georgia GOP and Republican Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign. Huffman told CNN that Schlapp made unwanted sexual advances, including groping and fondling his groin without consent, on the ride back from two Atlanta-area bars on October 19, 2022. Schlapp then allegedly invited Huffman, who was assigned to drive the ACU chairman, to join him in his hotel room. Huffman said he had declined the offer, and hours later reported the incident to senior campaign staff.

    The case was scheduled to go to trial in early June. By agreeing to the deal now, Schlapp and his lawyers prevented potentially damaging testimony from becoming public, including a deposition by Charlie Gerow, a former vice chair of CPAC and ACU board member who expressed serious concerns about Schlapp’s behavior in his resignation letter, as well as two witnesses who had previously accused Schlapp of sexual misconduct.

    Schlapp will also be spared from having to testify in open court.

    In addition, the settlement headed off new testimony from multiple witnesses who were scheduled to be deposed, including former officials from Walker’s 2022 Senate campaign and other witnesses with similar, contemporaneous knowledge about the alleged assault.

    A former official on the Walker campaign told CNN he does not believe the settlement exonerates Schlapp.

    “As far as I know the facts were never disputed,” the Walker campaign official said. “I had no indication that Carlton fabricated his story, then or now. Matt (Schlapp) knew me well enough to call me, he never called me” to contest Huffman’s claims.

    Another source, who has been in contact with Huffman, said that the case would not have been dropped without a financial settlement.

    “He wouldn’t have dropped it, his name and reputation were already public, he was ready to go to court,” the source said. “I know (Huffman) definitely got paid.”

    During the course of the lawsuit, Huffman’s own personal conduct came under scrutiny.

    In March of 2023, it was revealed that Huffman himself had been accused of sexual assault. According to court documents filed in Raleigh, North Carolina, the two alleged victims, women aged 19 and 22, said that Huffman performed unwanted sexual acts on them.

    Huffman denied the allegations and no criminal charges were filed.

    A source familiar with the conversations going on inside the ACU when the lawsuit against Schlapp was first filed said several colleagues encouraged Schlapp to use his homeowner’s insurance policy to pay for a settlement, but Schlapp resisted, telling them he was concerned it would lead to a hike in his premiums.

    Asked why Schlapp ultimately settled, the source told CNN that they believed that Schlapp and his wife “did not want this to go to trial, they simply did not want the testimony that would come out.”

    “It’s not exoneration,” the source said, “if you paid the guy off.”

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    RNC Weighs Limiting NBC Access at Convention

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    The Republican National Committee is weighing whether to restrict NBC’s access to this summer’s convention, following the network’s decision to drop former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel as a contributor.

    Such a move would mark a dramatic escalation in the growing rift between Donald Trump-allies and the TV network — a rift that has stemmed from NBC’s decision to part ways with McDaniel amid a revolt among top on-air talent.

    “We are taking a hard look at what this means for NBC’s participation at the convention,” said Danielle Alvarez, a spokesperson for the RNC and the Trump campaign. “Our priority is making sure this is a world class event that allows President Trump to feature his message and vision in a fair way.”

    But any attempt to restrict the network’s access at the convention would likely engender strong pushback from top brass there, as well as organizations tasked with representing the media and, potentially, rival journalists and outlets.

    The RNC did not further elaborate on what “a hard look” meant. But a major showdown with the press at the biggest political event of the election cycle could prove to be an unwanted distraction for Republicans. That is especially true for a presidential nominee who takes heavy interest in the media coverage he receives.

    The RNC has followed through on threats to TV networks before, including cutting out NBC from hosting a debate in the 2016 primary. But the summer convention is a far bigger stage with much larger electoral consequences.

    It’s also not certain how much control the committee possesses over media access to the convention. The event requires the coordination of the Republican Party, convention hall officials, and local and state authorities. And congressional press gallery officials, not the RNC, run the credentialing process for access to the convention hall.

    Rob Zatkowski, the Director of the House Periodical Press Gallery, said that the RNC, which was recently taken over by Trump allies, did not have actual control over which outlets can be credentialed for the convention.

    “[If] the publication is credentialed on Capitol Hill, and one of the parties asked that the publication not be credentialed for the convention, we would credential the publication anyway. To my knowledge this has never happened before,” said Zatkowski.

    But two people familiar with the RNC’s planning said the committee would control access to the perimeter around the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the convention is taking place. The RNC, they said, could restrict access to space for live shots, the transportation it plans to run and hotel space it is overseeing.

    During the 2016 campaign, the House Periodical Gallery, which ran credentialing that year, said it would refuse any potential order from the Trump operation to bar outlets from convention access. The Trump campaign at various points in that campaign declined to credential certain outlets, including POLITICO, to Trump’s events, though it ultimately did not try to block any of them from attending the convention.

    While Alvarez said that the committee was looking at NBC’s “participation” at the convention, the RNC’s new chair, Michael Whatley, stressed on Thursday that the committee wanted to keep engaging with a wide array of outlets, including the network’s cable division, MSNBC.

    “I think we want to be able to use every single available outlet to get our message out to the American people,” Whatley told conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt, who was formerly a host on MSNBC. “But people are not going to go on a network that they can’t trust, that they know they won’t be treated fairly. So I think you’re going to see that across the board. We know that we need to find alternative ways to talk to the American voters. We can’t just stay still. We can’t just stop. We have to be able to communicate.”

    NBC is expected to have one of the larger media footprints at the conventions this year. And in an effort to expand its roster of Trump-allied voices, the network announced last week that it was hiring McDaniel, who had served as RNC chair for the duration of Trump’s presidency before being effectively removed from the post by Trump himself.

    But the decision sparked a sharp public rebuke from others at the network. NBC News political director Chuck Todd called out network executives while appearing on the “Meet the Press” on Sunday, just minutes after McDaniel had appeared on the program for an interview. Other hosts followed suit, arguing that McDaniel’s roles in questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 election (she conceded on “Meet the Press” that it was won fairly by Joe Biden) and support for Trump in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 riot, made her presence on their airwaves impossible.

    After further pushback from NBC employees — and liberal-leaning MSNBC host Rachel Maddow — host the outlet fired McDaniel on Monday.

    Republicans have pointedly criticized NBC for the decision. That includes Trump.

    “It appears that it’s up to Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow as to whether NBC will participate in the convention since we just learned that NBC is held hostage by their ‘talent,’” Alvarez said.

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    Hamas Terrorist Confesses to Oct. 7 Atrocity: “The Devil Took Over Me, I Raped Her”

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    A terrorist with Palestinian Islamic Jihad has described exactly how he raped a ‘terrified’ Israeli woman on October 7, claiming that ‘the devil took over me.’

    The detained terrorist, who identifies himself as 28-year-old Manar Mahmoud Muhammad Qasem, said he broke into a house in an unnamed kibbutz in Israel and found a lone, terrified woman, according to a video shared with MailOnline.

    ‘At first when I entered there was no one, then I entered a room and someone was there and was scared of me,’ he said in an interrogation room while sitting in front of an Israeli flag.

    ‘She told me to help her, I took her and threw her on the couch.’

    He then described in sickening detail how he sexually assaulted the woman.

    ‘The devil took over me, I laid her down started undressing her and did what I did.’

    But the interrogator, from Unit 504 of the IDF’s intelligence arm, pressed him, and the terrorist says he ‘slept with her’.

    The interrogator angrily says: ‘You did not sleep with her, sleep is to sleep. So what did you do?’

    The dead-eyed terrorist then admits: ‘I raped her.’

    He tried to backpeddle, claiming it ‘didn’t last long’ as he heard shouting outside. He said the rape lasted for ‘two minutes, maybe a minute-and-a-half.’

