This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Tensions are heating up in the South China Sea, as Chinese and Philippine ships once again collide in the long-disputed waters.

Chinese vessels collided with Philippine coast guard ships near the disputed atoll of Sabina Shoal in the Spratly Islands. The Chinese were quick to accuse the Philippines of crashing their vessel into them deliberately.

Chinese Coast Guard spokesperson Gan Yu said in a statement the Philippines ignored several warnings, and caused the collision by dangerously ramming Chinese law enforcement.

"The Philippine side is entirely responsible for the collision. We warn the Philippine side to immediately stop its infringement and provocation, otherwise, it will bear all the consequences arising from that," Gan said.

China Daily reported the Philippines then engaged in a second incident a few hours later, the CCG further accused the Philippines of seriously infringing on China's sovereignty and undermining regional peace in a separate statement.

"We sternly warn the Philippine side to immediately cease its infringing provocations. Otherwise, it will bear all the consequences arising from such actions," Gan said.

Gan then released another statement saying the CCG operated by laws and regulations.

cement saying the CCG operated by laws and regulations.

"China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands, including Xianbin and Ren'ai reefs, and their adjacent waters. The China Coast Guard will continue to carry out law enforcement activities in the waters under China's jurisdiction under the law, resolutely thwart any infringements and provocations, and safeguard national territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests," Gan said.

However, Philippine officials have shot back at the accusations with footage of the collision which shows the Chinese intentionally ramming the ships. According to Philippine news outlet GMA News Online, the National Task Force for the West Philippines Sea has accused China of dangerous maneuvers that caused damage to two Philippine coast guard ships.

"This morning, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessels BRP Bagacay (MRRV-4410) and BRP Cape Engaño (MRRV-4411) encountered unlawful and aggressive maneuvers from Chinese Coast Guard vessels while en route to Patag and Lawak Islands in the West Philippine Sea. These dangerous maneuvers resulted in collisions, causing structural damage to both PCG vessels," the National Task Force for the West Philippines Sea said.

The shoal is located 75 nautical miles off Palawan and is within the Philippines' 200–nautical–mile exclusive economic zone. The waters are also under dispute with Taiwan and Vietnam.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a statement the incident was caused by the Philippines, and China was only responding to the perceived infringements.

"I made clear China's position on the Philippine Coast Guard vessels' intrusion into the adjacent waters of Xianbin Jiao of China's Nansha Qundao. What China did was to respond to the Philippines' infringement activities. We took those actions to defend our territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. They are just, lawful, and beyond reproach," Mao said.

Mao then accused the United States of using the mutual defense agreement with the Philippines, as an excuse to violate China's sovereignty. Mao added the U.S. has no position to interfere with issues between China and the Philippines.

"The U..S is not a party to the issue of the South China Sea and is in no position to interfere in the maritime issues between China and the Philippines. Still less, the U.S. should not use the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty to justify the violation of China's sovereignty, rights, and interests in the South China Sea. The U.S. needs to stop stoking confrontation in the South China Sea, and stop destabilizing the region and escalating the tensions in the region," Mao said.

In a statement released from the U.S. Department of State, officials called the actions dangerous, reckless, and deliberate.

"The United States stands with its ally the Philippines and condemns the dangerous actions by the People's Republic of China (PRC) against lawful Philippine maritime operations in the South China Sea on August 19. PRC ships employed reckless maneuvers, deliberately colliding with two Philippine Coast Guard ships, causing structural damage and jeopardizing the safety of the crew onboard," the statement reads.

The statement goes on to call China's claims to the disputed area unlawful and insisted China adhere to international laws.

"These actions are the latest examples of the PRC using dangerous and escalatory measures to enforce its expansive and unlawful South China Sea maritime claims. The United States calls upon the PRC to abide by international law and desist from its dangerous and destabilizing conduct," the statement continues.

U.S. officials also reminded the Chinese of the long-standing treaty between the U.S. and the Philippines, which is 73 years old.

"The United States reaffirms that Article IV of the 1951 U.S.–Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft – including those of its Coast Guard – anywhere in the South China Sea," the statement said.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree offering a "haven" to anyone who wants to escape Western liberal ideals, according to a report from Russian media outlet Tass.

