371 charged with stealing $836M in COVID funds – including gang members who paid for murder: DOJ

A staggering 371 Americans have been charged with stealing roughly $836 million in COVID relief funds — including gang members who used the money to hire hitmen, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

The charges were the result of a three-month-long joint investigation conducted by law enforcement agencies across the nation from May through July, according to the DOJ.

The department has focused on “bringing to justice those who stole from American businesses and families at a time of national emergency,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said.

Sixty-three of those facing charges include gang members and defendants with connections to violent crimes.

Some used the funds — meant to help struggling citizens and business owners — were used to pay for murder-for-hire plots, acting director of the COVID-19 fraud enforcement task force Michael Galdo said.

Many of the alleged fraudsters misused pandemic unemployment insurance benefits as well as funds from Small Business Administration programs including the Paycheck Protection Program and economic injury disaster loans, according to the Justice Department.

Overall, the DOJ has seized more than $1.4 billion in misused pandemic-era relief funds and charged more than 3,000 Americans with crimes related to the fraud since it began investigating such corruption.

The Paycheck Protection Program, also known as the PPP loan program, has been the source of some of the worst fraud.

An astonishing 17% of loans cashed out from the program — about $200 billion — was stolen by fraudsters, according to a report from the Small Business Administration’s Office published last month.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/23/371-charged-with-stealing-836m-in-covid-relief-funds/

Israeli police block thousands of Christians from celebrating the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor

‘This is an outrageous and totally unnecessary scandal,’ said Eyal Betzer, a local government official. The fire and safety authorities ‘suddenly raised unreasonable and illogical demands that couldn't be met in the short time remaining before the event.’

Israeli police blocked thousands of Orthodox Christians from celebrating the Feast of the Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor late last week despite prior coordination with authorities having already been completed.

“We received clear answers two weeks ago saying we’d have no problem,” Basim Asfur, chairman of the Nazareth Orthodox Christian Community Council, told Haaretz.

According to his account, the council and local police had come to an agreement to host the event even though it had been cancelled last year. “There was no indication that the mountain would be closed on Friday evening and Saturday morning due to safety concerns related to the large number of people attending,” he said.

An estimated 3,000 Christian domestic and international pilgrims—from such nations as Greece, Romania, and Serbia—were turned back after Israel’s Fire and Rescue Authority notified police on Thursday that it was unable to approve of this larger gathering at the Greek Orthodox Church due to unsafe conditions including along the winding ascending road leading to the churches on the top of the mountain.

Christian tradition has held that Mt. Tabor is the location where Jesus Christ led the three apostles, Peter, James, and John before being transfigured before them, revealing his divinity with his face shining like the sun, his clothes becoming white as snow, and Moses and Elijah appearing and conversing with him (See, Mt. 17: 1-9).

A Roman Catholic church and a Greek Orthodox church are on top of the mountain. While Catholics celebrate the Transfiguration on August 6, the Greek calendar celebrates it on August 18-19.

“This is an outrageous and totally unnecessary scandal that severely hurts Israel in the eyes of the Christian world,” Eyal Betzer, head of the Jezreel Valley Regional Council, told Ynet.

Betzer affirmed that Israel’s Internal Ministry had approved the event the previous week and charged the Fire and Rescue authorities of making irrational demands following their last minute notification. They “suddenly raised unreasonable and illogical demands that couldn’t be met in the short time remaining before the event.” he said.

Haaretz further reports that the “safety issues noted by firefighting services have always been present, but only in recent years have fire and rescue services begun to add obstacles to holding the event.”

Furthermore, most of the demands made by the fire safety authorities do not fall within the authority of the churches. According to the outlet, they include “the lack of firebreaks between the church and the surrounding woods, the absence of an evacuation route to serve as an alternative to the single road to the top, the lack of water pipes in parking lots, the absence of firefighting equipment, and the extreme weather conditions expected to prevail during the celebrations.”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/israeli-police-block-thousands-of-christians-from-celebrating-the-transfiguration-of-christ-on-mount-tabor/?utm_source=popular

AstraZeneca facing two London lawsuits over COVID-19 vaccines

AstraZeneca is facing two London lawsuits, including one from the husband of a woman who died after receiving the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker's COVID-19 vaccine, in the first of potentially dozens of cases brought in England.

Britain was the first country to roll out the at-cost AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in early 2021, although it later restricted the use of it among under 40s due to the small risk of blood clots.

