Paradise News

Tag: United States

  • Fact Check: The U.N. isn’t paying military service members to invade the U.S. Cash aid helps some asylum seekers

    Social media users are claiming that the United Nations is funding military service members to cross the U.S. border. Their proof: a video of a man showing a debit card, complaining that the U.N. is late to pay him.

    The video, attached to Oct. 8 Instagram posts, had text reading: “UN is paying them to cross our border. Biden is paying them to cross our border. These are paid soldiers. MERCENARIES!”

    In an interview on the video, the man spoke in Spanish, saying his debit card is empty because “they haven’t deposited anything.” He showed the card, which had a logo of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

    (Screenshots from Instagram)

    These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

    The video was uploaded on X on Jan. 14, 2022, by Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that favors stricter immigration laws.

    Bensman featured the same man in a January 2022 report, and identified him as Luis Ponce from Haiti. Bensman wrote that Ponce was waiting outside of a U.N. office in Tapachula, Mexico, to complain to the U.N. because the agency had not recharged his debit card.

    Bensman wrote that this was part of the U.N.’s “cash-based interventions.” According to the U.N. refugee agency, cash-based interventions refer to “all interventions in which cash or vouchers for goods or services are provided to refugees and other persons of concern on an individual or community basis.” 

    The U.N. refugee agency ensures that the person stays in the asylum process and that the person intends to stay in Mexico before approving humanitarian cash assistance. 

    Pamela Luna, a spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency’s Mexico branch, told PolitiFact that this cash assistance program is meant for the “most vulnerable asylum seekers.” To obtain this aid, she said, asylum seekers must claim asylum in Mexico, express their will to remain in Mexico and register with the agency.

    The registration process identifies asylum seekers in Mexico, including children at risk of harm including abuse and exploitation, single mothers, gender-violence survivors and people with medical needs. (PolitiFact couldn’t find more information about Ponce.) The agency then refers these people to assistance systems. In the most vulnerable cases, the U.N. agency provides cash aid.

    Luna said that of the people who seek asylum in Mexico, less than 10% receive this cash assistance. She added that most people use this aid to pay rent and buy food.

    The cash assistance comes with a time limit, usually three to four months. After that, the aid expires. It doesn’t include cash or vouchers given to governments or other state actors, or payments to humanitarian workers or service providers, the U.N. agency said.

    The U.N. refugee agency issues cash assistance to help asylum seekers, not to pay military service members to enter the U.S. We rate that claim False.  

    PolitiFact reporter Maria Briceño contributed to this report.



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  • Brotherly Sacrifice: Covington County lost three sets of brothers in World War II

    Brotherly Sacrifice: Covington County lost three sets of brothers in World War II

    Published 1:30 pm Friday, October 13, 2023

    By Robert Evers, Covington Veterans Foundation

    During the Second World War, many families had all sons serving in the armed forces. The Fedele family of New York had eight sons who served during the war, all of whom survived the war. At the start of World War II, brothers were allowed to serve together in the same unit, contrary to official policy. Twenty-three sets of brothers died aboard the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor that began the war.

    In March of 1942, the USS Juneau was struck by Japanese torpedoes during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Five brothers of the Sullivan family serving on board were lost when the ship sank. Two weeks later, the Rogers family of Birmingham, Alabama, learned that three of their sons were lost when the USS New Orleans was struck by a Japanese torpedo in the Battle of Tassafaronga.

    The fate of the Sullivans and the Rogers led the War Department to enforce the policy of separating siblings to avoid such tragedies. Still, hundreds of families would lose more than one son during the war. The Borgstrom brothers were four American siblings from Utah, including twin brothers, killed over a six-month period during World War II.

    Covington County, Alabama, lost three sets of brothers during World War II. They were as follows:

    The Catrett Brothers
    Cpl. John W. Catrett, 1st Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division, U.S. Army. He was missing in action at the Battle of Sidi Bou Zidin in Tunisia on February 14, 1943. His remains were not found. His name is listed in the Courts of the Missing in the North Africa American Cemetery in Carthage, Tunisia.