According to the decree, foreigners will be provided assistance to gain a temporary 3-month visa, if they reject the "neoliberal ideals" of their home country and want to make a move to Russia "where traditional values reign supreme."

Foreign nationals will be able to apply for temporary residence in Russia, and will not be required to confirm their knowledge of the Russian language, history, or basic laws. The Russian Foreign Ministry has been instructed to start issuing visas as early as September.

Over the years, Putin has often criticized "Western globalist elites" for planting hatred and Russophobia.

"Ideology of superiority is disgusting, criminal, and deathly in its very nature. However, the Western global elites still speak about their exclusiveness, clash people against each other, and split societies, provoke bloody conflicts and coup d'etats, plant hatred, russophobia," Putin said during his Victory Day speech in 2023.

In March 2024, Putin stated during an interview the Western elites want to "freeze the status quo."

"There is a very strong desire in Western elites to freeze the status quo, the unjust state of affairs in international affairs. They are used to filling their bellies with human flesh and their pockets with money for centuries. But they must realize that the vampire's ball is coming to an end," Putin said.

According to a 2016 report from the Hoover Institute, the "Western elites" are made up of several groups – lawmakers (which at the time of publication included the Clintons and the Obamas), unelected bureaucrats, top military officers, and the mega-wealthy.

"They include not just our elected legislators, governors, and president, but also the unelected (and unaccountable) members of the vast government archipelago–cabinet officers, bureaucratic grandees, top military officers, and regulators. Beyond these politicos, the Western elite is comprised, too, of the transnational mega-wealthy, who have been enriched by globalization, especially international finance, investments, and technologies that lubricate worldwide dissemination of capital and communications," the report states.

Former President Donald Trump called out globalist elite and agitator George Soros during a rally, for funding protests on university and college campuses.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

JERUSALEM – With the threat of Iranian and Hezbollah reprisals hanging over the ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, there were mixed signals about the talks' success or failure Monday as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the region to try and shepherd the warring parties to some kind of halt.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Blinken for a three-hour meeting in Jerusalem – described as "positive" and "held in a good atmosphere," and which concluded with the premier releasing a statement publicly backing the latest U.S. "bridging proposal" that was presented to Israel and conveyed to Hamas at the end of talks in Doha last week. The bridging proposal is an attempt to manage the apparently wide divergence of expectations between Hamas and Israel – and in such a way, if possible, that the talks don't completely collapse.

Initial reports on Sunday suggested Netanyahu was leery of the chances of a breakthrough, his pessimism – according to cabinet ministers with knowledge of the matter – stemming from his rejection of the notion the IDF should leave the Philadelphi Corridor. This stretch of land, which crosses the Gaza-Egypt border has been revealed to be the main route through which Hamas smuggled men, weapons, and materiel to their mafia-like stronghold.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

President Donald Trump on Friday announced a team of close associates to smooth his transition into the White House, presuming his campaign defeats the word salad-unleashing leftist Kamala Harris in the November election.

The team members include co-chairs Linda McMahon and Howard Lutnick, as well as honorary chairs Sen. JD Vance, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump.

McMahon is the former chief of the WWE and earlier was in Trump's first administration as administrator of the SBA.

Lutnick is the billionaire CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial company.

Vance is his pick for VP and Donald Jr. and Eric are family members who helped during his first term.

"The 2024 GOP Platform to Make America Great Again is a forward-looking agenda that will deliver safety, prosperity, and freedom for the American people. My administration will deliver on these bold promises," Trump said in a statement.

He added, 'We will restore strength, competence, and common sense to the Oval Office. I have absolute confidence the Trump-Vance Administration will be ready to govern effectively on Day One."

A poll released on Friday noted that independents, that group that almost always determines an election winner, were choosing Trump 49%-40% over Kamala Harris as earlier voting starts in multiple states in just a few weeks.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

In a lengthy conversation with two of the most influential people in the world Monday night, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk sounded the alarm to former President Donald Trump about a potential Kamala Harris victory in the 2024 presidential race, saying, "I think we're in massive trouble with a Kamala administration."

