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Evo Morales Claims Plot to Capture or Kill Him as Bolivian Justice Closes In on Former Leader

Former Bolivian president Evo Morales has once again placed himself at the center of political controversy after publishing a lengthy social media statement claiming that an international operation is allegedly being prepared to capture—or even kill—him.

According to Morales, the United States ordered the Bolivian government to carry out a military operation against him with support from the DEA, U.S. Southern Command, and several units of Bolivia’s armed forces.

Morales claimed the alleged operation is taking place in the Cochabamba Tropics, a region that has served as his political and union stronghold for decades.

In his statement, Morales accused political figures tied to Bolivia’s past governments of helping orchestrate the supposed operation, including former minister Carlos Sánchez Berzaín, who served under former Bolivian president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada.

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Iowa Hospital Accused of Illegally Harvesting Air Force Veteran’s Organs, Skin, Eyes and Tissue – Daughters Sue for Malpractice and Emotional Distress

The daughters of a 69-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran have filed a federal lawsuit against an Iowa hospital, claiming staff improperly harvested their father’s organs, skin, eyes, and tissue without his prior consent or any authorization from his next of kin.

The lawsuit claims the harvesting was done without even attempting to contact his children.

Martin Gillespie, a proud Air Force veteran described by family as a loving father of three and grandfather of eight, was pronounced dead on April 1 at Alegent Health Community Memorial Hospital in Missouri Valley.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by Law & Crime, Gillespie never authorized any anatomical gifts or organ donation during his lifetime.

The complaint alleges that hospital staff made “no attempt to contact” Gillespie’s next of kin, his daughters, Christina Gubbels and Daun Stoddard, before referring his body to the Iowa Donor Network.

Hours later, on the same day, the Iowa Donor Network harvested his organs, skin tissue, and eyes.

Gillespie’s body was then transported to Hennessey Funeral Home in Missouri Valley for cremation.

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The EU’s sanctions fever: From Russia to China, a crisis expands

The European Union has taken yet another step in its long-running confrontation with Russia. But what now stands out is not only the scale – it is the restless, almost reflexive expansion of sanctions as a default instrument of policy.

In April, EU authorities unveiled their 20th round of sanctions targeting Russia and Belarus, while pointedly extending their reach toward China.

Sanctions spiral

What was once framed as a targeted response now resembles a sanctions regime without clear geographic or strategic limits. By including 56 designations tied to Russia’s military-industrial complex – 17 of them in China, the United Arab Emirates, Belarus, and Central Asia – the EU has effectively dissolved the boundaries of its own confrontation. Another 60 entities now face tightened export controls tied to alleged contributions to Russia’s defense sector.

For the first time, even a Chinese state-owned entity has been targeted by anti-Belarusian sanctions. In Brussels, this is justified through the language of “dual-use” goods. But outside Europe, the perception is of a growing tendency toward economic coercion that stretches legal authority across borders, fueled by an escalating appetite for pressure.

China’s response was swift: officials condemned what they described as “long-arm jurisdiction,” rejecting the EU’s attempt to discipline Chinese firms operating far beyond European territory. More importantly, Beijing read the move as a signal of the EU’s shifting posture toward China itself.

Within a day, China placed seven European entities on its control list over arms sales to Taiwan, imposing restrictions that mirror the EU’s own extraterritorial reach. These measures prohibit the transfer of Chinese goods to the targeted firms, extending the ripple effects well beyond those directly sanctioned.

The list includes one German entity, two Belgian firms, and four Czech companies – including military industrial manufacturers Omnipol and Excalibur Army, all deeply embedded in supply chains connected to Ukraine.

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Former Harris Campaign Manager Goes on MSNOW and Proves Democrats Still Don’t Understand Why Kamala Lost

A senior official from Kamala Harris’ failed presidential campaign appeared on MSNOW Sunday to explain why Harris lost the 2024 election, but the answer is not complicated.