    T/Sgt James “Jimmie” Catrett, 321st Infantry Regiment, 81st Infantry Division, was killed in action on October 17, 1944, during the battle for Peleliu Island. He is buried in the Brantley Cemetery.

    After the war, a third brother, Sgt Roy Catrett, U.S. Air Force, was lost on August 5, 1953, when his RB-36 aircraft crashed into the Atlantic due to an engine fire. The sole surviving Catrett son, William, was a veteran of WWII as well. The Catrett brothers were the sons of Mr. and Mrs. A.J. Catrett of Searight/Andalusia.

    The Cook Brothers
    PFC Richard A. Cook, 73rd Infantry, Regiment, 92nd Infantry, Division, U.S. Army. He was killed in action in northern Italy on April 17, 1945.

    S/Sgt Fred E. Cook, 60th Infantry, Regiment, 9th Infantry, Division, U.S. Army, was killed in action on the first day of Operation Cobra, the Allied breakout of Normandy, on July 25, 1944. The Cook brothers are buried side-by-side in the Red Oak Cemetery. They were the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Joe G. Cook of the Red Oak community.

    The Kelley Brothers
    PFC Harold R. Kelley, 31st Infantry, Regiment 3rd Infantry, Division, U.S. Army, was killed in action during Operation Dragoon, the allied invasion of Southern France. He is buried in Rhone American Cemetery and Memorial in Draguignan, France.

    S/Sgt James C. Kelley, 127th Infantry, Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, was killed in action on March 23, 45, during the Battle of Luzon in the liberation of the Philippine Islands. He rests in Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Philippines. The Kelley brothers were the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Elbert J. Kelley of Florala.

    The Covington Veterans Foundation is dedicated to preserving and honoring the service and sacrifice of those of this area who served in our nation’s armed forces. If you have additional information or corrections for this story, please email us at covvets.org.

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  • Minnesota man pleads guilty to stealing ruby slippers from 'The Wizard of Oz'

    DULUTH, Minn. (TCD) — A 76-year-old man recently pleaded guilty to stealing a pair of the famous ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.”

    According to an Oct. 13 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of North Dakota, Terry Martin pleaded guilty to one count of theft of major artwork, an object of cultural heritage from the care, custody, or control of a museum. He previously pleaded not guilty in June, WCCO-TV reports. 

    In 2005, Martin reportedly used a sledgehammer to break into the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, then opened the display case containing the slippers and proceeded to steal them.

    According to WCCO, Martin claimed he didn’t hear an alarm, and he fled the scene in his car. Martin reportedly stashed the stolen slippers in a trailer next to his home.

    WCCO reports that Martin brought them to a “jewelry fence,” a criminal who resells stolen items, who revealed the jewels were glass, not real rubies. He later handed the slippers over to someone else, and he claimed he no longer had anything to do with the shoes after that.

    The FBI and Grand Rapids Police Department recovered the slippers in July 2018. They are one of the last four remaining pairs, the Attorney’s Office said.

    Michael Shaw, a collector who loaned the shoes to the museum during the theft, reportedly said that the slippers remained in the same “pristine” condition as they were before the theft.

    The Attorney’s Office said the slippers were worth $1 million in 2005, but they’re currently estimated to be worth $3.5 million.

    Martin’s sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

    In a statement obtained by WCCO, a curator for the Judy Garland Museum said, “Just to do it because he thought they were real rubies and to turn them over to a jewelry fence. I mean, the value is not rubies. The value is an American treasure, a national treasure. To steal them without knowing that seems ludicrous.”

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  • Shocking January 6 Secrets Revealed!

    U.S. Capitol Police Federal Court Filing Reveals Officials Were Aware of the Potential for a Significant Disturbance on January 6
    UPDATE on Federal Court Hearing FBI’s Records on Hunter Biden Gun Scandal As FBI Refuses to Divulge Number of Records Due to ‘Ongoing Criminal Investigation’
    Biden DHS Fails to Deport 99.7% of the 2.1 Million Illegal Immigrants it Freed Inside U.S.

