This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
There are being reported at least nine fatalities, with more people injured, after a UPS jet en route from Louisville, Kentucky, to Honolulu exploded and crashed on takeoff.
Initial reports suggest that a jet engine may have blown up and become detached from the jet, which was on video on its side and on fire as it crashed through a row of buildings.
It was Flight 2976, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo jet.
Reports suggested it had some 280,000 pounds of fuel for the flight, and it exploded at the crash, spreading flames down a corridor a mile wide.
Heavy black smoke was seen for miles.
The jet reportedly had three crew members but other people on the ground were caught up in the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were investigating.
The Daily Mail has reported the jet engine "could have detached," according to an aviation expert.
Kentucky officials said 16 families had reported loved ones missing in the disaster.
Former Department of Transportation Inspector General Mary Schiavo said in an interview, "You can see there was a fire on the left wing. You could see that the engine had detached from the aircraft before the final impact and fireball."
She explained it's possible the engine "failed," and that engine parts were spewed out, and that could have cut through the plane and fuel lines.
"It appears that fuel tank was ruptured and that would explain the fireball," she said.
After the crash, what appeared to be the wreckage of a jet motor was on the runway.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A lawsuit against a state demand in Oregon that groups holding religious beliefs fundamentally opposing the deliberate and willful destruction of unborn children fund abortion has been revived.
It is Oregon Right to Life that had sued state Insurance Commissioner Andrew Stolfi in 2023 charging that the state's Reproductive Health Equity Act violated the First Amendment, which protects religious beliefs and liberty.
The lawsuit had been thrown out by a judge at an entry level court.
But a report at Courthousenews now confirms that the case is alive again.
"ORTL put forth significant evidence of its religiosity, and there was no conflicting evidence against ORTL's claim that its views are religiously grounded," explained Judge Lawrence VanDyke, in an opinion from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
"The district court therefore erred by failing to conclude at the motion to dismiss stage that ORTL actually holds the beliefs professed in the complaint and that ORTL's opposition to abortion is genuinely religious."
The order explains the lawsuit now will proceed. ORTL charges that the state cannot demand that it provide funding for abortions for its employees without violating the Constitution.
In the state a 2017 law demands that employers pay for abortions, but lets religious groups choose insurance lans excluding that coverage.
Bill Clinton-appointed Ann Aiken, a lower court judge, claimed the group's lack of religious requirements prevailed and dismissed the case.
"There are numerous assertions in the record by Oregon Right to Life that their belief in the sanctity of individual human life and opposition to abortion is based upon religious tenets," lawyer James Bopp, representing ORTL, said in an appeals court hearing.
State officials claimed the organization wasn't religious, despite evidence from Oregon Right to Life that expressed affirmation of Judeo-Christian beliefs in its founding documents.
Circuit Judge John Owens, a Barack Obama appointee, joined VanDyke in the majority.
The decision also cited a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that favored a Catholic nonprofit in Wisconsin.
The court said, "It is worth pointing out that the unanimous Supreme Court emphasized that the issue in Catholic Charities (and a fortiori the issue here) was not a 'hard call.' That was because the court was breaking no new ground. Since long before Catholic Charities, it has been black letter law that the Free Exercise Clause bars laws that discriminate against some or all religious beliefs."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Walmart has confirmed it is pausing job offers to applicants who require the special treatment demanded by the H-1B visa program.
A report at Bloomberg said it is the "latest example" of how the Trump administration's $100,000 visa fees are disrupting workforces.
The report cited people "who asked not to be identified discussing private information" to assert Trump's increased fees for the special privileges allocated to H-1B visa holders were reverberating "across technology and other industries."
The Trump administration change to the program was announced to curb abuse of the program, through which millions of American workers have been displaced and replaced by foreigners who often are paid much lower salaries.
"Walmart is the largest user of H-1B visas among major retail chains, employing an estimated 2,390 H-1B visa holders, according to government data," the report said, adding that's actually only a tiny fraction of the more than 1.6 million H-1B visa workers around today.
Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and other tech giants are the biggest users of the program.
"Walmart is committed to hiring and investing in the best talent to serve our customers, while remaining thoughtful about our H-1B hiring approach," a Walmart official said, in the report.
Under Trump's plan Walmart and other employers would have to pay $100,000 payments for workers they want to hire under the program if those individuals are not already eligible to legally work in the U.S.
The report noted the opposition to Trump's plan from those who have been profiteering on the scheme.
