Trump living rent-free in Crockett's head.

https://x.com/JasmineForUS/status/1998155866038849634

New Indiana district map passes out of Senate Committee

President Donald Trump’s hopes for a wave of red-state gerrymanders to help Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House in 2026 took a step closer to reality Monday, as the Indiana Senate Elections Committee voted 6–3 to advance a controversial mid-decade redistricting bill that would all but guarantee the GOP wins all nine of the state’s congressional seats.

The vote sends the gerrymander bill to the full Senate, where its fate remains uncertain amid deep Republican divisions and an unprecedented pressure campaign from Trump and his allies.

Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R) has repeatedly said the upper chamber does not have enough Republicans supporting the measure for the map to pass, but Monday’s committee action marked the clearest sign yet that GOP leaders may still attempt to force a floor showdown later this week.

While states normally update their congressional maps once a decade following the census, Trump, facing ever uglier polling figures, ignited a mid-decade redistricting war over the summer, saying Republicans were “entitled” to five more seats in Texas. GOP lawmakers there quickly obliged, as they did in Missouri and North Carolina. But Indiana Republicans have resisted the call, leaving the ultimate outcome of this redistricting fight uncertain.

At least 16 of the 40 Republicans in the Senate could join with the chamber’s 10 Democrats to vote no — GOP Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith could break a 25-25 tie.

Heading into Monday’s hearing, 14 GOP state senators had come out against the redraw.

Ahead of the vote, 127 Hoosiers signed up to testify, considerably more than the few dozen who spoke ahead of the House vote, where all but two spoke against the new map. While most spoke in opposition Monday, more than a dozen urged the senate to adopt the redistricting measure.

“We must keep the Democratic Party from the levers of power until more reasonable factions have a chance to replace these despots,” said John Colburn, who called Democrats “tyrannical.”

Other Republicans spoke against the bill over the course of roughly four hours of public testimony. “For my entire voting life, I’ve cast votes for Republicans and libertarians. I voted for Donald Trump in 2020 and 2024, but today, I stand before you vehemently opposed to the mid-decade congressional redistricting plans pushed by House Republicans, a blatant power grab that I believe compromises the principles of our founding fathers,” said Ethan Hatcher. “It’s not just politics. It’s a calculated assault on fair representation, and echoes the grievances that ignited our nation’s birth.”

Kate Sweeney Bell, Marion County’s chief election official, spoke on behalf of her office to warn about the “havoc” the bill would unleash.

“The conservative estimate for the cost for Marion County alone to redistrict at this time is at least a million dollars,” Sweeney Bell said.

Sweeney Bell also noted that there were errors in the legislation, which mislabeled some precincts in Marion County. “That is recoverable using the census data,” she said. “What is not fixable without an amendment is that there are missing precincts altogether in this bill — missing precincts for Marion County.”

Sweeney Bell also noted that her office usually works overtime over a period of “12 to 13 months” to implement a normal redistricting. Should the General Assembly enact the redistricting, they’d have just “a third of the time, which means that there is not enough time to complete the process.”

The proposed map would split Indianapolis’ county across 4 congressional districts, eliminating two Democratic-leaning districts and all but ensuring Republicans win all 9 seats in the 2026 midterms. If adopted, the map will undoubtedly face lawsuits attacking it as an impermissible racial gerrymander, given the divvying up of a majority-minority district into 4 majority white districts. But the Supreme Court’s shadow docket decision last week overturning a lower court’s ruling that Texas had racially gerrymandered, suggests such legal challenges will be harder to win going forward.

Trump and his allies have put the screws to obstinate Indiana Republicans in recent weeks with a very public pressure campaign that has led to violent threats. After being targeted in a swatting incident, state Sen. Kyle Walker said he would not seek reelection next year. Another Republican state senator opposed to the redraw, Jean Leising, swore she would not give in to fear tactics, after her home was targeted with a pipe bomb threat.

Of the at least 11 GOP state senators who have reported threats, not one publicly supports the redraw.

Over the weekend, Turning Point Action, the Trump-aligned super PAC founded by the late Charlie Kirk, announced it would partner with other PACS to make an “eight figure spend” primarying Hoosier Republicans who opposed redistricting.

Around 45% of Indiana’s party-affiliated voters are Democrats.

The Indiana House approved the new map last week on a 57-41 vote, with 12 Republicans joining Democrats in opposition.

*Democracy Docket Founder Marc Elias’s law firm represented plaintiffs in this lawsuit.

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/indiana-senate-committee-advances-trump-demanded-gerrymander/

Bush Foundation Leader Caught Outlining Plan To Make Americans ‘Less Fearful’ of China With Communist Influence Group Paying Him Millions

https://nataliegwinters.substack.com/p/exc-bush-foundation-leader-caught?triedRedirect=true

Protesters hit Crowborough over plan to house 600 migrants in army camp - after cadets forced out 'over safety fears'

Protesters have yet again descended on a former army camp where the Government plans to house hundreds of migrants.

Up to 600 male asylum seekers are set to be housed at the camp on the outskirts of Crowborough, East Sussex, as Britain continues to be gripped by a small boat crisis.

Today, for the fifth weekend in a row, locals took to the streets to protest, with many speaking of their 'terror' at the plans.

Families shouted 'protect our women and children', 'shame of you' and 'who's streets, our streets'.

Many were seen waving Union Jack flags and holding placards as they braved the grim weather to voice their anger.

A group of cadets who trained at the camp and their families also attended just days after they were kicked out.

On Wednesday, the Army Cadet unit held its last parade before moving out, with the Air Cadets following on Thursday.

The Ministry of Defence said it took the 'safety and wellbeing of all cadets extremely seriously' and was 'scoping options' for them to continue.

The protest group are today marching from the base into the town.

Mother Debbie Green, 42, said she was 'horrified' that the plans had not yet been scrapped. She has spent £2,000 on extra security at her home, which is within a mile of the site.

The financial controller said: 'It's sickening. We will not stop. These protests will get bigger and louder until somebody sees sense and decides this is a terrible idea.

'We do not want 500 male migrants here. It is not suitable. It is not right or fair. Look at the problems other places have had. There's been sexual and violent attacks on women going about their daily lives in other areas.

'It's a disgrace. It horrifies me. As families, we're terrified.'

She said she and other locals have installed extra security. She said: 'I've got extra alarms. I want new locks as well.'

Darren Corner, 54, has two teenage daughters and lives within a mile of the camp.

The builder said: 'We will get louder and bigger. They will be forced to abandon their plans. We're not going to back down. We will fight this all the way.'

One of the organisers, a service manager called Gary, 52, said: 'We're leading a charge against these plans.

'Everyone is scared. The weather hasn't put people off today.'

Dozens of police officers are also at the protest, which organisers have vowed will remain peaceful.

Many demonstrators were also holding signs including 'protect our children'. Some have come in fancy dress, including one man dressed as Santa.

Campaigners have so far raised more than £50,000 to fund their legal challenge against the plan.

The plans are being pushed through by the Home Office despite the local council voting unanimously against the proposals in November.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15361093/Thousands-protesters-hit-Crowborough-plan-house-600-migrants-army-camp-cadets-forced-safety-fears.html

Ron DeSantis

@GovRonDeSantis

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY

Florida is designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as foreign terrorist organizations.

