Thursday, September 17, 2026
Venezuela: What Communists are really all about
Maduro Ally Pleads Guilty In Miami To Scheme That Stole Venezuelan Welfare Funds
Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times,
The former minister of industry for Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro's regime pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a global money laundering conspiracy that skimmed millions from a Venezuelan public welfare program.
According to a Department of Justice (DOJ) news release, Alex Saab, 54, who was extradited from Venezuela in May and charged days later, conducted a decade-long scheme that defrauded a Venezuelan welfare program for food and medicine, netting hundreds of millions of dollars for himself and associates.
Saab, a Colombian businessman, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder monetary instruments before federal district Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years.
"Criminals like Alex Saab who stole from the people of Venezuela and worked to exploit and misuse American financial institutions to fund illicit activities will be held accountable," FBI Director Kash Patel said in the news release.
Saab is accused of bilking the welfare program known as Local Committee for Supply and Production, or CLAP (Comité Local de Abastecimiento y Producción).
The ex-minister admitted to using a system of bribes and illegal payments to public officials. Entities controlled by conspirators in the scheme would be rewarded with lucrative contracts from the Venezuelan government to import food and medicine under CLAP.
Saab and his conspirators did not fulfill the contracts and would instead use fake companies, false invoices and shipping records, and other fraudulent documents to unlawfully obtain millions while concealing their association with the scheme, the DOJ said.
Saab further admitted he used shell companies outside his country to launder the illegal proceeds around the world, including in the United States.
DOJ Assistant Attorney General Andrew Duva said Saab exploited the American financial system to profit off Venezuelans, creating a "complex web of front companies, shell accounts, and false records to perpetuate his scheme."
Saab previously was in U.S. custody until former President Joe Biden released him in December 2023 as part of a prisoner swap with Venezuela. The deal included the Venezuelan regime's release of 30 prisoners, including 10 Americans.
"The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela celebrates with joy the liberation and return to his homeland of our diplomat Alex Saab, who until today was unjustly kidnapped in a U.S. jail," the Venezuelan government said following the prisoner-swap deal.
Saab was removed from his position earlier this year by acting leader Delcy Rodríguez, who previously served as Maduro's vice president until he was captured by U.S. forces in an overnight raid on Caracas in January.
Saab was initially charged in July 2019 on money laundering counts.
He was detained about a year later in the Republic of Cabo Verde at the request of the U.S. government and was eventually extradited to American custody.
"President Biden granted Alex Saab clemency while he was awaiting trial in [Miami], and Saab was released from federal custody and returned to Venezuela. But that was not the end of the story," said U.S. Attorney Jason Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida.
Quiñones's office secured a new indictment against Saab in January 2026, and by May he was back in Miami federal court.
The South Florida attorney added that this case sends a clear message: "Political connections, wealth, and proximity to a corrupt regime will not put anyone beyond the reach of American justice."
The DOJ did not disclose Tuesday how much Saab was accused of stealing, but when he was initially in U.S. custody, he was suspected of siphoning $350 million from Venezuela and laundering it through the United States.
A sentencing date has not yet been set.
Saab's attorneys did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.
The extend of Black anti white racism
Dragged Off Her Own Porch: York College Students Beaten After Five 911 Calls - And A National Pattern Of Youth Street Mobs
On the 300 block of West Jackson Street in York, Pennsylvania, a group of York College students sat on their off-campus porch eating tacos last Friday night. They had already called 911 over illegal street racing that was underway. A group of mostly black teens - "townies" the students called them - grew into a pack. After a car smashed into a parked vehicle near a firehouse, the crowd migrated onto the students' grass, when the young white women asked them to get off the property.
The mob then rushed the porch.
Video obtained by FOX43 shows a blonde student being dragged and beaten. Witnesses told WGAL that 8 to 12 girls grabbed one student by the hair, punched and kicked her, and dragged her from the porch into the street. In a written account provided to FOX43, a second student described being ripped off the porch by her hair, dragged to a stop sign, and jumped by roughly a dozen people at once while a larger crowd of perhaps 25 to 30 encircled her and recorded it.
