This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

North Korea leader Kim Jong Un has ratcheted up his threats to use nuclear weapons against anyone who engages in a confrontation with his country or one of its allies.

According to DW News, state-owned news agency KCNA reported Kim had reiterated he would use nuclear weapons against both South Korea and the U.S., while speaking at a defense university which was named in his honor.

During his speech, Kim also noted North Korea would be working to increase its military might, and its growth, while further advancing its nuclear capabilities.

The comments come just days after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said any use of nuclear weapons against them by the North Koreans would be "the end of the North Korean regime."

North Korea further promised NATO allies they will face "tragic consequences" if they continue to "infringe upon the dignity, sovereignty, security and interests" of North Korea, according to an unnamed spokesperson from the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was reported by RBC Ukraine.

"If NATO continues to try hard to infringe upon the dignity, sovereignty, security, and interests of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] while persistently pursuing hostile policy toward it, NATO blindly following the U.S. will be held wholly responsible for the tragic consequences to be entailed by it," the spokesperson said.

However, South Korea's Yeol said Kim's disclosure of his nuclear facility was a way to grab attention ahead of the U.S. presidential election next month.

According to the Associated Press, Yeol said in a written response he will be stressing denuclearization of North Korea at the next Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit – a political and economic union of 10 countries in Southeast Asia, which includes Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

"At the upcoming ASEAN-related summits, I will stress the importance of denuclearization of North Korea, which is a prerequisite for realizing a free, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region … This will serve to send a clear message that the international community will never condone North Korea's reckless actions," Yeol said.

North Korea has been previously accused by the U.S. of supplying arms to Russia in its fight against Ukraine, a rumor bolstered by Russian President Valdmir Putin's trip to the isolated nation in June, where both Putin and Kim agreed to a mutual trade agreement.

South Korea's Yeol accused North Korea Tuesday of supplying soldiers to Russia, and further claimed some had already been killed by Ukraine forces. According to Daily Express U.S., the North Korean soldiers were killed in a missile strike in Donetsk last week.

South Korea's defense minister Kim Yong-hyun said it was "likely" these soldiers had already been killed, and noted Kim was expected to send more troops to support Russia.

"We assess that the occurrence of casualties among North Korean officers and soldiers in Ukraine is highly likely, considering various circumstances," he said.

Dr Andrew Monaghan, an expert on Russian grand strategy, told Times Radio the union between Russia and North Korea destabilizes the security of the entire Pacific region, and further noted the alliance is not just about supplying munitions and oil between the two nations.

"For me, the important thing that Putin gets out of this, is positioning in the Pacific. So, if you think in terms of strategy and Russian futures and how they view the future, what we're doing is moving toward a Pacific century, a Pacific 21st century, and what does North Korea offer? Ports and positioning, and a role in that region, quite a strategically important … geographical location," Monaghan said.

Monaghan said it means markets for Russia in terms of agriculture, weapons transfers, military transfer of technology, including access to North Korea's large submarine fleet. Monaghan added Russia's position in the global order has shifted in recent years.

"It provokes a destabilization in the region … there is a double angle to this, not only does it create instability on the Korean peninsula, but it also has ramifications for South Korea," Monaghan said.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Perhaps it was just the "news" of Kamala Harris's campaign for president, being picked suddenly by the Democrat party elite to replace Joe Biden who was exhibiting more and more public instances of a mental decline.

Maybe Democrats were just so relieved to be rid of him. Or to wish for their first woman president. Or something.

But polls for a time after her announcement often showed her closer to Trump's numbers than Biden had been in a long time.

But it didn't last long, as one new poll now shows voters know she has failed to distance herself from some of Biden's more offensive agenda points.

A report from the Washington Examiner cited a CBS News poll documenting that 83% of voters expect Harris's policies to be the same as Biden's.

In fact, it showed, 19% said they will be entirely the same and 64% said mostly the same

The report explained, "Harris has yet to give an extensive list of her policies but has offered an economic policy to counter so-called price-gouging, which critics have said is little more than price controls. With Harris's few established policies since launching her 2024 White House bid, more than a third of voters in the survey said they do not know what she stands for."

