French Party Leader Warns Telegram CEO’s Life May Be in Danger
The life of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who was released on bail this week as he faces a potential trial in France, might be in danger, Florian Philippot, the leader of The Patriots party, said on Saturday.
The politician referred to reports by French media, which claimed that the billionaire tech entrepreneur had been approached by French intelligence agents while in Dubai and that he had refused to share classified information.
“Day after day, the puzzle of [French President Emmanuel] Macron’s delirious persistence against Pavel Durov, after having coaxed him, takes shape … Let’s not forget that Macron has been using Telegram extensively with his teams for a long time, and that he feared ‘leaks’… Pavel Durov should really be careful, his life may be in danger!” Philippot said on X.
The Russian-born was detained at a Paris airport on August 24 on charges related to criminal uses of his messaging app, including terrorism, child pornography, drug trafficking, money laundering and fraud. He was released on Wednesday on a 5-million-euro ($5.5 million) bail and is barred from leaving France.
French media reported that Durov had agreed to cooperate with the French investigators and provided access to his phone. Macron is also said to have discussed the detention of Durov, who holds a UAE passport in addition to French citizenship, with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan a day after he was nabbed at the airport.
The Globalists Are All Hat and No Cattle
California Bill Banning Voter ID Passes Legislature, Awaits Newsom’s Signature
A bill in California that would ban local governments from requiring voter ID in elections passed the state’s far-left assembly, and now awaits Governor Gavin Newsom’s approval or veto.
The measure would ban local governments such as Huntington Beach – where the City Council was just given voter approval to impose such a requirement – from requiring voters to prove their identity, and passes jurisdiction for such laws to the state.
“I have repeatedly told the Huntington Beach City Council members pushing this issue that if they were to produce any evidence of widespread voter fraud, I would lead efforts to change California’s voter eligibility rules. They have not produced any such evidence,” said Irvine Democrat Sen. Dave Min, whose Senate Bill 1174 passed the assembly in a 57-16 vote on Aug. 27.
The bill was approved 30-8 in the state Senate in May.
According to Min, the bill would protect against a “patchwork of varying election requirements” throughout the Golden State – blocking all cities from requiring voters to present a government-issued ID to vote. The ban also includes charter cities.
“We cannot have 100 different charter cities making up 100 different sets of voting rules, based on fringe conspiracy theories,” said Min, referring to those questioning the results of the 2020 election.
As the Epoch Times notes further, in a May 21 Senate floor hearing, Min said SB 1174 would create a statewide standard that prevents cities from enacting their own policies, which he said could create inequality.
“SB 1174 would try to address this matter and ensure that local jurisdictions cannot impose their own voter ID requirements to try to engage in culture wars and try to disenfranchise voters,” he said.
In a recent Assembly Local Government bill analysis, Min argued that voter ID requirements only create barriers for voters but don’t protect against fraud, as voters already must verify their identity when they register.
“Healthy democracies rely on robust access to the polls. An overwhelming body of evidence proves that voter ID laws only subvert voter turnout and create barriers to law-abiding voters,” he said.
He said the state already automatically recounts some ballots, does signature verification checks, and allows voters to track their ballots.
“We will not concede to ploys of voter fraud while an overwhelming body of evidence proves our elections are safe, secure, and above board,” he said.
Voters in California are required to show identification only if they didn’t provide a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number when registering, but the secretary of state also accepts credit or debit cards, student IDs, or an ID from a commercial establishment.
For mail-in ballots, those without proper identification are treated as provisional ballots per existing state law and election officials are supposed to request proof before counting them. In the 2022 statewide general election, 660 ballots were rejected because of identification issues.
During the March 5 primary election, voters in Huntington Beach, a charter city in Orange County, approved a charter amendment to allow voter ID requirements in city elections starting in 2026.
But according to Min, if SB 1174 is signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the bill would nullify the city’s Measure A before it takes effect.
Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates told The Epoch Times in a recent interview that Min’s bill is “pure political symbolism” in response to the city’s recently passed measure.
He said as a charter city, under Article XI, Section 5 (b) of the California Constitution, Huntington Beach has a right to have voter ID, and the state will lose any legal challenges it brings.
“The state is running headlong into another legal clash, which it will lose miserably. Huntington Beach has it right, the state has it completely wrong. And, all Californians want election integrity. It’s common sense,” he said in a text message to The Epoch Times.
According to Huntington Beach Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark, residents have said they would feel more secure if IDs are checked at in-person polling stations.
“We put it out there on the ballot, they said we want this and the state is doing everything within their power to stop us from honoring what the voters have been asking us for,” she told The Epoch Times in a May interview when Min’s bill first cleared the Senate.
California is one of 15 states that doesn’t ask for photo ID at the ballot box, according to lawmakers.
Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto the bill.
Travis Gillmore contributed to this report.
The Globalists Are All Hat and No Cattle
Mexico Begins Busing ‘Migrants’ From South of County to US Border
The Mexican government will begin shuttling ‘migrants’ through their country to the U.S. border as part of a new scheme tied to an expansion of the CBP One asylum program.
On Saturday, Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM) announced a “Safe Mobility Corridor” via which ‘asylum seekers’ will be funneled north aboard buses departing locations near the Guatemalan border.
The move comes days after the Biden-Harris regime began allowing illegal migrants from across the globe to apply for asylum appointments from nearly any location in Mexico.