     

    U.S. Capitol Police Federal Court Filing Reveals Officials Were Aware of the Potential for a Significant Disturbance on January 6

    “Things are not always what they seem,” the ancient Greek aristocrat Phaedrus said. “The first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.” So, it goes with the events of January 6, 2021.

    Judicial Watch just received the court-ordered declaration of James W. Joyce, senior counsel in the Office of the General Counsel for the Capitol Police, in which he describes emails among senior officials of the United States Capitol Police (USCP) in January 2021 that show warnings of possible January 6 protests that could lead to serious disruptions at the U.S. Capitol.

    The declaration comes in a lawsuit we brought under the common law right of access to public records (Judicial Watch v. United States Capitol Police (No. 1:21-cv-00401)). The suit requests:

    Email communications between the U.S. Capitol Police Executive Team and the Capitol Police Board concerning the security of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The timeframe of this request is from January 1, 2021 through January 10, 2021.

    Email communications of the Capitol Police Board with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security concerning the security of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The timeframe of this request is from January 1, 2021 through January 10, 2021.

    All video footage from within the Capitol between 12 pm and 9 pm on January 6, 2021.

    After an August 15, 2023, hearing, in which U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes ordered the Capitol Police to provide us more detailed descriptions of certain emails that had been withheld, the U.S. Capitol Police filed a seven-page “second declaration,” which describes email discussions of evacuations and relocations of people from certain buildings, arrests, and other security matters.

    The U.S. Capitol Police describe “situational security update” emails at issue as follows:

    a. A January 3, 2021 email, with attachment, from the USCP Deputy Chief to a Board member and others at USCP and in Congress providing a detailed “special event assessment” of anticipated protest activity in advance of the January 6, 2021 Joint Session of Congress. The attached document is marked on each page “For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive.”

    b. A January 5, 2021 email, with map attachment, from the USCP Chief to two Board members detailing a proposed “bike rack” security perimeter for January 6, 2021, and proposing further discussion.

    c. A January 5, 2021 email, with map attachment, from the USCP Chief to two Board members detailing a proposed security perimeter for January 6, 2021.

    d. A January 5, 2021 email, with social media post and map attachments, from the USCP Deputy Chief to a Board member and others at USCP and in Congress reporting “a significant uptick in new visitors” to a “historical website” containing information on Capitol system tunnels. The Deputy Chief describes proposed attempts by unauthorized individuals to block members of Congress from entering the Capitol building, through tunnels or otherwise.

    e. A January 5, 2021 email from the USCP Deputy Chief to a Board member and others at USCP and in Congress alerting them to an online website soliciting information on high-level government officials and their expected whereabouts on January 6, 2021, and linking to the website’s article entitled Why the Second American Revolution Starts Jan 6.

    f. A January 6, 2021 email from the USCP Chief to Board members and others at USCP and in Congress relaying that the President had completed a speech at the Ellipse and that a large group was preparing to approach the Capitol.

    g. A January 6, 2021 email thread between the USCP Chief, two Board members, and congressional staffers responding to questions on the status of evacuations and relocations of certain buildings on the Capitol Grounds on January 6, 2021, and relaying information on crowds gathering near the Washington Monument and on Capitol Grounds on January 6, 2021.

    h. A series of four January 6, 2021 emails from the USCP Deputy Chief to a Board member and others at the USCP and in Congress providing four updates throughout the course of January 6, 2021. These updates contain intelligence assessments, information on arrests, coordination with other law enforcement agencies, crowd estimates, scheduling of high-level government officials, threat and incident reports, medical responses, and officer deployment status.

    i. A January 7, 2021 email, with photo attachment, from the USCP Deputy Chief to Board members and others in Congress providing an update on the arrest and subsequent charging of an armed individual found in a “suspicious vehicle” on January 6, 2021.

