This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Argentina's President Javier Milei, whose style of governing has seemingly completely revolutionized the South American country, recently declared the death of a prominent prosecutor investigating the July 1994 terrorist bombing of the downtown Buenos Aires Argentine-Israelite Mutual Association, to be an act of murder.
The case remains one of the most bitterly divisive in Argentina, with the previous government's insistence that Alberto Nisman, who was found dead on the floor of his apartment's bathroom exactly ten years ago in January 2015, had committed suicide being strenuously denied by those who knew him. The failure to bring anyone to justice either for the original bombing – which claimed the lives of 85 people and until Oct. 7 was the single greatest number of Jews murdered since the Holocaust – or Nisman's death is a stain on Argentina's law enforcement and judicial system.
Beyond that, Iran's dirty fingers were assessed to have been behind the attack – via its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah – and getting to the bottom of both of these cases has significant ramifications for both Argentina in particular and South America in general.
Milei's interjection could be crucial. As a vocal supporter of Israel and Jewish causes, Argentina's president's pressure may just produce some results. He said Nisman's death was at the "hands of the darkest forces of power."
It would seem simply too neat that merely days after Nisman accused then-Argentina president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and several other ex-government officials of seeking to cover up alleged Iranian involvement in the bombing, he would take his own life. Indeed, the special prosecutor was found dead the night before he was due to testify about his allegations in Congress.
A new report, presented by a federal prosecutor one week ago, supports the hypothesis that Nisman was murdered because of his work with the AMIA Attack Investigation Unit, which sought to identify the terrorists behind the bombing.
"The executive branch remains confident the judiciary will continue its investigations so that Prosecutor Nisman's murder does not go unpunished," said Milei's government in its statement Saturday.
It also called for the continuation of "the lines of investigation into Nisman's complaint."
Nisman's former wife, San Isidro Federal Judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado, commented on the anniversary in a radio interview, in which she said she did not understand Kirchner's "attacks on her family," and reiterated her contention Nisman, from whom she was divorced in 2012, had "managed to shed light on the responsibility of high-ranking officials of the then-government of the Islamic Republic of Iran." And in the same interview, she pulled no punches as to the fate of her ex-husband, asserting it "has been scientifically and judicially proven with evidence since 2018 … that his murder is linked to his role in the investigation into the terrorist attack on the AMIA."
For her part Kirchner, upon whom Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tried to impose congressional sanctions in 2023 having labeled her a "convicted kleptocrat who has been indicted for obstructing investigations into Iranian terrorism" did not directly respond to Milei's assertions, merely sharing a post on X from her acolyte Oscar Parrilli, who asserted Nisman's death was a suicide.
There are far-reaching implications for Milei's intervention and the shift in emphasis. There is his own personal statement, who becomes the highest-ranking official to accept Nisman was murdered. It will also test Kirchner's resolve to continue to insist the prosecutor took his own life. And beyond that there is a geo-political dimension, which puts a most unwanted focus back on the Islamic regime in Tehran.
"In early 2007, President Nestor Kirchner chalked up his first success when Interpol issued "red notices" – alerts for internationally-wanted fugitives – for six Iranian officials, including Ahmad Vahidi, who today serves as the Iranian regime's Interior Minister," according to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy's Ben Cohen, writing in the New York Sun. "As his investigation progressed, Nisman also uncovered valuable data about the extent of Iranian operations in Argentina and across Latin America," he added.
Kirchner could count on the support of former Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, and one wonders whether he might have been included in those "darkest forces of power" Milei referenced in his statement. His successor, Nicolas Maduro, who despite election losses is still clinging to power, recently labeled Milei a "Zionist" and a "Nazi."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Middle East/Israel Morning Brief
Trump pulls Bolton security detail despite alleged threat from Iran to former NSA
U.S. president Donald Trump has ended Secret Service protection for John Bolton, his former national security adviser turned political antagonist, despite an alleged threat to Bolton's life from Tehran, reported Iran International.
"I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has decided to terminate the protection," Bolton said in a statement on X on Tuesday, adding that Joe Biden had given the protection despite his criticism of Biden's policies.
"The American people can judge for themselves which president made the right call," he said, referencing Iranian threats, including an alleged plot against Trump himself.
The protection stemmed from Bolton's role in Trump's administration, where he was a key figure in the decision to kill Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force in Iraq in January 2020.