"The new $100,000 visa fee will make it cost-prohibitive for U.S. employers, especially start-ups and small and midsize businesses, to utilize the H-1B program, which was created by Congress expressly to ensure that American businesses of all sizes can access the global talent they need to grow their operations here in the U.S.," charged Neil Bradley, of the Chamber of Commerce.
His organization sued the Trump administration over the dispute.
The White House has explained the changes are the beginning of a number of "necessary reforms" in the program.
Bloomberg said, "Critics have said the program — which was introduced in 1990 to address specific labor shortages — undermines employment of skilled U.S. workers."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Democrat Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Tuesday on MSNBC's "All In With Chris Hayes" that she would have preferred to not have "cuts" to "grants for violence prevention" during the city's anti-ICE riots and protests over the National Guard troops deployed by President Donald Trump.
In June, Trump sent the National Guard into Los Angeles after a weekend of riots and protests sparked by an uptick in U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) raids. While discussing Trump's crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C., by federalizing the nation's capital, MSNBC's Chris Hayes asked Bass for her take on the president's decision to call in the National Guard.
"Well, basically, I feel like both of our cities [Los Angeles and Chicago], and we can add in Washington, D.C. right now, are all being test grounds," Bass said. "We're being test grounds for what happens when the military is deployed in American cities. I feel like the ultimate goal here is to normalize this overreach, where the National Guard was never needed here in Los Angeles. There were thousands of troops, and the only thing they did was stood outside a building."
Despite Bass and Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom pushing back on Trump's decision to bring in the National Guard, the city had already seen widespread looting, cars being burned, and vandalism throughout downtown. Following the deployment of troops and Marines to the federal building, protesters and rioters continued to flood the downtown area, with the Daily Caller News Foundation witnessing some of the vandalism firsthand.
With protests and riots continuing by mid-June, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) declared an unlawful assembly in the downtown Civic Center area, as Bass eventually set a curfew for the zone. The DCNF additionally witnessed protesters taunting National Guard members and Marines during the incidents, with some yelling for them to get "ICE out of LA."
"The majority of the troops were on a base nearby playing video games and resenting the fact that they were used in that way. But, you know, I so appreciate you putting in the context of what happened in the 80s and 90s when there was the mass arrests of young people," Bass added. "I worry that that might be what has taken place in Washington, D.C. If you want to help us deal with crime, which both of us are very committed to, then don't cut the grants for violence prevention so that we can help reduce crime in our cities."
Trump announced the deployment of National Guard troops and the invocation of Section 40 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act on Aug. 11 for the nation's capital, following a slew of crimes in Washington, D.C., that had drawn national attention. While Democrats and legacy media pundits have said Washington, D.C.'s crime dropped 35% in 2024, citing local police data, the statistics left out crimes such as felony and aggravated assault.
By Friday, Trump told reporters he is considering deploying the National Guard to Chicago, calling the city a "mess" and adding that the people of Chicago are "screaming for us to come." Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have since told the president not to deploy troops to the city. Johnson said that the crime rates for Chicago have decreased.
Chicago Police Department data through Aug. 16 reportedly shows homicides in the city trending down 25% over the last 12 months compared to 2023. The frequency of killings remains higher than it was before the pandemic, according to ABC7 Chicago. Data from the outlet shows that in the last 12 months through Aug. 16, there have been 474 homicides, with an average yearly homicide rate of 722 between 2021 and 2023.
While reports have indicated that overall crime in Los Angeles has decreased, shootings involving officers have notably increased in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to NBC4 Los Angeles. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell told the outlet that officers are now facing "a greater number of officer-involved shootings," with 25 incidents between Jan. 1 and July 15, compared to 18 during the same period in 2024.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A Federal Reserve Board governor, described on social media as scheming to lower her own mortgage costs while voting to deny mortgage cost relief to Americans, also now is defying an order from President Donald Trump that she be fired.
Lisa Cook claims there's no "cause" for her firing, despite her being investigated by federal law enforcement for mortgage fraud.
The case against Cook is similar to the federal investigations now pending against California Sen. Adam Schiff, Democrat and longtime adherent to the fake Russiagate conspiracy theory against Trump, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who ironically claimed fraud in her case against Trump, a $500 million judgment that recently was thrown out because it violated the U.S. Constitution.
A report at RedState said Trump followed through on his threat to fire Cook, removing her from her position "effective immediately."