"It's essential that you win for the good of this country and that's understating my position," Musk told Trump during the event on X, which is owned by Musk.

The pair discussed some of the hottest topics plaguing the nation, including the border disaster, the financial pain caused by inflation and an anemic economy, and what would happen to America should Democrats win the White House.

"You are the path to prosperity, and Kamala is the opposite," Musk told Trump. "I'm just trying to tell people my honest opinion."

America is at a fork in the road … We're at a fork in the road in the destiny of civilization and I think we need to take the right path, and I think you're the right path. … We're in deep trouble if it goes the other way."

Musk summarized what Americans are longing for, saying, "We want safe and clean cities we want secure borders, we want sensible government spending … stop the lawfare and, how are those even right-wing positions? Those are just common sense."

Trump hammered on Kamala Harris and her political track record "destroying" California.

"It's almost not livable there," the former president noted. "She was involved in the destruction of San Francisco and California and she'll be involved in the destruction of America if elected."

"We have a defective government, these are defective people, and they shouldn't be running it."

"He's incompetent and she's incompetent," Trump said of Joe Biden and Harris. "I think she's more incompetent than he is, and that's saying something because he's not too good."

Run for the border

Both Musk and Trump spent a large portion of the two-hour event focusing on the problems the Biden-Harris administration has caused at the border.

"Crime all over the world is down, and wait till you see the numbers we have," Trump said, noting leaders across the globe are sending their worst citizens to America.

"This is a migrant crime," and the former commander-in-chief said he was considering changing his catchphrase of "Biden Migrant Crime" to "Kamala Migrant Crime."

"These are rough people. These are criminals that make our criminals look like nice people."

Trump said Kamala is "such a liar because she was called the border czar and she never even went there."

"People can't allow them to get away with their disinformation campaign … She was totally in charge. [Biden] didn't even know what was going on. He wouldn't know the difference."

Musk explained that he had visited the U.S. southern border and said: "It looks like a 'World War Z' zombie apocalypse at times."

"I saw for myself in Texas. It's real. I'm seeing this in real-time," he said, wondering to himself, "Is this made up or real?"

"The people that I saw did not look friendly."

"This is a fundamentally existential issue for the United States," Musk continued. "I'm not sure we have a country at that point."

As far as where the migrants are coming from, Musk said: "It's earth, the rest of earth. It would only take a few percent of the rest of earth to overwhelm the U.S. … It's just not possible for there United States to absorb everyone from earth."

Trump promised: "We're gonna have the largest deportation in history, otherwise we're not gonna have a country."

The REAL warming problem

"The biggest threat is not global warming," said Trump. "The biggest threat is nuclear warming."

"This is no longer army tanks shooting at each other. It's a level of destruction and power that nobody's ever seen before."

"We have to not allow anything to happen with stupid people like Biden. … Biden had a low I.Q. 30 years ago, but he might not even have an I.Q. at all right now. there's nothing on the board that goes that low."

"We have an administration that made [the possibility of nuclear war] more prevalent. The words that he was using, the stupid threats coming from a stupid face."

Trump said he had a "good relationship" with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who informed Trump the communist dictator had "a red button on his desk" to launch nuclear missiles.

Trump quipped: "I said I have a red button on my desk too, and my red button works!"

"If you have a smart president, we are not in danger from those countries," he added.

The American exodus

Musk discussed skyrocketing prices for goods and services that are causing severe financial pain for millions of Americans, indicating, "Inflation is just a form of taxation."

"Inflation comes from government overspending because the government checks never bounce. … We need to reduce our government spending … and we need to live within our means."

He said if states "risk bankruptcy and they're not getting bailed out by the federal government, that's the only thing that will make them change."

"So many of these governors have so many people leaving their states, they should get U-Haul Salesman of the Year."

Trump agreed, saying, "It's a disaster with inflation."

"Today, [Americans] are using all their money and borrowing money just to live. … "This stupid administration allowed this to happen. Do you think Biden could do this interview? Do you think Kamala could to his interview?

"No, they could not," Musk replied.

