CBP Apprehended Nearly 40,000 Border Crossers in First Ten Days of August

Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 40,000 migrants along the southwest border during the first ten days of August. The Tucson and Rio Grande Valley Sectors reported more than 10,000 each.

Unofficial reports obtained from law enforcement by Breitbart Texas reveal that during the first ten days of August, Border Patrol agents apprehended 39,324 migrants who illegally crossed the border between ports of entry. This is an average of 5,708 apprehensions per day.

The Tucson and Rio Grande Valley Sectors reported 10,867 and 10,465 migrant apprehensions, respectively. The five Texas-based border sectors accounted for 23,119 of the 39,324 migrant apprehensions.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2023/08/13/exclusive-40k-migrants-apprehended-along-southwest-border-in-first-10-days-of-august/

Update: Chinese-Owned Battery Plant With Ties to Communist China Backs Out of Deal to Purchase Michigan Farmland

Brock owns approximately 150 acres, where she raises a variety of animals, next door to several pieces of property purchased with Michigan taxpayer dollars where the battery factory would be located.

The Daily Mail reports that, while Gotion did complete the purchase of 260 acres of derelict industrial land in the township, they “‘listened to concerns of local residents and decided not to purchase two large parcels of land zoned for agriculture use at this time.”

When initial plans for the factory were announced, Brock began investigating. The battery plant would have been located on the third largest watershed in Michigan.

Additionally, the largest National Guard training facility in America is less than 100 miles away which raises national security concerns. Speaking to a congressional committee in July, former director of the US National Counterintelligence and Security Center William Evanina, said it was ‘100 percent’ likely the plant would be used to spy for the CCP.

Brock’s public stance against the plant did not come without cost. Lori received a warning from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development that was allegedly filed with the Soros-funded SOS Jocelyn Benson’s office, citing issues with the condition of Lori’s farm. State and local officials used a myriad of tactics to try to intimidate opponents of the factory, but it appears it did not work.

The Daily Mail reports:

In a statement confirming the purchase of 270 acres of land in Green Charter Township last week, Gotion said it had ‘listened to concerns of local residents and decided not to purchase two large parcels of land zoned for agriculture use at this time’.

Resident and realtor Lori Brock, 58, who has led the local opposition to the deal, said the concession was a ‘huge’ victory for the community, but warned the fight was ‘far from over’.

‘We don’t want that factory in our community no matter what,’ she told DailyMail.com

‘We want an American company. Not one that is backed by the CCP.

‘We’re almost at war with China right now. Why are we allowing them to buy land here and we can’t buy land in China? It doesn’t make sense.

‘We’re fighting [the deal] tooth and nail.’

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/update-chinese-owned-battery-plant-ties-communist-china/

Fulton County Prosecutors Have Messages Connecting Trump’s Legal Team to Alleged ‘Voting System Breach’ in Coffee County… For Examining Voting Machines

Another day, another leak.

Fulton County prosecutors will present text messages and emails to the grand jury connecting Trump’s lawyers to a ‘voting system breach’ in Coffee County, according to a leak to CNN.

Georgia prosecutors are preparing sprawling racketeering charges against Trump over his effort to challenge the 2020 election in Georgia.

Fani Willis based her investigation on President Trump’s call with Georgia officials that was later doctored and leaked to the fake news outlet Washington Post. The WaPo published a completely fraudulent text of the call. These phony charges have already been debunked by The Gateway Pundit and others.

Recall, The Guardian recently reported Fani Willis will pursue the indictment on statutes related to “influencing witnesses and computer trespass.”

The exact evidence is unclear, however, the computer trespass charge is related to efforts to access and examine the Dominion Voting Systems machines in Coffee County.

The ‘influencing witness’ charge may be related to Trump’s phone call with Brad Raffensperger.

Since Coffee County is outside of Fani Willis’s jurisdiction, the racketeering statute allows her to cast a wider net.

So now examining the voting machines is a crime.

According to CNN, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Coffee County elections official Misty Hampton, former NYPD Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik, attorney Katherine Friess and other employees from Sullivan Strickler, a law firm hired by Trump to examine the voting machines, are all targets of prosecutors.

Freiss reportedly sent a “Letter of invitation to Coffee County, Georgia” to Bernie Kerik and others to examine the voting machines.

