September 19 , 2024
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Welcome to the news for independent thinkers
Leading the News . . .
Israel did not tamper with Hezbollah's pagers. It made them . . . By all appearances, B.A.C. Consulting was a Hungary-based company that was under contract to produce the devices on behalf of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. In fact, it was part of an Israeli front, according to three intelligence officers briefed on the operation. They said at least two other shell companies were created as well to mask the real identities of the people creating the pagers: Israeli intelligence officers. B.A.C. did take on ordinary clients, for which it produced a range of ordinary pagers. But the only client that really mattered was Hezbollah, and its pagers were far from ordinary. Produced separately, they contained batteries laced with the explosive PETN, according to the three intelligence officers. New York Times
This ranks with the 1976 rescue of Israeli hostages from Entebbe, Ethiopia as among the most startling stealth operations of all time.
Israel blows up Hezbollah walkie talkies in second wave of its attack . . . Hand-held radios used by armed group Hezbollah detonated on Wednesday across Lebanon's south in the country's deadliest day since cross-border fighting erupted between the militants and Israel nearly a year ago, stoking tensions after similar explosions of the group's pagers the day before. Lebanon's health ministry said 20 people were killed and more than 450 injured on Wednesday in Beirut's suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, while the death toll from Tuesday's explosions rose to 12, including two children, with nearly 3,000 injured. Reuters
No electronic equipment considered safe after Lebanon device attacks
"No, don't toast my bread this morning!"
Politics
Teamsters will not make presidential endorsement in blow tho Democrats . . . The International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Wednesday announced it will not endorse a candidate for president, despite releasing internal polling showing a majority of the union's membership supports former President Trump. In a phone survey, Teamsters favored Trump over Harris, 58% to 31%. Trump's support among Teamsters has surged since Harris replaced President Biden at the top of the Democratic Party's ticket, the data shows. The union's polling prior to Biden dropping out showed Biden was ahead of Trump among members, 44.3% to 36.3%. Fox Business
A little-noticed dynamic in the presidential race is that many working class voters perceived Biden as somehow one of their own. This perception will not transfer to Harris and could cause her to lose states in the critical Midwest.
Harris once said police could pay surprise visits to legal gun owners' homes . . . As San Francisco's district attorney, Kamala Harris told legal gun owners in her community that authorities could "walk into" their homes to inspect whether they were storing their firearms properly under a new law she helped draft. "We're going to require responsible behaviors among everybody in the community, and just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn't mean that we're not going to walk into that home and check to see if you're being responsible and safe in the way you conduct your affairs," Harris told a group of reporters in May 2007. Fox News
Trump makes play for New York: 'What the hell do you have to lose?' . . . Former President Donald Trump basked in the adulation of thousands of supporters on Long Island Wednesday night — insisting that recent attempts to kill him had "hardened my resolve" and predicting he would be the first Republican candidate to win New York state in 40 years. "These encounters with death have not broken my will," the Republican presidential nominee, 78, told roughly 16,000 fans at the Nassau Coliseum. New York Post
Rep. Dan Goldman: Trump plans to 'Execute a coup' on January 6, 2025
Iranian hackers tried but failed to interest Biden's campaign in stolen Trump info . . . Iranian hackers sought to interest President Joe Biden's campaign in information stolen from rival Donald Trump's campaign, sending unsolicited emails to people associated with the then-Democratic candidate in an effort to interfere in the 2024 election, the FBI and other federal agencies said Wednesday. There's no indication that any of the recipients responded, officials said, and several media organizations who have said they also were approached with stolen material did not publish it. Associated Press
Top Republican details Secret Service 'lack of cooperation' . . . Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., described the level to which the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service have prevented the Homeland Security Committee from obtaining crucial materials to investigate the failures that led to the assassination attempts against former President Trump. "Things like the autopsy report, you know, the House has it under subpoena. We don't have it," he told reporters. The "toxicology report; we don't have any of the trajectory reports. So, where'd the bullets go? We don't even know how they handled the crime scene," said Johnson, ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation. Fox News