Back to Butler

Trump announced he would be going back to Butler, the Pennsylvania town where he was nearly assassinated on July 13, with his next visit expected in October.

"I think I'll probably start by saying, 'As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted," Trump clowned.

Regarding the chart on illegal immigration he was looking at when he was struck in the ear by a bullet, Trump said half-jokingly: "Illegal immigration saved my life."

"It's very much, I say an action of God," Trump said his head turning at the precise moment to avoid being killed. "It's a miracle and I'm honored by it."

"It was a miracle, if I hadn't turned my head, I wouldn't be talking to you right now," Trump told Musk, who replied: "From a different realm," perhaps.

"Your actions in the heat of fire," Musk continued, "you can't fake bravery under such circumstances. A lot of people admire your courage under fire there."

Trump said: "I'm gonna sleep with that chart always, that chart was very important for several reasons."

The conversation was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, but was delayed for at least 45 minutes, with Musk saying a large Distributed Denial of Service attack on his platform prevented users from accessing his talk with Trump on time.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Even after leftist 'fact-checkers' have admitted his claims about Trump's 'very fine people' comment are all wrong

Along with the other failures of his administration – an inflation-ridden economy, an open southern border, and the national security threat that involves, his transgender and abortion ideologies – Joe Biden is handing down his "Charlottesville lie" to Kamala Harris, freshly picked by the Democrat party's elite as their candidate for 2024.

In a Harris-promoting email dispatched from a joebiden.com return address on Monday, Biden wrote, "Today we mark seven years since white supremacists descended on Charlottesville, Virginia. The hate summoned on that day is forever etched in my memory."

He cited the violence from a confrontation between protesters objecting to sanitizing American history and the leftists who planned it and said, "In that darkest of moments, a stunned nation looked to Donald Trump. And do you remember what he said? 'There were very fine people on both sides.'"

He then handed it off to Harris, stating, "We can't allow hate to be given safe harbor on our shores. We can't let the MAGA movement succeed at ripping away our freedoms and destroying our democracy. I know that Kamala and Tim can finish the job we started together."

But Biden's claim about what Trump said is a lie.

Trump said:

But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. You had people in that group — excuse me, excuse me, I saw the same pictures as you did — you had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name. George Washington was a slave owner. Was George Washington a slave owner? So will George Washington now lose his status, are we gonna take down — excuse me — are we gonna take down statues of George Washington? How about Thomas Jefferson? What do you think of Thomas Jefferson? You like him? Okay good. Are we gonna take down the statue? Cause he was a major slaveowner. Now are we gonna take down his statue? So you know what? It's fine. You're changing history, you're changing culture, and you had people — and I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally. But you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, okay? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. Now, in the other group also, you had some fine people, but you also had troublemakers, and you see them come with the black outfits, and with the helmets, and the baseball bats, you got a lot of bad people in the other group too.

Even the leftists in the so-called "fact check" industry agreed.

But actually, Biden has repeated that lie many, many times.

One of the more recent times was during the Republican National Convention just weeks ago and Biden was being interviewed.

For no apparent reason, he chose to repeat the Trump-is-like-Hitler.

LESTER HOLT: "You were in – in Delaware when this happened. What was your first reaction?"

JOE BIDEN: "My first reaction was, 'My God. This is – look, there's so much violence now and the way we talk about it. I mean, the whole notion that there is this – there's – there's no place at all for violence in politics in America. None. Zero. And – we've reached a point where it's – it's become too commonplace, not assassinations, but to talk about it.

"For example, you know, the January 6th – you know, the attack on the Capitol, the – I – I – Lester, I got in this race early on in 2020 – for the 2020 race. I wasn't gonna run again because I'd lost my son. I didn't – you know? And – until I watched what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"Those folks coming out of the woods with torches, carrying swastikas, singing the same Nazi bile that was accompanied by this Ku Klux Klan, and a young woman was killed. And – and it was a bystander. And – the president – then president was asked, 'What do you think?' He said, 'The very fine people on both sides.' Not fine people on both sides. No excuse. Zero."

Biden also had his "Charlottesville lie" in his acceptance address when the Democrats officially made him their presidential nominee in 2020.

