- Tuesday July 8th, 2025
- "It Is Not A Question of Who Is Right Or Wrong But What Is Right Or Wrong That Counts."
- --Geoff Metcalf
- Providing an on line Triage of the news since 1998
My son has narrated the last book I wrote.Please consider listening to it and encouraging others to do so too.(Click HERE)
World & Nation
ICE agents targeted in 2 ambush attacks in recent days
Anti-government
suspects allegedly shot a police officer in the neck while carrying
propaganda materials calling for 'class war' against ICE
U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other federal law
enforcement officers conducting immigration enforcement have been
targeted in at least two ambushes in Texas in recent days.
The Justice Department on Monday named 10 individuals charged with
shooting a police officer in the neck and opening fire on other
correctional officers outside the Prairieland Detention Center in
Alvarado, Texas, on the Fourth of July. The group, donning all black,
allegedly first began shooting fireworks at the facility, which is
being used by the Department of Homeland Security to hold people
related to immigration violations or awaiting deportation.
The defendants are Cameron Arnold, also known as Autumn Hill; Savannah
Batten; Nathan Baumann; Zachary Evetts; Joy Gibson; Bradford Morris,
also known as Meagan Morris; Maricela Rueda; Seth Sikes; Elizabeth
Soto; and Ines Soto. The complaint charges each of them with three
counts of attempted murder of a federal officer and three counts of
discharging a firearm during, in relation to and in furtherance of a
violent crime.
White
House Press Secretary Tries To Explain Why Pam Bondi Once Said She Had
Jeffrey Epstein Client List, But Now The DOJ Says There Isn't One
White House
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt attempted to explain why Attorney
General Pam Bondi talked earlier this year of a Jeffrey Epstein client
list but now a Justice Department memo says there is none.
At the press
briefing on Monday, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Leavitt noted that the
Justice Department and FBI memo “revealed no incriminating client list.”
“So what happened to the Epstein client list that the attorney general said that she had on her desk?” Doocy asked Leavitt.
“I got the
quote,” Doocy said. “[Anchor] John Roberts said, the DOJ may be
releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein clients. Will that really
happen?’ And [Bondi] said, ‘It’s sitting right now on my desk to
review.”
Leavitt
responded, “Yes, she was saying the entirety of all of the paperwork,
all of the paper in relation to Jeffrey Epstein crimes. That’s what the
attorney general was referring to.”
'Bait and switch': Schumer warns of bitter funding fight over GOP cuts plan
Top Democrat warns of 'grave implications' as Senate Republicans consider Trump-backed $9.4B rescissions package
Senate
Republicans are set to consider a multibillion-dollar package of cuts
from the White House, but the top Senate Democrat warned that doing so
could have consequences for a later government funding showdown.
Senate Minority
Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned on Tuesday that the Senate GOP’s
plan to move forward with a $9.4 billion rescissions package would have
"grave implications" on Congress, particularly the forthcoming
government funding fight in September.
"Republicans’
passage of this purely partisan proposal would be an affront to the
bipartisan appropriations process," Schumer wrote in a letter to fellow
Senate Democrats.
Texas flood victims received hours of critical warning through emergency mobile alert system
Government emergency alerts bypass network congestion to deliver critical warnings directly to mobile devices
With
Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs), customers of telecommunications
companies including Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T receive urgent
messages from government agencies during critical situations such as
tornadoes, flash floods or AMBER Alerts. FEMA said the messages show
the type and time of the alert, any action people in the impacted area
should take, and the agency issuing the alert.
Here's how they work:
WEAs are issued by authorized federal, state, local, tribal and
territorial public alerting authorities and broadcast from cell towers
to any WEA‐enabled mobile device in a locally targeted area. WEA is
part of a partnership between FEMA, the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) and wireless providers, aimed at enhancing public
safety.
Volunteers Flock to Help Search Efforts After Texas Floods
Justin Rubio
awoke in the wee hours to an alert on his phone, thunder, sirens and
the thud of helicopter blades — the beginning of one of the largest
rescue operations in Texas history. Rubio was determined to be a part
of it.
Even as
authorities in Kerr County have repeatedly discouraged civilian
volunteers, Rubio and dozens of others went out Monday to search for
people still missing after flash flooding tore through the Texas Hill
Country over the July Fourth weekend.
The emotions
wrapped up in the calamity that killed at least 100 people — and the
urge to help find those still missing — at times butted up against
officials' need for structure and safety as they search over 60 miles
(100 kilometers) along the Guadalupe River.