Coffee County elections official Misty Hampton is now a target because she warned the voting machines could be “very easily” manipulated to flip votes.

Fani Willis is going to charge Trump along with MULTIPLE defendants with her indictments this week.

Willis will seek more than a dozen indictments against Trump and people in his orbit.

The DA will use conspiracy and racketeering charges to sweep up multiple defendants at once.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/fulton-county-prosecutors-have-messages-connecting-trumps-legal/

CT Family Suing Snapchat and Instagram After 15-Year-Old Was Raped and Assaulted By Two Sex Offenders Who Contacted Her on Apps

A Connecticut family is suing Snapchat and Instagram after their 15-year-old daughter was raped and sexually assaulted by two registered sex offenders that found her on the apps.

Social media apps have been subject to lawsuits nationwide over minors committing suicide, self-harming, obtaining drugs, and developing eating disorders after being shown dangerous content or being contacted by predators.

According to the lawsuit, the unnamed minor was only 10 years old when she was contacted by a first predator on Instagram and coerced into sending explicit photos of herself. He kept demanding more, leading to the child attempting suicide “in the hopes of finding some escape,” according to the lawsuit.

When the family found out what was going on they reported “the exploitation to police, who informed them that Meta’s Instagram product was designed in such a way that they could not identify who was behind the Instagram account that was used to abuse her, and a case was never opened,” the 95-page lawsuit states, according to a report from the CT Post.

In 2019, when she was 13, the child was contacted on Snapchat by a second convicted sex offender — Reginald Sharp — who knew her real age. He convinced her to send nude photos and blackmailed her, saying that he would post them online unless she met him in person.

The girl snuck out and met him and was repeatedly raped.

She picked Sharp out of a lineup, and he pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault, risk of injury to a child, enticing a minor, and violation of parole.

“It was a parent’s worst nightmare; a repeat sex offender raped my baby girl. It killed my soul that I couldn’t protect her from this monster. For some time, she wouldn’t dress as a girl because she was worried someone would attack her because she looked pretty,” the girl’s mother told the sentencing judge, according to the report.

Sharp was sentenced to 20 years in prison and 20 years of special parole.

In October 2021, the girl was still allowed on social media apps, and the situation repeated itself with another registered sex offender, Edward “Eddie” Rodriguez, a former New Haven police officer. He was on probation for assaulting another teenage girl.

The girl met with Rodriguez and he sexually assaulted her in his car before driving her to school.

Rodriguez has pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault, illegal sexual contact and violating his prior probation. He is scheduled to be sentenced in September.

“(The victim) has been hospitalized and in counseling because of the harms Meta and Snap caused her,” the lawsuit states. “She has isolated herself socially; she has suffered from anxiety and depression, thoughts of self harm and suicide; and tremendous pain and guilt for what her dependency on their products and her inability to just stop using them has caused her family.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/connecticut-family-suing-snapchat-instagram-after-15-year/

Rolling Stone Triggered by Oliver Anthony’s Hit Song, Loses It Over Reference to Epstein

https://youtu.be/sqSA-SY5Hro

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/rolling-stone-triggered-oliver-anthonys-hit-song-loses/

Pro-refugee NGO Founder Calls For AfD To Be Banned And Its Leaders Jailed

The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) should be outlawed and its leadership imprisoned in order to deprive millions of Germans of the chance to vote for the party, the founder of a German refugee rescue organization has claimed.

Axel Steier, the founder of the sea rescue Mission Lifeline NGO, made the disturbing remarks in a social media post on Thursday. He proposed that such a drastic measure was necessary for the sake of humanity.

“In the country of the perpetrators, it should not be taboo to ban the AfD and imprison the leadership, even if this deprives 20-40 percent of German voters of their opinion,” Steier posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“The persecution of Nazis is still a service to all of humanity,” he added.

His remarks come just days after the far-left Antifa activist group posted the personal addresses of dozens of AfD candidates vying for election in the German state of Hesse. The self-proclaimed anti-fascists were accused of inciting violence against public figures.

“Together with you, we want to challenge them for the spaces in which they move as a matter of course, feel unmolested, and think they are safe,” the group said in a statement following the launch of a website dedicated to targeting AfD politicians.