Florida agencies are hereby directed to undertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities by these organizations, including denying privileges or resources to anyone providing material support.

https://x.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1998156452377293228

Migrants in UK granted asylum without face-to-face interviews

Migrants are being granted asylum without face-to-face interviews as the Home Office tries to clear a backlog of claims.

Documents show that asylum seekers can have their claim approved by filling in a detailed questionnaire to support their application without being interviewed by specialist caseworkers.

They are told in the application – seen by The Telegraph – that if they provide “sufficient evidence” to demonstrate that they qualify for refugee status, officials “may be able to make a decision using the written evidence in your questionnaire”.

It is understood the approach is targeted at asylum seekers from countries where there are high approval rates, such as Eritrea, Sudan and Yemen.

Home Office officials also have the power to reject applications without an interview if the claim is judged “clearly unconvincing” because of “inconsistent, contradictory, improbable or insufficient” evidence.

The fast-track approach was adopted by the previous Conservative government, when Rishi Sunak sought to clear record backlogs of more than 100,000 asylum applications.

However, senior asylum decision-makers in the Home Office expressed concern that the approach was inherently risky.

“We miss deep diving into the person and the basis of their claim. We miss reviewing what they have claimed and questioning inconsistencies. We miss challenging their claimed country of origin,” said a senior asylum caseworker.

“Anyone can fill those forms in but in a face-to-face interview albeit over Teams [an online video meeting app], body language is very telling. The risks are massive.”

The Home Office rejected the concerns. “We do not recognise claims about shortcuts or staffing concerns – every asylum claim undergoes the most stringent checks, and this has been the highest year of productivity on record,” said a spokesman.

It said that where there was any doubt about the information provided in the questionnaire, or a caseworker had further questions, a migrant would be invited for a follow-up asylum interview to assess their claim.

A record 110,051 migrants claimed asylum in the year to September, fuelled by 39,294 Channel crossings – so far, the second highest year for small boat arrivals – and over 41,000 foreign visa holders switching to seek asylum in the UK.

The bill for accommodating migrants, including 36,000 in hotels, was £2.1bn in the past year.

In an attempt to reduce costs, the Home Office has cut the asylum backlog by 36 per cent to 81,000 applicants in a year. This has been achieved by processing 134,000 migrants’ initial asylum claims – the highest number of any year between 2003 and 2022. Some 45 per cent were granted, down from 52 per cent last year.

It is not known how many were granted asylum without interviews, but the Home Office said it had conducted 92,016 substantive interviews between January and September this year, compared to 51,370 in the same period last year.

In their questionnaires, asylum seekers are told that “at present there are a large number of asylum claimants waiting for decisions in the UK asylum system … If you provide sufficient evidence in your questionnaire to demonstrate that you qualify for protection status, we may be able to make a decision using the written evidence in your questionnaire.”

It asks for documentation to prove who they are, where they come from, who they fear in their home country and why, what events drove them to leave, whether they tried to move to a safer part of their country, how they got to the UK and their previous employment.

They are asked to provide original documents to support their claims in the questionnaire, which can be filled out by their legal representative or with assistance from third parties such as local refugee organisations.

Under immigration regulations, interviews can be omitted where the Home Office “is able to take a positive decision (a grant of refugee status or humanitarian protection) on the basis of evidence available”.

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said the Home Office was “throwing open the doors and handing out asylum grants without even bothering to interview people”, adding: “Fake and fraudulent asylum claims made by illegal immigrants will end up getting granted..

“When word gets around Labour’s doing this, illegal immigrants from across Europe will flock here to exploit Labour’s weakness.”

Imran Hussain, the director of external affairs at the Refugee Council, said ministers should go further, saying: “We have called on the Government to put in place a one-off scheme to give permission to stay for a limited period – subject to rigorous security checks – to people from countries almost certain to be recognised as refugees.

“This would take out of asylum accommodation more people than in hotels and is the only viable route to closing hotels by the end of next year.”

The Home Office said all asylum claimants were subject to mandatory security checks to confirm their identity and to link it to their biometric details for the purpose of immigration, security and criminality checks.

Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, has proposed a radical overhaul under which refugee status for those granted asylum will be made temporary and reviewed every 30 months. Refugees are to be returned home if their country becomes safe.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/migrants-granted-asylum-without-face-190934596.html

President Trump announces $12 billion aid package for American farmers

Rapid Response 47

@RapidResponse47

"I'm delighted to announce this afternoon that the United States will be taking a small portion of the hundreds of billions of dollars we receive in tariffs… We're going to use that money to provide $12B in economic assistance to American farmers."

https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1998115240983019905

Chief Nerd

@TheChiefNerd

🚨 NEW: Bill Maher Says He May Lose His Friendship w/ Jimmy Kimmel Over His Openness to Talk to Trump Supporters

“I'm in the ‘talk to them’ wing of the Democratic Party. I'm not in the cut your people off … I have friends who are not on that side of it and didn't like what I said … It was Jimmy Kimmel … His wife said she did lose family members. She wrote them before the election and said, here's 10 reasons why you just can't vote for Trump … I was as kid gloves as I could, and I see they're mad at me.”

https://x.com/TheChiefNerd/status/1998005766741983383

New York Times admits Biden failed miserably on immigration

In the weeks after Joseph R. Biden Jr. was elected president, advisers delivered a warning: His approach to immigration could prove disastrous.

Mr. Biden had pledged to treat unauthorized immigrants more humanely than President Donald J. Trump, who generated widespread backlash by separating migrant children from their parents.

But Mr. Biden was now president-elect, and his positions threatened to drastically increase border crossings, experts advising his transition team warned in a Zoom briefing in the final weeks of 2020, according to people with direct knowledge of that briefing. That jump, they said, could provoke a political crisis.

“Chaos” was the word the advisers had used in a memo during the campaign.

They offered a range of options to avert that crisis, by better deterring migrants. Mr. Biden seemed to grasp the risk. But he and his top aides failed to act on those recommendations.

The warnings came true, and then some. After Mr. Biden became president, migrant encounters at the southern border quickly doubled, then kept rising. New arrivals overwhelmed border stations, then border towns, and eventually major cities like New York and Denver.

Anger over illegal migration helped return Mr. Trump to the presidency, and he has enacted even more aggressive policies than those Mr. Biden first campaigned against. Mr. Trump has drawn outrage from Democrats by sending masked agents to target immigrants, often aided by National Guard soldiers.

But a New York Times examination of Mr. Biden’s record found that he and his closest advisers repeatedly rebuffed recommendations that could have addressed the border crisis faster, and eased what became a potent issue for Mr. Trump as he sought to return to the White House and justify the aggressive tactics roiling American cities today.

Former Biden administration officials told The Times that Mr. Biden and his circle of close confidants — including Ron Klain, who was chief of staff during the president’s first two years, Mike Donilon, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and Anita Dunn — made two crucial errors.