    ‘Two men came through the door forcefully, and we heard screams. I don’t know if it was her mother, or who it was.’

    ‘After we heard the screams, she and I both started to get dressed, then these two men entered.’

    Qasem said the two men wore uniforms from the Al-Aqsa martyrs brigade, Hamas’s armed wing, and that they dragged the Israeli woman’s mother into the same room and the two frightened women ‘started comforting each other’, before they were both dragged out by two Hamas fighters.

    He then admitted to killing several civilians in the kibbutz using a handgun and a grenade, before running away.

    Qasem said that he was called to join in on the October 7 attack by a fellow terrorist, despite training up in Hamas’s navy.

    He told interrogators that his friend was wounded in his head when they crossed into Israel.

    The chilling testimony comes days after an Israeli hostage revealed that she was sexually assaulted by a guard while she was held captive by Hamas.

    Amit Soussana, has claimed that a guard, who she says identified himself only as Muhammad, with his ‘gun pointed at me, forced me to commit a sexual act on him’ in a child’s bedroom.

    Ms Soussana, 40, told the New York Times that she was sexually assaulted, beaten and tortured while she was held in Gaza for 55 days.

    The Israeli lawyer was released during a ceasefire in November alongside 21-year-old Mia Schem.

    The terrorist group has for months denied that its members sexually abused people in captivity or during the October 7 attack.

    However, a United Nations (UN) report released this month stated there is ‘clear and convincing information’ that some hostages had suffered sexual violence.

    There are also ‘reasonable grounds’ that some people were assaulted during the raid, the report added.

    Ms Soussana was abducted from her home during the October 7 raid, beaten and dragged into Gaza by a group of at least seven gunmen.

    While in captivity, she said she was held alone in a child’s bedroom and chained by her left ankle.

    She said that just several days after she had been taken, Muhammad started questioning her about her sex life and menstrual cycle.

    Muhammad attacked her on or around October 24, Ms Soussana told the Times. She claimed that he unchained her, took her to the bathroom and ordered that she bathe.

    As she washed herself, the lawyer recalled hearing his voice by the door, telling her ‘quickly, Amit, quickly’.

    She then turned around to find him standing there with his gun, watching her.

    Ms Soussana said she tried to cover herself with a hand towel, but Muhammad advanced towards her and hit her.

    ‘He sat me on the edge of the bath. And I closed my legs. And I resisted. And he kept punching me and put his gun in my face,’ she told the newspaper. ‘Then he dragged me to the bedroom.’

    She alleged that while in the bedroom, which was reportedly decorated with images of children’s cartoon characters, Muhammad forced her to commit a sexual act on him, before leaving her naked, sitting in the dark and sobbing on the bed.

    Ms Soussana noted that Muhammad had left her alone to wash himself and claimed her attacker showed remorse after the assault, allegedly saying to her: ‘I’m bad, I’m bad, please don’t tell Israel.’

    She reported the alleged assault and other violence to two doctors and a social worker less than 24 hours after she was freed from captivity, The Times reported.

    It is understood that she also spoke to the UN team that published the report on sexual violence against hostages in Gaza and during the October 7 attack.

    Ms Soussana has also revealed how about three weeks into her kidnapping she was moved to another location, which she described as an apartment, and reunited with other hostages.

    She recalled being summoned into the living room a few days after her arrival for a brutal beating by a group of guards who apparently believed she was hiding information from them.

    The lawyer said the guards wrapped her head in a shirt, forced her to sit on the floor and beat her with the butt of a gun. They put duct tape over her mouth and nose, tied her feat, and handcuffed her, Ms Soussana recalled.

    The guards reportedly hung her ‘like a chicken’ between two couches and continued to beat and kick her, while demanding she reveal the information they believed she was hiding.

    ‘It was like that for 45 minutes or so,’ she said. ‘They were hitting me and laughing and kicking me, and called the other hostages to see me.’

    After they untied her, Ms Soussana said the guards took her back to a bedroom and threatened to kill her if she did not produce the requested information within 40 minutes. She said that she still does not know exactly what information they sought.

    Ms Soussana lived alone in Kfar Aza and was an easy target for Hamas attackers, who discovered her hiding in a safe room in her property on October 7.

    Astonishing footage, captured by a security camera, showed how she fought to free herself from Hamas as they dragged her back to Gaza during their ruthless raid.

    Holding her down, the attackers can be seen slapping Ms Soussana as they attempted to wrap her in a shawl or blanket, but still she fought back, twisting and kicking. Eventually the captors were forced to bundle her into a car to get her back to Gaza as they were unable to drag her on foot.

    More than 1,200 Israelis were slaughtered on October 7, irrespective of whether they tried to flee or resist against their attackers.

    Ms Soussana was one of several hostages who were taken and spent almost eight weeks days living in captivity.

    She was released by Hamas just one day before the week-long truce between Israel and Hamas expired and hostilities resumed.

    Released alongside her was Ms Schem, who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on November 30.

    During the truce, Hamas released 80 Israeli hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. Twenty-five other captives, mostly Thais, were freed outside the scope of the deal.

    Israel recalled its negotiators from Doha on Tuesday after deeming mediated talks on a Gaza truce were ‘at a dead end’ due to demands by Hamas, a senior Israeli official has said.

    The official, who is close to the Mossad spymaster heading up the talks, accused Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar of sabotaging the diplomacy ‘as part of a wider effort to inflame this war over Ramadan’.

    The warring sides had stepped up negotiations, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, on a six-week suspension of Israel’s offensive in return for the proposed release of 40 of the 130 hostages still held by the Palestinian militant group in Gaza.

    Hamas has sought to parlay any deal into an end to the fighting and withdrawal of Israeli forces. Israel has ruled this out, saying it would eventually resume efforts to dismantle the governance and military capabilities of Hamas.

    Hamas also wants hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled Gaza City and surrounding areas southward during the first stage of the almost six-month-old war to be allowed back north.

    The Israeli official said that Israel had agreed to double the number of Palestinians it would release for the hostages at 700 to 800 prisoners and allow some displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Tuesday that Hamas had made ‘delusional’ demands, which it said showed the Palestinians were not interested in a deal.

    Hamas has accused Israel of stalling at the talks while it carries out its military offensive.

    The discussions, mediated by Egypt and Qatar, are continuing as a humanitarian crisis devastates Palestinians in Gaza with severe shortages of food, medicine and hospital care. Concerns are growing that famine will take hold.

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    45 Dead After Bus Crashes Off Cliff En Route to Easter Church Service in South Africa

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    Forty-five Christians are dead and a young girl seriously injured after a bus crashed off a cliff in South Africa en route to an Easter church service.

    The bus crash reportedly took place in Limpopo, the northernmost province of South Africa, and occurred after the vehicle veered off a cliff and burst into flames upon hitting the ground. According to various reports, the lone survivor of the accident was an 8-year-old girl who was now receiving medical attention at a nearby hospital.

    The group was reportedly from Botswana and headed to Moria, South Africa, for Easter church services as Christians around the world prepare to commemorate the resurrection.

    “I am sending my heartfelt condolences to the families affected by the tragic bus crash near Mamatlakala,” said South African Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga.

    “Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time. We continue to urge responsible driving at all times with heightened alertness as more people are on our roads this Easter weekend.”

    The South African Police Service and Limpopo Accident Response Team responded to the crash.

    “It is alleged that the driver lost control, colliding with barriers on the bridge causing the bus to go over the bridge and hitting the ground, where it caught fire,” the South African Transportation Ministry said in a statement. “The Minister assures the public that the precise cause of the crash is under thorough investigation.”

    The Limpopo Department of Transportation said in a post on Facebook that the truck had a Botswana license plate and that both South Africa and Botswana would be working to verify the citizenship of the victims of the crash.

