Account information for this Lucianne member

Newly released surveillance video from outside Jeffrey Epstein’s New York prison cell the night of his suicide now shows the so-called “missing minute” that fuelled conspiracy theories about the pedophile’s death — contradicting the explanation from President Trump’s Department of Justice. The surveillance clip was among the more than 33,000 pages of documents and videos tied to Epstein’s sex-trafficking probe that were released by the House Oversight Committee late Tuesday. In the Justice Department’s initial dump of Epstein files, an 11-hour recording from outside Epstein’s cell block at the Metropolitan Correctional Center the night he killed himself in 2019 had a minute missing just before midnight.

A Tunisian migrant was shot and killed by police in Marseille on Tuesday after allegedly stabbing multiple people while reciting verses from the Qur’an.UPDATE 1935: The suspected knife attacker has been identified as 35-year-old Abdelkader D. from Tunisia. Le Figaro reports that he was said to be “unstable” and had recently been expelled from a mosque over making “aggressive remarks”. UPDATE 1700: According to Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone, five people were injured in the knife attack on Tuesday afternoon, one of whom remains in critical condition. The suspected migrant attacker is said to have been in the country legally. The original story continues as follows… At least five people were injured during a stabbing spree in the coastal French city of Marseille.

At least seven people were shot after gunfire rang out three separate times Monday evening during the West Indian Day Parade in New York City. The first of the shootings occurred “along the parade route on Eastern Parkway at about 5:35 p.m.,” leaving a man and a woman wounded, the New York Post reported. Two other individuals were shot on Eastern Parkway about 6:30 p.m. NBC New York noted that two more people were shot–both in their shoulders–around 6:45 p.m., and a 14-year-old boy was shot and wounded some time after that.

Okay, just a few quick post-holiday Monday musings, then everyone can throw themselves back into a normal schedule. I hope everyone who had the day off enjoyed it. My daughter was born right around the time that the first Harry Potter books were published, so that whole phenomenon was a big part of her youth. Honestly, all of that was more pleasant to deal with as a parent than most of what Disney was putting out at the time. I even read the first few books in the series just to see what all of the hoopla was about.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is heading to Beijing by train on Tuesday to attend a military parade with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, North Korea’s state media reported. The event could potentially demonstrate three-way unity against the United States. Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin are among the 26 world leaders who’ll join Chinese President Xi Jinping to watch Wednesday’s massive military parade in Beijing that commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and China’s fight against Japan’s wartime aggressions.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin as an “old friend” as the two began a series of meetings Tuesday at a time when their countries face both overlapping and differing challenges from the United States. Relations between China and Russia have deepened in recent years, particularly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Putin addressed Xi as “dear friend” and said that Moscow’s ties with Beijing are “at an unprecedentedly high level.” Following their formal talks, they planned to have another meeting over tea with some of their top aides.

As expected, a federal appeals court has invalidated President Trump’s massive tariff regime. The ruling, however, is not a complete defeat for the president, his predictably over-the-top reaction notwithstanding. The appeals court also conclusively vacated the injunction against the tariffs that had been imposed by the lower court. In essence, the matter is on hold until mid-October. Since the administration will appeal to the Supreme Court, which is highly likely to take the case, the tariffs will probably remain in effect until the Court renders a decision – perhaps not until early next summer.

Brazilian Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the nation’s police on Tuesday to conduct full-time, 24-hour surveillance of conservative former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is already under house arrest at his residence in Brasília. The STF explained on its website that de Moraes’ decision, approved by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Brazil, grants a request made by the Federal Police (PF) responding to calls from leftist lawmaker Lindbergh Farias, who leads the ruling Workers’ Party (PT) faction in the Brazilian Congress.

In the spirit of giving the devil its due, we must salute The New York Times for its epic examination of how China is influencing New York City elections. A team of nine reporters convincingly documented how agents of the Beijing government “helped defeat a state senator for attending a banquet with the president of Taiwan . . . condemned a City Council candidate on social media for supporting Hong Kong democracy . . . and ended the careers of politicians who opposed China’s authoritarian government.” The article claimed, with evidence, that Chinese agents set up scores of supposedly charitable organizations in Manhattan and throughout the five boroughs as part of its scheme,

The wife of California governor Gavin Newsom runs companies stacked with her husband’s former Democratic aides and confidants — while raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees from the state and lobbyists, according to public records. Documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the self-described “First Partner” of California, also received donations to her Representation Project nonprofit from companies that lobbied her husband, according to reports. The Sacramento-based Representation Project, which describes itself as “the leading gender watchdog organization,” pays Siebel Newsom $150,000 a year for a 40-hour work week, according to tax filings.

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday restricted access to COVID-19 vaccines by ending their emergency authorization and refining eligibility standards to exclude most healthy adults and children. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a skeptic of vaccine safety, said in a statement that new policies were rooted in “science, safety, and common sense.” Under the new rules, people over age 65 will remain eligible to get the vaccines, but younger adults and children will need to establish they have an underlying condition such as asthma or obesity that puts them at higher risk of serious illness.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller told reporters Monday that the Trump administration has uncovered a “massive scandal” in Washington D.C. involving the doctoring of crime statistics. He said the alleged corruption is currently under investigation and said details of the corruption will soon be brought to light. “The results will stun you,” he said. Miller made the remarks in the Oval Office after President Trump signed a slew of new executive orders to end cashless bail throughout the United States and in the District of Columbia, prosecute the burning of the American flag, and additional measures to address crime in Washington D.C.