First, they underestimated the scale of migration that was coming. Second, they failed to appreciate the political reaction to that migration — believing that stronger enforcement would alienate Latino and progressive voters, and also that a border surge would not be an important issue to most voters. Those calculations would later prove to be mistaken, with many voters, including Latinos, citing immigration as a reason for supporting Mr. Trump in 2024.

“Everybody was reacting to the excesses of the Trump administration,” said Cecilia Muñoz, who helped shape immigration policy in the Obama administration and oversaw domestic and economic policy for the Biden transition team.

Yet as public concern over border security grew, partly in response to Mr. Biden’s own actions, his administration proved catastrophically slow to change course, former aides said. The president and his closest aides treated immigration as a distraction from other issues, such as the coronavirus pandemic and the economy.

Aides stressed that the Biden administration faced a steep challenge addressing a border crisis while adhering to outdated immigration laws. But they lamented that Mr. Biden never articulated a clear vision or pushed his cabinet secretaries to coordinate their efforts on immigration in the way that Mr. Trump has.

Mr. Biden created new legal pathways for migration to ease pressure at the border, under which more than one million people were allowed into the United States, fueling public resistance. And he failed to convince Congress to change immigration laws, dragging his feet on a crucial Senate border deal, according to the lead Republican negotiator, who said the effort might have otherwise succeeded.

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The shooting in Washington last month that killed one National Guard soldier and left another critically injured has renewed scrutiny of Mr. Biden’s immigration programs. The suspect arrived through Operation Allies Welcome, which offered entry to Afghans fleeing the Taliban in 2021.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Biden declined to make him available for an interview. She provided a statement that blamed Republicans for blocking additional funding for hiring more border agents, deploying more security technology and processing immigration cases more quickly. The statement also blamed Republicans for walking away from the proposed border bill “because Donald Trump told them to.”

“When it became clear Congress wouldn’t act, Biden took decisive action on his own,” the statement said.

Mr. Klain defended the administration’s actions on immigration as part of a broader set of priorities.

“We came in during an economic collapse and 3,000 Americans dying each day from Covid. We focused on those first and got both turned around quickly,” he said. “We ended the cruelty of Trump’s immigration policies but hit a wall on building a sensible asylum system when Republicans blocked action on needed legislation.”

But former advisers said the problem ran deeper than Republican obstruction.

The Biden White House “had no strategy, because they had no goal,” said Scott Shuchart, who joined the administration in 2022 as a senior adviser at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “All they had was wishing the problem would go away so that they could focus on the things they cared about.”

https://archive.is/jys4W

DC police chief steps down ‘to spend more time with family’ after Trump crackdown

Smith, a longtime federal law enforcement official and former head of the U.S. Park Police, assumed command during one of Washington’s most volatile years in nearly two decades.

Washington, D.C.’s police chief is stepping down after being catapulted into national attention as President Donald Trump moved to federalize Washington’s police force.

Pamela Smith, appointed in 2023, had been brought in to stabilize a department facing staffing shortages and a city shaken by post-pandemic crime.

But her tenure unfolded amid a fierce battle over authority, as Trump asserted federal control over the Metropolitan Police Department and deployed National Guard troops and federal agents alongside the city’s officers.

Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Smith’s resignation Monday and praised her for “stepping up” at a moment of “significant urgency.”

Bowser credited her with helping drive down violent crime, cutting homicides to an eight-year low and launching major policing initiatives, including a Real-Time Crime Center and new technology upgrades.

“Chief Smith got all of this done while navigating unprecedented challenges and attacks on our city’s autonomy,” Bowser said.

The mayor did not say why Smith is leaving but Smith told Fox 5 DC, “I have been going nonstop. I have missed many amazing celebrations, birthdays, marriages, you name it, within our family.

“What really resonated with me was going home for Thanksgiving to visit my family.

“Being able to come home for Thanksgiving two years after my mom passed really resonated with me and has allowed me to make a decision that I think is necessary, not just for me, but also for my family.”

Bowser did not announce who would take over the department or whether the change in leadership might affect the city’s broader public-safety strategy at a moment when Washington continues to recover from historic levels of violence.

Smith said she was confident the police force “is in a strong position and that the great work will continue” and that the role has been both a challenge and a reward.

“I am proud of the accomplishments we achieved together, and I thank the residents of this city for their trust and partnership,” Smith said.

“While my aspiration has always been to see zero percent crime, we are not there yet. Nonetheless, we have made tremendous progress, and there remains important work ahead.”

Smith, a longtime federal law enforcement official and former head of the U.S. Park Police, assumed command during one of Washington’s most volatile years in nearly two decades, as homicides surged, carjackings hit record highs and frustration mounted among residents and lawmakers.

The spike in 2023 violence prompted congressional hearings and led city leaders to expand police authority, including authorizing drug-free zones in areas with persistent crime. Lawmakers also rewrote parts of the city’s criminal code in an effort to stem the rise in violent offenses.

Early the next year, the city began to see improvement. Overall crime fell by about 17% in the first ten weeks of 2024, a drop Smith attributed to the new law and to targeted deployments in neighborhoods experiencing repeated trouble. She also imposed temporary youth curfew zones in several parts of the district.

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/pamela-smith-washington-dc-police-chief-stepping-down-trump-b2880330.html

UK Govt’s Lawfare Against Nigel Farage Intensifies to Trump Levels

UK police have confirmed they are assessing allegations that Nigel Farage‘s Reform Party overspent on the Brexit leader’s general election campaign in the Clacton constituency (electoral district) last year.

Richard Everett, a former Reform councillor and member of the party’s campaign team, reportedly submitted documents to London’s Metropolitan Police, alleging that the party had exceeded the £20,660 (~$27,500) spending limit. Notably, Everett was expelled from Reform for alleged sexually inappropriate behaviour at a party office in Clacton, with the party dismissing him as a “disgruntled former councillor” with an axe to grind.

In a statement released on Monday, Essex Police said: “We are assessing a report relating to alleged misreported expenditure by a political party in connection with the 2024 general election, following a referral to us by the Met Police.”The National Pulse Editor-in-Chief Raheem Kassam, a former senior advisor to Farage, has described the investigation as lawfare, predicting, “They’re going to try to do with Nigel Farage what they did with Marine Le Pen.”

Le Pen, leader of France’s populist National Rally (RN) party, has been banned from running for office due to a technical breach of European Union (EU) spending rules while she was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), which involved using parliamentary funding for party work.

Even Le Pen’s critics, such as liberal journalist Michael Crick, have conceded that the prosecution appeared at best selective, observing, “[Hundreds] of MEPs [and] ex-MEPs across the EU will be thinking of Le Pen verdict tonight: ‘There but the grace of God…’ Any half-decent political journalist knows parties across the EU, including UK, have been misu[s]ing [European Parliament] money for decades for domestic party purposes.”Everett alleges that Reform failed to declare spending on campaign materials, utility bills, and office refurbishment during Farage’s 2024 campaign.

A spokesman for Reform has dismissed the allegations, stating: “These inaccurate claims come from a disgruntled former councillor. The party denies breaking electoral law. We look forward to clearing our name.