Commentator Larry Elder addressed the fact that Biden won't let the lie die.

"In March, President Joe Biden, in Brussels, Belgium, repeated the lie. At a press conference, ostensibly about Ukraine, Biden told the world that Trump's alleged racist response to Charlottesville inspired Biden to enter the 2020 presidential race: 'I had no intention of running for president again, and – until I saw those folks coming out of the fields in Virginia carrying torches and carrying Nazi banners and singing the same vile rhyme that they used in Germany in the early '20s or '30s. …,'" Elder wrote.

Harris, herself even has used the lie.

During the 2020 campaign, WND reported, "Among numerous false statements by Kamala Harris in the vice presidential debate Wednesday was the oft-repeated and easily refuted 'Charlottesville lie' that Joe Biden says was the catalyst for his decision to run for president."

Her false claim was that regarding a clash over a Robert E. Lee monument Trump called neo-Nazis and other white supremacists "fine people."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

GOP presidential nominee President Donald Trump is seeking the White House in the November election and has made clear his intention is to win the race.

But his opponent now apparently is Kamala Harris, instead of incumbent Joe Biden, who had promised for years that he would seek another term. And he had been doing that actively until he wasn't.

His poor performance in a debate with Trump, along with his multiple public displays of cognitive decline, preceded his abrupt announcement that he was dropping out.

But how it happened makes the Democrats look bad, Trump said.

According to a report by the Daily Signal, he said, "I'm no Biden fan, but I'll tell you what, from a constitutional standpoint, from any standpoint, they took the presidency away."

He charged that powerful Democrats literally decided to throw Biden out, and he was pushed out of the race.

"People were saying he lost the debate. I don't know that that is true necessarily. But whether he could win or he couldn't win, he had the right to run. And they took it away. They said they were going to use the 25th Amendment. They were going to hit him hard. Either we can do it the nice way or do it the hard way. And he said alright. What they've done is pretty incredible."

Actually, Biden already had accumulated commitments from enough delegates to the party convention coming up in a few days that he would have won the nomination.

The report explained, "Biden has said he left the race voluntarily to pass the torch to Harris. However, a recent story by Pulitzer-winning journalist Seymour Hersh said that leading Democrats threatened to forcefully remove Biden through the 25th Amendment if he did not drop out."

Further, Trump said no matter the winner, he expects a peaceful transfer of power following the November election.

The report noted that was an apparent reference to the Capitol riot in 2021, when protesters entered the Capitol to protest the certification of Joe Biden's election and some got out of hand, vandalizing and more.

"Of course there will be a peaceful transfer, and there was last time, and there will be a peaceful transfer. I just hope we're gonna have honest elections. That's all," he said.

Biden, however, was not in agreement on that issue.

WND reported he claimed that there will not be a peaceful transfer of power if Trump wins and Democrats lose. And he also said the same thing if Trump loses and Democrats win.

In an interview to be released this coming weekend, with CBS' Robert Costa, he was asked, "Are you confident that there will be a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025?"

Biden said, "If Trump wins, no, I'm not confident at all."

Then he changed his mind, and added, "I mean if Trump loses, I'm not confident at all. He means what he says. We don't take him seriously. He means it, all the stuff about, 'If we lose, there'll be a bloodbath, it'll have to be a stolen election.'

"Look what they're trying to do now in the local election districts where people count the votes, or putting people in place in states that they're going to count the votes, right?"

Biden's response actually didn't make much sense either time, as under the first scenario he would be accusing Democrats of failing to let there be a peaceful transfer. Under the second scenario, if Trump loses and Democrats win, would there then be a violent transfer from the Biden-Harris camp to the Harris-Walz camp?

WND reported earlier that Biden supporter U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., promised there would be "civil war" conditions if Trump wins, as he would try to have the GOP nominee declared ineligible to hold office.

He gave the impression he was planning an "insurrection."

That would be his plans to have Congress deny Trump the presidency should he win in November.

He explained his agenda:

What can be put into the Constitution can slip away from you very quickly and the greatest example going on right now before our eye is Section 3 of the 14th amendment which they're just disappearing with the magic wand as if it doesn't exist even though it could not be clearer what it's stating.