    “According to reports, the driver lost control, and the bus fell onto a rocky surface, some 50-metres under the bridge and caught fire,” the department said.

    “Rescue operations continued until the late hours of Thursday evening, as some bodies were burned beyond recognition, others trapped inside the debris and others scattered on the scene.”

    Photos posted online showed Florence Radzilani, a member of the Executive Council for Transport and Community Safety for Limpopo, visiting the site of the disaster alongside police.

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    GOP Wins Big in ‘Crucial’ Pennsylvania Mail Voting Lawsuit

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    In a decision that may affect the swing state of Pennsylvania and possibly other swing states, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals reversed on Wednesday the order of a federal district court and handed the Republican National Committee (RNC) a victory regarding signature verification for mail voting in Pennsylvania.

    The case centered around whether mail-in ballots that were mailed in time but either possessed an incorrect date or no date at all under the voter’s signature should be counted, NPR noted.

    Democrats argued that the Materiality Provision established in Section 10101(a)(2)(B) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, applies in this case and that the ballots could therefore be counted.

    The Materiality Provision prohibits denial of the right to vote because of an “error or omission” on paperwork “related to any application, registration, or other act requisite to voting,” if the mistake is “not material in determining whether [an] individual is qualified” to vote.

    The RNC countered that enforcement of the date requirement for a ballot “does not impinge on the right to vote” because the Materiality Provision “only prohibits immaterial requirements affecting the qualification and registration of a voter,” not additional requirements for casting a ballot.

    The 3rd Circuit decision, in which two of the three judges concurred (all three appointed by Democrats), explained:

    States have separate bodies of rules for separate stages of the voting process. One stage, voter qualification, deals with who votes. To register and thus be authorized to vote, applicants must follow prescribed steps and meet certain requirements. It’s like obtaining a license to drive.

    Another stage deals with how ballots are cast by those previously authorized to vote, which is governed by a different set of rules. To cast a ballot that is valid and will be counted, all qualified voters must abide by certain requirements, just like those authorized to drive must obey the State’s traffic laws like everyone else.

    The Materiality Provision is an important federal overlay on state election requirements during the “who” stage: voter qualification. It prohibits States from denying an applicant the right to vote based on an error or omission in paperwork involving his application if that mistake is immaterial in determining whether he is qualified to vote. That is, it is triggered when conduct or laws restrict who may vote. But it leaves it to the States to decide how qualified voters must cast a valid ballot. Pennsylvania has made one such rule—the date requirement—mandatory. The federal Materiality Provision, in our view, does not interfere.

    In the wake of the decision, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley stated:

    This is a crucial victory for election integrity and voter confidence in the Keystone State and nationwide. Pennsylvanians deserve to feel confident in the security of their mail ballots, and this 3rd Circuit ruling roundly rejects unlawful left-wing attempts to count undated or incorrectly dated mail ballots. Republicans will continue to fight and win for election integrity in courts across the country ahead of the 2024 election.

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    Trump Meets with Emotional Family, Friends of Slain Officer at Wake, Calls for ‘Toughening Up’ Law and Order

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    Former President Donald Trump addressed mourners and the media outside of slain NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller’s wake on Thursday, calling for the “toughening up” of law and order.

    Diller’s alleged killer, Guy Rivera, had a lengthy rap sheet including 21 prior arrests.

    “What happened is such a sad event,” Trump told reporters. “It’s happening all too often and we’re just not going to let it happen.”

    “Twenty-one times arrested, this thug,” he said, referring to Diller’s suspected killer, ex-con Guy Rivera.

    “The person in the car with him was arrested many times and they don’t learn because they don’t respect,” the former president added.

    “The Diller family will never be the same. We have to stop it. We have to get back to law and order.”

    “We have to do a lot of things differently because this is not working. This is happening too often,” Trump said.

    “This is such a sad occasion. The only thing we can say is maybe something’s going to be learned. We’ve gotta toughen it up and strengthen it up.

    “Things like this shouldn’t take place and take place so often. We’ve gotta toughen it. We’ve gotta have law and order. These things can’t happen. We need law and order.”

    After Trump spoke, the crowd yelled, “Thank you, President Trump.”

    Trump was among the hundreds who turned up to pay their respects to Diller at Massapequa Funeral Home on Long Island.

    Diller, 31, left behind a 1-year-old son.

    Visitation for family and friends is being held at the Massapequa Funeral Home at 4980 Merrick Road between 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, followed by the same schedule Friday.

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    Sam Bankman Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison

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    A federal judge on March 28 sentenced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison for defrauding investors of $8 billion in the fallen cryptocurrency exchange.

    U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan handed down the sentence at a Manhattan court hearing after rejecting Mr. Bankman-Fried’s claim that FTX customers did not actually lose money and accusing him of lying during his trial testimony. In November, jurors convicted Mr. Bankman-Fried of all seven counts of conspiracy and fraud with which government lawyers charged him.

    “He knew it was wrong,” Judge Kaplan said of Mr. Bankman-Fried before handing down the sentence. “He knew it was criminal. He regrets that he made a very bad bet about the likelihood of getting caught. But he is not going to admit a thing, as is his right.”

    The judge also ordered forfeiture of $11.2 billion but did not order restitution, saying it would be “impractical” because there were so many victims.

    The judge particularly took issue with Mr. Bankman-Fried’s lack of remorse.

    Earlier in the hearing, the FTX founder, wearing a beige short-sleeve jail t-shirt, apologized to investors.

    “A lot of people feel really let down, and they were very let down, and I am sorry about that,” he said. “I am sorry about what happened at every stage.”

    Judge Kaplan said he had found that FTX customers lost $8 billion, FTX’s equity investors lost $1.7 billion, and that lenders to the Alameda Research hedge fund Bankman-Fried founded lost $1.3 billion.

    “The defendant’s assertion that FTX customers and creditors will be paid in full is misleading, it is logically flawed, it is speculative,” Judge Kaplan said. “A thief who takes his loot to Las Vegas and successfully bets the stolen money is not entitled to a discount on the sentence by using his Las Vegas winnings to pay back what he stole.”

    Mr. Bankman-Fried and his attorneys had repeatedly argued that he didn’t intentionally do anything wrong and that he deserves no more than 6 1/2 years in jail. In his trial testimony in October, Mr. Bankman-Fried insisted he used sophisticated analytics to try to keep track of the state of FTX’s finances and suggested that subordinates acting without his knowledge or imprimatur made costly mistakes.

    But prosecutors, citing testimony from Alameda Research head Caroline Ellison, who was at times romantically involved with Mr. Bankman-Fried, vehemently disagreed with the more charitable view and are pressing for a sentence of half a century or longer.

    At the sentencing hearing, Mr. Bankman-Fried’s attorney Marc Mukasey sought to portray the FTX founder as a well-meaning “awkward math nerd.”

    “Sam’s an incredibly kind-hearted and generous person,” Mr. Mukasey told the court, adding that Mr. Bankman-Fried thought he could make his investors whole if he had more time.

    Prosecutor Nicolas Roos countered, telling the court, “The criminality here is massive in scale. It was pervasive in all aspects of the business.”

    “Sam Bankman-Fried stole over $8 billion in customer money, and I emphasize stole because it was not a liquidity crisis, or an active mismanagement, or poor oversight from the top,” Mr. Roos said.

    Mr. Bankman-Fried has vowed to appeal his conviction and sentencing.

    Dominoes Fall

    The conviction in November came exactly one year after a Nov. 2, 2022, report in the cryptocurrency publication Coindesk began to stoke wide concern about the state of FTX’s finances. The report cited a leaked balance sheet of FTX’s hedge fund trading affiliate, Alameda Research.