”Similar efforts to eliminate President Donald J. Trump, a longtime ally of Farage, from the U.S. presidential race in 2024, by claiming he was ineligible to stand as an “insurrectionist” or by imprisoning him, ended in abject failure, with the America First leader winning every swing state in a landslide victory.

https://thenationalpulse.com/2025/12/08/uk-govts-lawfare-against-nigel-farage-intensifies-to-trump-levels/

Texas becomes 5th state to allow Ivermectin to be sold without prescription

Texans may now access ivermectin from their local pharmacies without a doctor’s prescription after a law passed earlier this year by the legislature took effect on December 4.

“Ivermectin is officially available without a prescription in Texas, and pharmacists are fully allowed to dispense!” Houston’s Dr. Mary Talley Bowden celebrated on X.

The new law, passed as House Bill 25, also protects pharmacists from criminal, civil, or professional disciplinary liability for responsibly dispensing ivermectin.

Although the law states that pharmacists “may” dispense ivermectin without a prescription, it does not state that they “shall” do so. Some pharmacies may choose not to.

The law also authorized the Texas State Board of Pharmacy to set rules for dispensing ivermectin.

State Rep. Joanne Shofner (R–Nacogdoches) authored the legislation during the second special session this year. The measure was made a priority by both the governor and Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows after having died on the House calendar during the regular session.

Shofner wrote on X that this law gives families more control and removes barriers to treatment options that should not have been denied.

“For years, access to ivermectin became restricted, even as countless doctors and experts continued to speak to its benefits,” said Shofner. “Those limitations left too many Texans without choices when they needed them most — especially in rural communities.”

“Today, that ends,” Shofner added.

Pharmacists are now able to immediately offer ivermectin, since the Texas State Board of Pharmacy did not propose any rules for dispensing the drug. If the board had proposed rules, it would have delayed the law from taking effect for at least 30 days to allow for public comment.

Texans for Vaccine Choice has begun collecting the names of pharmacies willing to dispense ivermectin without a prescription. The form can be found here.

Currently, the only states that have passed similar legislation are Louisiana, Arkansas, Idaho, and Tennessee. Although ivermectin has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat COVID-19, the drug became quite popular during the pandemic.

https://texasscorecard.com/state/new-law-allowing-pharmacists-to-dispense-ivermectin-without-prescription-takes-effect/

Somali migrant scammer is stealing millions from Maine taxpayers to fund military forces in Somalia

Wall Street Apes

@WallStreetApes

A man from Somalia came to America, started a nonprofit and opened a “multimillion dollar migrant care service agency”.

He’s getting over $5 million per year from American taxpayers, being given no-bid contracts from Maine Governor Janet Mills, and is building a military in Somalia.

He has been funneling money back to Somalia to build a military in Somalia.

“The guy is running a migrant services agency that bills MaineCare, which is what we call Medicaid, about $5 million a year”.

“He said he raised money in the US to buy weapons, munitions, and supplies for paramilitary force he had hoped to lead as the president of Jubaland. Yes, that is a real state in Somalia — and to be clear, in Somalia, he's running to be the warlord of Jubaland. Elections in Jubaland aren't exactly like elections in, America, it's whoever has the most guns is able to certify the election. So he needed to buy a paramilitary organization and paramilitary support in order to win that election.”

• Abdullahi Ali’s Background came to Maine founded Gateway Community Services (a migrant services nonprofit).

• Gateway Community Services received millions in taxpayer-funded MaineCare payments and no-bid contracts from Democratic Gov. Janet Mills’ administration; former employees allege systematic fraudulent billing, over-billing by nearly $1 million in earlier audits.

• Governor Janet Mills created the Office of New Americans, whose sole employee (from Sudan) is a former Gateway Community Services staffer.

The fraud, kick backs and money laundering by Democrats is just mind blowing.

https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/1997637222112076179

Minnesota State Rep. Steve Drazkowski says he has proof Ilhan Omar married her brother for immigration purposes

RealRobert

@Real_RobN

The Minnesota State Rep. Steve Drazkowski was one of the first to conduct a thorough investigation, and now he is calling on @FBIDirectorKash and @AGPamBondi to take immediate action and arrest the “serial career criminal” Ilhan Omar.

Ilhan Omar married her brother and admitted she would “do what she had to do” to get him papers to stay in the U.S.

He has the receipts: witnesses, sworn affidavits, eviction notices, a marriage certificate, DNA evidence, and other documents.

Rep. Steve Drazkowski:

“I am presenting you with a copy of my letter and just a sampling of the materials available to you on these topics.”

He is now demanding the arrest of Ilhan Omar for crimes including marriage fraud, tax fraud, immigration fraud, student loan fraud, perjury, bigamy, incest, kickbacks, bribery, campaign finance abuse — and for the crime of defrauding the United States government — spanning from the East Coast to the Mississippi River: Boston, Washington, New York, Chicago, and Florida.

Rep. Steve Drazkowski: “She [@Ilhan] was found guilty of violations by the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board and was ordered to return those funds. Ms. @IlhanMN appears to be a serial career criminal.”

https://x.com/Real_RobN/status/1997817268852736265

RealRobert

@Real_RobN

The Terrorist Organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, saying the quiet part out loud.

Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, as members of Congress, serve as tools to overthrow the United States government.

https://x.com/Real_RobN/status/1997743144801304705

Confluent stock soars 29% as IBM announces $11 billion acquisition deal

-IBM said it is acquiring Confluent in a deal worth $11 billion.

-The addition of Confluent will strengthen IBM’s artificial intelligence portfolio.

-IBM will pay $31 per share in cash for all of the issued and outstanding common shares of the company.

IBM announced Monday it is acquiring data streaming platform Confluent in a deal valued at $11 billion.

Shares of Confluent soared 29%. IBM’s stock closed little changed.

“Data, and especially real-time data, is incredibly important to how an enterprise functions,” IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Monday. “Nobody can live with month-old data, or even week-old data, and Confluent has the most capable technology to unlock the real-time value of data.”

Krishna said Confluent will be part of its software unit.

IBM will pay $31 per share in cash for all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Confluent, according to a release. The transaction is expected to close by the middle of 2026. Shares of Confluent closed at $23.14 on Friday.

“With the acquisition of Confluent, IBM will provide the smart data platform for enterprise IT, purpose-built for AI,” Krishna said in a release.

IBM said the deal will bolster its artificial intelligence offerings as it expects global data growth to more than double by 2028, with the movement into AI agents accelerating in 2026.

“I think this ability to now have one layer, one control plane, where people can manage to give data to the AI agents, but still manage to make sure that it’s done with the correct security and the correct controls, I think, is going to unlock a lot,” Krishna told CNBC.

Wedbush called it a “strong move” from IBM that adds more data processing capabilities to its hybrid cloud ecosystem and is a natural fit to help eliminate data silos for powering AI.

“We loudly applaud this deal as Arvind takes IBM further into the AI Revolution with more acquisitions likely ahead,” the analysts said in a note.

Wedbush maintained its overweight rating on IBM and $325 price target. IBM closed at $307.94 on Friday.

The addition of Confluent fits with IBM’s deal last year to land cloud software maker HashiCorp for $6.4 billion and the 2023 move to acquire Apptio in a deal valued at $4.6 billion. Both of those acquisitions were all-cash deals.

