News From Around the Web
#1 Putin Hails ‘Heroic’ North Korean Troops Fighting Ukraine in Letter to Kim Jong Un - Freddie Clayton for NBC News, The Moscow Times, Roger Blackwell, googeliart, NDTV World, and African Insider on X
Russian President Vladimir Putin has paid tribute to the “heroic” North Korean troops fighting against Ukraine in a letter to the secretive communist country’s leader, Kim Jong Un. In the letter celebrating the end of Japanese colonial rule and North Korea’s “Liberation Day,” Putin paid tribute to the “bonds of military brotherhood, friendship and mutual assistance” between the two nations. “This was fully confirmed by the heroic participation of Korean servicemen in the liberation of the territories of the Kursk region from the Ukrainian invaders,” he said. “The Russian people will forever preserve the memory of their courage and selflessness.” North Korea has sent around 15,000 troops to Russia since last fall and also supplied large quantities of military equipment, according to South Korean intelligence assessments...
#2 Obama Praises Texas Democrats and Calls State Redistricting Effort ‘A Systematic Assault on Democracy’ - Arlette Saenz for CNN, Sal Vadacchino, Sandie, JoeMyGod, Big aBob, A Son of Poseidon, and Roadches webmasterhonda on X
Former President Barack Obama waded into the debate over redistricting in a Zoom call with Texas House Democrats on Thursday, warning of a “systematic assault on democracy” spurred by Republican efforts to redraw congressional maps in Texas. In a video of the 30-minute conversation obtained by CNN, Obama praised the Texas Democrats for standing up to the Republican push to tweak congressional maps in their state to net as many as five GOP US House seats...
#3 Judge Orders RFK Jr’s HHS to Stop Sharing Medicaid Data With Immigration Officials - Landon Mion for Fox News, Melanie, WSFA 12 News, wdsu, healthnewsguru, and Anonymous Me on X
A federal judge ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to stop providing access to Medicaid enrollees' personal data, including their home addresses, to immigration officials. District Judge Vince Chhabria, an Obama appointee, granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Homeland Security from using Medicaid data obtained from 20 states that filed a lawsuit to stop the data sharing. The order, handed down Tuesday, blocks HHS from sharing data on Medicaid enrollees in these states with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the purpose of targeting migrants for deportation...
#4 Pre-Pandemic Live Exercise: China’s All-Out War on Mosquitoes - Tracy Beanz and Michelle Edwards for The HighWire, Raja Adnan, Ahmed, NMas, Djamila le Pair, POLITICOEurope, Ace, and Misty Blue Horne on X
The mosquito-borne chikungunya virus has taken hold of China. Eerily reminiscent of the 2019 COVID-19 lockdowns, entire districts in Guangdong are completely sealed off. Drones are on duty, hospitals are locked down with mosquito nets, and residents are threatened with fines for noncompliance, all while being sprayed with toxic chemicals by an army tasked with moving through neighborhoods and, at times, walking straight into residences to stop the spread. All for a virus that does not spread person to person and is very rarely fatal. What is going on? Is Bill Gates’s World Mosquito Program causing this outbreak? Jennifer Zeng, International Press Association member assigned to CCP and China affairs, summed up the situation, writing on X...#5 DC Man Charged With Felony Assault After Hitting Federal Agent With Subway Sandwich - Steven Nelson for New York Post, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Steve Milloy, Chicago1Ray, and Cat Turd/Mike Gleason on X
A man who used a Subway sandwich to attack a federal agent on the streets of DC earlier this week has been charged with felony assault. The criminal case against Sean Charles Dunn, 37, was announced Wednesday by DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who said in a statement that “the police are not out there to get pushed around or beat up.” Dunn was allegedly captured on video Sunday night shouting that a group of federal officers were “fascists” before whipping his deli sandwich at them and striking a US Customs and Border Protection agent in the chest...
#6 Florida Governor Says State Will Open ‘Deportation Depot’ Immigration Jail - Richard Luscombe for The Guardian, Ron DeSantis, Christina Pushaw/Molly Best, Kevin Guthrie, Rod D. Martin, and Crit Chance Crew on X
Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, said on Thursday that the state will open a second immigration jail, as a federal judge weighs whether to close the controversial existing facility in the Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz”.DeSantis painted the forthcoming detention center at the shuttered Baker correctional institution in Sanderson as supplementary to the remote tented camp. He also said the facility would hold up to 1,300 undocumented immigrants awaiting deportation...
#7 Alligator Alcatraz Disease Outbreak Claims Spark Lawsuit - Robert Alexander for Newsweek, Scott Kelley Ernest, Independent Freedom Fighter, NewYork-i, and Charles Ornstein on X
etainees at a newly built immigration detention site in the Florida Everglades known as "Alligator Alcatraz" alleged that a respiratory disease, possibly Covid-19, spread through the facility and prompted legal filings that challenged conditions and sought greater access to lawyers for migrants held there. An attorney for one detainee described conditions at the remote tented camp as a "petri dish for disease," and protesters and lawyers said ambulances had been frequently observed arriving at the site. Newsweek reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the office of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for comment...
#8 SCOTUS Greenlights Mississippi’s Social Media Age-Verification Law (For Now) - Shawn Fleetwood for The Federalist, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, SCOTUSblog, packergirl, and Victoria Holtz on X
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined a request to block Mississippi’s social media age-verification law from going into effect (for now). In a two-page order, the high court rejected a motion from NetChoice — an internet trade association — to “reinstate a lower court’s order protecting social media giants like Meta, X and YouTube from the new requirements,” according to a local Fox affiliate. The order did not list any dissents among the justices. According to the left-wing SCOTUSblog, the law in question “imposes a variety of requirements on both young people and social media sites,” including parental consent for minors to create an account on the intended social media site. Under the statute, social media companies must further verify the ages of those creating accounts and “create a strategy to protect young people from being exposed to harmful material and content that promotes self-harm, bullying, and substance abuse, among other behaviors.”
#9 Trump Reveals the Kennedy Center Honorees and Suggests He’ll Honor Himself Next. Here’s Who Was Chosen and Why - Meredith Kile for People, Papa Hemingway, Rhonda Lately, Grok, Marlene Robertson/hmilne/Hanna, and Wayne on X
President Donald Trump announced the five stars who will be recognized at the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors on Wednesday, Aug. 13, celebrating the legends of stage, screen, and song. Amid the president's ongoing attempts to seize total control of the cultural institution, which was established as a memorial to John F. Kennedy, he offered some personal endorsements before getting around to announcing the actual honorees during Wednesday's event. "Since 1978, the Kennedy Center Honors have been among the most prestigious awards in the performing arts. I wanted one. I was never able to get one," Trump said. "I waited and waited and waited, and I said, 'The hell with it. I'll become chairman, " he continued. "I'll give myself an honor. Maybe... next year we'll honor Trump."
#10 Rules Don’t Apply to Him: Gavin Newsom Warns Trump Will Run for Third Term - Satyam Singh for India Today, The Dank Knight/Breaking911, Benny Johnson, Bad Hombre, LEAHmemes/Disclose.tv, The Conservative Alternative, and Cartel California on X
California Governor Gavin Newsom launched a scathing attack on US President Donald Trump on Thursday, warning that the Republican leader’s political manoeuvres could open the door to an unprecedented third term in office. Speaking at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, Newsom announced a special statewide election for November 4 to decide on a mid-decade redistricting plan. The measure, he said, was designed to protect California’s congressional representation as Republican-led states pursue maps that could tilt elections in their favour...