    According to Coindesk’s analysis, a bulk of Alameda’s $14.6 billion of assets was in the form of FTX’s own crypto token, FTT, rather than a fiat currency. This not only suggested that Alameda’s wealth was potentially less fungible than many had assumed but also pointed to extensive commingling of FTX customer deposits with the hedge fund affiliate.

    Whether or not Coindesk was correct to impute instability and weakness to FTX on the basis of its position in FTT, the reaction in the market was swift. On Nov. 6, 2022, Changpeng Zhao, then-CEO of Binance, one of the other leading cryptocurrency exchanges, sent out a sharply worded post on Twitter.

    Mr. Zhao alluded to the fact that Binance had been distancing itself from FTX over the past year and had received the equivalent of about $2.1 billion in U.S. dollars in the form of both cash and the FTT token.

    “Due to recent revelations that have come to light, we have decided to liquidate any remaining FTT on our books. We will try to do so in a way that minimizes market impact,” Mr. Zhao wrote.

    Despite that assurance, Binance’s move, and forthright public announcement, immediately helped fuel a run on the bank during which customers pulled $6 billion from FTX in three days.

    The exchange would never recover; some $9 billion of customer funds are still lost through the commingling of funds and Mr. Bankman-Fried’s lavish spending.

    The Feds Move In

    U.S. federal prosecutors were quick to take action. On Dec. 13, 2022, the Department of Justice announced that a federal grand jury had returned an indictment charging Mr. Bankman-Fried with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, campaign finance violations, and fraud against the Federal Election Commission.

    The last allegation relates to Mr. Bankman-Fried drawing upon customer deposits to make large donations to both Democrats and Republicans with whom he wanted to curry favor.

    But it was mainly Democrats who benefited from Mr. Bankman-Fried’s largesse, including a reported $5.2 million donation to then-candidate Joe Biden in 2020. According to The Wall Street Journal, this gift made Mr. Bankman-Fried second only to Michael Bloomberg among top-spending backers of President Biden.

    Government lawyers briefly dropped the campaign finance charges on the technical grounds that Bahamas authorities hadn’t included them among their stated grounds for extraditing Mr. Bankman-Fried from the Bahamas to New York to face trial in December 2022. Then, in August 2023, prosecutors did an about-face and announced that Mr. Bankman-Fried was still on the hook for campaign finance violations.

    “The Justice Department has filed charges alleging that Samuel Bankman-Fried perpetrated a range of offenses in a global scheme to deceive and defraud customers and lenders of FTX and Alameda, the defendant’s crypto hedge fund, as well as a conspiracy to defraud the United States government,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

    Michael J. Driscoll, assistant director of the FBI’s New York office, was blunt about Mr. Bankman-Fried’s misuse of FTX deposits to pay Alameda’s expenses and to make other investments.

    “If you deceive and defraud your customers, the FBI will be persistent in our efforts to bring you to justice,” Mr. Driscoll said.

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    IDENTIFIED: ‘Knifeman’, 22, Charged After Four People Were Killed

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    The man accused of slaughtering four people and injuring others during a brutal rampage in Illinois on Wednesday has been charged with multiple counts of murder, attempted murder and home invasion.

    Christian Ivan Soto, 22, was booked into Winnebago County Jail in the early hours of Thursday, around 12 hours after the bloody killing spree began.

    In total, four people are dead, including a 15-year-old girl and a 49-year-old mailman. The other victims were a 22-year-old man and a 63-year-old woman.

    Witnesses described Soto as being ‘bloodied’ and ‘resisting arrest’ as he was hauled away by arresting officers.

    During a press conference in the aftermath of the horror, the local police chief said that investigators had not uncovered a ‘clear motive’ for the bloodshed that occurred around 90 miles west of Chicago.

    Police in the area responded to a series of locations at 1:14pm after receiving calls about a burglary. From there, a manhunt began resulting in the suspect being arrested in the vicinity at 1:35pm.

    One victim, who survived, was stabbed in the face as she tried to escape the deranged attacker.

    Three of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, one died later at a local hospital.

    Five other people were rushed to local hospitals to be treated for injuries, four were released as one person is still being treated in serious condition.

    ‘We are reeling as a community from another senseless act of violence,’ Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara told the media in the aftermath of the tragedy.

    One local, Eric Patterson, told the Rockford Register Star that he saw two teenagers bloodied from an attack and a middle aged woman being taken away in an ambulance.

    Patterson said that the mailman was run over by a pick up truck. Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd earlier confirmed that not all of the victims were stabbed but none were a shot

    ‘We don’t have a clear motive in regard to what caused this individual to commit such heinous crimes,’ the chief added.

    Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana told the media that one of the victims was stabbed as they tried to stop the attacker from fleeing the area. That person is not among those killed.

    ‘She young lady ran from him. She got some stab wounds in her hands and in her face. She is currently at a hospital, and she is intubated. She is in serious condition,’ he said.

    Caruana said another of the victims was a ‘young female’ who ran from a home that the attacker broke into.

    Vanessa Hy, who lives in the community, described the scene when the cops descended on the sleepy town.

    ‘All of a sudden, we heard police run up on both sides of the house screaming: “Stop! Get down!” Then they ran into the backyard and after a few minutes we saw them bringing the suspect down the driveway in handcuffs and he was very bloody,’ Hy told WREX-TV.

    ‘It makes no sense. t’s almost like playing a video game, but it’s reality. It makes no sense. It’s like Grand Theft Auto. I’m going to run over the mailman here,’ Patterson said.

    ‘I’m going to stab a couple people there. I am going to go in this house over here. It’s not making sense. You can’t rationalize this,’ he added.

    Another resident, Cassandra Hernandez, paid tribute to their mail man calling him a ‘very good man.’

    Resident Ruth Gallagher called the mailman ‘the kindest person’ in an interview with CBS Chicago.

    ‘He would help anybody; would step in and help – always friendly. We will miss him,’ she added.

    ‘It’s hard to grasp how this could happen and how emotional and raw the community is tonight. As a dad, a son, a husband, the Mayor and a Rockford supporter, my heart is breaking for those who have lost their lives, their families and our community,’ the mayor said in a Facebook post.

    Redd said residents in the area were being asked to review their home surveillance camera footage for anything related to the attacks.

    Rockford’s population is about 150,000 and it’s 90 miles (145 kilometers) miles northwest of Chicago. The violence Wednesday came days after a teenage employee of a Walmart in Rockford was stabbed and killed inside the store.

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    Venezuelan TikToker Grimaces in His Mugshot After Being Nabbed by ICE for Crossing Into US Illegally

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    The mugshot of the Venezuelan migrant who shares tips on how to live off the US government on social media has been revealed.

    Leonel Moreno, 27, has been on the run from immigration since he crossed the border at Eagle Pass, Texas, illegally in April 2022, ICE told DailyMail.com.

    ICE had lost track of Moreno until his videos telling migrants how to live off the state started going viral. They now have him listed as possibly living in Columbus, Ohio.

    The migrant’s TikTok account @leitooficial_25, where he had amassed half a million followers, was suspended after his controversial clips.

    A spokesman for TikTok told DailyMail.com the platform doesn’t allow users to promote criminal activities.

    Moreno enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention program, which lets migrants on parole go free while officials track them until their next court date. But he didn’t show up for his court date in Miami in November, 2022, and is now listed as an ‘absconder’ from the program.

    On Tuesday, Moreno posted several clips seemingly sobbing on a newly-created account, as he claimed he was being persecuted and threatened after his original TikTok account was suspended on Saturday.

    ‘I am in danger of death in the US! I need protection! I am being persecuted! My account has been blocked!’ he said as liquid dropped from his nose.