Confluent has more than 6,500 clients across major industries and works with Anthropic, Amazon’s AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft, Snowflake and others.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/08/ibm-confluent-deal-data.html

EU account terminated by X

Nikita Bier

@nikitabier

The irony of your announcement:

You logged into your dormant ad account to take advantage of an exploit in our Ad Composer — to post a link that deceives users into thinking it’s a video and to artificially increase its reach.

As you may be aware, X believes everyone should have an equal voice on our platform. However, it seems you believe that the rules should not apply to your account.

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https://x.com/nikitabier/status/1997450541275005041

More US Troops Land In Puerto Rico As Caribbean Military Buildup Intensifies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNCwayYOIDk

Zuckerberg Basically Giving Up on Metaverse After Renaming Entire Company “Meta”

In October 2021, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that his social media empire was officially rebranding itself as “Meta” as part of a sweeping company-wide doubling down on virtual reality tech.

The head-scratching pivot has been nothing short of a disaster ever since, from blocky “Horizon Worlds” online environments filled with screeching children to never-ending rounds of layoffs and exorbitant losses.

All told, the company has lost more than $70 billion since the beginning of 2021 on its enormous long-term VR bet, a staggering sum that has left investors itchy and unimpressed as Zuckerberg has failed to convince the public of the high-fidelity virtual spaces he long insisted we’d be choosing to spend most of our time in.

Now, as Bloomberg reports, the company’s executives are eying gigantic budget cuts, as high as 30 percent, for the teams responsible for its Meta Horizon Worlds product and Quest VR headset — another nail in the coffin for Zuckerberg’s obsession that has been a major thorn in the sides of investors for years now. Layoffs could start as soon as January, but final decisions have yet to be made.

In fact, following Bloomberg‘s reporting, Meta’s stock jumped over four percent on Thursday, underscoring the degree to which shareholders have grown fed up with the company trying to make the metaverse happen.

“Smart move, just late,” Huber Research Partners analyst Craig Huber told Reuters. “This seems a major shift to align costs with a revenue outlook that surely is not as prosperous as management thought years ago.”

Besides, Meta and Zuckerberg have now found their next obsession: artificial intelligence. The company has committed to spending an astronomical $72 billion on AI this year — roughly as much as the company’s lost on the metaverse, coincidentally.

The cuts are part of a broader effort to rein in budgets by ten percent across the board, inside sources told Bloomberg — and, by all accounts, the changes could hit the company’s overarching Reality Labs division hard.

The cuts were reportedly born out of the realization that competition in the virtual reality space simply hasn’t taken off as expected.

They will also likely be a sight for sore eyes for investors, who have long accused the company’s metaverse of being an extremely expensive distraction and a drain on resources.

Could this really be the end of Zuckerberg’s dream of a metaverse? It’ll still exist in some form — but at this point, the writing is probably on the wall.

https://futurism.com/future-society/zuckerberg-metaverse-cuts

Two arrested after dozens of guns, including 'cop-killer' model, found in spare tire at southern border

Two men were arrested after authorities found 30 handguns allegedly destined for Mexico hidden in a spare tire during an inspection on the southern border in Texas, officials said Friday.

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) seized the weapons this week at the Anzalduas Port of Entry in Mission, a town on the Texas-Mexico border, the agency said.

DPS special agents searched a 2015 Chevy pickup as part of a multi-agency task force with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

"During the inspection, special agents discovered 30 handguns, including a 5.7-caliber FN Herstal, 60 magazines and one speed loader concealed inside the vehicle’s spare tire," a DPS news release states.

According to a DPS official, the 5.7-caliber FN Herstal is known as a "cop-killer" weapon because the ammunition can pierce body armor.

Investigators later discovered one of the handguns was reported stolen out of Austin, authorities said. The firearms were allegedly destined for Guanajuato in Mexico, where gun ownership is heavily restricted.

The driver, Luis Torres Mujica, 30, a resident of Guanajuato, and his passenger, Jesse Joe Camacho, 28, of McAllen, Texas, were arrested and charged with theft of property and firearm smuggling, a second-degree felony.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/two-arrested-dozens-guns-including-cop-killer-model-found-spare-tire-southern-border-dps

Texas oil worker jailed in one of Mexico’s most violent prisons after mistakenly crossing border

A Texas oil field worker has been detained in one of Mexico’s most dangerous prisons for nine months after crossing the border in an “honest accident” — while his family pleads for his safe return.

Caden Hawkins, 23, has been locked up on weapons charges at Cereso Estatal No. 3 in Juarez since March 2, when he unknowingly crossed the border in Columbus, New Mexico, while trying to return home to Hallsville after a job, his heartbroken mother, April Thomas, told KLTV.

Thomas said her son’s GPS directed him to the US–Mexico border without him realizing it, and he didn’t understand where he was until it was too late to turn around.

“I am on the phone with Caden, and he starts telling me the speed bumps are so bad in this town he’s in and then the next thing you know he is telling me that he couldn’t turn around. We hear men around him yelling in Spanish,” Thomas said.

The 23-year-old oil field worker filmed the tense exchange on his phone moments before he was hauled away in handcuffs.

His mother later learned he was detained for having a pistol and ammunition with him — a firearm he was legally licensed to carry — and insists it was an “honest accident.”

“My son is not a criminal,” she said, insisting he “does not deserve this.”

Hawkins’ sister said her brother’s detainment has been “one of the hardest things any of us has ever endured.”

“To hear him on the phone sounding distraught has taken a toll on all of us,” Haley Nicole Hawkins said.

Since his arrest, the family has spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to bring him home and is begging lawmakers to intervene.

“We need somebody that is more powerful than we are,” Thomas said.

East Texas state Rep. Jay Dean claimed that Hawkins is being used as a “cash asset for a corrupt federal judge in Juarez, Mexico,” and that his “family has been extorted for months.”

Dean claimed Hawkins’ family is being “forced to pay over $1,000 a week so Caden can have hot water, toilet paper, and semi-protection from violent inmates.”

“This is absolutely unacceptable and we need to band together and force our federal government to BRING CADEN HOME,” Dean wrote on Facebook.

Dean — who said he is “determined” to bring Hawkins home by Christmas — joined US Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in calling for federal intervention and urging the public to contact government offices, KETK reported.

Lawyers for Hawkins’ family said his nine-month-old appeal may not be reviewed for up to two years and warned he could face a sentence of up to four years.

Cereso Estatal No. 3 is regarded as one of Mexico’s most dangerous prisons, marked by violent riots, overcrowding, gang- and inmate-run hierarchies, and repeated security failures.

On New Year’s Day 2023, the prison was rocked by a bloody riot orchestrated by the Los Mexicles gang, killing 10 guards and freeing around 30 inmates, the El Paso Times reported.

https://www.aol.com/articles/ice-threatened-dump-cuban-immigrants-001232500.html

Tracking states’ redistricting efforts

https://www.cnn.com/politics/state-redistricting-maps-vis

38 percent of Stanford students claim to be ‘disabled’

Administering an exam used to be straightforward: All a college professor needed was an open room and a stack of blue books. At many American universities, this is no longer true. Professors now struggle to accommodate the many students with an official disability designation, which may entitle them to extra time, a distraction-free environment, or the use of otherwise-prohibited technology. The University of Michigan has two centers where students with disabilities can take exams, but they frequently fill to capacity, leaving professors scrambling to find more desks and proctors. Juan Collar, a physicist at the University of Chicago, told me that so many students now take their exams in the school’s low-distraction testing outposts that they have become more distracting than the main classrooms.