🚨#BREAKING: Outrage is erupting after a mob of Black "teens" dragged a White female college student off her own porch BY HER HAIR, dragged her to a stop sign, and then beat her UNCONSCIOUS... TWICE...
— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) September 15, 2026
...while a crowd stood around FILMING it!!!
The girls called 911 **FIVE… pic.twitter.com/akMPlaI4L2
She blacked out twice - once from a kick to the ribs, once from a blow to the back of the head. She was wearing a tube top and spent part of the assault holding it up. Cameras were on her the whole time. Mace was sprayed on the porch. A roommate already in a knee brace from a sports injury was among those battered. Students say they called 911 four times before the first punch and five times before officers arrived.
"We called the cops four times before anything even happened to us," one student told FOX43. After the first punch, "all these girls started to rush us... I turn and see my friend get dragged by her hair down our porch steps and disappear."
A similar attack, they say, happened on the same block two weeks earlier. A student told people to get off her porch; someone ripped out her hair. One person was arrested then. The students believe it is the same group of non-students. "The cops haven't done anything to protect us, and campus safety hasn't done anything," one said. "It feels like they're scared to get involved with these people, but then it puts us at risk when they're doing nothing."
York City Police confirmed they are investigating the September 11 incident and ongoing disorderly-conduct complaints in the area. Captain Daniel Lentz later explained the delay: officers were tied up with a SWAT response to a shots-fired, barricaded-suspect call on the other side of the city. Campus safety was asked to respond until city officers could get there. Police have identified one suspect; as of Tuesday, no arrests had been announced in the latest beating.
York College's statement was careful. The 300 block is off-campus property the college does not own. It falls outside Campus Safety's jurisdiction. City police have the case. Leadership is "in active discussions" with city officials. Affected students may relocate back into campus housing. Student safety, the college said, is "always the highest priority."
A parent of one of the students was less diplomatic. Campus safety has previously cited students on that street for underage drinking - despite the jurisdictional claim. "It's not just the girls who got assaulted; it is everybody on Jackson Street," the father said. "We're not talking about five girls... we're talking about hundreds of students." Property manager Anthony Berrios, who has worked the block for more than a decade, told WGAL the locals who come to party are "getting out of control" and that landlords cannot fix it. "That would be the police department."
Students described gatherings of 100 to 200 people on the block, cans thrown, doors banged, street racing. The fight followed that chaos. Local news described the attackers as unaffiliated non-students and, specifically, groups of girls. Video of the assault circulated widely; a post laying out the students' account and the delayed response went viral.
The students' complaint is not abstract: they say the same group keeps coming, the same porch keeps getting stormed, and the institutions with badges treat it as someone else's problem until the beating is already over.
Teen takeovers, flash crowds, and the new street mob
Over the last several years - and with particular intensity in 2025 and 2026 - large groups of teenagers and young adults have used social media to converge on downtowns, beaches, parks, and residential blocks. The gatherings are marketed as parties or "trends." They frequently become street takeovers: racing, burnouts, dancing on cars, fights, phones out, and, too often, someone on the ground getting kicked while the circle films.
Chicago has lived with the pattern for more than a decade. CWB Chicago has tracked flash mobs, lakefront swarms, Loop chaos, and "teen trends" through multiple mayors. This year alone produced takeovers in the Loop, Hyde Park, and at beaches. In March, hundreds of teens flooded the Loop during spring break; fights broke out, cars were jumped on, at least one person was beaten unconscious, juveniles were arrested, and the city enforced curfew. In May, a Near West Side after-prom gathering at Roosevelt and Loomis drew hundreds.
Officers trying to clear the intersection were struck by a car; five were injured. The 18-year-old driver, Rashad Johnson, was charged with multiple counts of attempted murder and weapons offenses. A gun was found in the vehicle. Thirteen people were arrested in connection with the night. About 30 minutes after the crash, a 19-year-old man was shot in the 1100 block of West Roosevelt; police did not say whether it was related.