    ‘My people, I need you to pay attention to what’s happening because my family is on danger. They erased my TikTok accounts. I have received threats from powerful people. Help!’

    In another video he added: ‘My people, they have gotten what they wanted! The envy has reached my family! Everything that’s happening is because of your evilness!

    ‘The want to silence me!’

    It appears Moreno does not plan on stopping his particular brand of content, as he shared a clip on Wednesday counting hundred dollar bills and saying he doesn’t need to work to make money.

    In one of his now-viral videos, Moreno instructed his followers how to ‘invade’ American homes and invoke squatter’s rights, claiming that under US law, ‘if a house is not inhabited, we can seize it.’

    Moreno also made headlines in February, after he demanded Venezuelans unite to help a 15-year-old migrant accused of shooting a tourist and trying to kill a NYPD officer in Times Square.

    The videos have been widely shared as Venezuelan migrants fleeing their country’s collapse become one of the largest nationalities arriving at the US-Mexico border.

    Venezuelans have taken to social media to denounce him as a troll, accusing him of using their situation to become an influencer while sparking hatred against migrants who plan on working for a better life in the US.

    ‘He’s gone absolutely viral for all the wrong reasons and is a complete an utter embarrassment and disgrace to my home country,’ wrote Daniel Laplana on X.

    ‘I have nothing but contempt for the guy and his insufferable caricature of a Venezuelan migrant,’ said Venezuelan-American Rafael Estruve, president of Houston Young Republicans.

    ‘His charade is gross blend of incompetence and arrogance put on full display, and he is by far one of the absolute worst representations of Venezuelans on a public platform.’

    Others accused Moreno or ‘rage baiting’ many Venezuelans believe he is purposely trying to stoke anger in order to receive more views and be profitable on TikTok as the US receives record numbers of Venezuelans.

    Indeed, the coverage helped Moreno increase his followings – back in February, when one of his videos first went viral, he had under 219,000 followers, about half what he had when his account was suspended last week.

    On Friday, Moreno livestreamed himself sleeping, with as many as 270 people watching the static image and sending donations.

    One of the comments left by his fans read: ‘Making money while you sleep jajaja you are the best.’

    Some of his other videos show him claiming he is begging for money on the streets with his baby daughter. Others show him bragging about using the financial aid he supposedly receives from the government for his toddler to buy himself a car.

    In several clips Moreno shows viewers a the filthy area under a bridge that he claims would serve as a great living space while saving to rent a home.

    Many of his fans appear to see Moreno as some sort of comedian, with comments claiming he is playing up the stereotype of a migrant in the US.

    However, regardless of Moreno’s intentions or real positions, his comments have sparked outrage among Americans already concerned with the crisis at the border, largely fueled by Venezuelans fleeing socialism.

    One comment on Moreno’s TikTok read: ‘We Americans are going to vote for politicians in November that will deport you back to Venezuela as soon as possible.’

    Another read: ‘I hope they take away your baby and send you back to your country you’re causing too much trouble.’

    Venezuelans represent the largest displacement crisis in the world, with more than 7.7million people outside their nation – even larger than Ukrainians and Syrians.

    It’s a rare case of massive migration from a country that is not at war but has seen one of the most extreme fortune reversals in recent history after the socialist takeover 20 years ago.

    Venezuela has suffered political, economic and humanitarian crises over the past decade making food and other necessities unaffordable for those who remain. The vast majority who fled settled in neighboring countries in Latin America, but many began coming to the United States in the last three years.

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    Judge Rules Ex-Trump Lawyer John Eastman Should Lose Law License

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    A California judge on Wednesday recommended disbarring a lawyer at the center of former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

    State Bar Judge Yvette Roland found John Eastman culpable on 10 of the 11 counts filed by the California State Bar last year. The state bar sought to strip Eastman’s license to practice law in the state due to his “false and misleading statements” about purported election fraud and his role in “provoking” the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

    “In view of the circumstances surrounding Eastman’s misconduct and balancing the aggravation and mitigation, the court recommends that Eastman be disbarred,” Roland wrote in a 128-page decision.

    The judge also recommended that Eastman be ordered to pay $10,000 in monetary sanctions to the State Bar of California Client Security Fund.

    Eastman’s legal team said he would appeal Wednesday’s ruling, and the case will ultimately end up before the California Supreme Court. In the meantime, the judge ordered Eastman be transferred to inactive status, meaning he won’t be able to practice law.

    Roland’s ruling follows a trial last year that lasted more than 30 days, at which Eastman himself testified. Just before the proceedings concluded in November, the judge found Eastman preliminarily culpable. Roland was appointed by Toni Atkins, a Democrat who at the time was Speaker of the California State Assembly.

    Eastman spearheaded the legal strategy attempting to subvert the election results in several key 2020 states, including by using slates of alternate electors to swing the election’s outcome in Trump’s favor. The plan also relied on then-Vice President Mike Pence throwing out the real electors for the “fake” ones, with Eastman writing memos that spurred the pressure campaign on Pence.

    Roland wrote in her decision that Eastman exhibited an unwillingness to admit to “any ethical lapses” in his behavior.

    “This lack of remorse and accountability presents a significant risk that Eastman may engage in further unethical conduct, compounding the threat to the public,” the judge wrote.

    Though Roland’s ruling marks a significant legal defeat for Eastman, she did side with him on one of his 11 counts.

    The state bar accused Eastman of moral turpitude over his Jan. 6 Ellipse speech, connecting it to the violence later in the day, but the judge dismissed the count after finding the bar “presented no evidence to show that Eastman’s statements contributed to the assault on the Capitol.”

    In court filings, Eastman’s lawyers described the disbarment proceedings as “Orwellian,” insisting he was fulfilling his ethical duty to zealously represent Trump’s interests and that he had a First Amendment right to make his public statements at Trump’s Jan. 6 rally and elsewhere.

    “Dr. Eastman maintains that his handling of the legal issues he was asked to assess after the November 2020 election was based on reliable legal precedent, prior presidential elections, research of constitutional text, and extensive scholarly material,” Eastman’s legal team said in a statement following the ruling.

    “The process undertaken by Dr. Eastman in 2020 is the same process taken by lawyers every day and everywhere – indeed, that is the essence of what lawyers do,” the statement continued.

    The state bar insisted that Eastman was fabricating “an illusion of legality to an illegal effort,” demanding he be disbarred.

    “Every California attorney has the duty to uphold the constitution and the rule of law,” Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona, whose office brought the discipline charges, said in a statement.

    “Mr. Eastman repeatedly violated that duty. Worse, he did so in a way that threatened the fundamental principles of our democracy,” Cardona continued.

    Eastman also faces criminal charges alongside Trump in Georgia, where they and more than a dozen other Trump allies are accused of attempting to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. Eastman has pleaded not guilty to the eight counts he faces.

    Several other lawyers connected to Trump’s 2020 campaign have also faced repercussions for their false claims of election fraud and efforts to swing the election in the former president’s favor.

    Longtime Trump ally Rudy Giuliani had his New York law license suspended in 2021, and a D.C. Bar Association disciplinary panel said in June his license in the district should be revoked. Ex-Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis was publicly censured in Colorado for her false statements tied to the election, and lawyer Lin Wood retired after the State Bar of Georgia said it would not pursue disciplinary proceedings against him should he do so.

    A disciplinary trial for lawyer Jeffrey Clark, an ex-Justice Department official who helped Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, is also underway. The D.C. Bar’s Board of Professional Responsibility is attempting to strip his law license for using “the authority of the Department of Justice to overturn the election, based on a lie.”

    Eastman also holds a law license in Washington, D.C.