In fact, more than one-third say Harris has not made clear what she represents, including 44% of the critical constituency of independent voters.

And more than half of voters said she's had a lot or some impact on the nation's now-failing economy.

She was, in fact, the key tie-breaking vote on Biden's $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act that Republicans point to as a key driver of inflation.

Half of the voters said grocery prices will continue to go up more if she's president, while nearly that number say prices would fall under a Donald Trump presidency.

Voters also blamed her for the border crisis.

A report at the Gateway Pundit elaborated, pointing out, "The Kamala honeymoon appears to be flaming out."

"Roiled by bad press, a fumbling speech on economic policy, and now reports that the pressures of the campaign have exacerbated an ongoing problem with alcohol, Kamala Harris enters DNC week in a much weaker position than she was in just three short weeks ago," the report noted.

"Part of her coming down to earth is a function of more voters being exposed to her, and perhaps even worse, her policies. Kamala Harris has never in her entire political career eclipsed single digits when put before the entire electorate.

"This was readily on display in remarks the Vice President made in North Carolina last Friday, in which her proposals of ending 'price gouging' in the food industry, and adding trillions more to the national debt – reminiscent of the disastrous reforms Jimmy Carter implemented in the mid-1970s, resulting in stagflation and economic malaise that precipitated the Reagan Revolution – received widespread criticism, even among left-leaning outlets like CNN, The Daily Mail, and the Washington Post."

Even leftist interests such as the Washington Post described her remarks as "populist gimmicks."

"It's like she's trying to fix the economy with a magic wand, which … wasn't in the presidential toolkit," the report scolded.

And, the report said, CNN blistered her.

"Kamala Harris's economic speech was a bit like watching someone try to juggle with invisible balls. You could see the effort, but the substance? Well, it seemed to vanish into thin air. She promised an 'opportunity economy,' which sounds great until you realize it's like promising everyone a unicorn for Christmas. Sure, it's a lovely thought, but where's the unicorn farm?" the report said.

At the same time, an election forecasting site reversed course and said Donald Trump has the edge in the election over Harris.

The analysis turned blunt: "She is only serving as Vice President due to pressure placed on Joe Biden in 2020, in the aftermath of the George Floyd riots, to choose a black running mate (though back then, Kamala identified as Indian, so maybe we don't give Joe Biden enough credit for being clairvoyant)."

Now she's the presumptive Democrat nominee "thanks to a deep-state-led coup d'état, aided and abetted by regime apparatchiks like CNN, MSNBC, and the New York Times – and Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, pulling the strings behind-the-scenes like marionettes – who tirelessly worked to switch Joe with Kamala, completing the greatest bald-faced power grab in modern history," it said.

The article accused pollsters of oversampling Democrats in order to put Harris ahead of Trump, explaining, "In other words, at this stage in the campaign, even with all the manufactured media Kamala Harris has received to the tune of tens of millions of dollars of free positive press, Donald Trump is still outperforming his numbers from both 2016 and 2020, where he received more votes than any incumbent in history."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr parted ways with President Donald Trump, who appointed him, regarding many of the disputes about the 2020 election.

That election was impacted by several undue outside factors that never had influenced American elections before, including interference by the FBI and CIA when they falsely claimed Biden family scandals documented in Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop computer were "disinformation."

A survey showed that meddling probably changed the outcome, giving the White House to Joe Biden, while another outside influence was from the $400 million that Mark Zuckerberg gave to elections officials, who often used it to recruit voters in Democrat districts.

A lot of other claims about vote fraud were dismissed by judges, often on procedural grounds so there never was a ruling on the actual substance of claims that absentee vote procedures, ballot handling, and more were corrupted.

While Trump has argued that the election was stolen from him, Barr largely has been of the expressed opinion that nothing major was wrong.

Now, however, a report in the Washington Times points out that Barr was scolded by the inspector general for the Department of Justice.

He was described as stretching the rules to release information about an investigation into ballot irregularities during that election.

