This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A Christian organizer of a North Carolina vigil for slain civil-rights leader Charlie Kirk says she was forced to lie under oath concerning a man pretending to be a woman who allegedly threatened her life.

"I was in court because a man who claims to be transgender threatened my life," said Michelle Marie Ball of Monroe, North Carolina, in a video she posted on X.

"And of course I put my hand on the Bible and I swore that I would tell the truth. And the defense attorney was totally telling me what I could say and not say, and the judge was allowing it. And they made me call him 'her.'"

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A Republican member of Congress says America as we know it is on the verge of being lost because Democrats have "sold their soul to the devil," and he's blaming Christians and gun owners for allowing it to happen.

U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, appeared Saturday night on "The Big Weekend Show" on Fox News, and slammed citizens on the political right who choose not to vote in elections.

"The problem basically is, it's on us!" Burchett said.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

PALM BEACH, Florida – President Donald Trump, who on Thanksgiving Day called Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz "seriously retarded," is now doubling down on that claim, saying there is "absolutely" something wrong with the Democrat governor who has allowed his state to be packed with Somalians.

Aboard Air Force One on a flight from Palm Beach to the nation's capital Sunday evening, a reporter asked the president: "You mentioned Tim Walz, and you called him what many Americans find an offensive word, retarded. Do you stand by that claim of calling Tim Walz retarded?"

Trump replied: "Yeah, I think there's something wrong with him. Absolutely. You have a problem with it? I think there's something wrong with him."

"Anybody who would do what he did, anybody that would allow those people into a state and pay billions of dollars out to Somalia, we give billions of dollars to Somalia. It's not even a country because it doesn't function like a country. It's got a name but it doesn't function like a country. Yeah, there's something wrong with Walz."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

As President Donald Trump has worked to secure America's borders and remove from the United States those inside its borders illegally, especially criminal illegal aliens, the attacks on those officers enforcing those laws, in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have exploded.

By thousands of threats and attacks in recent months.

Now the federal government has revealed that two brothers allegedly plotting an attack that was to have killed ICE officers have been arrested.

And one of them was employed as an assistant principal at a high school.

According to an announcement from the Department of Homeland Security, arrested were John Wilson Bennett and Mark Booth Bennett, both American citizens.

They allegedly were "planning to carry out attacks against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents."

The case developed when a Virginia police officer overheard the brothers "discussing plans to 'kill police officers and ICE agents,'" DHS confirmed.

Mark Bennett was also overheard saying he was planning to meet with likeminded individuals in Las Vegas, Nev., to purchased firearms with explosive rounds to carry out the attacks, DHS revealed.
The investigation was launched by the DHS and Virginia Beach police just days ago.

It was on Nov. 19 that Mark Bennett was arrested at the Norfolk International Airport where he was scheduled to depart on a flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, en route to Las Vegas, authorities said.

That same day John Bennett was arrested in Virginia Beach, where he has served as the assistant principal of Kempsville High since 2009, they confirmed.

"It's chilling that a human being, much less a child educator, would plot to ambush and kill ICE law enforcement officers—offering such specifics as to getting a high caliber rifle that would pierce the law enforcements' bullet proof vests. Thanks to Homeland Security Investigations and our partners, these men are behind bars," said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.

"Our officers are facing a more than 1,150% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats while they risk their lives every single day to remove the worst of the worst including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and gang members. From bounties placed on their heads for their murders, threats to their families, stalking, and doxxing online, our officers are experiencing an unprecedented level of violence and threats against them and their families."

Pending charges against the two include conspiracy to commit malicious wounding.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Gary Beckstrom, the father of fallen American hero Sarah Beckstrom, a member of the West Virginia National Guard who was shot and killed by a terrorist in Washington, D.C., led a long list of memorials to her, the day after she died.

"My baby girl has passed to glory," he posted on social media. "If I don't talk to you don't be offend[ed] this has been a horrible tragedy."

Dozens of comments, expressing love and prayers for the family, followed.

She was shot, along with Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, who remains hospitalized, allegedly by a migrant from Afghanistan who had been allowed into this country by the Biden administration.

The two had been deployed to Washington for "Operation DC Safe and Beautiful" to fight rising crime.

They were ambushed in broad daylight.

According to the Gateway Pundit, The two heroes had volunteered to work that day so others could be home with their families for Thanksgiving."