She immediately defied him, stating, "President Trump purported to fire me 'for cause' when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so. I will not resign and will continue my work to support the U.S. economy."
Social media commenters immediately launched their criticisms, pointed out she allegedly was scheming to get better mortgage terms for herself while at the same time repeatedly voting to deprive Americans of similar help, by demanding the interest rates remain high.
Those interest rates are a legacy of Joe Biden's disastrous economic policies, which prompted inflation across America to explode to as high as 9% during his term.
Trump dispatched a letter to Cook, explaining she was removed for "cause" in light of a recent criminal referral against her.
That charge accuses Cook of claiming her primary residence in Michigan on mortgage documents, only to turn around and do the same thing with a different property in Georgia just a month later. As the letter notes, it seems improbable that such a thing could be done unknowingly.
The report noted that Cook advocates "tried to claim that Cook's situation does not fall under the guise of 'cause' when it comes to the authority of the president to remove Federal Reserve governors. But while the protections against removal afforded by the Banking Act of 1935 appear to extend to policy decisions, as in a governor can't be fired for not lowering interest rates, the idea that personal misconduct doesn't qualify belabors belief. Such a position would presume that a president can't fire someone who allegedly committed fraud. That stretches whatever protections exist far past the point of absurdity."
The report noted it's likely Cook will find a "lower-court" judge to agree with her if she fights. But "It's a legal battle she very well could lose in the end, though, which begs the question of whether it's smart to poke the bear."
"Her firing doesn't change the fact that she's under criminal investigation. Antagonizing the administration by suing over her removal won't do her any favors," the report noted.
Cook has been part of the Fed faction that also has been defying the president's call for lower interest rates to help Americans with their mortgage costs.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
For the third time in just months, a prominent Democrat has been accused of lying to federal officials about housing in order to get preferential mortgage terms.
First it was Letitia James, the attorney general for New York who flamboyantly claimed in a court case that is on appeal that President Donald Trump's companies committed fraud in loan deals the banks were happy to make, profited from, and would like to do again.
She was accused of wrongly claiming the location of her "primary residence."
Then it was Adam Schiff, the Democrat senator from California who pushed hard at the false claims of the Russiagate conspiracy theory over which Trump was impeached – and acquitted.
He apparently claimed two residences as his "primary" at the same time.
Now Trump is calling for Lisa D. Cook, a governor of the Federal Reserve who was appointed by Joe Biden, to leave her post because she faces the same accusations.
It was the U.S. Federal Housing FHFA that alleged, in a criminal referral to the Department of Justice, that Cook committed mortgage fraud by designating both an out of state condominium as well as a Michigan residence as her primary "home," at the same time.
Shortly later, the condo allegedly was offered for rent.
The government statement said, "When someone commits mortgage fraud, they undermine the faith and integrity of our System. It does not matter who you are – no one is above the law. We have sent a Criminal Referral to the Department of Justice with regard to the allegations against Ms. Cook, and the DOJ should go wherever the facts may lead them."
The Gateway Pundit said federal housing chief Bill Pulte also has called for Cook to resign, and asked if Fed chief Jerome Powell "was aware of her mortgage fraud."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
New York Attorney General Letitia James' reputation has taken some serious hits in recent months.
She's been put under investigation for allegedly submitting fraudulent documents to the government to obtain better mortgage loan rates.
Those allegations include lying about her primary residence, lying about her relationship with her father on a loan application, and lying about how many living units are in one of her buildings.
This was the candidate for state office in New York who campaigned on the promise to "get" President Donald Trump and she did, in part, by obtaining a mortgage fraud judgment against him in front of a leftist judge and a leftist jury that returned a penalty of about half a billion dollars, a figure that astonished commentators.
That was even though those alleged victims in the "fraud" lost no money, were happy with their business deals with the Trump companies and, in fact, said they would like to do more business with him. The case is on appeal.
But now, for James, it's gotten worse.
U.S. House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York, is calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to open a full federal investigation into Standard Chartered Bank, and to review James' alleged "complicity" in what a report at the Gateway Pundit calls "a billion-dollar terrorist financing scandal."
Stefanik's letter cites a "sanctions evasion case" involving Standard Chartered Bank that now is pending before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which involves "at least $9.6 billion in illegal payments by the bank to Iranian and Hezbollah entities—payments that directly violate U.S. Treasury sanctions and undermine national security."
James' troubles were reported to have escalated just recently when she came under the investigation from the FBI.