Accommodations in higher education were supposed to help disabled Americans enjoy the same opportunities as everyone else. No one should be kept from taking a class, for example, because they are physically unable to enter the building where it’s taught. Over the past decade and a half, however, the share of students at selective universities who qualify for accommodations—often, extra time on tests—has grown at a breathtaking pace. At the University of Chicago, the number has more than tripled over the past eight years; at UC Berkeley, it has nearly quintupled over the past 15 years.

The increase is driven by more young people getting diagnosed with conditions such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression, and by universities making the process of getting accommodations easier. The change has occurred disproportionately at the most prestigious and expensive institutions. At Brown and Harvard, more than 20 percent of undergraduates are registered as disabled. At Amherst, that figure is 34 percent. Not all of those students receive accommodations, but researchers told me that most do. The schools that enroll the most academically successful students, in other words, also have the largest share of students with a disability that could prevent them from succeeding academically.

“You hear ‘students with disabilities’ and it’s not kids in wheelchairs,” one professor at a selective university, who requested anonymity because he doesn’t have tenure, told me. “It’s just not. It’s rich kids getting extra time on tests.” Even as poor students with disabilities still struggle to get necessary provisions, elite universities have entered an age of accommodation. Instead of leveling the playing field, the system has put the entire idea of fairness at risk.

Forty years ago, students with disabilities could count on few protections in higher education. Federal law prohibited discrimination against disabled students, but in practice schools did little to address their needs. Michael Ashley Stein, a disability-rights expert who teaches at Harvard Law, recalled the challenges of attending law school as a student using a wheelchair in the 1980s. “I sat in the back of the classroom, could not enter certain buildings in a normal way, became the first person on the law review with a disability, and dragged myself up the stairs,” he told me.

The Americans With Disabilities Act, passed in 1990, was meant to make life fairer for people like Stein. The law required public and private institutions to provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with “a physical or mental impairment” that “substantially limits one or more major life activities.”

Change was slow at first, in part because Supreme Court rulings narrowed the scope of the law. Professors I spoke with told me that, even in the early 2000s, they taught only a handful of students with disabilities. Then, in 2008, Congress amended the ADA to restore the law’s original intent. The government broadened the definition of disability, effectively expanding the number of people the law covered. It also included a list of major life activities that could be disrupted by a disability (“learning, reading, concentrating, thinking,” among others) and clarified that individuals were protected under the ADA even if their impairment didn’t severely restrict their daily life.

In response to the 2008 amendments, the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD), an organization of disability-services staff, released guidance urging universities to give greater weight to students’ own accounts of how their disability affected them, rather than relying solely on a medical diagnosis. “Requiring extensive medical and scientific evidence perpetuates a deviance model of disability, undervalues the individual’s history and experience with disability and is inappropriate and burdensome under the revised statute and regulations,” AHEAD wrote.

Schools began relaxing their requirements. A 2013 analysis of disability offices at 200 postsecondary institutions found that most “required little” from a student besides a doctor’s note in order to grant accommodations for ADHD. At the same time, getting such a note became easier. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association expanded the definition of ADHD. Previously, the threshold for diagnosis had been “clear evidence of clinically significant impairment.” After the release of the DSM‑5, the symptoms needed only to “interfere with, or reduce the quality” of, academic functioning.

Recently, mental-health issues have joined ADHD as a primary driver of the accommodations boom. Over the past decade, the number of young people diagnosed with depression or anxiety has exploded. L. Scott Lissner, the ADA coordinator at Ohio State University, told me that 36 percent of the students registered with OSU’s disability office have accommodations for mental-health issues, making them the largest group of students his office serves. Many receive testing accommodations, extensions on take-home assignments, or permission to miss class. Students at Carnegie Mellon University whose severe anxiety makes concentration difficult might get extra time on tests or permission to record class sessions, Catherine Samuel, the school’s director of disability resources, told me. Students with social-anxiety disorder can get a note so the professor doesn’t call on them without warning.

The types of accommodations vary widely. Some are uncontroversial, such as universities outfitting buildings with ramps and providing course materials in braille. These allow disabled students to access the same opportunities as their classmates. Some students get approved for housing accommodations, including single rooms and emotional-support animals.

Other accommodations risk putting the needs of one student over the experience of their peers. One administrator told me that a student at a public college in California had permission to bring their mother to class. This became a problem, because the mom turned out to be an enthusiastic class participant.

Professors told me that the most common—and most contentious—accommodation is the granting of extra time on exams. For students with learning disabilities, the extra time may be necessary to complete the test. But unlike a wheelchair ramp, this kind of accommodation can be exploited. Research confirms what intuition suggests: Extra time can confer an advantage to students who don’t have a disability.

Complicating matters is the fact that the line between having a learning or psychological disability and struggling with challenging coursework is not always clearly defined. Having ADHD or anxiety, for example, might make it difficult to focus. But focusing is a skill that the educational system is designed to test. Some professors see the current accommodations regime as propping up students who shouldn’t have perfect scores. “If we want our grades to be meaningful, they should reflect what the student is capable of,” Steven Sloman, a cognitive-science professor at Brown, told me. “Once they’re past Brown and off in the real world, that’s going to affect their performance.”

No one is more skeptical of the accommodations system than the academics who study it. Robert Weis, a psychology professor at Denison University, pointed me to a Department of Education study that found that middle and high schoolers with disabilities tend to have below-average reading and math skills. These students are half as likely to enroll in a four-year institution as students without disabilities and twice as likely to attend a two-year or community college. If the rise in accommodations were purely a result of more disabled students making it to college, the increase should be more pronounced at less selective institutions than at so called Ivy Plus schools.

In fact, the opposite appears to be true. According to Weis’s research, only 3 to 4 percent of students at public two-year colleges receive accommodations, a proportion that has stayed relatively stable over the past 10 to 15 years. He and his co-authors found that students with learning disabilities who request accommodations at community colleges “tend to have histories of academic problems beginning in childhood” and evidence of ongoing impairment. At four-year institutions, by contrast, about half of these students “have no record of a diagnosis or disability classification prior to beginning college.”

No one can say precisely how many students should qualify for accommodations. The higher prevalence at more selective institutions could reflect the fact that wealthy families and well-resourced schools are better positioned to get students with disabilities the help they need. Even with the lowered bar for a diagnosis, obtaining one can cost thousands of dollars. And as more students with disabilities get help in middle and high school, that could at least partially explain their enrollment at top colleges.

Still, some students are clearly taking advantage of an easily gamed system. The Varsity Blues college-admissions scandal showed that there are wealthy parents who are willing to pay unscrupulous doctors to provide disability diagnoses to their nondisabled children, securing them extra time on standardized tests. Studies have found that a significant share of students exaggerate symptoms or don’t put in enough effort to get valid results on diagnostic tests. When Weis and his colleagues looked at how students receiving accommodations for learning disabilities at a selective liberal-arts school performed on reading, math, and IQ tests, most had above-average cognitive abilities and no evidence of impairment.

