“The Iranian government ordered an operative to assassinate Donald Trump before the 2024 election, Manhattan federal prosecutors said Friday, the latest in a string of assassination plots directed at the former and future president in recent months. Prosecutors charged Farhad Shakeri with murder-for-hire and providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He is believed to be in Iran and remains at large, prosecutors said. In addition to the plot to kill Trump, Shakeri and two other men — Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt — were charged with a separate attempted murder-for-hire scheme targeting a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin who has publicly opposed the Iranian government.” (11/08/24)
“A prominent community church in Northern California is under scrutiny for orchestrating a nonofficial ballot drop box scheme in the month leading up to the Nov. 5 presidential election. After SFGATE presented evidence of the church’s ballot-gathering activities to Tehama County’s registrar of voters, officials said they would refer the matter to the District Attorney’s Office. Calvary Chapel, in the Tehama County seat of Red Bluff, is one of the larger churches in the town of around 14,400. While serving its parishioners, the church has been quietly deploying a multifaceted influence campaign called Real Impact with the explicit mission to ‘educate, equip, and encourage Christians to have a godly influence on our society and culture.’ Real Impact originated at the Chino Hills location of Calvary Chapel in 2019 and pledges to ‘[equip] the Church to stand for righteousness in the public square.’ It has since spread to several locations across Calvary’s network of 1,800 chapels.” (11/09/24)
“A hologram of a young sex worker haunts Amsterdam’s red light district. Dressed in faded denim hotpants, a leopard-print bra, with a tattoo snaking up her stomach and across her chest, the 3D computer-generated image reaches out and appears to knock on the window to attract attention. She leans forward, breathes on the glass and writes the word ‘help.’ The hologram is designed to represent Bernadette ‘Betty’ Szabo, a 19-year-old woman from Hungary who was murdered a few months after giving birth in 2009. … The murdered teenager’s image is being projected from behind a window, alongside hundreds of young women who continue to make a living in this notoriously risky industry. Investigators hope the lifelike hologram will help jog memories and draw attention to the unsolved murder.” (11/10/24)
“The United States is allowing a small number of American defence contractors to work inside Ukraine to maintain and repair Pentagon-provided weaponry, according to US officials. The US has been a key military backer of Ukraine, committing more than $60bn in security aid since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. But it has not permitted US military contractors to work in Ukraine, wary that it could be drawn into a direct conflict with Russia. US President Joe Biden made the decision in a significant policy shift before he leaves office in January, US media reported on Friday, before the November 5 presidential election, won by Donald Trump. Biden also plans to rush billions of dollars in security assistance to Ukraine before his term ends.” (11/09/24)
“Daniel Lurie, a local nonprofit founder and an heir to the Levi Strauss & Co. fortune, will become San Francisco’s 46th mayor. He unseated incumbent Mayor London Breed, a fellow moderate Democrat, during Tuesday’s general election in the 14th round of ranked-choice voting. He won by a wide margin, 56.2% to 43.8%, according to unofficial election results. As of Thursday afternoon, he had earned 119,440 votes to Breed’s 93,079. Breed, a former supervisor and the first Black woman to serve as San Francisco’s mayor, conceded defeat Thursday afternoon following the release of more results from Tuesday’s election. ‘Being Mayor of San Francisco has been the greatest honor of my lifetime,’ she wrote in a post on X. ‘I’m beyond grateful to our residents for the opportunity to serve the City that raised me. When I first took office in the middle of the night, back in 2017 when Mayor Ed Lee passed, I didn’t know what lay ahead.'” (11/08/24)
“Donald Trump won the presidential election in Arizona, the Associated Press (AP) declared on Saturday, completing a clean sweep of all seven battleground states and locking in a decisive electoral college victory over the Democratic vice-president, Kamala Harris. Trump, who had secured the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the White House by early Wednesday, now has what is expected to be a final total of 312 votes to Harris’ 226.” (11/10/24)
Thanks to reader JdL for letting me know that our site contact form was down. I know it was working as of a couple of weeks ago, but as of this morning it was not. If you’ve tried to reach us and didn’t get a response, that’s why. It’s working now (I just changed plug-in provider and tested it). You can find it at https://news.rationalreview.com/contact – TLK
Hey, everyone …
First Thing: Support the freedom movement’s daily newspaper!
It’s not really big enough to call a “FIREHOSE FRIDAY” edition, and there may be more by the time you read this, but long story short: My wife had surgery yesterday (it went well), which meant I spent many hours at the hospital with limited Internet access and a laptop instead of my usual equipment and connection. Going web-only helped me make up some of that lost time.
Third, Fourth, Fifth, etc. Things: Again, SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
Yesterday was a “zero-dollar day” for our year-end fundraiser. We’re stuck (as of 5:30am Eastern Time on Friday, November 8) at $1,427. That’s $1,248.50 short of our goal.
We can hit that goal this weekend, at which point I stop asking you for money entirely for the rest of the year and mostly until next October … but only if YOU decide to kick in at:
“The Biden administration has confirmed that the US will keep surging aid to Ukraine before Donald Trump becomes president in January. ‘That’s not going to change. We’re going to surge and get that out there to Ukraine. We understand how important it is to make sure they have what they need,’ said Karine Jean-Pierre, White House spokesperson. … Russia said on Thursday its forces had seized control of Kreminna Balka, a village that had a prewar population of fewer than 50 people, in the industrial Donetsk region where Ukrainian defences have been repeatedly pushed back. The gain could not be independently confirmed, but Ukrainian media reported that Donetsk region authorities were preparing to announce mandatory evacuations from seven more villages in that region, which the Kremlin has claimed since 2022 is part of Russia.” (11/07/24)
“In the pantheon of the more than 1,500 people who have been arrested for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, Zachary J. Alam captured his moment of fame as the man who was recorded punching the glass windows leading to the Speaker’s Lobby. Using a helmet to finish smashing the glass, he created the space into which Ashli Babbitt then climbed, where she was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer. U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich pointed to his ‘lack of remorse’ as she sentenced him to eight years in prison …. In court, Alam said he was aware of discussions around pardons for people like him. ‘But I will not accept a second-class pardon,’ Alam said. ‘I want a full pardon with all the benefits that come with it, including full compensation.'” (11/07/24)
“The Israeli military announced Thursday an expansion of its month-old ground operation in northern Gaza to include part of Beit Lahiya, a town that has been heavily bombed since the earliest days of the war, where Israel says Hamas militants have regrouped. … Briefing journalists Tuesday night, Brigadier General Itzik Cohen, who commands the IDF’s 162nd Division operating in Gaza, said that since troops had been forced [sic] to enter some areas twice, including the Jabaliya camp, ‘there is no intention of allowing the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return to their homes.'” (11/07/24)