It was William J. Pulte, chief of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency, who sent a referral letter to Bondi alleging that James may have ""falsified bank documents and property records to acquire government backed assistance and loans and more favorable loan terms."
Now the Gateway Pundit explains the bank case, allegedly involving James, involves authorities allegedly ignoring "illicit transactions" as well as "failing to enforce sanctions already designated by the Treasury Department."
"At least $9.6 billion of specifically identified illicit payments were made by SCB from its NYC branch to OFAC and known terrorist names. The $9.6 billion was found in internal trade reports turned over by bank whistleblowers and represents the first batch from SCB Dubai office that cleared through SCB NYC. There are estimated over $100 billion more of illegal payments that are more recent and from SCB China where it has 53 mainland branches that facilitate dollar trade payments for oil and war-making materials," the report explained.
It states, "In early 2024, NYAG was briefed by terrorist financing experts and the whistleblowers in detail on the illicit payments yet did nothing about it other than reapprove SCB annual license. NYAG was briefed in two meetings in February and March 2024 about the $9,6 billion of illegal payments and did nothing but approve the annual renewal of SCB State banking license."
Among other developments involving James, Bondi recently appointed DOJ official Ed Martin as special prosecutor to investigate James, along with Democrat Sen. Adam Schiff of California, who also faces accusations of mortgage deceptions.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Impeach Obama!
Back in the day there were such slogans on bumper stickers, posters and the like.
They focused on his radical agenda that subjected Americans to what now is known as Obamacare, and other issues. His abuse of the nation, where he claimed it no longer is a "Christian nation" added to the sentiment.
But could it actually happen? Especially as declassified government documents now show Obama was a driver behind a grand conspiracy launched in 2016 against then-candidate Donald Trump and pursued by Democrats for years.
It involved false claims by the FBI and CIA about Trump's campaign and "collusion" with Russia, which long since has been debunked. It involved protections for twice-failed Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton. It involved changing government documents to suggest bad things about Trump, and then "leaking" that to the leftist media. The depths essentially have not been probed yet.
According to Democrats, impeach of Obama, a former president, is possible.
That's from one of the lawyers who defended Trump during his second impeachment, launched by Nancy Pelosi because of her claims that Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol was an "insurrection" that Trump orchestrated, claims that also have long since fallen into disrepute.
It's from David Schoen, a lawyer specializing in federal criminal defense and civil rights, who was one of the lawyers representing Trump during his second impeachment trial, the one that happened after he left office.
"President Trump is right when he said the immunity decision would help President Obama," Schoen said on Newsmax. "But you know what it doesn't help him with? Impeachment."
Schoen cited Article I, Section 3, Clause 7 of the Constitution — "the very clause that Democrats used during their second sham impeachment of President Trump to argue that a former president could still be tried and barred from holding office again. In doing so, they opened the door for the same standard to apply to Obama," said a report at the Gateway Pundit.
"According to the Democratic Party and the House managers in the second impeachment trial, a former President, once out of office, is still subject to impeachment," Schoen explained. "In other words, they've argued Lincoln could be impeached, George Washington impeached. Certainly, as I predicted at the time, this would come back — they would rue the day — because President Obama could be impeached if this evidence really says what it says. And that could also strip off the immunity, because under Article I, Section 3, Clause 7 of the Constitution, the Democrats argued it bars one from holding further office. The language itself says you're still subject to criminal prosecution or indictment. We'll see how that plays out."
The Gateway Pundit explained Schoen's comments were a "legal nuke" for the legacy of Obama.
WND previously reported that Trumps huge precedent at the Supreme Court only months ago establishing immunity for the occupant of the president's office on a number of issues helps Obama.
Obama, along with his henchmen James Clapper, James Comey, John Brennan, possibly even Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, now are under several investigations for misleading the American public, suppressing an intel community conclusion that Russia was no big deal during the 2016 election, and instead rewriting reports to make it look bad for Trump.
That was the election the conspirators fabricated a Trump campaign-Russia collusion conspiracy theory for which there was no evidence.
Now that government records are being declassified that confirm it was made up, there's rampant speculation about charges, including perjury, lying to Congress and more.
A reporter asked Trump about that immunity ruling.
He said, "It probably helps him [Obama] a lot, probably helps him a lot, the immunity ruling. But it doesn't help the people around him at all. But it probably helps him a lot. He's done criminal acts, there's no question about it, but he has immunity, and it probably helped him a lot. He owes me big. Obama owes me big!"