A parent in Scarsdale, New York, who works in special education told me that it’s become common for parents of honors students to get their kids evaluated so they can have extra time on tests. The process usually starts when kids see that their peers have accommodations— or when they bring home their first B. “It feels in some ways like a badge of honor,” she said. “People are all talking about getting their children evaluated now.” In 2019, a Wall Street Journal analysis found that one in five Scarsdale High School students was considered disabled and eligible for accommodations on college entrance exams—a rate more than seven times higher than the national average.

Several of the college students I spoke with for this story said they knew someone who had obtained a dubious diagnosis. Hailey Strickler, a senior at the University of Richmond, was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia when she was 7 years old. She was embarrassed about her disabilities and wary of getting accommodations, until her sophomore year of college. She was speaking with a friend, who didn’t have a disability but had received extra time anyway. “They were like, ‘If I’m doing that, you should definitely have the disability accommodations,’” Strickler told me.

“We know that people will act as they are incentivized to act,” Brian Scholl, a Yale psychology and cognitive-science professor, told me. “And the students are absolutely incentivized to have as much extra accommodations as they can under any circumstances.” Students who receive extra time on the LSAT, for example, earn higher average scores than students who don’t.

Even if students aren’t consciously trying to gain an unfair edge, some seem to have convinced themselves that they need extra help. Will Lindstrom, the director of the Regents’ Center for Learning Disorders at the University of Georgia, told me that the fastest-growing group of students who come to him seems to be those who have done their own research and believe that a disability is the source of their academic or emotional challenges. “It’s almost like it’s part of their identity,” Lindstrom said. “By the time we see them, they’re convinced they have a neurodevelopmental disorder.”

Lindstrom worries that the system encourages students to see themselves as less capable than they actually are. By attributing all of their difficulties to a disability, they are pathologizing normal challenges. “When it comes to a disorder like ADHD, we all have those symptoms sometimes,” Lindstrom told me. “But most of us aren’t impaired by them.”

One recent Stanford graduate told me that when she got mononucleosis as a freshman, she turned to the disability office: Because she couldn’t exercise, she was struggling to focus in class. Though she’d always been fidgety, she’d never had academic issues in high school—but high school had been easier than Stanford. The office suggested that she might have ADHD, and encouraged her to seek a diagnosis. A psychiatrist and her pediatrician diagnosed her with ADHD and dyslexia, and Stanford granted her extra time on tests, among other accommodations.

Collar, the University of Chicago physics professor, said that part of what his exams are designed to assess is the ability to solve problems in a certain amount of time. But now many of his students are in a separate room, with time and a half or even double the allotted time to complete the test. “I feel for the students who are not taking advantage of this,” he told me. “We have a two-speed student population.”

Most of the disability advocates I spoke with are more troubled by the students who are still not getting the accommodations they need than by the risk of people exploiting the system. They argue that fraud is rare, and stress that some universities maintain stringent documentation requirements. “I would rather open up access to the five kids who need accommodations but can’t afford documentation, and maybe there’s one person who has paid for an evaluation and they really don’t need it,” Emily Tarconish, a special-education teaching assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, told me. “That’s worth it to me.”

Tarconish sees the growing number of students receiving accommodations as evidence that the system is working. Ella Callow, the assistant vice chancellor of disability rights at Berkeley, had a similar perspective. “I don’t think of it as a downside, no matter how many students with disabilities show up,” she told me. “Disabled people still are deeply underemployed in this country and too often live in poverty. The key to addressing that is in large part through institutions like Berkeley that make it part of our mission to lift people into security.” (One-third of the students registered with Berkeley’s disability office are from low-income families.) At the University of Chicago, members of a committee to address the surge in accommodations don’t even agree on whether a problem exists, Collar told me.

The surge itself is undeniable. Soon, some schools may have more students receiving accommodations than not, a scenario that would have seemed absurd just a decade ago. Already, at one law school, 45 percent of students receive academic accommodations. Paul Graham Fisher, a Stanford professor who served as co-chair of the university’s disability task force, told me, “I have had conversations with people in the Stanford administration. They’ve talked about at what point can we say no? What if it hits 50 or 60 percent? At what point do you just say ‘We can’t do this’?” This year, 38 percent of Stanford undergraduates are registered as having a disability; in the fall quarter, 24 percent of undergraduates were receiving academic or housing accommodations.

Mark Schneider, the former head of the educational-research arm of the Department of Education, told me that three of his four grandkids have “individualized education programs,” the term of art for accommodations at the K–12 level. “The reward for saying that you have a disability, versus the stigma—the balance between those two things has so radically changed,” he said. Were it not for that shift, he added, his grandchildren may not be receiving benefits and services they need. But at the very least, the rewards are not evenly distributed. As more elite students get accommodations, the system worsens the problem it was designed to solve. The ADA was supposed to make college more equitable. Instead, accommodations have become another way for the most privileged students to press their advantage.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/01/elite-university-student-accommodation/684946/?gift=o6MjJQpusU9ebnFuymVdsFCUJZQ0G9lMNnLXcGfnS-w&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

Chilling moment Afghan asylum seekers drag 15-year-old girl into the bushes before raping her

This is the moment two teenage Afghan asylum seekers dragged a screaming schoolgirl towards a dark park where they would rape her.

Small boat migrants Jan Jahanzeb and Israr Niazal, both 17, were on Monday jailed for sexually assaulting the 15-year-old in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on May 10.

They were both named following a legal victory by the Daily Mail.

Chilling CCTV released in the wake of their sentencing showed the boys leading their victim across a bridge to a park where they forced her to perform oral sex on them.

In the 20-second clip, the asylum seekers are seen standing menacingly on either side of the girl at around 9.21pm, after luring her away from her friends.

Separate footage captured by the victim on her phone was so appalling that one of the boy's own barristers warned it would lead to rioting if the public were to see it.

The harrowing three-minute clip showed the girl saying 'you're going to rape me', as she was forced away from the area where she had been happily socialising.

The phone clip, which was played at Warwick Crown Court today, also caught the girl weeping, repeatedly crying 'help' and begging not to be taken into the park.

At one point the victim screamed for help, but Jahanzeb placed his hand over her mouth.

She was forced to perform oral sex on the boys in a secluded area next to Newbold Comyn, before she escaped and filmed several further videos describing her ordeal.

The girl was eventually found by a quick-thinking passerby who took her to a nearby police station with him, where officers were able to obtain vital forensic evidence.

Ahead of sentencing the boys today, Judge Sylvia de Bertodano accepted a legal challenge mounted by the Daily Mail and agreed to lift a ban on naming them, which had been imposed due to their age.

Jahanzeb was jailed for 10 years and eight months, while Niazal was jailed for nine years and 10 months, with a deduction to reflect he was younger at the time of the offence.

The young victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, bravely attended court with her mother to watch her tormentors be imprisoned.

Passing sentence, the judge said: 'No child should have to suffer the ordeal (the victim) has suffered. The fact is, you two have robbed her of her childhood and nothing that the sentence of this court and nothing I can do today can restore that.