Secret Service tells House that agency had increased Trump's security first attempt
Arizona Cardinals Ripped for Forcing Woman to Throw MAGA Hat in Trash . . . The Arizona Cardinals are taking heat for forcing a season ticket holder to throw away her MAGA hat to get into State Farm Stadium last weekend. Susan Rosener, who has owned season tickets for 34 years, told KPNX-TV that on Sunday, stadium security flagged her down and told her she could not enter the facility with her "Make America Great Again" hat. Rosener said the security officials told her that political gear is not allowed in the stadium. Breitbart
Trump announces he will visit Springfield, Ohio, and Aurora, Colorado . . . "I'm going to Springfield, and I'm going to Aurora," Trump said during a political rally on Wednesday. The two cities have become focal points of the 2024 presidential election because of the national conversation surrounding illegal immigration. Regarding Springfield, conflicting claims of illegal immigrants eating residents' pets catapulted the small Ohio city into the national spotlight. Aurora became a focal point after accusations that members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang were living in the city. Washington Examiner
National Security
China has deployed hundreds of new satellites in preparation for war with US . . . China's military is rapidly building up space capabilities, including more than 970 recently deployed satellites that would support attacks on U.S. aircraft carriers, expeditionary forces and air wings during a conflict, a Space Force intelligence report says. The intelligence report also reveals that Russia is building a nuclear space weapon capable of triggering large-scale blasts that could destroy U.S. and other satellites. Washington Times
Biden-Harris electric school bus program a gift to China . . . The Biden-Harris administration's $5 billion Clean School Bus Program uses up to four times more taxpayer dollars per school bus and benefits the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a House report revealed Tuesday. The 51-page report from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce found promoting electric school buses and other electric vehicles enriches the CCP as the EV supply chain is roughly 90% dependent on China, raising both national security and human rights concerns. Daily Caller
Biden admin' parole use reveals eye-popping number of migrant arrivals in US . . . The Biden administration, as it sought to control a spiraling border crisis last year, expanded two avenues for migrants to enter legally and be paroled into the U.S. One allows migrants to schedule appointments at the ports of entry using the CBP One app, and allows up to 1,450 migrants to enter daily. The other is the parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. Under that program, migrants with sponsors can apply for authorization without heading to the border and fly or transport themselves into the U.S. once approved and vetted. Up to 30,000 a month are allowed in under that program. Fox News
One way to reduce illegal immigration is to decide that it's legal.
Money
Fed slashes rates by a half point as mortgage refis surge . . . Those who bought homes in the past few years have a call to make after the Federal Reserve's hefty rate cut: Look to refinance their mortgages now, or wait for a better deal in a future cut. The central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday for the first time in more than four years, and it is expected to keep cutting. Mortgage rates have been trending lower in anticipation. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.2% last week, down from almost 8% in the fall of 2023, according to Freddie Mac. Refi applications have more than doubled over the last seven weeks as mortgage rates fell, according to Fannie Mae. Wall Street Journal
You should also know
Inside the Brooklyn federal jail where Sean 'Diddy' Combs is locked up: violence, squalor and death . . . As they unsuccessfully fought to keep Sean "Diddy" Combs out of jail after his sex trafficking arrest, the music mogul's lawyers highlighted a litany of horrors at the Brooklyn federal lockup where he was headed: horrific conditions, rampant violence and multiple deaths. Combs, 54, was sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on Tuesday — a place that's been described as "hell on earth" and an "ongoing tragedy" — after pleading not guilty in a case that accuses him of physically and sexually abusing women for more than a decade. In recent years, its conditions have been so stark that some judges have refused to send people there. Associated Press
Guilty Pleasures
Teen in shower cap steals NYC subway train, crashes it . . . New York police have arrested a teen suspected of taking a joyride on an empty subway train then crashing it. A 17-year-old girl is charged with criminal mischief over the incident in Briarwood subway station in Queens, shortly after midnight on 12 September. She and a companion are accused of entering and operating the train, then causing a "collision". Surveillance images released by police showed one suspect dressed fully in pink - including a shower cap - and a second person wearing blue. BBC
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