CIA Quietly Admits it Has Lied to the Public About Lee Harvey Oswald for Decades
For
decades, the official Central Intelligence Agency story was that its
tentacles were not connected in any way with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to
the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
A new document release has shown that claim to be false, according to Axios.
The official verdict of the Warren commission that investigated
Kennedy’s Nov. 22, 1963, death in Dallas was that Oswald was
responsible. Although no proof has emerged to contradict that finding,
there have long been suspicions that American intelligence agencies
knew far more about Oswald and his activities than was made public at
the time.
A new release of documents has breathed new life into doubts that the
America people have been told the truth by indicating that agent George
Joannides had in fact been conducting activities the CIA long denied.
Axios wrote that the documents prove “the CIA lied for decades about
his role in the Kennedy case before and after the assassination,
according to experts on JFK's slaying.”
Judge recommends that case against Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan proceed
A federal
magistrate judge recommended Monday that the case proceed against a
Wisconsin judge who was indicted on allegations that she helped a man
who is in the country illegally evade U.S. immigration agents seeking
to arrest him in her courthouse.
Milwaukee
County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested in April and indicted on
federal charges in May. She pleaded not guilty.
The case
highlighted a clash between President Donald Trump’s administration and
local authorities over the Republican’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
Democrats have accused the Trump administration of trying to make a national example of Dugan to chill judicial opposition.
Israeli prime minister answers whether he is worried about being jailed in NYC by Zohran Mamdani
'I'm going to come there with the President Trump and we'll see,' said Netanyahu.
After Zohran
Mamdani, New York City's leading mayoral candidate, pledged to arrest
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits the city,
Netanyahu responded to questions about whether he's worried.
In December,
Mamdani, who identifies as a democratic socialist and is the Democratic
Party’s nominee for New York City mayor, said, "as mayor, New York City
would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu."
"This is a city
that our values are in line with international law. It’s time that our
actions are also," Mamdani said, referring to the International
Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant against Netanyahu as well as
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Netanyahu met
with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday evening to
discuss a range of topics, including Iran and Israel’s ongoing war with
Hamas.
Attorney for Biden's ex-doctor calls House GOP's move "unprecedented"
Former
President Joe Biden's physician has requested a delay in his scheduled
testimony before the House Oversight Committee, with his attorney
calling the Republican approach "unprecedented" and "alarming."
Newsweek reached out to a spokesperson for Biden via email on Monday for comment.
This legal standoff represents a critical test of medical privacy rights versus congressional oversight powers.
The dispute has
broader implications for methods employed by House Republicans in their
investigation of Biden's mental fitness during his presidency, as some
say that White House policies implemented through "autopen" technology
could be invalid if the former president was mentally incapacitated.
Trump: New Tariff Deadline 'Not 100 Percent Firm'
President
Donald Trump reignited his trade war by threatening more than a dozen
countries with higher tariffs Monday – but then said he may be flexible
on his new August deadline to reach deals.
Trump sent
letters to trading partners including key U.S. allies Japan and South
Korea, announcing that duties he had suspended in April would snap back
even more steeply in three weeks.
Tokyo and Seoul
would be hit with 25% tariffs on their goods, he wrote. Countries
including Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, South Africa and Malaysia
were slapped with duties ranging from 25% to 40%.
Republicans’ righteous win on the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ saved the party’s future
The One Big
Beautiful Bill Act — a massive package of tax relief, more funding for
immigration enforcement, and savings from entitlement changes — is now
law, and it’s a triumph not only for President Trump but for the whole
Republican Party.
The GOP passed two make-or-break tests here: one of party discipline, the other of political principles.
And the party saved its life by getting this bill enacted.
The stakes were
so high because most of the OBBBA’s tax cuts only continued the lower
rates Trump shepherded through in his first term.
MORNING GLORY: Why the angst about AI?
The battle within the battle over the 'One, Big, Beautiful Bill'
Should we be
alarmed by the acceleration of "artificial intelligence" ("AI") and the
"large language models" (LLMs) AI’s developers employ?
Thanks to AI I
can provide a short explanation of the LLM term: "Imagine AI as a large
umbrella, with generative AI being a smaller umbrella underneath. LLMs
are like a specific type of tool within the generative AI umbrella,
designed for working with text."
Clear? Of
course not. The intricacies of AI and the tools it uses are the stuff
of start-ups, engineers, computer scientists and the consumers feeding
them data knowingly or unknowingly.