Rob Flaherty, who served as Harris’ deputy campaign manager, joined MSNOW after writing that Democrats had tactics, ads, creators, social media moments, and viral content, but lacked a real brand.

That may sound like a serious political diagnosis inside Washington, D.C. But outside the consultant class, the reason Harris lost was obvious. The American people rejected a campaign that was detached from their lives, obsessed with left-wing social issues, and unable to speak like normal people.

Democrats are now trying to turn Harris’ loss into a branding problem. It was not. Harris had a brand. The problem was what the brand represented.

Her brand was DEI politics. Her brand was identity politics. Her brand was the idea that Americans should view candidates, policies, schools, businesses, and government through race, gender, and sexuality. 

Her brand was the modern Democrat Party’s obsession with catering to a tiny activist class while ignoring the everyday concerns of working Americans.

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How US hemp ban could criminalize CBD products – and derail Medicare plan

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently started a new pilot to reimburse patients for hemp-derived products – like CBD – but a hemp ban that Congress passed in November could derail the program.

The new program will make certain Medicare and Medicaid recipients eligible for reimbursement for up to $500 worth of hemp products each year and is intended in part to evaluate whether these products could reduce their other health related costs.

But the program’s definition of hemp comes from the 2018 Farm Bill, which created the loophole that has allowed so many cannabis products to be sold outside state-authorized dispensaries. Under the Farm Bill, hemp is any cannabis product derived from plants containing less than .3% delta nine THC. If the hemp ban that passed with last year’s spending bill goes into effect as planned on 12 November (it goes into effect one year after passage), all products containing more than .4mg of THC of any kind will become federally illegal.

This would criminalize “the vast, vast majority of hemp products, including most non-intoxicating CBD products”, says Jonathan Miller of US Hemp Roundtable.

Inesa Ponomariovaite, owner of Nesa’s Hemp, which specializes in CBDA hemp extract, met with members of Congress this week to advocate for laws that would keep her products legal.

“Congress is trying to pass laws on something that they’re not even fully understanding, and that’s really going to affect us,” Ponomariovaite said, who noted that during her meetings, she had to explain the endocannabinoid system to senators who had not heard of it before.

The endocannabinoid system is a system of receptors throughout the brain and other organs that interacts with cannabinoids, which appear in the cannabis plant but also form naturally in the human body. It helps regulate pain, memory, cognitive processing and energy, which is part of why cannabis products affect us the way they do.

Ponomariovaite says products that contain a wide array of cannabinoids have stronger therapeutic effects than isolated CBD, for example, which might be the only type of CBD available should the ban go through.

Lawmakers have been trying to pass legislation to delay the hemp ban or replace it with regulation since it first passed, Miller said. In December, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden re-introduced the Cannabinoid Safety and Regulation Act, which would replace the ban with regulation to ensure hemp products are safe and free of contaminants. Indiana Representative Jim Baird introduced a bill in January that would delay the hemp ban for two years.

Miller blames political tension as to why neither of these laws have yet made it through Congress: “Congress isn’t passing anything these days, it’s so polarized and so partisan that it’s hard for them to pass even the most obvious bills, and so we’re kind of caught up in that.”

While the White House hasn’t proposed any specific counters to the hemp ban, Trump has posted on Truth Social calling for Congress “to update the Law to ensure that Americans can continue to access the full-spectrum CBD products they have come to rely on.”

The Trump administration has taken steps to reschedule cannabis to acknowledge its medical potential, but has also faced political resistance to many of its pro-cannabis policies, including the Medicare-linked hemp pilot program. A group of advocates, including Drug Free America Foundation and Cannabis Industry Victims Educating litigators sued the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, and the CMS administrator, Mehmet Oz, over the program, accusing them of establishing a plan to promote substances that may soon be considered federally illegal without going through proper administrative procedure. The court denied the lawsuit’s attempt to block the program.

Ponomariovaite says that lawmakers are worrying about the wrong thing when they focus their energy on trying to dissect the cannabis plant, making parts of it legal and parts of it illegal. Their focus should instead be on contamination.