Anish Tailor, whose wife Alpa died in March 2021 after receiving her first dose of the vaccine, filed a product liability claim against AstraZeneca at London's High Court on Aug. 4, according to court records.

His lawyer Peter Todd, from the law firm Scott-Moncrieff & Associates, told Reuters that he has nearly 50 other clients who will formally sue AstraZeneca in the coming months.

AstraZeneca declined to comment on active legal cases. A spokesperson said in a statement: "Patient safety is our highest priority and regulatory authorities have clear and stringent standards to ensure the safe use of all medicines, including vaccines.

"Our sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost loved ones or reported health problems."

AstraZeneca is facing a similar lawsuit from Jamie Scott, who was diagnosed with vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia, which can cause fatal blood clotting, after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Scott filed a product liability lawsuit against AstraZeneca on Monday, according to court records. No filings or further details about the case were immediately available.

Hausfeld, the law firm representing Scott, said it represents around 40 other individuals or bereaved families.

Sarah Moore, a lawyer at Hausfeld, said in a statement that Scott had "suffered life-changing injuries which have severely impacted not only him, but those close to him".

She said Scott will argue AstraZeneca is "liable to compensate him for what he has suffered so that he can rebuild his life as far as possible and ensure the security of his family".

The two cases are the first lawsuits brought in England and Wales over an adverse reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine, according to publicly-available court records.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/other/astrazeneca-facing-two-london-lawsuits-over-covid-19-vaccines/ar-AA1fFIdz?ocid=msedgntp

Judicial Watch: Police Records Show Secret Service Reported Obama’s Personal Chef Tafari Campbell was Missing, Body was Found Using Sonar

Judicial Watch announced today that it received 18 pages of records through the Massachusetts Public Records Law from the Edgarton, MA, Police Department that show the Secret Service reported Obama’s Personal Chef Tafari Campbell missing and that the body was found using sonar.

The records also report that clothing was found separate from the body and that he was not wearing a life vest. Several other important details were redacted regarding the July 23, 2023, drowning on Martha’s Vinyard.

The records, released yesterday, include a July 23 CAD (computer aided dispatch) Incident Report:

Secret Service Agent [redacted] adv swimmers unable to locate the party at this time. Party last scene [sic] wearing all black, on a paddle board, African American male.

Rev’vd a 911 call from the above noted RP [reporting person] who identified as a Secret Service member. RP is req [requesting] at least an ambulance response, unsure of the exact services needed.

RP advd best access is from the residence, they are deploying a rescue swimmer and a zodiac boat right now.

RP adv no lifevest was worn, they have recovered the paddle board and clothing. Still no contact with missing party. They still have a boat and rescue swimmers in the area.

At 8:25 p.m., the report notes that the Oak Bluffs Fire Department was sending a dive team. At 8:36 p.m., a Coast guard helicopter was deployed, as was a state police helicopter.

In the reports sent by Polce Chief Bruce McNamee, the names of a witness and a Secret Service agent are removed. In his email transmitting the reports, McNamee writes: “Per the request of theMa State Police, the names of the witness and USSS agent have been redacted.”

The police and fire departments make their base of operations at Wilson’s Landing, a popular boat launch. Search and dive teams from Oak Bluffs, Tisbury and West Tisbury joined the search.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/obamas-personal-chef/

Fulton County District Attorney Willis asks for Trump 2020 election trial to start Oct. 23

Willis had originally asked the judge to set March 4, 2024, as the trial date.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday asked a judge to schedule the start of the trial against former President Donald Trump and all 18 co-defendants for Oct. 23, 2023.

Citing defendant Kenneth Chesebro's request Wednesday for a speedy trial, Willis asked for all defendants to be tried this October, according to court documents.

Willis had originally asked the judge to set March 4, 2024, as the trial date for Trump and his 18 supporters who are accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/fulton-county-district-attorney-asks-trump-2020-election-trial-start-oct-23

Zelensky buys luxury villa in Egypt while his soldiers die on frontlines

A recent journalistic report revealed that the Ukrainian president bought a luxury villa in Egypt in the region of El Gouna, also known as the “city of millionaires”. More than that, evidence indicates that Zelensky used Western money for the purchase, spending in personal luxury a significant part of the amounts he receives from NATO countries.