Pam Bondi, the U.S. attorney general, explained, "She volunteered to be there on Thanksgiving — working today — she volunteers, as did many of those guardsmen and women so other people could be home with their families."

The suspect in the shooting, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national who came to the U.S. under a program set up by Joe Biden, is facing multiple charges, including first-degree murder.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A recognized expert on China has written in a column at the Gatestone Institute explaining that Alibaba, the Chinese version of megacompany Amazon, should be unceremoniously booted from the New York Stock Exchange.

"In these circumstances, it is strategically wrong to support any element of a system that is assaulting the free world in general and the United States in particular," explained China expert Gordon Chang. "It is also morally wrong to do so. It is time to delist Alibaba and all other Chinese companies from American stock exchanges and to prohibit Americans from doing business with any of them. All of them are America's enemies."

Alibaba, in fact, had a market value of some $231 billion when its IPO in 2014 raised $25 billion.
It is in the top few dozen companies worldwide. It is into technology, e-commerce, retail, Internet and more.

It provides consumer-to-consumer, business-to-consumer, and business-to-business operations.

It owns and operates a long list of other corporations.

It is into capital investments and artificial intelligence.

However, Chang wrote in the Gatestone Institute column that, "Alibaba provides tech support for Chinese military 'operations' against targets in the U.S."

He said, at least, that's what a White House memo charged, according to the Financial Times.

"The Chinese giant reportedly provided 'access to customer data that includes IP addresses, WiFi information and payment records, as well as different AI-related services,'" he explained, "Whether the FT report is accurate or not—it sounds accurate—it is time to delist Alibaba from the New York Stock Exchange and remove all other Chinese companies from U.S. stock listings. All of them are integral parts of a hostile regime assaulting America."

While China's embassy in Washington denied the memo's information, Chang explained its denials "cannot possibly be true."

"There are no real privacy protections in China's total surveillance society " Chang explained. "The Communist Party of China runs a unitary state and demands absolute obedience from all individuals, businesses, and institutions in the country. Businesses operate as separate entities and report to separate controlling government bodies, but they are not separate. Washington must stop assuming that Chinese society is organized the same way as America's."

He charged that any and all Chinese entities, government or commercial, should "be treated as one single organization, the way the Party views them."

After all, the Chinese Communist Party "has access to everything any Chinese company, state-owned or privately owned, or Chiense institution possesses."

And that party "has declared the United States to be its enemy," he said.

He noted the opinion from Richard Fisher, of the International Assessment and Strategy Center, who said, "The Chinese Communist Party has exceeded the extreme lengths taken by the Soviet Communist Party to integrate and subordinate its 'civilian economy' to serve the larger goals of its 'military economy.' All Chinese companies, factories, universities, and local governments either directly or indirectly support the military."

"Did Alibaba in fact support the Chinese military as the White House memo charges? Only those with access to classified information know," Chang wrote. "Yet the truth of the White House's charge does not matter. What matters is that Alibaba is part of the Communist Party's system."

 

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Democrats' multiple and ongoing attacks on the U.S. military, including the recent video from six Democrats in Congress telling soldiers to disobey President Trump's "illegal orders" without identifying any, is part of a scheme to return America to Joe Biden's "open borders" agenda.

That's the concern of Rep. Glenn Grothman, a Wisconsin Republican who earlier was integral in exposing how the Biden administration lost track of hundreds of thousands of migrant children who arrived illegally at America's border and were allowed in.

A report at Just the News explains Grothman charged, "They want to get out in front and make sure we don't enforce their immigration laws. It's that simple."

He continued, in his interview on the "Just the News, No Noise," television show, "We've got a situation [in which] about four times as many people every year are becoming new citizens compared to when you and I were children. I mean, way more people becoming citizens legally.

"But the Democrat Party – and this is a sign they want to destroy America – they want our immigration laws not enforced, and they want to make sure that our National Guard, whatever, does not enforce them."

He later added, after two members of the National Guard were shot by a terrorist in Washington:

"My prayers are with the National Guard members who were tragically killed in this horrific act of violence, and with their families during this unimaginable time. There is absolutely no place for this in our country. These guardsmen were simply doing their duty: protecting the American people and our nation's capital. I'm grateful for every individual who serves and stands guard to keep our communities safe," he said.

Grothman had used a House subcommittee earlier to reveal the Biden administration's negligence in losing track of migrant children who came to the U.S. without their parents.