Despite the ramping up of rhetoric from the German establishment, the AfD remains increasingly popular among voters, reaching record highs of 23 percent in recent polls. The party’s opposition to the liberal mass migration policies adopted by successive German federal governments in the last two decades is understood to be a driving factor in its growing support among many working-class Germans disillusioned with the country’s direction of travel.

https://rmx.news/germany/pro-refugee-ngo-founder-calls-for-afd-to-be-banned-and-its-leaders-jailed/

Taliban’s Massively Successful Opium Eradication Raises Questions About What US Was Doing All Along

The Taliban government in Afghanistan – the nation that until recently produced 90% of the world’s heroin – has drastically reduced opium cultivation across the country. Western sources estimate an up to 99% reduction in some provinces. This raises serious questions about the seriousness of U.S. drug eradication efforts in the country over the past 20 years. And, as global heroin supplies dry up, experts tell MintPress News that they fear this could spark the growing use of fentanyl – a drug dozens of times stronger than heroin that already kills more than 100,000 Americans yearly.

The Taliban Does What the US Did Not

It has already been called “the most successful counter-narcotics effort in human history.” Armed with little more than sticks, teams of counter-narcotics brigades travel the country, cutting down Afghanistan’s poppy fields.

In April of last year, the ruling Taliban government announced the prohibition of poppy farming, citing both their strong religious beliefs and the extremely harmful social costs that heroin and other opioids – derived from the sap of the poppy plant – have wrought across Afghanistan.

It has not been all bluster. New research from geospatial data company Alcis suggests that poppy production has already plummeted by around 80% since last year. Indeed, satellite imagery shows that in Helmand Province, the area that produces more than half of the crop, poppy production has dropped by a staggering 99%. Just 12 months ago, poppy fields were dominant. But Alcis estimates that there are now less than 1,000 hectares of poppy growing in Helmand.

Instead, farmers are planting wheat, helping stave off the worst of a famine that U.S. sanctions helped create. Afghanistan is still in a perilous state, however, with the United Nations warning that six million people are close to starvation.

The Taliban waited until 2022 to impose the long-awaited ban in order not to interfere with the growing season. Doing so would have provoked unrest among the rural population by eradicating a crop that farmers had spent months growing. Between 2020 and late 2022, the price of opium in local markets rose by as much as 700%. Yet given the Taliban’s insistence – and their efficiency at eradication – few have been tempted to plant poppies.

The poppy ban has been matched by a similar campaign against the methamphetamine industry, with the government targeting the ephedra crop and shutting down ephedrine labs across the country.

A Looming Catastrophe

Afghanistan produces almost 90% of the world’s heroin. Therefore, the eradication of the opium crop will have profound worldwide consequences on drug use. Experts MintPress spoke to warned that a dearth of heroin would likely produce a huge spike in the use of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, a drug the Center for Disease Control estimates is 50 times stronger and is responsible for taking the lives of more than 100,000 Americans each year.

“It is important to consider past periods of heroin shortages and the impact these have had on the European drug market,” the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) told MintPress, adding:

Experience in the E.U. with previous periods of reduced heroin supply suggests that this can lead to changes in patterns of drug supply and use. This can include further an increase in rates of polysubstance use among heroin users. Additional risks to existing users may be posed by the substitution of heroin with more harmful synthetic opioids, including fentanyl and its derivatives and new potent benzimidazole opioids.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/talibans-massively-successful-opium-eradication-raises-questions-about-what-us-was

Teacher and church volunteer accused of sending pornographic photos to 9-year-old boy

A Kentucky high school teacher has been arrested after he was accused of sending pornographic images to a 9-year-old boy and requesting a nude photo of the child in return.

Kevin Lentz, 49, has spent nearly two decades teaching English at Henry Clay High School in Lexington, Kentucky, joining the faculty there in 2005. He also volunteered at a youth program at Faith Lutheran Church in Lexington.

However, on Tuesday, Lentz was arrested and charged with nearly two dozen crimes in connection with some disturbing allegations.

According to reports, Lentz began exchanging text messages with a 9-year-old boy sometime last month. Through those exchanges, Lentz allegedly attempted to groom the boy, sending at least 10 pornographic images to him and requesting that the victim send a photo of his genitals in return.