    The U.S. Capitol Police describe “updates on police personnel issues” emails at issue as follows:

    a. A January 7, 2021 email from the USCP Chief to all Board members and others at the USCP and in Congress providing an update on the medical condition of a USCP officer following the events of January 6, 2021.

    b. A January 7, 2021 email from the USCP Chief to all Board members and others at USCP and in Congress providing an update on the medical condition of a USCP officer following the events of January 6, 2021.

    c. A January 7, 2021 email from the USCP Chief to all Board members and others at USCP and in Congress providing an update on the death of a USCP officer following the events of January 6, 2021.

    d. A January 8, 2021 email from the USCP Chief to a Board member and others at USCP and in Congress concerning the lowering of flags to half-staff in recognition of a USCP officer who died in the line of duty on January 6, 2021.

    e. A January 9, 2021 email from the USCP Acting Chief to all Board members providing an update on when autopsy results could be expected for a deceased USCP officer following the events of January 6, 2021.

    Another email is described under the category of “updates about news media reports:”

    A January 7, 2021 email, with attachment, from the USCP Chief to all Board members and others at USCP and in Congress providing an anticipated statement by the USCP on the events that transpired at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

    On September 29, 2023, the Capitol Police filed a motion to dismiss our common law right of access lawsuit that asks for over 14,000 hours of video footage, arguing that the USCP has a sovereign immunity exemption from lawsuits asserting a common law right of access to public information. The latest filing goes further than prior Pelosi Congress secrecy arguments in this litigation by newly asserting that even if a lawsuit were allowed to go forward, all January 6 videos and emails would be exempt from disclosure as “security information.”

    We also received the January 7, 2021, resignation letter of Steven A. Sund, chief of the Capitol Police on January 6, who left the position at the request of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

    It is urgent that the January 6 videos and related U.S. Capitol Police emails be released to the American public. I would hope the next House speaker takes a different approach than Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy and affirms the public’s lawful ‘right to know’ – and stops working with the Biden Justice Department to hide this January 6 evidence.

    Your Judicial Watch is extensively investigating the events of January 6.

    Last month we received records from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, a component of the Department of Justice, in a FOIA lawsuit that detail the extensive apparatus the Biden Justice Department set up to investigate and prosecute January 6 protestors.

    A previous review of records from that lawsuit highlighted the prosecution declination memorandum justifying the decision not to prosecute U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd for the shooting death of Babbitt.

    In January 2023, documents from the Department of the Air Force, Joint Base Andrews, MD, showed U.S. Capitol Police Lieutenant Michael Byrd was housed at taxpayer expense at Joint Base Andrews after he shot and killed U.S. Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

    In November 2021, we released multiple audio, visual and photo records from the DC Metropolitan Police Department about the shooting death of Babbitt on January 6, 2021, in the U.S. Capitol Building. The records included a cell phone video of the shooting and an audio of a brief police interview of the shooter, Byrd.

    In October 2021, United States Park Police records related to the January 6, 2021, demonstrations at the U.S. Capitol showed that on the day before the January 6 rally featuring President Trump, U.S. Park Police expected a “large portion” of the attendees to march to the U.S. Capitol and that the FBI was monitoring the January 6 demonstrations, including travel to the events by “subjects of interest.”

    We’ll be sure to keep you updated on this developing story…

     

     

    UPDATE on Federal Court Hearing about FBI’s Records on Hunter Biden Gun Scandal, FBI Refuses to Divulge Number of Records Due to ‘Ongoing Criminal Investigation’

    We were in federal court today for a hearing in our FOIA lawsuit for records regarding the gun owned by Hunter Biden that reportedly was thrown in a trash can behind a Delaware grocery store. The FBI is refusing to disclose basic information about the records because it alleges doing so would interfere with the criminal prosecution of Hunter Biden.

    The court hearing was before Judge Jia M. Cobb of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

    In an August 2023 joint status report to the court, the FBI claims it has completed a search for records responsive to our FOIA request and is “currently processing” the records but added that its “position is that the number of potentially responsive records is exempt from disclosure … as this case relates to an ongoing criminal investigation.”