“Hemp itself is like a natural soil cleaner. It actually grabs all the micro toxins, the mildew, bacteria, metals, and absorbs them within the hemp plant. So if you extract that plant for medicinal properties, that plant is going to be loaded with toxins,” she said.

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Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson fined for improper use of state aircraft for personal travel

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson violated state ethics law by allowing a former aide to fly on a state aircraft for personal travel, according to a ruling by the Washington State Executive Ethics Board.

The board concluded Ferguson improperly used state resources and granted a special privilege when he invited former Chief Strategy Officer Mike Webb to join him on a Washington State Patrol plane in June 2025.

The incident stemmed from a complaint filed on July 30, 2025, alleging Ferguson permitted a private citizen to travel on a taxpayer-funded aircraft assigned for official gubernatorial use. The complaint said Webb, who had left state employment months earlier, was traveling for non-government purposes.

According to stipulated facts accepted by the board, Webb resigned from the governor’s office in March 2025 but was allowed to accompany Ferguson on a June 26 flight to the Tri-Cities, where both had separate engagements. Ferguson said he offered Webb an empty seat on the plane because the flight was not at capacity.

Ferguson acknowledged the decision was a mistake, stating in a written response that the invitation “may have given the wrong impression” that Webb still had a role in the administration.

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Pentagon quietly shut legally required program to prevent civilian deaths by military, watchdog finds

The Pentagon has quietly dismantled a program it is legally required to operate to prevent and respond to civilian deaths in US military operations, according to its internal watchdog.

A report released by the department’s inspector general concluded the US military no longer has the people, tools or infrastructure needed to comply with two federal statutes requiring it to maintain a functioning civilian casualty policy, and operate a Civilian Protection Center of Excellence (CP CoE).

Donald Trump’s administration has been accused of making deep cuts to the Pentagon’s civilian harm mitigation and response (CHMR) program, designed to handle training and procedures critical in limiting civilian harm in theaters of war.

While the program has not been officially canceled, the inspector general’s report said that funding had ended for a data management platform; committee meetings had halted; and many dedicated personnel had been lost or reassigned.

“As a result, the DoW may not comply with its civilian casualties and harm policy,” the report read. “A policy required by federal law.”

The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.

The program was created by Lloyd Austin, then defense secretary, in January 2022, under Joe Biden, following years of deadly US bombing campaigns in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. Airwars, a civilian harm monitor, estimated that US drone and airstrikes killed at least 22,000 civilians – and perhaps as many as 48,000 – in the 20 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon chief, has recently come under fire over deadly attacks on Iran, including a US strike in Minab that killed at least 175 people, a majority of them children, at an all-girls school.

Limiting casualties has not been a top priority under Hegseth’s tenure at the Department of War, rebranded on his watch from Department of Defense last September. When pressed on civilian casualties in Iran, he has pivoted to blame the country’s regime for placing rocket launchers in civilian areas, and also claimed no nation in history had taken more precautions than the US to avoid civilian deaths.

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Axios Warns Cuba Stockpiled 300 Attack Drones With Crosshairs On U.S. Homeland

Well, well, well.

On Feb. 3, we first asked whether a Cuban Missile Crisis 2.0 was quietly taking shape on the collapsed, communist-run Caribbean island of Cuba.

But instead of Soviet missiles, we warned that Havana may be stockpiling Russian-made Geranium one-way attack drones with the operational range to threaten major U.S. oil and gas refineries in the Gulf of America, key military bases, data centers, power grid infrastructure, and potentially even Washington, D.C.

Nearly three and a half months ago, we laid out the framework for a potential drone threat against the homeland originating from Cuba, using an infographic published by the Russian think tank Rybar.

Rybar is a noteworthy source in this context, and Western officials are not fans. The State Department has offered a $10 million reward for information on the outlet through its Rewards for Justice program, while both the European Union and the United Kingdom have sanctioned it.