Lentz also asked the victim to delete their text exchanges "so his parents wouldn’t know," police claimed.

Lentz has been charged with seven counts of use of a minor under 16 in a sex performance, 10 counts of distribution of obscene matters to minors, and six counts of tampering with physical evidence. He remains at the Fayette Detention Center on $50,000 bond. Should he be released on bond, the court has ordered him to avoid all contact with minors.

Fayette County Public Schools has already placed Lentz on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation. "We have been made aware of the arrest of Mr. Kevin Lentz," a statement from the district said. "The safety and well-being of our students is our top priority. FCPS will fully cooperate with all authorities during their investigation. We remain committed to maintaining a secure and supportive learning environment for all our students."

Faith Lutheran Church has also removed him from his volunteer role, Pastor Dana Lockhart told the Lexington Times. It is unclear how long he had been involved with the church's youth program.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/teacher-and-church-volunteer-accused-of-sending-pornographic-photos-to-9-year-old-boy

Medical Board Suspends License of Doctor Critical of COVID-19 Vaccines

A state medical board has suspended the license of a doctor who has offered criticism of COVID-19 vaccines.

The Ohio Medical Board suspended Dr. Sherri Tenpenny’s license and fined her $3,000 because she allegedly refused to respond properly to complaints that poured in after she testified to Ohio lawmakers.

The suspension is for an indefinite period of time.

“In short, Dr. Tenpenny did not simply fail to cooperate with a Board investigation, she refused to cooperate. And that refusal was based on her unsupported and subjective belief regarding the Board’s motive for the investigation,” Kimberly Lee, a state official, said in the suspension order.

“Licensees of the Board cannot simply refuse to cooperate in investigations because they decide they do not like what they assume is the reason for the investigation,” Ms. Lee added.

State law enables the board to discipline medical professionals for “failure to cooperate in an investigation conducted by the board.”

Dr. Tenpenny said in a video after the suspension that she had cooperated with the board.

“We cooperated at every level. We looked at the letters, we responded appropriately and legally,” Dr. Tenpenny said.

“My lawyers … drafted responses appropriately, and sent it back and they go, ‘nope, you didn’t cooperate with us.’ Well, I guess that just simply means that they didn’t like the answers. But it didn’t mean that I failed to cooperate.”

Dr. Tenpenny graduated from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1984 and has been practicing medicine since then. The Ohio license is for osteopathic medicine and surgery.

https://www.ntd.com/medical-board-suspends-license-of-doctor-critical-of-covid-19-vaccines_936163.html

Twitter CEO Reveals Details of ‘Freedom of Speech, Not Reach’ Policy

Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, the company formerly known as Twitter, has revealed new details of the social media platform’s recently unveiled content enforcement philosophy dubbed “freedom of speech, not reach.”

In a wide-ranging interview on CNBC, Ms. Yaccarino said that the content moderation policy that Twitter’s safety team first unveiled in April has been fine-tuned, with the platform building new brand safety and content enforcement tools that she said have addressed the delicate balance between allowing free expression and curbing the spread of harmful content.

“By all objective metrics, X is a much healthier and safer platform than it was a year ago,” Ms. Yaccarino said.

She stated unequivocally that, under the new policy, content violating legal boundaries would be met with zero tolerance, resulting in immediate removal.

“But more importantly, if you’re going to post something that is lawful, but it’s awful, you get labeled,” she said. “You get labeled, you get de-amplified, which means it cannot be shared. And it is certainly demonetized.”

Ms. Yaccarino said that, on average, 30 percent of users whose content has been labeled decide to take it down themselves and that brands are protected from the risk of being next to harmful content that they would not wish to be associated with.

“Reducing that hateful content from being seen is one of the best examples how X is committed to encouraging healthy behavior online,” she said. “And today, I can confidently sit in front of you and say that 99.9 percent of all posted impressions are healthy.”

Ms. Yaccarino added that X’s safety team (“hands on keyboards monitoring all day, every day”) is focused on ensuring that the 99.9 percent of healthy impressions figure remains at that number.