In retaliation, the IRGC allegedly sought to orchestrate Bolton's assassination.
"The Justice Department filed criminal charges against an Iranian Revolutionary Guard official in 2022 for attempting to hire a hitman to target me. That threat remains today," Bolton added.
Iraq passes law that could allow for child marriages
Iraq's parliament passed three divisive laws Tuesday, including amendments to the country's personal status law that opponents say would in effect legalize child marriage, according to the Times of Israel.
The amendments give Islamic courts increased authority over family matters, including marriage, divorce and inheritance.
Activists argue that this undermines Iraq's 1959 Personal Status Law, which unified family law and established safeguards for women.
Iraqi law currently sets 18 as the minimum age of marriage in most cases. The changes passed Tuesday would let clerics rule according to their interpretation of Islamic law, which some interpret to allow marriage of girls in their early teens – or as young as 9under the Jaafari school of Islamic law followed by many Shiite religious authorities in Iraq.
Stefanik: Israel has biblical right to Judea and Samaria
Israel-related issues dominated the Senate confirmation hearing of Rep. Elise Stefanik, R–N.Y., on Tuesday to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, according to the Jewish News Syndicate.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Most of the J6 protesters were subjected to the harshest treatment the Joe Biden Department of Justice could hand out.
They were jailed, without bond, sometimes without even hearings, for months or years. They were charged with inappropriate charges. Prosecutors tried to enhance their sentences with claims of obstruction. Judges, mostly Democrats in the District of Columbia, went along.
The result was a level of punishment not ever seen before in American justice.
President Donald Trump ended that with his pardon and commutation power when he took office.
But now those prosecutors, perhaps in the judges, need to be held accountable.
That's according to Brent Bozell, a highly respected name from the Media Research Center, who shared his personal story after the pardons.
It was his son, Zeeker, who was in the crowd of protesters, and admitted to breaking two windows.
Brent Bozell said his son was prepared to accept the consequences, but the Biden's DOJ demanded he spend 20 years in prison.
For windows.
Ian McKelvey pointed readers to the testimony from Brent Bozell, who noted his son's release.
And Bozell also told, essentially, the rest of the story:
His testimony:
The new Trump administration has arrived, with a real sense of purpose. For the past four years, the Biden administration has subjected America to a level of personal corruption, professional ineptitude and abuse of power unheard of in our nation's history.
President Trump committed to address all of this and immediately has put an end to the persecution of J6 defendants through his presidential pardon. I salute the President for this commitment to justice.
I also thank him personally for liberating my son.
The list of old friends, and new friends who have shared their outrage in emails, texts, phone calls and private conversations, always offering their prayers, have my family's everlasting gratitude as well.
America has witnessed the Biden administration transform the FBI from perhaps the most respected to the most feared agency in the federal government. It is high time the Department of Justice be investigated. It needs to be fumigated and the rot expelled.My son was guilty of breaking two windows and entering the Capitol that day. He recognized this, was prepared to plead guilty, and accept his punishment. That was, until the "Justice" Department offered him a deal: accept a three-year sentence or face a 20-year prison term, a fate which would befall him by the time they were done with him, after throwing the entire weight of the federal government against him.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Joe Biden's last-second announcement from just before he left the White House to pardon a long list of family members and Democrat activists, such as his brother James Biden and now-Sen. Adam Schiff, reveals what he thought: That the recipients actually committed crimes.
Irrespective of what investigators might have concluded, and irrespective of what prosecutors might have decided, it's now on record what Biden thought, according to a new report from the Federalist.
Biden earlier had pardoned thousands of convicted criminals, including three dozen murderers on death row. And his son, Hunter, even though he had promised many times that would not happen.
Then just before leaving office, Biden also pardoned Gen. Mark Milley, Anthony Fauci, and "the members and staff of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol."
The report said, "To be pardoned for a crime, there must be a crime. None of the people on this list has been charged for the awful ways they harmed people in their official capacities. In fact, Biden awarded former Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican, the Presidential Citizens Medal, one of the nation's highest civilian honors on Jan. 2, for 'Putting the American people over party,' or, more accurately, for leading the Jan. 6 committee like a rabid dog."
Cheney notably has been accused of working with a J6 committee witness to change her testimony in ways that would be hurtful to Trump.