    We filed the lawsuit after the FBI withheld records in response to a January 30, 2023, FOIA request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:23-cv-00920)). We are asking for:

    All records, including investigative reports, telephone logs, witness statements, memoranda, and firearms purchase documentation, related to the reported purchase, possession, and disposal of a firearm owned by Hunter Biden discarded in a Delaware trash receptacle circa October 2018.

    All records of communications of FBI officials regarding the reported purchase, possession, and disposal of the firearm.

    We argue that the Hunter Biden gun case “is indisputably of significant public interest:”

    It is also time sensitive. [Judicial Watch] has asked and Defendant has refused to provide the number of potentially responsive records that need to be processed in this case. Without this number, Plaintiff cannot evaluate – let alone agree to – a processing time of 120 days. In addition, because it appears as though Defendant will be providing [Judicial Watch] with a “no number, no list” response at the end of the 120 days, it could be more efficient and economical for the parties to simply commence summary judgment briefing and for Defendant to file its opening brief in 60 days.

    The FBI unlawfully hid records about its Hunter Biden cover-up and now is using the compromised prosecution of Hunter Biden as an after-the-fact justification for its cover-up. It is simply remarkable that the Biden administration is invoking privileges – that are usually used to protect national security information – to hide details of the FBI’s clean-up operation about Hunter’s mishandling of his gun.

    In February 2023, from a separate lawsuit, we released records from the United States Secret Service that implicate the FBI in the unusual action of helping Hunter Biden.

    In response to a February 24, 2021, email inquiry from Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger regarding the Secret Service’s involvement in the investigation of the Hunter Biden gun incident, the Communications Department asked for “more information or documentation.” Schreckinger responded: “Sure thing. Agents visited StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply and asked to take possession of the paperwork Hunter had filled out to purchase a gun there. The FBI also had some involvement in the investigation.”

    In October 2020, The Blaze reported that in October 2018 Hunter Biden’s handgun was taken by Hallie Biden, the widow of then-presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son Beau. In 2021, Politico reported:

    Hallie took Hunter’s gun and threw it in a trash can behind a grocery store, only to return later to find it gone.

    Delaware police began investigating, concerned that the trash can was across from a high school and that the missing gun could be used in a crime, according to law enforcement officials and a copy of the police report obtained by POLITICO.

    But a curious thing happened at the time: Secret Service agents approached the owner of the store where Hunter bought the gun and asked to take the paperwork involving the sale, according to two people, one of whom has firsthand knowledge of the episode and the other was briefed by a Secret Service agent after the fact.

    (The court hearing this morning led to an agreement that Judicial Watch would consult with the DOJ/FBI over the next few weeks to try to come some agreement in which Judicial Watch could get key records about the FBI’s response to the “gun dumping” incident.).

     

    Biden DHS Fails to Deport 99.7% of the 2.1 Million Illegal Immigrants it Freed Inside U.S. 

    Border security, as the terror attack in Israel shows, is essential to the freedom and safety of Americans. Our Corruption Chronicles blog has the latest chilling evidence that there is zero border security as the result of the Biden invasion:

    Besides shattering records for allowing enormous amounts of illegal immigrants into the U.S. through the Mexican border, the Biden administration has also failed to deport millions of migrants released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inside the country pending removal proceedings. Between January 20, 2021, and March 31, 2023, the agency created after 9/11 to safeguard the nation freed at least 2,148,738 illegal aliens into the United States, government figures obtained by members of Congress reveal. Only 5,993 were actually deported, according to a distressing report released this week by the House Judiciary Committee.