“Freedom of speech, not reach basically means that if it is lawful, but it’s awful, it’s extraordinarily difficult for you to see it on Twitter,” she explained.

https://www.ntd.com/twitter-ceo-reveals-details-of-freedom-of-speech-not-reach-policy_936125.html

Western defense industry expected to make over $400 BILLION IN SALES by end of the year amid ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict

The top defense contractors in the United States and the rest of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are expected to rake in over $400 billion in arms sales by the end of the year, a nearly $50 billion increase from last year.

Last year, defense contractors in the U.S., European Union and the United Kingdom, benefiting greatly from the ongoing Russian special military operation in Ukraine, made hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue. The top five weapons contractors in America alone made $196 billion in military-related earnings, with Lockheed Martin dominating with a whopping $63 billion in revenue.

According to Defense News, four U.S.-based defense corporations were among the world's top five military contractors – Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies, and General Dynamics – thanks in no small part to America being the main source of weapons and military hardware for Ukraine amid its ongoing conflict with Russia. Washington has already committed nearly $40 billion in military aid to Kyiv.

Western defense industry already made over $200 billion this year

During the first half of the year, the top 25 Western defense contractors increased their revenue by 11 percent to $212 billion. According to calculations, the total arms sales for these corporations are expected to surge to around $448 billion by the end of the year. This would be a $47 billion increase compared to last year.

Furthermore, by 2026, the revenues of these 25 defense contractors could rise by more than 20 percent to $554 billion. This growth would not only come from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine but from the rapid rearmament of Europe's armed forces.

Further estimates suggest that Western defense contractors will likely increase their revenues by more than $150 billion, or 37 percent, from 2021 to 2026. This would be nearly double the expected economic growth of developed nations during the same period. The International Monetary Fund estimates that, by 2026, the collective GDP of advanced or developed nations will be $67.8 trillion, a nearly 20 percent increase from $56.6 trillion in 2021.

http://www.womensystems.com/2023/08/western-defense-industry-expected-to.html

Hunter Biden’s Russian business associates spared by US sanctions — again

WASHINGTON — Two Russian billionaires who sought out US real estate investments with first son Hunter Biden were spared in a fresh round of sanctions announced Friday in response to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Former Moscow first lady Yelena Baturina, who allegedly dined with then-Vice President Biden in 2014 and 2015, and fellow oligarch Vladimir Yevtushenkov, who arranged at least two meetings with Hunter Biden during his dad’s vice presidency, again avoided US sanctions.

Baturina is a construction and real estate magnate. Yevtushenkov until recently held majority control of a conglomerate that included Russian military contractors, a bank and the country’s largest cellphone provider.

“Today, the United States is imposing sanctions on four prominent members of Russia’s financial elite who have served on the supervisory board of the Alfa Group Consortium, one of the largest financial and investment conglomerates in Russia,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

“We are also imposing sanctions on the Russian Association of Employers the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), a Russian business organization involved in the technology sector of the Russian Federation economy. The organization has promoted import substitution and convened meetings to promote responses to sanctions.”

Blinken said Russian businessmen Olegovich Aven, Mikhail Maratovich Fridman, German Borisovich Khan and Alexey Viktorovich Kuzmichev “are being designated for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy” while “RSPP is being designated for operating or having operated in the technology sector of the Russian Federation economy.”

The omissions came the same day Delaware US Attorney David Weiss was elevated to be a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden for tax fraud and related crimes after a probation-only plea deal collapsed last month under scrutiny by a federal judge.

It’s unclear why Baturina and Yevtushenkov have not faced sanctions, despite their qualifications at least superficially resembling those of other Russian oligarchs who have been targeted.

Baturina transferred $3.5 million on Feb. 14, 2014, to Rosemont Seneca Thornton, a corporate entity associated with Hunter Biden and his then-business partner Devon Archer. The House Oversight Committee said this week that bank records show that most of that sum was later transferred to a different entity called Rosemont Seneca Bohai, in which Hunter Biden held a 50% stake.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/11/hunter-bidens-russian-business-associates-spared-by-us-sanctions-again/

Former treasury secretary Jack Lew frontrunner for next US ambassador

An Orthodox Jew, ex-Obama chief of staff has extensive ties to Israel, has been critical of Netanyahu

https://www.timesofisrael.com/former-treasury-secretary-jack-lew-frontrunner-for-next-us-ambassador/