"So which is it? Award-winning behavior, or a crime? She tampered with a witness and tainted the facts presented to the American people," the report noted.
"Sounds like a crime, and with this preemptive pardon, Biden proves he thinks so too — a crime vulnerable to an investigation that would lead to charges. It could be no other reason.'
The report noted Milley was chairman of the Joint Chiefs at the time of the horrific Afghanistan withdrawal, which left 13 American soldiers dead. And billions of dollars of American war machinery in the hands of terrorists.
Milley's agenda was to push the military into "wokeness."
There even was a claim that after the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, Milley called Chinese officials and reportedly told him to U.S. was "stable" and China would be notified if the U.S. was going to attack, the report said.
While Biden's action suggests there were crimes, the report explained, Americans are being robbed of "the justice that comes from accountability."
The report noted Milley's response was: "I do not wish to spend whatever remaining time the Lord grants me fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights."
"Well of course you don't. No one likes being held accountable. But leaving 13 military members to die is not perceived, it is a documented fact and much more than a 'slight,'" the report said.
Regarding Fauci, the report said, "Thousands of people died from COVID on his watch, and he was behind using U.S. tax dollars to fund the lab in Wuhan, China where research was being conducted into bat coronaviruses."
With President-elect Donald Trump returning to power this week in grand fashion, many of those in Washington D.C. who opposed him or are otherwise not in alignment with his vision for America are already throwing in the towel.
According to USAToday, one of those people was IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, who informed employees at the agency that he will resign the day Trump takes office, which is on Jan. 20.
Werfel's resignation was definitely strategic, as it technically prevented Trump from removing him from office.
The IRS commissioner still had three years left as his term as the head of the U.S. tax agency.
Werfel resigned because Trump has already indicated that he wants former Republican lawmaker Billy Long from Missouri to head the agency.
Had Werfel not tendered his resignation, he undoubtedly would have been fired by Trump, which wouldn't have looked great on his resume.
USAToday noted:
Werfel, in a letter to agency staff obtained by the Wall Street Journal said that if he had tried to remain in office during Long's confirmation process, it would have been "hard to predict what type of distractions this unprecedented scenario would create."
Notably, IRS commissioners typically do not have to worry about being fired, and the transition between presidents usually do not affect them. The last time an IRS commissioner pulled the same move was after Bill Clinton took over in 1993.
The IRS has only two political appointees, one being the commissioner and the other being the chief of counsel.
USAToday added:
The commissioner and chief counsel are the agency's only political appointees, and a 1998 reform bill established five-year terms for IRS commissioners in an effort to keep politics out of tax enforcement. Every president since the 1998 reform − to include Trump in his first term − retained the serving IRS commissioner.
Users across social media weighed in on Werfel's resignation announcement.
"I hope the Trump Administration gets rid of the IRS, the federal income tax, and the Federal Reserve! please please!" one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "Putting themselves in timeout one after another before Daddy Don pulls up with the belt. Pro tip - it won't save you."
Long, like most of Trump's nominees, is expected to be confirmed by the Senate.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A pro-Trump state senator in Georgia, thrown to the ground and arrested for going to the legislature to hear a state of the state address from the governor, is thanking Georgians for their support at this time.
He's also thanking hospital staff for examining his hand that was injured when he was thrown to the floor.
There's been no confirmation on whether charges will result from him being confronted by, blocked by, thrown to the ground by, and arrested, by officials in the legislature.
"Thank you to all the patriots who have shown their support today. I have a Constitutional duty and will be back in the legislature tomorrow," he said.
WND had reported when the attack followed orders that he be barred from the House floor by an "anti-Trump" Georgia House speaker.
It apparently was not a "House" session that Moore tried to attend, but the state of the state address from Gov. Brian Kemp.
He was slammed to the floor by police and arrested.
Moore had been punished with banishment for commenting on the career, negatively, of the late House Speaker David Ralston.
He also had been dropped from the Senate Republican Caucus over his demands for a special legislative session to investigate Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who hired her paramour at the cost of $600,000 in tax money to create a failed organized crime case against President-elect Donald Trump.
She's still trying to move forward on that case, even though she and her paramour both have been thrown off the case by higher courts for the appearance of impropriety.
Social media video and explanations document how Moore "just got handcuffed & arrested by the RINO House Speaker after he tried to attend the State of the State session to do his job."
