News From Around the Web
#1 FBI Had Evidence Swalwell Got Illegal Donations From Suspected Chinese Spy, Bombshell Memos Show - Steven Richards and John Solomon for Just the News, Eric Daugherty, Maze, Kristina Wong, Off the Press, and The Tropical Cow on X
The FBI developed evidence that a Chinese woman with direct ties to that country’s intelligence service had potentially compromised a Democratic congressman from California with sex, foreign interns, and illicit donations while she was being recruited to become a bureau informant a decade ago, according to bombshell memos that expose another threat to America’s political system from Beijing. The files chronicling the relationship between Rep. Eric Swalwell and the Chinese national Fang Fang – also known by her English name Christine Fang – were declassified by President Donald Trump and released Monday by the White House Government Transparency Task Force as part of a broader effort to unmask foreign threats to U.S. political and election systems...
#2 Journal Retracts Paper Linking COVID-19 Vaccines to Deaths - Avery Orrall for The Scientist, zerohedge, Toby Young/Andrew Bridgen, Citizen Journalist/Jona Walk, leon1969, and Alan D Miller on X
MJ Public Health has retracted a paper some — including a witness at a recent U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing — have used to link COVID-19 vaccines to deaths. The action comes more than two years after a researcher cited in the work flagged issues with the study. Published May 6, 2024, the paper used the “Our World in Data” database and the World Mortality Dataset to look at COVID-19-related deaths during the height of the pandemic.1 News outlets covered it, from The Telegraph — “vaccines may have helped fuel rise in excess deaths” — to the New York Post, which quoted the paper’s statements about reported “serious injuries and deaths following vaccination,” a move it later corrected...
#3 Lawrence, Massachusetts Mayor Brian Depeña Arrested on Wire Fraud and Money Laundering Charges - CBS News, Libs of TikTok, End Wokeness, Lee Kuan Yimby, and Eric Daugherty on X
Lawrence Mayor Brian DePeña is facing federal wire fraud and money laundering charges after he allegedly improperly used $1.5 million in COVID-19 relief money. DePeña, 61, was elected in November 2021 and was re-elected in 2025. Before that, he was a member of the Lawrence City Council from 2016 until 2021. Additionally, DePeña owns and operates a tire sales and automobile business called Tenares Tire Services Inc. in Lawrence. Federal prosecutors allege that DePeña's business was approved for $150,000 in COVID relief on May 4, 2020. Tenares Tire Services received the money on June 18, 2020, in the form of an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL)...
#4 Blanche Refuses to Pledge DOJ Independence From White House - James Powel USA TODAY, Off the Press, Ken Kmak @ken_kmak8542, Ron DeSantis, Margot Cleveland/The Bulwark, and Carmine Sabia on X
Attorney General Todd Blanche said he would consider President Donald Trump's views on prosecutions, rejecting the notion of an independent Department of Justice. "Will I take the president of the United States’ view on something into consideration? Yes, of course," Blanche said in an Aug. 16 interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press." When asked if he would act independently from the White House, Blanche answered: "No, I’m not going to pledge that." The Department of Justice has largely operated independently of the White House since the Watergate scandal, which led to President Richard Nixon's resignation.
#5 Far-Left Politicians Still Using ActBlue as 88-Year-Old Disputes Donating Nearly $150,000 to Fundraising Giant - Michael Dorgan for Fox News, Ally Triolo/RNC Election Integrity, NRCC, Georgia/Elizabeth Warren, Natalie Garner, and Rafał Gan-Ganowicz Fan Club on X
Several prominent progressives — including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed — continue raising campaign cash through the embattled fundraising platform ActBlue despite congressional investigations into allegations it failed to stop illegal foreign donations from entering U.S. political campaigns. The fundraising behemoth has been thrust back into the spotlight after a recent viral video showed an 88-year-old Michigan woman disputing nearly $150,000 in political donations attributed to her in federal campaign finance records. She acknowledged using ActBlue to make political donations but disputed nearly the amount attributed to her. Federal Election Commission records attribute more than 15,000 contributions by the woman over a six-year period...