Memorial Day in Hyde Park produced another swarm: teens jumping on cars, twerking on vehicles and a bus, Lake Shore Drive closed, then gunfire that wounded three, an 18-year-old and two 19-year-olds. Police made 53 arrests that night, charged 13 people with felonies, and recovered nine weapons. Residents described hundreds running the streets after dark. Analyses of the broader phenomenon have appeared in City Journal and The Atlantic. City officials prefer the phrase "large groups." Residents and officers experience stampedes, property damage, and periodic shootings.
Philadelphia saw hundreds of teens pack Dilworth Park and Center City around Labor Day. Videos showed fights, officers overwhelmed, a robbery arrest, and a 17-year-old with a gun. After one night of running battles near City Hall, FOX 29counted 10 teens arrested, two of them for robbery and an underage firearm; NBC10 Philadelphia's tally of the same night was three arrests and seven citations.
The same template appears in other cities: street takeovers with motorcycles and cars in Charlotte, Clearwater, Cincinnati, and Naperville, as Fox News compiled at the start of summer; beach and mall flash crowds; smash-and-grab lineages that never fully disappeared. The common mechanics are cheap phones, group chats, weak curfew enforcement, and a calculation that a crowd is its own alibi. And of course, everyone's filming. The York student who blacked out said she was encircled and recorded while being punched and kicked from every angle. That is the same instinct visible when a downtown intersection fills and someone ends up under a pile of feet.
Institutions answer in a familiar register. Police are short-staffed or already on a shooting. Colleges declare the sidewalk outside their fence someone else's jurisdiction - until they need to cite their own students for beer. City halls announce "discussions," extra patrols after the fact, and housing offers for those who want to retreat behind a gate. Suspects, when identified, are often juveniles. Charges, when filed, are frequently misdemeanors. The next weekend, the crowd forms again.
The York students were not looking for a culture war. They asked people to leave their lawn. They called the police, repeatedly, before the first punch. What they got was a hair-drag down the steps, a beating at a stop sign, mace on the porch, and a press statement that the property is not owned by the college.
"It feels like they're scared to get involved with these people," one of them said.
Police in York asked for tips at yorkcitypolice.com. The students on West Jackson Street asked for something simpler: that someone show up before the next porch gets rushed.
* * * Click here
People who belong away from the public
Boardwalk hit-and-run suspect’s extensive rap sheet revealed as he enters court following wild chase
Don't vote for emotionally challenged candidates
Democrat candidate melts down in squad car after DUI arrest: video
Muslims(Islamists) here or there have a real problem with women. This man belong=gs in Afghanistan
Abdul El-Sayed moans women’s ‘privilege’ is behind breast cancer research funding
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed suggested in a newly unearthed essay that women’s “social power and privilege” is why breast cancer research is better-funded than examination of other diseases.
The 2012 diatribe against the “Pink Ribbon Lobby” was published in 2×2 Project, a journal sponsored by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, when El-Sayed was working as a physician in training and social epidemiologist.
Pink ribbons are often distributed every October as part of Breast Cancer Awareness month.
“The breast cancer lobby has done an incredible job raising my ‘awareness’ of Breast Cancer—if I weren’t an epidemiologist, it would have me believing that the women around me were in imminent danger,” the future gubernatorial and Senate contender wrote in the essay, first reported by The Washington Free Beacon.
“All of this is not to say that breast cancer isn’t an incredibly important disease, which it is,” he added. “And given the gendered history of public health, medicine, and research in our country, the social focus on breast cancer is warranted. However, the reallocation of public funds disproportionately to breast cancer is certainly not.”
El-Sayed continued: “We’re left with an important question—why do some diseases attract so much support anyway?”
“The answer is complex, for certain. But two possible answers could spell problems for equity in health research allocation,” he said.