The Supreme Court ruled that a president as total immunity for exercising "core" constitutional powers, and presumptive immunity for actions they took as president. The ruling gave no immunity for private actions.
That immunity is required, the opinion said, to protect an "energetic," and "independent executive," willing to take "bold" actions and make unpopular decisions when needed.
All of the cases brought against Trump between his first and second terms eventually died.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has released evidence that Obama fabricated and led the Russia Collusion hoax to harm Trump as candidate and then president-elect.
Among the documents Gabbard declassified was a December 2016 presidential briefing confirming Obama knew the Trump-Russia collusion narrative was a hoax.
Trump, at that time, ripped Obama, Clinton, Biden, Clapper, Comey and others, and called Obama the "ringleader."
"Barack Hussein Obama is the ringleader. Hillary Clinton was right there with him, and so was Sleepy Joe Biden, and so were the rest of them: Comey, Clapper, the whole group," Trump charged.
Gabbard has confirmed those actions, by those people, are under DOJ review now.
Trump charged Obama with leading a "coup."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Amidst ongoing cuts to questionable federal programs through DOGE, the State Department is planning significant budget cuts, possibly even half of its current expenses.
And many of those cuts have to do with eliminating U.S. funding of globalist organizations like the United Nations and NATO.
According to a diplomatic source talking to Fox News, the administration has a plan to end funding for more than 20 international organizations.
The U.S. contributed around $13 billion to the United Nations in 2023 and around $3.5 billion to NATO. The source with a copy of the proposal says it calls for allocating $2 billion for "America First" priorities. Those funds could be used in support of "specific partners" like India and Jordan, according to the document, or broader priorities, like the South Pacific Tuna Treaty.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce stressed Tuesday, "There is no final plan, final budget." The proposed plan represents a $27 billion cut, nearly half of the State Department's current budget.
Bruce said, "Throughout the history of the United States, everyone has a budget plan and everyone has ideas for budgets. And every president has a budget plan and sends it to Congress. And then Congress either accepts it or they have their own ideas, which happens more often than not."
According to the Fox report, the foreign service travel budget and benefits would be scaled back under the plan, and the Fulbright scholarship program would be eliminated.
The document calls for a 2% reduction in diplomatic security, cuts to the inspector general's office, and the closure of smaller embassies in countries such as the Maldives, Malta, Luxembourg and the Central African Republic.
The budget proposal is in early stages, with several layers of approval needed before its finalization.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
'Hopefully they'll pay attention to us now they see the horrors of the country we live in'
A grisly discovery of charred bones, shoes and clothing in western Mexico has sparked protests across the nation as authorities investigate what appears to be an "extermination center" and training ground for a drug cartel.
CBS News reports that demonstrations recently took place in the western state of Jalisco, where the remains were found, and in cities across the country, including the capital Mexico City, Tijuana, Veracruz and San Luis Potosi.
Mexican families searching for the remains of loved ones gone missing made the discovery March 5 on a Jalisco ranch, a location thought to be where forced drug-cartel recruits had been held.
The Guerreros Buscadores collective – a group dedicated to locating missing people – described the site as an "extermination center" with "clandestine crematoriums," CBS reported.
Besides the Jalisco evidence, demonstrators are drawing attention to other incidents of cartel-related violence in Mexico.
In the Mexican capital, demonstrators placed candles and rows of shoes in tribute to the missing.
"I came to speak out for my son and for all the disappeared," said Aurora Corona, 58, whose son vanished in March last year in Mexico's northeastern Nuevo Leon state.
There are more than 124,000 people officially registered as missing in Mexico, mostly since 2006.
"Hopefully they'll pay attention to us now they see the horrors of the country we live in," Corona said tearfully.
According to the CBS report, the United Nations Human Rights Office on Friday described the finding in Jalisco as a "deeply disturbing reminder of the trauma of disappearances linked to organized crime across the country."
Last month President Trump officially designated drug cartels as terrorist organizations. March 4, before a joint session of Congress, Trump said, "Two weeks ago, I officially designated [Tren de Aragua], along with MS-13 and the bloodthirsty Mexican drug cartels, as foreign terrorist organizations.
"They are now officially in the same category as ISIS, and that's not good for them. Countless thousands of these terrorists were welcomed into the U.S. by the Biden administration. But now, every last one will be rounded up and forcibly removed from our country, or, if they're too dangerous, put in jails, standing trial in this country, because we don't want them to come back ever."