The report said, "Moore tried to enter the Chamber and got physically blocked from entering. They stationed cops and guards outside the door, and when he tried to get in, they wrestled him to the ground (LITERAL ASSAULT). Moore got suspended from the GOP Caucus last year after he called for the impeachment of Fani Willis. The State establishment led by Brian Kemp decided to put a target on his back because his advocacy to impeach Willis embarrassed them on a national stage. What just happened is super unconstitutional, and people need to get locked up."
Moore had told an officer "This is a joint session of the General Assembly. Your House rules do not apply. I'm going into the chamber."
Moore then was pushed to the ground and surrounded by state patrol officers.
Moore's comments about Ralston came when there was a plan to name a building at a university in his memory. Moore's opinion of Ralston? "One of the most corrupt Georgia leaders that we are ever going to see in my lifetime."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Free speech in America can include a lot of different methods of expression: A sign, a statement, a written document, an image painted on the side of a building, even an association, and much more.
And now "spooky" Christmas decorations.
That's the argument from the Institute for Justice which is blasting the city of Germantown, Tennessee, for a decision by its officials to brazenly violate free speech by citing Alexis Luttrell, a resident, for violating the city's sign code.
"Her supposed crime: Incorporating Halloween decorations like skeletons into her Christmas yard display. You would think that only a grinch would look at Luttrell's decorations and think they deserve a court summons. But IJ cases from over a decade show that officials across the country regularly abuse ordinary Americans by acting like the 'speech police"" the organization said in a report on the fracas.
"The whole idea behind free speech is that you get to choose what you want to put up to celebrate," IJ lawyer Robert Frommer explained. "Officials shouldn't get to block you from expressing yourself just because they dislike your reason for the season."
The report said Luttrell put a skeleton and a skeleton dog in her yard to commemorate Halloween. After that holiday, she used the skeleton and dog as Christmas decorations.
"Germantown officials weren't pleased and issued Luttrell a court summons, stating that her decorations violated city code," the organization reported.
Germantown bans residents from installing holiday decorations more than 45 days before the date of the holiday and requires residents to remove seasonal decorations within 30 days after the holiday, the report said.
Luttrell is due in court Feb. 13.
However, the institute pointed out, "A core principle of the First Amendment is that the government generally can't discriminate against speech based on what it says or who put it up. And here, that includes the decorations that someone puts up to celebrate."
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, back in 2015, that "those kind of content-based regulations must serve the most compelling of government interests."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
California's problem with fires, where wildland blazes already have scorched some 40,000 acres and consumed 12,000 homes and other buildings in Los Angeles, has gotten worse.
There now is a fire that has hit a lithium battery storage site in Monterey County, and there are concerns it will jeopardize California's power grid.
A report from RedState explained, "There's a huge fire Thursday night at a lithium battery plant in northern Monterey County. What's a little lithium smoke in the air in the name of progress, right?
"Highway 1 is closed and evacuations were ordered in Moss Landing and the Elkhorn Slough area after a major fire erupted Thursday afternoon at a battery storage plant in Moss Landing in northern Monterey County," the report explained.
RedState's comments continued, "It all seems as if it's almost timed to coincide with the return of Donald Trump's return to power. The failure of progressive leadership has been exposed in a way that it has never been before as disastrous wildfires wipe out entire neighborhoods in deep-blue Los Angeles, a result not only of natural forces like unusually high winds and dry conditions but by the epic breakdown of any real leadership in the Golden State and the misplaced priorities of elected officials like LA Mayor Karen Bass and camera-addicted Gov. Gavin Newsom."
Monterey County spokesman Nicholas Pasculli confirmed the fire was raging out of control and some 1,500 people were ordered evacuated from nearby residential areas.
The report said the plant is located on the site of a now-shuttered 1950s-era PG&E Moss Landing natural gas plant visible for its huge smokestacks near Moss Landing Harbor.
The battery storage unit provides power to PG&E.
A Republican, pro-Trump state senator from Georgia was arrested Thursday while trying to enter the House chamber.
Dramatic video showed 31-year-old Colton Moore being pushed to the floor as he fought to gain entry to Governor Brian Kemp's (R) state of the state speech. Moore was banned from the chamber last year for disparaging the late Speaker David Ralston, a Republican.