Previously, non-Mexican migrants could only use the CBP One app to apply for asylum from central or northern Mexico.
Mexican citizens can use CBP One to request appointments from anywhere in their home country.
Non-Mexican nationals can now download the CBP One app from southern Mexico, request an appointment, and if approved, hop on state-provided transportation that will take them to ports of entry along the U.S. border where claims are processed.
#Comunicado 📄 Gobierno de México 🇲🇽 a través del @INAMI_mx pone en marcha corredor emergente para traslado terrestre de personas extranjeras con cita #CBPOne.
— INM (@INAMI_mx) August 31, 2024
🔗 https://t.co/NN50HYS2lM pic.twitter.com/ijLsPre7av
“To serve foreign citizens, the INM will establish two exit points, which will be located at the Villahermosa, Tabasco Immigration Station and at the Zona Sur Immigration Regulation office in Tapachula, Chiapas,” INM explained in a press release.
“In a joint security effort, the buses that are enabled to carry out the transfer will be accompanied by security institutions at the federal, state and municipal levels; In addition, food will be provided during the corresponding trips.”
The INM says “family units” will be given priority to “travel together,” and migrants participating in the program will be granted 20-day conditional stay permits.
The Mexican government hopes the “inter-institutional strategy” will encourage more U.S.-bound migrants to wait in the south of Mexico to help facilitate “safe, regular, orderly, and humane migration.”
Customs and Border Protection currently offers 1,450 CBP One appointments per day.
The Globalists Are All Hat and No Cattle
California Dairy Herd Tests Positive for Bird Flu
Cows on three California dairy farms have tested positive for bird flu, according to the state’s agriculture department.
The announcement was made on Friday, and means the US outbreak has now reached a total of 14 states and 190 herds since March. Thirteen dairy and poultry workers have also been infected.
At present, no human cases have been confirmed in California. The infected dairy herds are all located in the state’s Central Valley region, and began showing symptoms last Wednesday.
The infected cows have been isolated for treatment, while healthy cows are continuing to produce milk for sale, after pasteurization.
“This is a tough time for our dairy farmers given the economic challenges they’re facing,” said Karen Ross, California’s agriculture secretary.
“We are approaching this incident with the utmost urgency.”
Although the scale of the outbreak is still modest, state and health authorities are now ramping up measures against the threat of a bird-flu pandemic, including the development of new vaccines.
In July, Colorado Governor Jared Polis announced a state of emergency, in response to an outbreak of bird flu at a massive Weld County chicken farm. Two million birds were scheduled for slaughter.
At least five poultry workers also tested positive for the virus, all of whom suffered only mild symptoms such as irritated eyes and a runny nose.
The US government has announced a $176 million investment in a new mRNA bird flu vaccine developed by Moderna.
In June, the World Health Organization said that a new strain of bird flu detected in humans for the first time has the “potential for high public health impact.” They claimed the death of a 59-year-old man in Mexico with “multiple underlying conditions” was a “confirmed fatal case of human infection with avian influenza A(H5N2) virus,” a claim that Mexico’s health ministry disputed, saying the death was due to underlying conditions that led to septic shock.
Top Economist Martin Armstrong’s Computer Warns 2024 Will Probably Be Our Last Election
RFK Jr. Sues North Carolina To Be Removed from Ballot
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has filed a lawsuit to have his name removed from the ballot in North Carolina, a week after he announced hi withdrawal from the presidential race and his endorsement of Donald Trump.
When Kennedy announced his withdrawal, he stated that he would leave his name on the ballot in safe Democrat and Republican states, but would remove his name from the ballot in swing states.
North Carolina is one state where the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump looks to be particularly tight.
On Thursday, the North Carolina Elections Board denied a request by Kennedy to be removed from the ballot, voting 3-2 against him. The Board argued that, as nearly two million ballots have already been printed, it would cost significant amounts of money to reprint them ahead of the 6 September deadline for absentee ballots.
“When we talk about printing a ballot, we are not talking about… pressing ‘copy’ on a Xerox machine. This is a much more complex and layered process,” Board Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said.
Kennedy’s lawsuit states that “with the November election looming and ballot deadlines fast-approaching, Kennedy has no choice but to turn to this Court for immediate relief.”
The lawsuit alleges that the Election Board has violated Kennedy’s right to speech and state election law.
Top Economist Martin Armstrong’s Computer Warns 2024 Will Probably Be Our Last Election
Trump Film “the Apprentice” Will Be Released Weeks before the Election
A controversial biopic of Donald Trump and his rise to power will be released just weeks before the election, after the film’s producers finally found a distributor.
The Apprentice, starring Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump, will be released on 11 October.
The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival back in May, but it’s thought the potential for legal challenges from Donald Trump prevented the film from being picked up for distribution.
In one scene in the film, Trump is shown raping his former wife Ivana, on the basis of an allegation made during Donald and Ivana Trump’s divorce proceedings. In her deposition, Ivana said the words were not intended to be taken literally.
Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump campaign, described the film as being “malicious defamation.”
“This ‘film’ is pure malicious defamation, should never see the light of day, and doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire,” Cheung said.
Cheung added that legal action would be taken to address the false claims made in the film.
Top Economist Martin Armstrong’s Computer Warns 2024 Will Probably Be Our Last Election