“First, it’s possible that those diseases with the strongest advocacy are the ones that have the highest survival. After all, those once or currently affected by a disease are most likely to advocate for funding allocation to it,” added El-Sayed, saying it was “also possible that advocacy is a function of the social power and privilege of those most likely to get a disease.”
Women age 50 and older are most likely to get breast cancer, the second leading cause of cancer deaths in females, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Abdul spent his career fighting to improve health outcomes for Michiganders, including working to provide preventative screenings, mammograms, and more,” El-Sayed campaign spokesperson Cole Wozniak said in a statement.
“Meanwhile, [Republican candidate] Mike Rogers spent his career in Congress voting to defund organizations that help women catch breast cancer early and voted five times to repeal protections for pre-existing conditions—including breast cancer,” Wozniak added.
“Rogers even wants to charge a new $50 fee for routine cancer screenings. The contrast couldn’t be more stark: Abdul will fight to increase access for women’s healthcare and make it more affordable while Mike Rogers has a long record of fighting to rip away access to care for women across Michigan.”
The essay is not the first time El-Sayed’s surprising claims about health care have been exposed during his Senate campaign. In recently revealed comments from 2022, the Democrat told an interviewer that the legacy of slavery had “profoundly” influenced the standard of care in America.
El-Sayed has also called for the passage of “Medicare for All,” which could cost taxpayers up to $3.5 trillion per year, and pitched himself as a progressive who could replace socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
The 41-year-old, who lost the 2018 gubernatorial primary to current Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, is currently leading Rogers in the Senate contest by two percentage points, per the RealClearPolitics polling average.
The falsehood the trans movement is built around
We ran the data on trans teen suicide panic — and found the claims are misleading
“You can choose between a live son or a dead daughter.”
Countless parents have heard some variation of these words — from physicians, medical associations, media outlets or online activists.
If children believe they’re born in the wrong body and can’t get sex-change treatments, the argument goes, they’re at high risk of committing suicide.
No claim has swayed more parents to let their kids get puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and even surgeries.
The same claim has struck fear into the hearts of lawmakers considering restrictions on such treatments.
But as we show in a new report, the suicide threat isn’t true.
Democrats hate the American citizen: Exhibit A
Arkansas Democrat Hallie Shoffner: ‘We’d Trade Five Americans’ for One ‘Undocumented Immigrant’
House passes bill sanctioning countries that purchase Russian energy, headed to President’s desk
House passes bill sanctioning countries that purchase Russian energy, headed to President’s desk
The bill is headed to Trump’s desk for his signature after more than a year and a half of negotiating. The bill was championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who had worked across the aisle to get this passed.
The House passed legislation Wednesday giving President Donald Trump authority to sanction countries with tariffs that purchase Russian energy. It also imposes tough new sanctions against the Kremlin over its four-and-a-half year war on Ukraine.
The bill is headed to Trump’s desk for his signature after more than a year and a half of negotiating. The bill was championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who had worked across the aisle to get this passed, according to The Hill.
The House passed it by a vote of 262-159, with 203 Republicans and 58 Democrats voting for it, with seven Republicans and 152 Democrats opposing it. It also extends new sanctions on Iran.
Oh, Canada takes on a new mewing
You can’t make this stuff up folks.
Just days before making his next trip to lead the ‘middle-powers-summit’ in Europe where he will deliver his grandiose speech to announce ‘sovereign’ Canada is now a European subsidiary, the former central Banker turned appointed Prime Minister of Canada has announced he’s selling the Canadian airports.
Because in the banker’s world, sovereignty comes with a price, or something.
CANADA – Prime Minister Mark Carney says his government will open up Canada’s four largest airports to private investment, but that Ottawa will maintain ownership of airport land.
The prime minister said the private money will be sought through “long-term concessions” to operate these airports, which would include Toronto Pearson International Airport, Vancouver International Airport, Trudeau International Airport in Montreal and Calgary International Airport.
“The government of Canada will retain ownership of the underlying land and assets, but we will unlock their true value by bringing in new capital and expertise to their operations and growth,” Carney said during an address at the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto on Tuesday morning. (read more)
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