    Titled “The Biden Border Crisis: New Data and Testimony Show How the Biden Administration Opened the Southwest Border and Abandoned Interior Immigration Enforcement” the lengthy document includes new data obtained by federal lawmakers from DHS that expose the alarming state of immigration enforcement. Besides failing to remove millions of illegal immigrants released inside the country, the records show that a mere 6% of migrants were screened for fear of persecution when seeking asylum. “The Biden Administration has removed from the United States only 5,993 illegal aliens who were encountered at the southwest border and who were placed in removal proceedings before an immigration judge during that time,” the report states. “In other words, of the at least 2.1 million aliens released into the United States since January 20, 2021, the Biden Administration has failed to remove, through immigration court removal proceedings, roughly 99.7 percent of those illegal aliens.”

    The U.S. Border Patrol recorded a ghastly 5 million illegal immigrant encounters during the period examined by federal lawmakers and an eye-popping 6.2 million since Biden took office. “More than two and a half years into President Biden’s term, his Administration’s border crisis continues unabated,” the report states. “Publicly available information shows that encounters of illegal aliens on the southwest border surpassed 100,000 for the 31st straight month and total southwest border illegal alien encounters exceeded 2.2 million in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2023.” The bad news continues.

    “In August 2023, encounters of illegal aliens at the southwest border skyrocketed to 232,972 and the unreleased encounter numbers for September 2023 will reportedly shatter previous records, exceeding 260,000 encounters in a single month,” the congressional report says. As if those figures were not bad enough, more than 1.7 million known “gotaways” have evaded Border Patrol and escaped into the U.S. since January 2021, the stats show, with “untold numbers of unknown gotaways avoiding detection during that period.”

    As the illegal alien numbers keep rising and records get crushed, the Biden administration insists the border is under control with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas laughably proclaiming his agency has made it very clear the border is not open, that crossing irregularly is against the law and those who are not eligible for relief will be quickly returned. That clearly has not materialized, figures provided in the House Judiciary Committee report show. In fiscal year 2021, the Biden administration released 310,379 illegal aliens at the southwest border. The number more than doubled during the administration’s first full fiscal year (2022) to 777,283. In the first 10 months of fiscal year 2023, Biden’s DHS released 929,496 illegal aliens encountered at the Mexican border. It is important to note that as outrageous as the figures are, they do not even include Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC), which immediately get transferred to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The report reveals that between fiscal year 2021 through the end of July 2023 at least 341,802 UAC were transferred to HHS shelters where American taxpayers spend a fortune to house, medically treat, educate, counsel and entertain them.

     

    Until next week,

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  • Fact Check: Reports of 260 Israeli music fest deaths aren’t unsubstantiated. Photos, videos document toll

    Editor’s note: This story contains references and links to graphic images and videos.

    An Instagram video seeking to disprove reports of violence in the Oct. 7 Gaza attack on Israel claimed that accounts of a mass shooting at an Israeli music festival are false.

    “Two-hundred-fifty people were killed at a concert: False,” the video’s narrator said in the Oct. 10 post as words stating the same appeared on the screen.

    “The only videos we have seen are people running away from the concert,” he continued. “There isn’t a single video or photo suggesting that 250 people were killed at a concert or that a mass shooting took place.” 

    But that’s wrong.


    (Screengrab from Instagram)

    This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

    In a large-scale assault against Israel, Hamas militants opened fire at the Tribe of Nova Festival near the Gaza-Israel border on Oct. 7. About 3,500 people attended the two-day trance music festival, billed as an event celebrating “friends, love and infinite freedom.” People had been dancing through the night when the rockets began firing right before dawn. 

    Israeli rescue service Zaka said 260 bodies were recovered at the festival site. Some Israelis were taken hostage. Many festival attendees hid in nearby orchards and bushes waiting to get rescued, and survivors said Hamas militants were hunting them down for hours as they tried to flee.

    Heads of state also confirmed the attack and deaths. The leaders of France, Germany, Itay, the United Kingdom and the U.S. issued an Oct. 9 statement condemning the slaughter of “over 200 young people enjoying a music festival.” In an Oct. 10 speech, President Joe Biden condemned the massacre of young people attending the festival “to celebrate peace.”

    And contrary to the video’s claims, there are numerous images and videos showing the shootings at the festival grounds.