And so they want to kick it to Congress.

So it's going to be up to us on January 6, 2025, to tell the rampaging Trump mobs that he's disqualified and then we need bodyguards for everybody and civil war conditions, all because denying justice is not all of them, but these justices who have not many cases to look at each year, not that much work to do, a huge staff, great protection, simply do not want to do their job.

His argument stems from his own interpretation of that section, which states "no person can hold certain offices under the United States or any state if they have previously taken an oath to support the Constitution but have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against it, or provided aid or comfort to its enemies."

He has claimed repeatedly that Trump, because others rioted on Jan. 6, 2021, is ineligible for office.

Of course, Trump never has been charged with insurrection, much less convicted. Congress tried twice to impeach and remove him, including once after he already was out of office. And Congress failed both times.

Nonetheless, Raskin has adopted his own interpretation of that provision and insists on its application, to his satisfaction. Raskin is not the only member of Congress who apparently believes that it is within their power to determine a president guilty of a constitutional violation, as Pelosi's partisan January 6 committee largely spent all of its time and millions of tax dollars trying to assemble a storyline that portrayed Trump as guilty of something on that day when a protest turned into a riot.

Online commenters showed that Raskin's arguments were not being considered seriously.

"Raskin has a few missing screws!" said one. Another added, "I also know Raskin is a complete moron that nobody takes seriously as he talks out of his *** more than he talks out of his mouth."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A former police chief in a small Kansas town is facing a charge he interfered with the judicial process over a First Amendment fight that included a raid on the local newspaper office – and the home of the 98-year-old newspaper owner who collapsed and died the next day.

The Kansas City newspaper reports the charge will be against Gideon Cody in Marion County District Court.

That's according to Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett and Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson, who were given appointments as special prosecutors to review the Aug. 11, 2023, invasion by police of the Marion County Record publication.

They looked at 10,000 pages of documentation and released a 124-page report that analyzed the execution of search warrants in the case.

The report explains the anticipated charge "appears centered on text messages exchanged between Cody and Kari Newell, a local business owner, following the raid."

The searches were done at the home of former Vice Mayor Ruth Herbel and the home of the newspaper's publishers, Joan Meyer, and her son Eric Meyer.

It was Joan Meyer who collapsed and died the next day.

The report acknowledged that Joan Meyer was extremely upset by the searches and may not have died Aug. 12 if the raids had not been carried out. But the investigators noted the officers were not "criminally" responsible for the death.

The warrants for the invasions and searches later were dropped by prosecutors who said there was "insufficient evidence" for them.

Cody quit his job in the weeks following the invasions and searches and multiple lawsuits have been generated, including one by the newspaper which is seeking $10 million for violations of the First and Fourth Amendments.

Herbel also sued and expressed disappointment only Cody would face charges.

The searches were ordered on the false claims that a Marion County Record reporter, Phyllis Zorn, illegally obtained information about Newell's DUI conviction on the Kansas Department of Revenue's website.

Newell was upset that the public record was being available to the town, and a police officer, Zach Hudlin, contacted the state agency to ask about the details.

A state official "said the agency was 'trying to fix' an issue because 'anybody can pull it up,'" so Hudlin presumed wrongly that Zorn falsified her identity to obtain Newell's driving record, the report said.

Officials in the town then, without interviewing Zorn, launched the searches.

The special report now clears Zorn "and everyone else who obtained Newell's information," because it's a public record.

The newspaper alleged it was targeted for retaliation because it was looking into reports Cody left another police department, in Kansas City, while under internal review for allegedly making sexist remarks.

Shortly later the special prosecutors were named to investigate.

The investigators found that there simply was no evidence to justify the raid on the newspaper and the owner's home.

The disastrous situation developed because the Record also had been investigating Newell regarding her possession of a liquor license, which could have been revoked.

One online commenter showed little patience for the officers: "I have no words to describe how I feel about this. I can't believe they didn't have someone for her. A 98-year-old woman with a bunch of men going through her house and they didn't have the forethought to have support for her. What a bunch of jerks and idiots. I wish she had called them a few more names."