Barr, the report said, "released secret information to then-President Donald Trump, and David Freed, who was the U.S. attorney in central Pennsylvania, made a public statement about the case before charges were filed, the audit found."

The IG found that DOJ rules are too vague to determine any violation.

But the report said Freed broke several department guidelines to release investigation details. The issue now is at the Office of Special Counsel.

The report explained, "The rush to release information came deep in the 2020 campaign, as Mr. Trump was complaining that Democrat-led states and judges had rewritten the rules on casting ballots amid the pandemic, opening the door to fraud."

The specifics were that the FBI learned one election official in Pennsylvania "dumped seven returned military absentee ballots into the garbage."

All were identified as votes for Trump.

While the investigation still was developing, Freed announced an "inquiry" into the matter, wrongly reporting that there were nine ballots.

Eventually, the report said, that official was determined as "mentally impaired" and no charges were filed.

Democrats, at the time, proclaimed loudly that the case wrongly fueled election skepticism.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

It took only hours for the establishment media in America to make clear they would be cheerleading for Kamala Harris, presuming she ascends to the Democrat party's nomination for president this year as many expect.

The nomination was thrown into turmoil over the weekend when Joe Biden, who already had accumulated enough delegate vote commitments to get the nomination, withdrew and endorsed Harris.

Within a day she, too, had accumulated enough delegate commitments to get the nomination when Democrats assemble next month, although there still remain questions about the candidate, and who will be supported.

That's when he said he got a "thrill" up his leg when he heard Obama speak.

Many ribald jokes followed that it wasn't actually a "thrill" up his leg, but a report from Newsbusters explained the background of his "sycophantic" comment.

It was in 2008 when Matthews said, "I have to tell you, you know, it's part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama's speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often."

It was in 2004 he said, "I have to tell ya a little chill in my, in my legs now. That is an amazing moment in history right there. It is really an amazing moment. A keynoter like I've never heard."

That was when Obama spoke at that year's Democrat convention.

Now, according to a report from Fox, legacy media voices have confirmed their advocacy journalism for Harris during this election cycle.

The report noted Harris "kicked off her presidential campaign on Monday with what some members of the media hailed as a speech that left them with 'chills,' 'blown away' and arguing over who jumped out of their seat higher."

Harris' speech was about her relationship with Biden and included a recitation of her complaints about President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee.

She said in her previous jobs, "I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say: I know Donald Trump's type."

Donny Deutsch, of MSNBC, immediately joined her campaign, with, "There was a twinkle in her eye. There was a kick in her step that, you know, when you're vice president…you're not loose. There's somebody above you, somebody you don't want to overshadow them. And this was quite the coming out. I got chills when she said, 'Donald Trump: I know your type.' That was like, 'Wow, she's going to prosecute this case.'"

He, in fact, was "blown away."

"I was, like, I kind of fell in love with her. I thought she was smart, engaging. She's funny, feisty, twinkle in your eye, punch you in the gut. I mean, everything you kind of want. And I just thought it was a great, great opening act."

Tim Miller, of the "Bulwark" podcast, joined in, "Bear with me, I'm jumping out of my seat over here watching this. People have been thirsting for this."

And Maya Wiley, an MSNBC guest, agreed, "I'm with Tim – Tim, I'm jumping out of my seat higher than you, my brother. I'm just going to say that."

Wiley went even further, "tearing up" with her excitement to promote Harris.

"These aren't people who just show up for the public to put on a show. This is what you see behind closed doors. This is not just graciousness for political expediency. This is graciousness because grace is something that matters deeply to these two leaders."

CNN correspondent Jamie Gangel acclaimed Harris with, "What struck me most was that is fighting Kamala Harris. She is coming out, guns blazing."

And David Axelrod, a former Obama adviser, said, "If I were sitting in the Trump headquarters and I watched that speech, I'd be very, very concerned. Kamala Harris gave what was, I thought, a perfectly conceived and well-delivered kind of introduction to the country, introduction, reintroduction of herself, not as a vice president, but as a standard-bearer."