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    George Soros Pledged $1 Million to ‘Hamas Propaganda’ Organization Linked to Terrorism

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    The philanthropy of Democratic megadonor George Soros has awarded at least $1 million combined in grants over the last decade to a group in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip with deep ties to Palestinian terrorists, financial disclosures show.

    In its own telling, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights exists “to promote respect for and protection of human rights,” particularly in Palestinian territories. Public records tell another story: Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, which is accusing Israel of genocide for retaliating against Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack last year and calling on the United Nations and other bodies to investigate the Jewish state, hosts events with terrorists and is led by people with sprawling connections to Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

    But to Soros, these ties do not appear to pose an issue. His $25 billion left-wing Open Society Foundations grantmaking network “is proud to be among the many international funders of Al Mezan, alongside the European Union and governments including Sweden and the Netherlands,” OSF spokesman Jonathan Kaplan told the Washington Examiner.

    Kaplan, the former State Department communications director under former President Barack Obama, declined to comment on Al Mezan’s ties to terrorists when provided with examples.

    The checks to Al Mezan underscore how the Soros-backed OSF has long helped keep the lights on for sympathizers and allies of terrorists attacking Israel. Soros, 93, is Jewish and a Holocaust survivor.

    And after Oct. 7, a day that saw Palestinian terrorists massacre more than 1,200 Israelis, the billionaire’s grants to anti-Israel zealots domestically and overseas have come under heightened scrutiny from terrorism financing experts and Republicans: They are concerned his staggering wealth could be falling into the hands of violent factions going to war against the Jewish state.

    ‘Hamas propaganda’

    Since at least 2012, funding from the Soros-backed network flowed into the Gaza-based group from his Foundation to Promote Open Society and Open Society Institute, two separate nonprofit organizations registered with the IRS. Open Society Institute also spent thousands of dollars in 2013 and 2014 for at least one individual to intern at Al Mezan, according to tax records reviewed by the Washington Examiner.

    In fact, the internship grants were awarded around the same time Palestinian politician Kamal El-Sharafi, Al Mezan’s chairman since at least 2015, met with Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Jamil al Majdalawi in Cairo, Egypt, according to a social media post. Politician Kamal El-Sharafi called him “a comrade.”

    El-Sharafi has posted images on social media showing him at memorial services for PFLP leaders, including Maher al Yamani, a PFLP co-founder who reportedly helped plan a 1968 hijacking of an Israeli plane and was sentenced to 31 years in prison.

    Through his role as head of the board of trustees for the Gaza-based Al-Aqsa University, El-Sharafi has also hosted PFLP officials, such as Jamil Mazhar, who was recently crowned as deputy secretary general of the terrorist group, a social media post shows.

    OSF’s grants to El-Sharafi’s group have been for it “to monitor and document violations against Palestinians and pursue accountability for abuses,” as well as to track “human rights and international humanitarian law violations in the Gaza Strip,” according to earmarks on OSF financial disclosures for 2019 and 2021 awards carrying three-year terms.

    Moreover, tax forms filed in 2012 by the Open Society Institute list a $160,000 grant to the center for a similar purpose.

    In turn, Al Mezan has become a well-funded operation seeking to apply pressure on the United Nations to support the International Criminal Court in prosecuting Israeli officials over alleged “war crimes and crimes against humanity,” according to the center’s statements to the U.N.’s Human Rights Council and International Criminal Court submissions. Donors to Al Mezan have also included the European Union, the Netherlands, Sweden, and a group called Save the Children Norway, among others, financial disclosures show.

    On Tuesday, Al Mezan hosted an event at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva “exploring the settler-colonial nature of Israel’s genocidal military campaign in #Gaza,” according to a social media post. Last month, Al Mezan addressed the U.N. at its 55th regular session and demanded it conclude Israel engaged in genocide in Gaza — calling for the U.N. “to address Israel’s settler-colonialism, apartheid, illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, and denial of Palestinian self-determination,” according to a written statement.

    And on Oct. 8 of last year, just one day after the terrorist attack, Al Mezan released a statement blaming Israel for having the gall to retaliate against Hamas. The statement was made alongside Al-Haq, an Israeli-designated terrorist organization that is also funded by Soros and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which has extensive PFLP ties, according to research compiled by NGO Monitor, an Israeli watchdog group.

    “Under the facade of human rights, they promote Hamas propaganda, and the links to the PFLP terrorist group are clearly documented,” NGO Monitor President Gerald Steinberg, a politics professor at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, told the Washington Examiner.

    While Al Mezan recently appears to have removed a section on its website listing its board of directors, the Washington Examiner located their names through an archived link with viewable versions from 2015 through 2023.

    ‘Comrade’

    Al Mezan listed its vice chairman of the board as Talal Awkal, whom the Associated Press quoted in a story days after the Oct. 7 attack as a “political analyst”

    Back in 2010, Qatari-funded Al-Jazeera identified Awkal as a former member of the PFLP, the leaders of which he openly praised as “great historical leaders” in a 2015 op-ed in the Palestinian Al-Hadaf digital magazine. Awkal notably wrote a 2013 article about then-Secretary of State John Kerry on the official website for the PFLP.

    Board member Nafiz Al-Madhoun has recently been director general for the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Legislative Council, according to social media posts and his LinkedIn account. He’s also been referred to as a Hamas leader by Arabic language media outlets.

    Another Al Mezan employee is Hussein Hammad, who received an award in 2017 from a PFLP branch, according to social media posts.

    Meanwhile, the Soros-backed center in Gaza and its personnel have played key roles at certain events with terrorists.

    In 2013, Al Mezan organized a “Transitional Justice in Palestine” conference, according to its annual report that year. The conference featured Khaled al-Batsh, PFLP official Kayed al Ghoul, and Hamas official Yahya al Abadseh, Donia Al-Watan reported.

    Al Mezan organized a 2015 conference featuring speeches on the International Criminal Court from senior Hamas official Khalil al Hayya and Khaled al Batsh, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader. Al Mezan Center General Director Issam Younis spoke at the event, according to the Gaza-based group.

    Younis through his prior role as commissioner general for the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights has participated in at least one meeting in recent years with leaders from Hamas, the PFLP, and other groups, according to an archived press release.

    Al Madhoun, the Al Mezan board member, participated in a March 2023 event in Gaza called “Jurists Confronting the Occupier” alongside Hamas officials Mahmoud al Zahar and Musa Abu Marzouq, according to a report by the Israeli-based Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, which called him the “former secretary general of Hamas’ Legislative Council.”

    ‘Loopholes’

    Pressed over Al Mezan’s ties to terrorists, OSF’s Kaplan said none of the grantmaker’s foreign partners have been designated by the United States as supporting terrorism.

    “There is strict U.S. anti-terrorist legislation that determines which organizations a foundation like OSF can fund,” the spokesman said. “We devote a lot of effort to ensuring full compliance.”

    “The Open Society Foundations do not support Hamas,” Kaplan added. “The Open Society Foundations abhor terrorism in all its forms. Accusations that are being repeated in the media and that have been picked up by some officials are false.”

    But to one terrorism expert, U.S. laws desperately need to be strengthened to block tax-exempt groups from being able to fund terrorist-linked foreign entities, including Al Mezan.

    “All it takes for Soros to avail himself of these loopholes is to find an intermediary between the sanctioned person or group and OSF,” said Marc Greendorfer, an attorney and president of the Zachor Legal Institute think tank.

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    CBS New York Anchor Emotionally Signs Off in Final Broadcast After 34 Years

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    Longtime WCBS-TV evening news anchor Dana Tyler bade farewell in an emotional, tear-filled sign-off during her final newscast after more than 30 years.