Moore's arrest comes after a long feud between Moore and Georgia Republicans including Kemp and Speaker of the House Jon Burns (R).
In a letter to Burns, Moore had warned he would attend Thursday's joint session of the General Assembly, calling Burns a "tyrant."
"I will NEVER back down," Moore wrote on X, sharing the letter. "I will ALWAYS speak the truth and represent the people of Northwest Georgia as their trusted America First Senator."
A scuffle ensued Thursday as Moore tried to enter the House chambers, only to be blocked by a doorman who appeared to push Moore to the ground.
"This is a joint session of the General Assembly. Your House rules do not apply," Moore said. "I'm going into the chamber."
Moore was arrested by state troopers and booked at the Fulton County jail on charges of willful obstruction of law enforcement officers, a misdemeanor.
Senator Colton Moore, who exposed and defeated corrupt District Attorney Fani Willis last year, has been arrested by the Anti-Trump Speaker of the Georgia House.
Colton is being held in the same Atlanta jail as President Trump.
We are working to ensure his expedient release.… pic.twitter.com/hRA2gM54FD
— Sen. Colton Moore (@realColtonMoore) January 16, 2025
Moore ruffled feathers last year when he opposed naming a building after former Speaker David Ralston, whom he called "one of the most corrupt Georgia leaders that we are ever going to see in my lifetime." Ralston was accused of using his position as Speaker to delay court cases in which he had an interest as a defense lawyer.
Speaker Burns called Moore's comments "some of the vilest that you can make about a good man" and banned him from the House chamber.
In 2023, Senate Republicans suspended Moore from the caucus for attacking Republicans who refused to impeach Fulton County DA Fani Willis over her prosecution of Donald Trump. Governor Kemp dismissed Moore's effort as a "grifter scam" and said Willis had done nothing to merit her removal.
Speaker Burns blamed Moore for the "unfortunate" incident that unfolded Thursday, but Georgia Republican chairman Josh McKoon condemned Moore's arrest and said he should have been admitted to the chamber.
"It was not only legally appropriate to admit him to today’s proceedings — it was simply the right thing to do," McKoon wrote.
Moore has also received support from Georgia Democrats, who say his rights were violated.
"While Colton Moore and I don’t agree on much, the Speaker nor the doorkeeper should be allowed to prevent him from representing the people of his district," Congresswoman Nikema Williams said in a statement.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Social media turned its sharpest barbs against Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., on Friday when he insisted that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, literally ignore the 300,000 children who have gone missing after entering America illegally during Joe Biden's administration.
Ignore the past, he said.
Why?
Because he wants Noem to focus on the 1,000 children he claims were separated from their families … under President Trump's first term.
"I'm sorry, can he repeat that – forget about the 300,000 during the past 4 years – let's go back to Trump's first time. Blumenthal voters – really you can't do better than him?" was one response.
"'Let's put aside what happened in the past…' while asking her to comment on things that happened in the past…" was another.
And, "'Let's put aside the 300K so I can focus on the 1000 I can try to politically exploit.'"
Blumenthal in his own words:
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL: "Will you help me reunite children with their parents who were separated by Trump's family separation policy?"
KRISTI NOEM: "What I'm alarmed by is the over 300,000 children that went missing during the Biden administration."
BLUMENTHAL: "Let's put aside the labels and what happened in the past. There are still 1,000 children who were separated and waiting to be reunited. I'd like your commitment to continuing the effort to reunite them with their parents."
NOEM: "Well, I can't put aside 300,000 children. Keeping families together is critically important to me and to this country. I'm concerned about Laken Riley's family and that they no longer have her... We will uphold our laws and make sure we are doing everything we can to keep children safe from the trafficking and drug epidemics."
He wanted to know if Noem would help him "reunite children with their parents who were separated by Trump's family separation policy?"
She pointed out that she was alarmed by the 300,000 children gone missing and untraceable during Biden's years.
But Blumenthal said not to worry about them.
"Let's put aside the labels and what happened in the past. There are still 1,000 children who were separated and waiting to be reunited. I'd like your commitment to continuing the effort to reunite them with their parents," the Democrat said.
Noem admitted that she really is unable to "put aside 300,000 children."
"It said our laws would be followed," she explained.
She cited the victimization and trafficking to which those children under the Biden administration have been subjected.