And another: "All for a bogus warrant signed off by a corrupt judge, corrupt police chief, and corrupt KBI."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Presumptive Democratic nominee for the 2024 presidential election Kamala Harris has had a long career in politics – making her start as a prosecutor in San Francisco, before becoming California's attorney general, and later a California senator.

As Harris campaigns, questions have been raised about her record as a prosecutor, particularly the effect her policies had on the black community, and other minority groups.

Harris worked as a district attorney at the Alameda County district attorney's office before moving to the San Francisco city attorney's office from 2004 to 2011. There she provided legal services to the city and represented them in civil claims – heading the division on children and families.

During her time as a district attorney, securing convictions was part of Harris' focus, which built on California's tough-on-crime policies after several serial killers ran rampant during the 1970s. High-profile cases include the Night Stalker, the Zodiac Killer, the Hillside Strangler, and the Manson family.

While California's tough-on-crime image was popular politically, the black community was the most affected, with incarceration rates five times higher than their share of the total population in California, a problem that remains today. Although Harris did not write any of the laws she enforced them.

A study from Vera, showed in 2015, the prison inmate numbers for California had increased by 225% between 1983 and 2015. By 2018, California had 127,972 people in the prison system. Despite only making up 6% of California's population, blacks contributed 28% to the prison population and 20% of the jail population.

Another report from The Sentencing Project, a Washington D.C.–based research and advocacy center, found that black Americans are incarcerated at a state average of 1,240 per 100,000 residents.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

JERUSALEM – One of the immutable facts about the Middle East is if someone were going to say something extreme, it's more than likely it would be Turkey's in everything but name Caliph, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, doing it. And so it proved again late Sunday, as Turkey's president appeared to openly threaten Israel with invasion in support of the Palestinians.

Turkey must be "very strong so Israel can't do these things to the Palestinians," the Turkish leader said of the war with Hamas, now deep into its tenth month.

"Just as we entered [Nagorno-]Karabakh, just as we entered Libya, we might do the same to them. There is nothing we can't do. We must only be strong."

Nagorno-Karabakh is an area of Azerbaijan, which until 2023 was inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians. Turkey provided material support – both logistics and drones – on the side of the Azerbaijanis, determined to drive the Armenians out. It must be noted the Turks have an infamous and disgraceful history with regard to ethnic Armenians – notoriously in the 1915-1916 Armenian Genocide in which approximately 600-000-1.5 million people were killed.

Erdogan's speech at a party meeting in Rize opened the floodgates for other political figures in Turkey – a country within the NATO alliance – to openly criticize Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, comparing the Jewish state's leader with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, as well as misappropriating Turkey's colonial past to suggest defense of Muslims.

Turkey's president, who has permitted Hamas leaders and operatives to act freely within his country – amid rumors it could replace Qatar as the group's main benefactor – has been a fierce critic of Israel's defensive war against Hamas following the Oct. 7 atrocities.

In years past, Erdogan had a seemingly cordial relationship with both Israel in general and Netanyahu in particular. However, as he has led his country in a decidedly more Islamist direction and away from its more secular roots – and especially since the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, in which IDF commandos boarded the ship as it attempted to block Israel's naval blockade of Gaza – Turkey's relationship with Israel has become extremely strained.

A brief thaw occurred in September 2023, when Turkey hosted both Netanyahu and Israel's President Isaac Herzog at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Despite the diplomatic and economic strife between the two countries, Israel sent hundreds of people in specialist rescue teams to Turkey in the wake of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which devastated central parts of the country, taking thousands of lives. Erdogan even acknowledged Israel's help in attempting to find survivors among the rubble.

Numan Kurtulmuş, speaker of Turkey's National Assembly and someone who boasts nearly 3 million followers on X said, "The ugly post of the Israeli Foreign Minister shows they resorted to irrational behavior out of fear, seeing the massacres they committed were condemned both in international courts and in the conscience of humanity."

"These immoralities will never deter Turkey and our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who act together with the humanitarian front."

"Both the history of the Turks and the past of the Muslims are clear. Just as we stood for the oppressed and against the oppressors in the past, we will not compromise our stance in the future."

"Until the Palestinians are free!"