At the time, Rybar wrote: “But what would the Cubans do in the event of a conflict? Let us hypothetically imagine that Havana decides to resist the Americans and chooses to fight. In that case, the already world-famous Geran strike drones could come to their aid.”

Fast forward to Sunday: Axios, citing newly obtained U.S. intelligence, reports that Cuba has accumulated roughly 300 military drones from Russia and Iran and has discussed potential wartime strike scenarios targeting Guantanamo Bay, U.S. naval vessels, and possibly Key West.

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Virginia Governor Spanberger Rages on X After Supreme Court Kills Democrat Gerrymander

Virginia Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger erupted in anger on social media Friday after the Supreme Court refused to reinstate the state’s new congressional map that Democrats openly designed to flip up to four House seats in the 2026 midterms.

The high court’s one-sentence order left in place a 4-3 ruling from the Virginia Supreme Court that struck down the redistricting amendment on procedural grounds, meaning the state will use its existing 2021 congressional districts for the upcoming elections.

Spanberger took to X to lash out at both the state and federal courts, claiming they had “nullified an election” and the votes of more than three million Virginians.

The governor wrote in full:

The Supreme Court of the United States has now joined the Supreme Court of Virginia in choosing to nullify an election and the votes of more than three million Virginians.

These Virginians made their voices heard — casting their ballots in good faith to push back against a President who said he’s “entitled” to more seats in Congress before voters go to the polls.

As Governor, I will make sure voters know when and how to cast their votes this year. Because our votes are how we choose the representation we deserve.

Spanberger later shared a link on her personal campaign account directing supporters to donate to Democratic congressional candidates via ActBlue.

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What If We Really Are Just Exposing the Tip of the Federal Fraud Iceberg?

Open the Books exposed yet another insight into the stinking, rotten catastrophe that is the massive, systematic, and continuing stealing from American taxpayers via an unknown number of federal social service programs that for decades have all but hung in their windows signs saying “Come Steal.”

Earlier this month, the headline on the Open the Books website proclaimed “Hidden Fees: Taxpayers on the Hook for Foreign-Linked Health Care Fraud Schemes.” Here’s what was found:

In January 2026, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz alleged that roughly $3.5 billion worth of fraud, so far unconfirmed, was happening through false hospice billings in a scheme he attributed in large part to what he called the ‘Russian Armenian mafia.’

So, Open the Books took a look at Oz’s claims, what fraud could be confirmed, and its cost to taxpayers. It turns out Russian and Armenian-linked fraud has cost taxpayers almost $1 billion in confirmed losses from Medicare and Medicaid, part of a Department of Justice operation dubbed ‘Operation Gold Rush.’

So now we must add the Russian-Armenian Mafia to the Somali robbing of Medicaid billions in Minnesota and Ohio, and whatever ethnicity may be the thieves behind the similarly systematic filching in California and Maine. And let’s not forget the Mexican Drug Cartels almost certainly have their greasy fingers in this long-running criminal enterprise, too.

Thus far, 11 individuals involved in the transnational criminal operation have been charged by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Operation Gold Rush, which is the largest health care fraud case ever charged by federal officials. The criminals bought medical equipment firms, then submitted fraudulent Medicare claims using more than 1 million stolen Americans’ names.

Only 11 people charged? There were 324 individuals charged nationwide by the DOJ last year, and the total thus far in 2026 isn’t known. But let us assume DOJ doubles its 2025 level and takes 648 individuals to federal court for defrauding Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Veterans Affairs, SNAP/Food Stamp, and who knows how many more federal benefit programs? And we haven’t even mentioned fraud in Department of Defense procurement.

Given the international scope of the waste and fraud, one might reasonably expect that thousands of criminals are involved who should be identified, charged, convicted, and imprisoned. According to GAO in 2024, the government loses as much as $521 billion annually to fraud, but I expect that estimate to spiral as the DOJ’s current anti-fraud effort goes forward.

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