    “This is my last newscast, my last 6 o’clock news with you here at Channel 2, it’s my last day at Channel 2, 34 years I’ve been here,” Tyler said Wednesday alongside her co-anchor Dick Brennan.

    Tyler, 65, began her career with the network in 1990, serving as a weekend co-anchor and general assignment reporter. She and Reggie Harris became the first black anchor team in New York, according to the outlet.

    Tyler, in a pre-recorded message, thanked her co-workers and the viewers after a video tribute celebrated the longtime journalist’s illustrious career.

    “I’m so honored to be here, so honored to say thank you to my several thousand co-workers in every department here, who over the past 34 years, and to this very second have collaborated with me, challenged and taught me, given me valuable, constructive criticism and encouragement.

    “We’ve laughed, we’ve cried together, we’ve tried to do our best for you, and my heart is full of gratitude and respect for my co-workers.”

    Tyler said she was proud to have shared the truth with the New York metro area while “enacting change for the people for whom we work.”

    “I say thank you, Channel 2 viewers, you’re loyal, you’re kind, you keep us on our toes,” Tyler said. “I’ve always felt privileged for these 34 years that you’ve invited me, us, into your homes, your firehouses, your bodegas, so many places.”

    The longtime anchor admitted having reported plenty of “bad news” but said it’s because every story is important to different individuals.

    “There is bad news, violence, disease, abuse, drugs,” she admitted. “Oh, we’ve endured tragedies, haven’t we, in the New York area?

    “I’ve always tried to be respectful and compassionate and bear witness to what’s happening because I know every story is an individual, a family, a community.”

    A self-described “grammar nerd,” Tyler said she was always proud to cover the good news of heroics, parades, good grades and good people.

    “You raise our spirits.”

    Tyler has won six Emmy Awards for her coverage of breaking news events in and around New York City, including her 2009 coverage of “Flight 1549 Lands in the Hudson River.”

    She also received several Emmy nominations, which include her reporting on the 1994 World Trade Center bombing.

    Tyler was presented with the New York Association of Black Journalists’ 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award and has been honored by the Friars Club and McDonald’s.

    Tyler was inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2022.

    She shared one of the most important aspects that has affected her personally, and how the CBS affiliate has worked to improve it.

    “One of the biggest changes, and yeah it took a while, is diversity, here where I work on our air, a reflection of who our audience is and in our coverage.

    “Still a lot of work to be done, but we’ve done a lot of work on it and I’m so, so proud to be a part of that history.”

    When the cameras returned to Tyler at the anchor desk, she appeared emotional and gave an acknowledgment to her family before remembering her late uncle, David Harris, who had recently died.

    Harris was the first black pilot for a major US airline, Tyler shared. He died on March 8.

    Tyler isn’t the only one giving up their chair on the 6 p.m. newscasts, as Dick Brennan is also set to be leaving the time slot.

    The two anchors will be replaced by Maurice DuBois and Kristine Johnson, who co-anchor the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts, and will expand their air time through 6:30 p.m.

    Tyler, the longest-tenured anchor in the history of the CBS affiliate, will contribute stories and interviews on the channel’s over-the-air broadcast as well as its streaming platform, according to an internal memo circulated by the station earlier this month.

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    4 Killed, 7 Wounded in Illinois Mass Stabbing Attack

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    Four people were killed and seven were hurt when a man went on a stabbing rampage Wednesday across multiple locations in a northern Illinois community, authorities said.

    A 22-year-old man is in police custody and was being questioned, according to Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd. She said one of the people who was wounded remained in critical condition.

    “My heart goes out to the families right now that are suffering a loss,” Redd told reporters.

    She said the Rockford Police received a medical call at 1:14 p.m. followed by additional calls for police and paramedics.

    “We don’t believe there’s any other suspects that are on the run or at large at this particular time,” Redd said. “Right now, we don’t have a clear motive as to what caused this individual to commit such a heinous crime.”

    Not all of the victims found at multiple addresses in the city had stab wounds and none were shot, according to Redd.

    Rockford Police initially said five people had been injured. Cori Hilliard, a public information officer with the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office, told The Associated Press Wednesday evening that two more victims were among those hurt.

    Three people died at the scenes. The fourth died at a hospital.

    Police later identified those victims as a 15-year-old girl, a 63-year-old woman, a 49-year-old man and a 22-year-old man. Their names were not released.

    Redd said residents in the area were being asked to review their home surveillance camera footage for anything related to the attacks.

    Rockford’s population is about 150,000 and it’s 90 miles (145 kilometers) miles northwest of Chicago. The violence Wednesday came days after a teenage employee of a Walmart in Rockford was stabbed and killed inside the store.

    “Today, we are shocked by another horrific act of violence against innocent members of our community,” Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara said. Now that the suspect is in custody, he continued, “Our primary concern is ensuring that our community members directly impacted by this violence are supported throughout their healing and recovery.”

    The mayor wrote on the city’s Facebook page that “multiple jurisdictions” are “working on multiple crime scenes to develop an understanding of what transpired in an effort to prevent this from happening again.”

    The suspect was arrested by a Winnebago County sheriff’s deputy after they were called to a reported home invasion, Sheriff Gary Caruana said.

    “The young lady ran from him,” Caruana said of one of the survivors. “She got some stab wounds in her hands and her face. She is in serious condition. One of the good Samaritans stopped to help her out. He did get some stab wounds. He is being checked out.”

    Resident Eric Patterson said he was struggling to make sense of the violence on his street.

    “You can’t rationalize this,” Patterson told the Rockford Register Star. “It’s almost like playing a video game, but it’s reality. It makes no sense. It’s like Grand Theft Auto. ‘I’m going to run over the mailman here. I’m going to stab a couple people there. I am going to go in this house over here.’”

    Another resident, Vanessa Hy, told WREX-TV in Rockford that the experience of witnessing the arrest was unreal, “like a movie.”

    “All of the sudden, we heard police run up on both sides of the house screaming ‘Stop! Get down!’” Hy told the station. “Then they ran into the backyard and after a few minutes we saw them bringing the suspect down the driveway in handcuffs and he was very bloody.”

    Cassandra Hernandez, another neighbor, told the Rockford paper that she is friends with one of the victims.

    “You never expect this here,” Hernandez said. “We have such great neighbors.”

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    UPDATE: Authorities Recover Bodies in Submerged Pickup Truck After Baltimore Bridge Collapse

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    Maryland authorities on Wednesday said divers recovered two bodies during a search for the workers who plunged into the water after a cargo ship slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday.

    Divers found a red pickup truck submerged under approximately 25 feet of water in the middle span of the bridge and found the two bodies trapped inside.

    Maryland State Police Maryland State Police Superintendent Col. Roland Butler identified the victims as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore, and Dorlian Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Dundalk.

    Butler said the men’s families have been notified by authorities.

    “Based upon the conditions, we’re now moving from a recovery mode to a salvage operation because of the superstructure surrounding what we believe are the vehicles and the amount of concrete and debris; divers are no longer able to safely navigate or operate around that in the areas around this wreckage,” Butler said.

    Four other construction workers remain missing, but are presumed dead. The victims were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, Butler said.

    All search efforts have been exhausted, and based on sonar scans, authorities “firmly” believe the other vehicles with victims inside are encased in superstructures and concrete from the collapsed bridge, Butler said.

    A co-worker of the people missing said Tuesday that he was told the workers were on break and sitting in their trucks parked on the bridge when it crumpled.

    U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath said at a news conference that authorities had been informed that the ship was going to undergo maintenance. He added that they were not informed of any problems.

    The ship collided into a support pillar early Tuesday, causing the span to collapse.