Polling shows Trump leading Harris among voters, even in some instances by wider margins than he led Biden.

WND had reported only a day earlier on rising concerns about Harris' long-established habit of unleashing "word salad" statements that confuse and misdirect.

One of her rambles was: "My mother used to — she would give us a hard time sometimes, and she would say to us, 'I don't know what's wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?' You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you."

Another: "I think it's very important…for us at every moment in time and certainly this one, to see the moment in time in which we exist and are present, and to be able to contextualise it, to understand where we exist in the history and in the moment as it relates not only to the past but the future."

Pundits poked fun at her condition, but amid the obvious decline in Biden's cognitive abilities in recent months and years, Harris performances were little more than entertainment.

But with her ascension to possible Democrat nominee for president, with Biden's withdrawal over the weekend, there is new concern.

A report in the Daily Mail confirmed there "is no indication" that she suffers from a specific ailment, but said such uncontrolled speaking can "indicate brain injury, autism or serious condition."

Or it can be a "symptom of anxiety or over-confidence."

The report explained, "Kamala Harris's rambling 'word salad' speeches may be a symptom of a little-known but common psychological condition called logorrhoea — also known as verbal diarrhea."

She is "known for her jumbled, sometimes incoherent speaking style," the report said.

The report explained, "A 2009 study of the condition in Spain found the risk of logorrhoea was linked to level of schooling. Those with lower educational achievement were more likely to 'speak in circles,'"

It explained, "Logorrhoea is also associated with laughing wildly at random moments, something Ms. Harris has become known for, with Donald Trump even nicknaming her 'Laughin' Kamala.'"

Her cackling, in fact, has made headlines at times, too.

Another Harris stumble: "You need to get to go, and you to be able to get where you need to go, to do the work and get home."

Add there was her famed "passage of time" passage: "The governor and I and we were all doing a tour of the library here and talking about the significance of the passage of time. The significance of the passage of time. So, when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time in terms of what we need to do to lay these wires, what we need to do to create these jobs. And there is such great significance to the passage of time when we think about a day in the life of our children."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Having established that the lone shooter narrative does not stand up to logical scrutiny – a conclusion shared by growing numbers of common-sense Americans – questions remain that seem to invite further investigation. Simple logic is the rule here. We will be waiting a while on "evidence" from a compromised FBI.

The central question, appallingly overlooked by most of the talking heads permitted to speak publicly on the issue, concerns the stark doubts as to how Mr. Crooks chose the roof that he did, in the attempt on President Trump's life.

Many questions about the shooter are best answered by other questions:

1. A claim has been added into the conversation that the shooter used a drone for reconnaissance earlier. And he was seen, that day, walking in the area near the building he used. Did he spot a flaw in the protection and take advantage of the opportunity?

2. We now know it was pre-planned, as he didn't just happen to bring a rifle and then spot an eleven-foot ladder to a perch with a clear line of sight. What was he looking for?

3. Was he working from the hope that the Secret Service would leave a lucky lapse in the iron-clad ring of protection they are famous for? And that he would happen to find it?

4. Or was he simply confirming the information he already had?

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A picture says a thousand words, and this amazing photo may say even more as it captured a bullet in mid-air streaking by the head of former President Donald Trump during Saturday's assassination attempt at a political rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The image was snapped by Doug Mills, a well-known photographer for the New York Times.

The bullet can be seen flying above Trump's shoulder to the right go his head as the president turned to the side momentarily.

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich told Sean Hannity of Fox News it was “providential” that Trump turned his head just before the shot, noting Trump “has been vilified by Joe Biden and the Democrats in the left wing more than any president since Abraham Lincoln.”

Mills kept clicking the shutter on his camera and caught the sequence of events as Trump was shot.

The FBI identified the gunman, who was killed by a sniper, as 20-year-old Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, saying:

"The FBI has identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the subject involved in the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on July 13, in Butler, Pennsylvania. This remains an active and ongoing investigation, and anyone with information that may assist with the investigation is encouraged to submit photos or videos online at FBI.gov/butler or call 1-800-CALL-FBI."