    The Instagram video claimed that the only videos from the concert show people running away. As part of its evidence, it shows a clip of people running in the desert. But in a fuller video clip from that moment gunshots can be heard in the background.

    Dash cam video, media and concertgoers also captured videos showing lifeless bodies by a van, men shooting people around a car, and a Hamas fighter shooting at a car escaping from the festival grounds.

    Another video shows people running across a field while gunshots are being fired.

    CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward reported that the government released a photo of scores of body bags in a tent, their identities yet to be determined.

    The Instagram video also sought to discount two other reports about the conflict that have captured attention — that 40 babies had been beheaded and that people had been raped.

    The report about babies being beheaded originated with a reporter who said she heard the allegations from Israeli soldiers. Israeli Defense Forces has not confirmed this report, nor have U.S. officials. Hamas has denied it. There have been a number of state reports, however, about violence against babies and children. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office shared Oct. 12 photos of babies it said were “murdered and burned” by Hamas.

    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during an Oct. 12 press conference that he had viewed gruesome war images from Israel and they included documentation of “an infant riddled with bullets.”

    When asked about the authenticity of the images of dead children shared by Netanyahu, U.S. White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said Oct. 12, “I don’t think we’re in the business of having to validate or approve those kinds of images. They’re from the prime minister of Israel, and we have no reason to doubt their authenticity.”

    Regarding whether people were raped during the attack, Netanyahu on Oct. 11 described atrocities committed by Hamas and said men and women were “burned alive” and young women were “raped and slaughtered.” An Israeli official also said women were raped. Biden referenced rape as well in his comments.

    There is ample evidence, including numerous videos and photos, and official reports substantiating that 260 people were killed at an Israeli music festival during the Hamas attack Oct. 7. We rate the claim that it did not happen Pants on Fire.

    PolitiFact reporter Sara Swann contributed to this report.



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  • Ft. Novosel helicopter experiences mechanical problems during training Wednesday

    Ft. Novosel helicopter experiences mechanical problems during training Wednesday

    Published 2:37 pm Friday, October 13, 2023

    A Ft. Novosel, formally Ft. Rucker, helicopter experienced mechanical problems while conducting training in Covington County Wednesday afternoon.

    According to local law enforcement, the helicopter was flying approximately 4 to 5 miles southwest of Andalusia near the Oakey Ridge and Red Oak communities. Reports originally stated the helicopter had been struck by gunfire.

    Mike Irwin of the Covington County Sheriff’s Department announced Thursday at approximately 3:55 p.m. that the plane was not hit by gunfire but encountered mechanical issues instead.

    Officials say the pilot was able to safely land the helicopter and then safely guide it back to Ft. Novosel. Fortunately, no injuries occurred to the occupants of the helicopter.

    The Covington County Sheriff’s Department responded and is assisting Ft. Novosel officials with the investigation.

    Anyone with information is urged to contact the Covington County Sheriff’s Department at 334-427-4911.

    Source

  • Tennessee child care director accused of locking 4-year-old child in bedroom alone

    FRANKLIN, Ky. (TCD) — The parents of a 4-year-old child, one of whom runs a child care center, are facing nearly 200 criminal counts after officials found the juvenile locked in a bedroom alone.

    According to a news release from the Simpson County Sheriff’s Office, on Thursday, Oct. 12, deputies responded to 4980 Springfield Road to perform a welfare check and found the child. Deputies learned the parents, 28-year-old Morgan Soper and 30-year-old Johnathon Jenkins, “had been leaving the child home alone throughout the day for quite some time.”

    Soper and Jenkins were booked into the Simpson County Detention Center and each charged with 89 counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, 89 counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, and one count of second-degree criminal abuse of a child 12 or under.

    The Sheriff’s Office noted that Soper is the director of a child care center in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.

    In a statement obtained by WSMV-TV, KinderCare, Soper’s place of work, said, “At KinderCare, nothing is more important to us than children’s safety. We take all concerns about the quality of our programs and our staff seriously. As soon as we heard this news, we placed Morgan Soper on administrative leave.”