The data were published by Egyptian investigative journalist Mohammed-Al-Alawi. After in-depth research involving sources familiar with the topic, Mohammed discovered that the Zelensky family acquired a luxury property in Egypt valued at around five million dollars. The place is located in the coastal zone of Egypt, next to the Red Sea, an area famous for having many opulent properties. Not by chance, El Gouna is home to many millionaires interested in having a comfortable place to stay during their non-working time. For example, it is said that next to Zelensky’s villa there is an “estate that belongs to the world-famous Hollywood actress and public figure Angelina Jolie”.

The Egyptian journalist published the documents that prove the purchase of the villa, its price and the contracting parties. Zelensky bought the property through his mother-in-law, Olga Kiyashko, who signed a contract with the Egyptian sellers on May 16, 2023. Analysts who have commented on the case say that the source of the money appears to be none other than the Western financial aid packages that arrive in Kiev, considering the high price of the villa.

Egyptian political scientist Abdulrahman Alabbassy commented on the situation, saying it is “surprising” that Zelensky and his relatives spend fortunes on personal luxuries instead of using Ukraine’s riches for military and humanitarian purposes, considering the time of war. Alabbassy blames Ukrainian corruption for this kind of attitude and reminds how Kiev’s political system is controlled by egocentric officials who prioritize personal gain over care for their own people.

“I am surprised that relatives of top Ukrainian officials began to buy luxury real estate after the start of Ukraine war. I don’t remember anything like this before (…) It is surprising that Ukraine is waging a bloody war with Russia, and relatives of Ukrainian officials are buying up real estate in Egypt instead of donating their riches to the needs of the country. A suspicion is creeping in that Ukrainian bureaucrats, with the help of their relatives, are stealing financial aid to Ukraine from the West. I am quite certain that Zelenskyy’s mother-in–law’s purchase of a villa in El Gouna is the result of corruption and the theft of humanitarian aid to Ukraine. I sincerely sympathize with the Ukrainian people” he said.

https://alethonews.com/2023/08/24/zelensky-buys-luxury-villa-in-egypt-while-his-soldiers-die-on-frontlines/

BRICS Leaders Call for Democratic Global Order

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa set the tone for the BRICS summit in Johannesburg when he opened the gathering on Tuesday with calls for a more democratic global economic order with greater participation of countries from the Global South. He underlined that BRICS stands for inclusiveness and transparency in its development agenda and must continue to do so.

Along with the heads of states of the existing BRICS members — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — over 60 other countries participated in the 15th BRICS summit, which concludes Thursday

Chinese President Xi Jinping — in a speech delivered by China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao — highlighted the formal membership application of more than 20 countries and reiterated that China rejects the “exclusive blocs” mentality pursued by the West and called for expansion of BRICS.

[On Thursday, Ramaphosa announced that six countries — Saudi Arabia, Iran, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates — will join the first phase of the group’s expansion in January, Al Jazeera reports.]

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said his government fully supports the expansion of the bloc, adding that it welcomed “moving forward with consensus on this.” India also reiterated its proposal for the African Union’s membership in the G20.

New Model of Development

In his speech, Xi emphasized that the BRICS model of development and growth is contrary to the West’s approach of hegemonization. Asserting that countries should have the freedom to pursue their own development model, Xi claimed that one country, “obsessed with maintaining hegemony, has gone out of its way to cripple emerging markets and developing countries” — an obvious reference to the U.S.

Xi noted that the world is forced to face a choice — between peace and stability and a new cold war — due to the hegemonic agenda pursued by the West, and pointed out that “hegemonism disrupts development, violates the nation’s right to prosperity and sovereign development.”

Xi noted that BRICS’ New Development Bank (NDB) has been designed to pursue a sustainable development agenda without the political and economic conditionalities which often come with the other existing global financial institutions.

https://consortiumnews.com/2023/08/24/brics-leaders-call-for-democratic-global-order/

Trump supporters, counter-protesters clash outside of Fulton County jail ahead of his arrival

By the afternoon, police had blocked off the road leading up to the jail, as a crowd gathered at the end of the road.

On Thursday, both supporters and opponents of 2024 GOP frontrunner Donald Trump gathered outside the Fulton County jail in expectation of his arrival to surrender to authorities in the 2020 election case.

By the afternoon, police had blocked off the road leading up to the jail, as a crowd gathered at the end of the road.

https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-trump-supporters-counter-protesters-clash-outside-of-fulton-county-jail-ahead-of-his-arrival