    The investigation picked up speed as the Baltimore region reeled from the sudden loss of a major transportation link that’s part of the highway loop around the city. The disaster also closed the port that is vital to the city’s shipping industry.

    “The collapse of the Key Bridge is not just a Maryland crisis. The collapse of a key bridge is a global crisis,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said during Wednesday afternoon’s press conference. “The national economy and the world’s economy depend on the port of Baltimore. The port handles more cars and more farm equipment than any other port in the country.”

    Synergy Marine Group, which manages the ship, said the impact happened while it was under the control of one or more pilots, who are local specialists who help guide vessels safely in and out of ports.

    The ship, which was headed from Baltimore to Sri Lanka, is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd., and Danish shipping giant Maersk said it had chartered the vessel.

    The ship was traveling under a Singapore flag, and officials there said they will be conducting their own investigation in addition to supporting U.S. authorities.

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    Joe Lieberman, Former US Senator and VP Candidate, Dies at 82

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    Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who represented the Nutmeg State in Washington for 24 years and was the Democratic Party’s 2000 vice presidential nominee, has died.

    He was 82.

    A statement from Lieberman’s family said he passed away Wednesday in New York after suffering complications from a fall.

    The former senator’s death was first reported by Punchbowl News.

    “Senator Lieberman’s love of God, his family, and America endured throughout his life of service in the public interest,” the family statement read.

    Lieberman, a former Connecticut state senator and attorney general, was elected to the Senate in 1988 and developed a reputation as a moderate Democrat with a prominent voice on foreign policy and a staunch supporter of Israel.

    In an oddity that would repeat itself decades later, Lieberman was boosted in his first Senate election by the backing of a prominent conservative — National Review founder and Connecticut resident William F. Buckley Jr., who endorsed Lieberman in the influential magazine’s pages while dubbing his liberal Republican opponent, Lowell Weicker, “the Number One Horse’s Ass in the Senate.”

    In September 1998, Lieberman became the first national Democrat to publicly criticize President Bill Clinton for his extra-marital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, calling Clinton’s behavior “not only inappropriate,” but “immoral” and “harmful” in scathing remarks from the Senate floor.

    The following year, Lieberman voted to acquit the 42nd president on articles of impeachment accusing Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with the Lewinsky liaison.

    In 2000, Lieberman made history when Clinton’s vice president, Al Gore, selected the senator as his running mate — making Lieberman the first Jewish candidate on a major party’s presidential ticket.

    Lieberman would have been the first Jewish vice president but for Gore’s narrow Electoral College defeat, which was settled by 537 votes in Florida following a weeks-long recount battle.

    Four years later, Lieberman sought the Democratic presidential nomination, but dropped out following a series of disappointing primary finishes.

    Despite Lieberman’s support of gay rights, abortion rights and environmental causes, his staunch backing of the Iraq War had made him intolerable to liberal activists by 2006.

    That year, Lieberman lost his Senate primary to future Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, but won re-election as a third-party candidate under the Connecticut for Lieberman banner.

    With the endorsement of prominent Republicans and conservatives — including ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, author and commentator Ann Coulter, and Buckley again — Lieberman beat Lamont in the general election by 10 percentage points.

    The actual Republican nominee, former Derby Mayor Alan Schlesinger, failed to crack 10% of the vote.

    To date, Lieberman’s 2006 victory is the last time a third-party candidate has won a Senate seat.

    Upon his return to Washington, Lieberman described himself as an “Independent Democrat” and endorsed his longtime friend, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president in 2008 — even speaking on his behalf at that year’s Republican National Convention and laying into the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama.

    “In the Senate, during the 3 1/2 years that Sen. Obama has been a member, he has not reached across party lines to … accomplish anything significant, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party to get something done,” Lieberman said.

    “Eloquence is no substitute for a record.”

    Rumors were widespread that McCain was considering tapping Lieberman to be his running mate. However, the Arizonan ultimately opted for then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, one of the most-discussed running mate choices in recent presidential politics.

    After the election, some Democrats agitated for Lieberman to be stripped of his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee as payback, with then-Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) calling Lieberman’s attacks on Obama “beyond the pale.”

    However, at the new president’s urging, Lieberman was allowed to keep his chairmanship, which he held for the rest of his tenure.

    With polls showing Lieberman to be increasingly unpopular in Connecticut, he opted against seeking a fifth term and retired from the Senate in January 2013.

    In his final Senate speech, delivered in December 2012, Lieberman urged his colleagues about the necessity of “reaching across the aisle and finding partners from the opposite party.”

    “That is what is desperately needed in Washington now.”

    “Connecticut is shocked by Senator Lieberman’s sudden passing,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Lieberman’s successor, said in a statement. “In an era of political carbon copies, Joe Lieberman was a singularity. One of one. He fought and won for what he believed was right and for the state he adored.”

    “While the senator and I had our political differences, he was a man of integrity and conviction, so our debate about the Iraq War was serious,” Lamont said in a statement. “I believe we agreed to disagree from a position of principle. When the race was over, we stayed in touch as friends in the best traditions of American democracy. He will be missed.”

    After leaving public office, Lieberman joined the New York office of Kasowitz Benson Torres as senior counsel, remaining there until his death.

    “We are profoundly saddened at the passing of our firm’s senior counsel Senator Joe Lieberman,” founding and managing partner Marc E. Kasowitz said in a statement.

    “We were honored when this great statesman joined our firm when he retired from the Senate over ten years ago.

    “We are grateful for his many contributions to our success, and we are proud that he continued to the end to be such an important voice for America’s greatest values,” Kasowitz added.

    “Joe was the wisest adviser, the most collegial colleague, and the warmest friend, and he will be greatly missed.”

    A funeral service for Lieberman will be held Friday in his hometown of Stamford, with a public memorial service to be set for a later date.

    Lieberman is survived by his second wife, Hadassah, his three children, and a stepson from his wife’s previous marriage.

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    Disney Drops Lawsuits Against DeSantis-Backed Tourism District

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    Disney has dropped its lawsuits against a special district backed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that revoked the corporation’s self-governing status in the state, multiple outlets reported on Wednesday.

    DeSantis signed legislation in February 2023 replacing Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, setting off nearly a years-long legal battle between the two entities. Disney has decided to drop the pending litigation on Wednesday, resulting in a win for the Florida Republican, according to multiple outlets.

    “We are pleased to put an end to all litigation pending in state court in Florida between Disney and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District,” Walt Disney World President Jeff Vahle told CNBC in a statement. “This agreement opens a new chapter of constructive engagement with the new leadership of the district and serves the interests of all parties by enabling significant continued investment and the creation of thousands of direct and indirect jobs and economic opportunity in the State.”

    The Reedy Creek Improvement District anticipated DeSantis’ legislation early last year, and made a last-minute agreement to give Disney the full control of development rights and privileges. DeSantis subsequently announced legislation to nullify such an arrangement, arguing it was filled with legal issues and wasn’t formed with the appropriate notice.

    The corporation later sued DeSantis for launching what they believed to be a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” against Disney. The DeSantis-backed Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board responded with a lawsuit of their own.

    A federal judge dismissed Disney’s lawsuit in January, ruling that the corporation “lacks standing” to sue the DeSantis administration.

    Disney is now conceding that the last-minute agreements are “null and void,” the National Review reported, citing DeSantis’ office.

    “No corporation should be its own government,” DeSantis spokesman Bryan Griffin told the outlet in a statement. “Moving forward, we stand ready to work with Disney and the District to help promote economic growth, family-friendly tourism, and accountable government in Central Florida.”

    The feud started in 2022 when Disney announced opposition to DeSantis’ Parental Rights in Education Bill, calling for the law’s repeal over what the corporation viewed to be discriminatory.

    Go deeper ( 2 min. read ) ➝
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