The report noted he and other members of the GOP have been investigating the illegal results of unchecked illegal immigration, such as its unfair impact on American voters through unbalanced apportionment, their demands for programs requiring taxpayer dollars, and more.

He warned that the Democrats will return to an open borders agenda immediately if they return to positions to make those decisions.

The problem, he said, encompasses not just members of Congress but also governors, mayors, people in sanctuary cities, and more.

And it won't go well, he warned.

"If the Democrats take over again, go back to this idea of 2 million or 3 million people a year crossing the border, it's the end of the United States. But again, look at all the high-profile Democrats, in essence, saying we do not want our immigration laws enforced."

The six members of Congress who made the viral video are now under investigation, Sen. Mark Kelly by the Department of War since he's subject to recall to active duty, and the other five by the FBI.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

It's now become a first-degree murder case against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, a native of Afghanistan who is in custody on charges he ambushed two National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., shooting both and killing one.

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for D.C., confirmed, "It is a premeditated murder. There was an ambush with a gun toward people who didn't know what was coming. And that is the homicide, and that is the murder that we're looking at right now."

She said, 'You can go into all the other stuff. But as a prosecutor, my job is to prove what happened at that scene. And make no mistake, we will do that."
The upgrade to the case came after it was announced that one of the two Guardsmen ambushed had died. Trump made the announcement about the loss of U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, who died on Thanksgiving Day.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe remains in critical condition.

Pirro, in an interview on Fox & Friends, said, "She volunteered and she ended up being shot, ambush style, on the cold streets of Washington, D.C., by an individual who will now be charged with murder in the first degree. There are certainly many more charges to come, but we are upgrading the initial charges of assault to murder in the first degree."

Pirro said there remained hope for Wolfe.

The suspect reportedly came into the United States under a program set up by Joe Biden, which allowed newcomers to enter without proper vetting.

"This is a targeted shooting," Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters.

Bill Melugin of Fox News indicated: "Per multiple federal law enforcement sources, the suspect in custody for the shooting of two National Guard soldiers in DC is an Afghan national who entered the U.S. on 9/8/2021 as part of the Biden admin's Operation Allies Welcome in the aftermath of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

"I'm told his permission to be in the U.S. expired in September of this year, and he is now in the country illegally."

The New York Post reported Lakanwal was allegedly lying in wait before he rounded the corner near the Farragut West Metro Station, "then opened fire, striking a female guard in the chest before shooting her in the head, according to law enforcement sources."

Trump promised the attacker would "pay a very steep price."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Coca-Cola hired a fake Johnny Cash singer, an impersonator, to mimic the famous singer's voice in a commercial, and now is getting sued for that.

Newsweek reports the Johnny Cash estate has gone to federal court over the drink company's use of "an unauthorized imitation" of the late singer's voice.

The complaint in federal court for the Middle District of Tennessee charges Coca-Cola is in violation of the state's Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security (ELVIS) Act, as well as federal false-endorsement laws and state consumer-protection statutes, the report confirmed.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The suspect in the shooting of two West Virginia National Guardsmen in Washington on Wednesday, the latest unprovoked terror attack on the U.S., allegedly had gone through a "thorough screening and background check" process.

That's according to a statement of Joe Biden's press secretary, Jen Psaki, at the time thousands of Afghans were being brought into the United States by the Democrat administration then.

At the time, Psaki was questioned about the possibility of terrorists being delivered to U.S. shores by Biden's Operation Allies, which was supposed to have been evacuating and resettling U.S. "allies" from Afghanistan, after the U.S. abruptly withdrew its troops of that location.

Psaki said: "I can absolutely assure you that no one is coming into the United States of America who has not been through a thorough screening and background check process."

She continued, "There are many individuals as you noted who have not been through that process. And they have gone to lilypad countries, as that process has been completed. It doesn't mean that there's a flag, it means they have not completed their paperwork."

The suspect has been identified by authorities as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who allegedly drove across the country in preparation for his "ambush" attack on Guardsmen Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24.

Both were hospitalized and described initially as in critical condition.

The suspect, also shot, had lesser injuries, reports confirmed.

Charges against him could include assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said, "We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree. But make no mistake, if they do not, that will certainly be the charge."

President Trump has strategically dispatched Guard troops to fight what has been described as out-of-control crime in key locations, a program that so far often has resulted in a significant drop in crime rates in those locations.