Noteworthy News

[Angrboda]

An unverified rumor that Venezuelan gang members were preparing to kill police officers spread like wildfire through US law enforcement agencies last year, internal records reveal, only for federal officials to later quietly acknowledge the claim was mistaken.

The intelligence report, which appears to have first been disseminated by a local New Mexico police department in July 2024, suggested that the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang had directed its members to “fire on or attack” law enforcement. The vague assertion quickly traveled among law enforcement agencies. It even made its way into a formal proclamation by Texas governor Greg Abbott, and was repeated by Republican Congress members as evidence of the dangers of Venezuelan immigrants and Democrats’ border policies.

Months later, however, the Federal Bureau of Investigation wrote in an internal report that claims of a TdA “directive to actively target US law enforcement” were inaccurate.

There has been no public acknowledgement of misstatements.

Revealed: police across US spread false rumors about Venezuelan gang threats

[Fake Messiah]

It's as if Police is setting up to help the government turn the US into another North Korea.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Multiple ICE Agents Required To Arrest Blind Man

Amid continuous news of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)brutality, a disturbing video from  has sparked outrage nationwide. The video shows ICE agents violently arresting a blind protester during a peaceful demonstration against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. 

The footage quickly went viral, showing agents dropping the man on his head before dragging him away as onlookers shouted in horror.


The man in the video has been identified as Quinn Haberl. He is a visually impaired activist and only 4 feet 6 inches tall. He was wearing a bright neon vest and sitting quietly near a marked blue line outside a Portland ICE facility. 

It is the blue line that marks the start of federal property. Haberl’s position on the ground indicated he had been seated on the public side of the line and did not trespass.

Boru

[Angrboda]

The Justice Department announced Friday it will monitor polling sites in six counties in California and New Jersey ahead of November 4 elections, as voters prepare to cast their ballots in less than two weeks.

The department said the move, which focuses on two Democratic-led states, will “ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.”

“Transparency at the polls translates into faith in the electoral process, and this Department of Justice is committed to upholding the highest standards of election integrity,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

The practice of sending federal election monitors to local jurisdictions dates back decades, though President Donald Trump has tried to assert new authority over elections.

Friday’s move comes after the Republican parties of California and New Jersey both sent letters to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division requesting monitors in certain counties and alleging election irregularities.

Nearly five years after the 2020 election, the debunked conspiracy that Trump was robbed of the election due to massive voter fraud is still embraced by many in the Republican Party.

Justice Department to monitor polling sites in six counties in California and New Jersey

[Angrboda]

Financial criminals have long been the stars of the show when it comes to presidential pardons and sentence commutations. In 2021, the Rand Corporation published the results of a study funded by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Researchers found that between 2001 and 2012, more than half of applications to the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney were from people who committed fraud or other “white-collar crimes.” Together, they made up 59 percent of successful applications, with fraudsters succeeding in 5.8 percent of their efforts and non-fraud white-collar criminals hitting at a 6.8 percent rate. Needless to say, people convicted of drug offenses (a 3 percent success rate), firearm crimes (1.3 percent), and violent crimes (zero) did not do as well, although burglary, theft, and larceny applicants did manage a 6.7 percent success rate. Not a single money-laundering criminal made a successful appeal in this decade-plus, but maybe Zhao just had a compelling backstory.

Trump, however, has embraced fraudsters and white-collar criminals in a historic way. Right now, the president is on a run of pardoning financial crooks the likes of which we’ve never seen before. Trump is to this breed of criminal right now what Jeremy Lin was to the NBA in winter 2012. Shohei Ohtani is setting new standards for a multitalented MLB player, but Ohtani is no more of a unicorn in baseball than Trump is, this very moment, in the realm of letting fraudsters and scammers off the legal hook.

Already this year, according to the DOJ’s count, Trump has pardoned or commuted the sentences of 16 people or companies who were guilty of fraud. Trump’s first pardons were to a bunch of Jan. 6 rioters on the day of his inauguration, but his next one was to Ross Ulbricht, the Silk Road founder, fraudster, and money-laundering conspirator who was a crypto cause célèbre. He pardoned Rod Blagojevich, who went down on eight counts of wire fraud, among other charges. He pardoned a Republican donor who defrauded investors in his electric truck company. He commuted the prison sentence of a media criminal and bullshitter who impersonated a YouTube executive to fool Goldman Sachs into giving him money. He just commuted the sentence of George Santos, who defrauded an elderly veteran who will no longer be owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution. And now he has pardoned Zhao, paving the way for his business associate to get back to his old perch.