#6 CEO Says Doing Business in State ‘Sucks’ as Company Heads to Texas Amid California Exodus - Amanda Macias for Fox News, El Profesor Garlic/New York Post, GB News, Fox Business, and Reverend Jordan Wells on X
"Doing business in the state of California sucks," Hil Davis, a California businessman, bluntly told Fox News Digital. That frustration ultimately drove Davis, CEO of Digital Brands Group, more than 1,300 miles to Texas. The apparel and e-commerce company relocated its headquarters to Round Rock, just north of Austin, leasing roughly 70,000 square feet of warehouse and office space as it expands its collegiate sports apparel business. Davis said the sprawling Texas facility costs roughly the same as the company’s former space in Vernon, California, about five miles south of Los Angeles. And rent was only part of the equation...
#7 Trump Orders Scale-Back of Military Exercises With South Korea After Refusal to Help With Iran’s Denuclearization - CBS News, matteo_il_pazzeo, KB in the PNW-Resisting since 1964, The Japan News, OMEGA TV UK, and Bridge on X
President Trump announced Sunday that he has ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea, saying that the country recently declined to join the U.S. effort to denuclearize Iran. Mr. Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the exercises are costly and they "send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile" to North Korea, which has been "unthreatening and respectful" as long as he has been president. "Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea," Mr. Trump said.] The president said "it is too late to cancel" the joint military exercises, adding that he ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to "substantially reduce" them.
#8 Kushner Meets With Netanyahu After Rare Hamas Talks Over Stalled Gaza Plan - Chantal Da Silva for NBC News, Tom Looby, StandWithAssangeNY, Jape Journal, Mossad Commentary, TexasBlue and Mark Burger on X
President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday after rare talks with the leader of Hamas, in a new push to revive the peace plan for Gaza that Israel has rejected. As the U.S. tries to advance the fragile ceasefire brokered in October, Kushner held talks with a delegation led by Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya in Cairo on Sunday, a Hamas official briefed on the matter told NBC News. Details of Kushner’s meeting with Netanyahu were not immediately clear, but an Israeli government official told NBC News just after around 9 a.m. ET that the meeting had concluded...
#9 Former Cambridge Professor Jason Arday Found Dead Amid Plagiarism Allegations: University - Mason Leib for ABC News, Immor Tanzit (She/Her/Yeye), General Trotter, MAGAmerican Tharpe, Birdie/Kehinde Andrews, Brian D. Brown, and Harriet Tubgirl on X
Former Cambridge University professor Jason Arday was found dead in London on Friday, the U.K. university said, amid plagiarism allegations and accusations regarding his background and qualifications. Emergency services said the 41-year-old was found "unresponsive" at an address in Battersea, South London. "We are desperately saddened to hear this tragic news," Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice said in a statement on Friday. "Our heartfelt sympathies go to Jason Arday's family and friends at this incredibly difficult time." Arday, who drew attention after becoming the prestigious university's youngest Black professor ever, resigned from his role last week. He denied the allegations of plagiarism...
#10 RFK Jr. Launches Federal Plan to Fight Lyme Disease and Tick Illnesses with Dennis Quaid - The MAHA Report on Substack, Secretary Kennedy, MAHA Action, "Be Nice",
Leslie Eastman ☥, and BioToxin FX on X
Actor Dennis Quaid joins RFK Jr. in taking on Lyme disease and the devastating consequences of missed diagnoses. “Nearly half a million Americans are diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease annually.” “Behind every one of those numbers is a person, a family, and a community looking for answers.” “I know how devastating that search can be.” My good friend, the late Kris Kristofferson, spent years living with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.” “But Alzheimer’s wasn’t the problem.” “He actually had Lyme disease.”