'I accept that you come from a place which has significant cultural differences from the UK, however I don’t accept that either of you does not understand the concept of consent.

'This is a case where it was absolutely clear to both of you that you were talking a child away from her friends in the face of her vigorous protests to somewhere you couldn’t be observed, in order to commit this offence.

'I’m satisfied you both knew perfectly well that what you were doing was criminal and wrong.

'You have betrayed the interests of those, like you, who come here fleeing harm and seeking safety and for that you should feel a deep and lasting sense of shame.'

The asylum seekers were living in taxpayer-funded houses at the time of the attack, having arrived in the UK by small boats as unaccompanied children.

It is understood Jahanzeb only succeeded in making the crossing in January, after three previous failed attempts which saw French police repeatedly cutting up his dinghy.

The boys, who appeared in the dock today wearing matching grey jackets with sky-blue sleeves, pleaded guilty to the dusk attack at an earlier hearing in October.

Jahanzeb now faces being deported, but Niazal has not been served with papers ordering him to leave the UK because he pleaded guilty one day before turning 17 - making him just a day too young to qualify.

His barrister made the extraordinary suggestion this would allow the younger of the two rapists to 'make a life for himself in this country' when he is eventually released.

The judge later confirmed during her sentencing that she would recommend that the Home Secretary considers deporting both Jahanzeb and Niazal.

Outlining the case against the defendants, Shawn Williams, prosecuting, said the girl had been drinking vodka with her friends in a park in Leamington, saying: 'It was a Saturday afternoon, it was a nice day.'

The victim had found herself quite drunk from the spirits, later telling officers her level of inebriation was an 'eight out of 10'.

The two defendants began talking to the group of girls and posed for pictures, with one of the boys grabbing the victim's friend 'very tightly'.

'After some time, (the victim) became separated from her friends and she walked away with Jahanzeb,' the prosecutor said.

As she was being led away by Jahanzeb, the girl was able to record a three-minute video on her phone - which captured both her alarm and the defendant summoning his friend to join him.

'The video footage is of a very distressing nature,' the prosecutor said.

'(The victim) is heard screaming for help - she wants her friends, she wants to go home, she can be heard explicitly stating "you're going to rape me", repeatedly shouting let me go and she's pleading for help from passers-by.'

Tragically, a woman can be heard stopping and repeatedly asking the girl if she is alright, but, despite the girl saying she was not and crying out for help, the witness did not intervene further.

A translation of Jahanzeb's words in the clip revealed he was urging his friend to join him quickly, before adding: 'Oh my god, I'm a Muslim in one minute.'

CCTV footage captured from a nearby bridge showed the boys marching down the road with the victim between them.

She was taken to a 'bushy den type of area, a really secluded location' where she was pushed down to her knees, which ripped her jeans and grazed one knee.

After being forced to perform oral sex on both boys, she was able to escape and filmed a series of videos of herself crying as she walked down the road.

She could be heard saying: 'Oh my god, I just got f** kidnapped by these guys…I was screaming for help and no one was listening to me.'

A man who saw her distress stopped to help her and encouraged her to report the matter immediately to the police.

The prosecutor said: 'The evidence of lack of consent is overwhelming. The facts reveal a deeply distressing and predatory sexual offence on a vulnerable and highly intoxicated 15-year-old.'

In a victim impact statement, the girl said: 'The day I was raped changed me as a person. I'm no longer a happy, care-free teenager. This was my first sexual experience.

'When I go out, I no longer feel safe, so much so that I have started to avoid it all together. This has also impacted my education and school life at the worst possible time as I'm taking my GCSEs.

'I hate that I'm now looked at as a victim, even though that is exactly what I am.'

Joshua Radcliffe, defending Niazal, had earlier sought to oppose the press's application to lift restrictions on naming the boys by arguing the crime was so appalling it could lead to rioting.

'It is horrific footage, genuinely horrific footage,' he said. 'I have no doubt that if the general public were exposed to that, we would have disorder on our hands.'

Robert Holt, defending Jahanzeb, went further by asking the judge to stop the press from even being able to say the boys were Afghan asylum seekers.

But Sam Rowe, representing the Daily Mail, told the court it was in the public interest for the boys to be named due to national concern about sex crimes being committed by asylum seekers.

He said: 'These defendants plainly pose a grave risk to children, having now been found by the court to have raped a child - irrespective of the time the defendants may spend in prison.'

The judge ultimately accepted the arguments of the Daily Mail, telling the court: 'The balance clearly falls in favour of the public interest and the identities of these two young men can be reported.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15364309/Teenage-asylum-seekers-raped-15-year-old-schoolgirl-park-filmed-dragged-away-footage-horrifying-cause-riot.html

Indian man found guilty of murdering Australian woman on remote beach

An Indian nurse has been found guilty of the savage stabbing murder of a young Australian woman Toyah Cordingley on a remote beach near Cairns in Far North Queensland.

Rajwinder Singh, 41, flew back to India shortly after Toyah’s body was found half-buried in sand dunes by her father at Wangetti Beach on October 22, 2018, and was arrested in New Delhi after a $1 million reward was offered for information on the runaway suspect in late 2022.

He pleaded not guilty to murder during a four-week retrial in the Cairns Supreme Court nine months after a jury in his first trial was unable to reach a verdict, but on Monday afternoon he was found guilty after seven hours of deliberations.

Toyah, an animal shelter volunteer, had driven to the beach with her dog on a Sunday afternoon, but after she failed to return her family raised the alarm and launched a search.

The next morning her dad Troy found her body with a slashed throat and 26 stab wounds in a shallow grave 800 metres from her car, and her dog tied to a tree unharmed.

Singh booked one-way flight back to India the same day, telling his wife he would be gone for a couple of days, and she and their three children lost their home during his four-year absence as they were financially dependent on him.

He became a person of interest to police three weeks after Toyah’s death when detectives matched the movements of Toyah’s phone to his blue Alfa Romeo sedan, and he was eventually arrested at Sikh temple following the announcement of the reward, that was split between multiple people.

More than 70 witnesses gave evidence at Singh’s trial, and the nine-man, three-woman jury heard evidence that Toyah’s murder was so brutal that she was almost decapitated, The Cairns Post reported.

Singh pleaded not guilty and no motive has been established for for the murder, with his barrister Gregory McGuire KC urging the jury to consider deficiencies in police investigation, including the discovery of DNA belonging to an unknown person, and calling the Crown case “insane”.

But Crown Prosecutor Nathan Crane told the jury the circumstantial evidence against Singh had to be considered together, including DNA found on a stick on top of sand covering Toyah’s body that was 3.7 billion times more likely to belong to Singh, his flight from Australia, and the movements of her phone and his car.

He told told court the DNA found under her fingernails “almost perfectly” matched Singh, and that the killer had given no explanation how his DNA ended up there and on the stick when he claimed he saw two masked killers from far enough away that they were unable to chase him down.

https://www.noticer.news/toyah-cordingley-rajwinder-singh-guilty-murder/

Mayor of London nearly crashes out the moment he realizes he has to sing “Christ is born the newborn King” during a Christmas Carol event in London