Why Trump Pardoned a Crypto Bro Who Helped Launder Billions

[Angrboda]

James purchased the home in Norfolk, Virginia, for her great-niece in 2020 for $137,000 and immediately allowed her and her children to begin living in the house rent-free. Prosecutors met with James' niece, who stated that she had never signed a lease, had never paid rent for the home, and that James had often sent her money to cover some of the expenses, the memo concluded, according to sources familiar with its contents.

While the indictment alleges that James made "thousand(s)" from rental income, sources tell ABC News that prosecutors found no record of James collecting rent from her niece beyond $1,350 that James reported on her 2020 tax return, which was said to cover the cost of utilities, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

As of last month, investigators had met with ten witnesses who offered conflicting accounts about whether James' actions constituted fraud or the degree to which she profited from her actions, the sources said.

James made a 20% down payment on the home -- the same as she would need to make for an investment property -- rather than the 10% typically required for a second home loan, according to sources familiar with the case.

A loan officer who worked with James told investigators that the interest rate for a second home compared to an investment property at the time of James's purchase would have been between 0.25% and 0.50% lower, a difference that would have amounted to $15 to $30 less in a monthly mortgage payment, or as much as $10,800 less over the life of the 30-year loan, according to sources familiar with what the loan officer told investigators. In the indictment, Halligan alleged that James avoided a 0.815% higher interest rate, potentially saving James $17,837 over the life of the loan.

But prosecutors expressed concern that the vagueness of federal mortgage guidelines would make it challenging to prove that James' actions were intentionally fraudulent by falsely claiming that she intended to occupy the home, sources told ABC News. That's because Fannie Mae guidelines do not clearly define the term "occupied" -- leaving it unclear if a person needs to sleep overnight at the home or just visit multiple times each year.

Evidence appears to undercut claims against Letitia James, prosecutors found: Sources

[Angrboda]

One of President Donald Trump’s superpowers as a politician is getting entities and people who might disagree with what he’s doing to set aside their principles and priors just enough to allow him to plow forward. It happens all the time with Republicans in Congress, who have willingly relegated themselves to second-class citizens in Washington.

They don’t necessarily endorse what he’s doing, mind you. But they do acquiesce. And sometimes they even do Trump a solid by steering the focus towards a common enemy. Think: Trump’s legally dubious deportation policies, the draconian and rushed DOGE cuts, his pardons of violent January 6 defendants, and his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

But rarely have we seen this dynamic play out like late this week – when the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute effectively distanced itself from Ronald Reagan’s own words.

Shortly before 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, the Reagan foundation issued a somewhat bizarre statement.

The government of Ontario, Canada, had recently launched an extensive ad campaign against Trump’s tariffs. The campaign includes a minutelong ad featuring only Reagan’s voice being run during World Series games. It clipped a number of comments from an April 1987 address Reagan gave decrying the dangers of tariffs and trade wars.

The Reagan foundation’s statement accused Ontario of using “selective audio and video” of Reagan and said it “misrepresents” the former president’s address.

As remarkable, the foundation said it was “reviewing its legal options” because Ontario didn’t seek or obtain permission to use Reagan’s remarks.

Neither of these objections really hold water.

While the ad stitched together a number of comments from Reagan’s address, it accurately reflected what he said. The sentiments were also very similar to Reagan’s other comments on tariffs and free trade in this time period. He sometimes used tariffs, but he generally pitched them as a necessary evil and cautioned strongly against trade wars and protectionism.

Reagan’s sentiments on this topic are a world away from the commentary of Trump, who has pitched tariffs as “beautiful,” trade wars as being “good” and “easy to win,” and such policies as being vital to revitalizing American manufacturing.

The foundation has not responded to a question about what, specifically, it alleges was misrepresented in the ad.

As for the suggestion that there could be some legal claim here? It’s not at all clear what that’s based on, either.

Government footage of presidents is generally public domain. The Ontario ad cites the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library as its source. The library uploaded the clip of Reagan’s April 1987 address to YouTube eight years ago and listed its access and use as “unrestricted.”