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  • Fact Check: ‘Gates of hell’ in Gaza? No, a viral video shows fireworks in Algeria

    The video showed a disturbing scene. It started with a view of cars on a roundabout, surrounding buildings tinged in red.  Flares and fireworks go off,  shrouding the air with smoke. Social media users claimed this is what’s happening in Gaza now during the Israel-Hamas war.

    “The gate of HE!L has opened in G A Z A,” read the caption of an Oct. 9 Facebook video, which is no longer available. It was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

    The same video was used in several X posts, which all contained this caption: “If Russia did this in Kiev it would be all over the news and everyone would be screaming ‘genocide’, but it’s happening in Gaza and no one cares about the civilian casualties.” 

    Out-of-context videos have been flooding social media since this war began, and this video is no different.

    The X posts’ video featured the handle of TikTok user @ramiguerfi41. The video is no longer on the user’s account, but other TikTok users reposted the video Oct. 2, days before Hamas began attacking Israel on Oct. 7. 

    Using satellite imagery, Reuters reported that this video was taken in Algiers, Algeria, matching the roundabout to Place Al Mokrani. ​

    Although the original video’s context is unclear, soccer fans in Algiers have been known to use red flares and fireworks in celebration.

    The video does not show Gaza after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. We rate that claim False.



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  • Local vape shop closed by APD for investigation following Friday morning search warrant

    Local vape shop closed by APD for investigation following Friday morning search warrant

    Published 2:51 pm Friday, October 13, 2023

    Mellow Haze in Andalusia was closed down by the Andalusia Police Department after a search warrant was conducted Friday morning. An investigation is now underway. (PHOTO PROVIDED)

    A local business has been ordered closed after the Andalusia Police Department executed a search warrant there this morning.

    Chief Paul Hudson said the APD opened an investigation after receiving numerous reports of illegal activity at Mellow Haze, located at 1102 Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway in Andalusia.

    The retail business was licensed to sell tobacco products by the State of Alabama, and had a retail sales license in the City of Andalusia.

    The APD obtained a search warrant, which it executed at approximately 9 a.m. on Friday morning. Chief Hudson said numerous items will be sent to the Department of Forensic Sciences for analysis. The contents of the business were seized by order of the Circuit Court of Covington County, pending further investigation into possible illegal activity.

    The investigation is ongoing. No arrests have been made at this time.

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  • Biden Admin Threatens Banks That Refuse To Lend Money To Illegal Immigrants

    The Biden administration released a statement Thursday warning financial institutions against using a person’s immigration status in credit applications.

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a joint statement telling financial institutions that while it is not illegal to consider a person’s immigration status in the decision on whether to lend money, an overreliance on it could run afoul of the law, according to the statement. The statement implicates the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), which makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex and more in considering a person’s credit application as the mechanism, even though the law does not list citizenship status as a protected attribute.

    “Fair access to credit is crucially important for building wealth and strengthening household financial stability,” Rohit Chopra, CFPB director, said in a press release. “The CFPB will not allow companies to use immigration status as an excuse for illegal discrimination.”

    The CFPB notes that the reason for the guidance comes after the agency received a number of instances of consumers being rejected in their applications for credit cards and auto, student, personal and equipment loans on the basis of their noncitizen status despite having a good credit history and a tie to the United States, according to the press release.

    “Lenders should not deny people the opportunity to take out a loan to buy a home, build their businesses or otherwise pursue their financial goals because of unlawful bias and without regard to their actual ability to repay,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, said in the press release. “This guidance reminds lenders that denying someone access to credit based solely on their actual or perceived immigrant status may violate federal law.”

    The two agencies acknowledge that while the ECOA permits creditors to consider someone’s citizenship status, the act of doing so may violate prohibitions on the consideration of other factors like national origin or race, according to the press release. The regulators emphasize that there is no “safe harbor” when considering an applicant’s immigration status.

    Post written by Will Kessler. Republished with permission from DCNF. 



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