The foundation likewise didn’t respond to a request for insight into its legal considerations.

The Reagan foundation did Trump a solid on tariffs – at the expense of Reagan’s ideals

[Thumpalumpacus]

One of President Donald Trump’s superpowers as a politician is getting entities and people who might disagree with what he’s doing to set aside their principles and priors just enough to allow him to plow forward. It happens all the time with Republicans in Congress, who have willingly relegated themselves to second-class citizens in Washington.

They don’t necessarily endorse what he’s doing, mind you. But they do acquiesce. And sometimes they even do Trump a solid by steering the focus towards a common enemy. Think: Trump’s legally dubious deportation policies, the draconian and rushed DOGE cuts, his pardons of violent January 6 defendants, and his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

But rarely have we seen this dynamic play out like late this week – when the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute effectively distanced itself from Ronald Reagan’s own words.

Shortly before 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, the Reagan foundation issued a somewhat bizarre statement.

The government of Ontario, Canada, had recently launched an extensive ad campaign against Trump’s tariffs. The campaign includes a minutelong ad featuring only Reagan’s voice being run during World Series games. It clipped a number of comments from an April 1987 address Reagan gave decrying the dangers of tariffs and trade wars.

The Reagan foundation’s statement accused Ontario of using “selective audio and video” of Reagan and said it “misrepresents” the former president’s address.

As remarkable, the foundation said it was “reviewing its legal options” because Ontario didn’t seek or obtain permission to use Reagan’s remarks.

Neither of these objections really hold water.

While the ad stitched together a number of comments from Reagan’s address, it accurately reflected what he said. The sentiments were also very similar to Reagan’s other comments on tariffs and free trade in this time period. He sometimes used tariffs, but he generally pitched them as a necessary evil and cautioned strongly against trade wars and protectionism.

Reagan’s sentiments on this topic are a world away from the commentary of Trump, who has pitched tariffs as “beautiful,” trade wars as being “good” and “easy to win,” and such policies as being vital to revitalizing American manufacturing.

The foundation has not responded to a question about what, specifically, it alleges was misrepresented in the ad.

As for the suggestion that there could be some legal claim here? It’s not at all clear what that’s based on, either.

Government footage of presidents is generally public domain. The Ontario ad cites the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library as its source. The library uploaded the clip of Reagan’s April 1987 address to YouTube eight years ago and listed its access and use as “unrestricted.”

The foundation likewise didn’t respond to a request for insight into its legal considerations.

The Reagan foundation did Trump a solid on tariffs – at the expense of Reagan’s ideals

They've got to be terrified after the museum and educational defunding.

[Angrboda]

Elon Musk on Monday launched an early version of Grokipedia, an online encyclopedia written by AI that the billionaire has touted as a less biased alternative to the venerable online resource Wikipedia.

The site resembles Wikipedia in style and format, with articles on topics such as ChatGPT, Diane Keaton and the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But it appears significantly smaller, more opaque in its workings — and more right-leaning in how it framed some articles.

Grokipedia’s entry on gender, for instance, begins with the sentence: “Gender refers to the binary classification of humans as male or female based on biological sex....” Wikipedia’s starts with: “Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender.”

The project is Musk’s latest bid to harness Grok, the ChatGPT-like AI system developed by his company xAI, to offer right-leaning, freewheeling alternatives to popular mainstream tech tools. Some Musk admirers greeted its debut with excitement Monday, while critics highlighted examples of articles that contained falsehoods or passages that copied Wikipedia verbatim.

Elon Musk launches a Wikipedia rival that extols his own ‘vision’

[Angrboda]

Across the country, police departments are struggling with ballooning response times, with jurisdictions reporting that they have doubled the time it takes to react to 911 calls. What we are seeing is a rapidly developing erosion of the “thin blue line.”

This breakdown should give pause to every law enforcement officer, who now must wonder if their “brothers in blue” will be there. In the dispatch logs, federal agents reported they were boxed in by 10 vehicles, under attack and requested urgent backup. In response, the Chicago Police Chief of Patrol can be heard on dispatch recordings ordered: “No units will respond.”

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This crisis is not limited to Chicago. In New York City, tensions are escalating over the impending mayoral election. Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who has in the past called for the defunding of the NYPD, has triggered threats from officers who say they may quit en masse if he is elected.

Chicago Police, ICE and the fraying of the thin blue line