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Pam Bondi’s Ties to Scientology Explained

Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General Pam Bondi has held ties to the Church of Scientology at various points throughout her career.

Bondi made history in 2010 when she was elected as Florida’s first female attorney general, a job she held until 2019.

During her tenure she accepted campaign contributions from Scientologists and attended multiple fundraisers organized by prominent members of the church.

A fundraiser for Bondi’s reelection campaign in 2014 in Clearwater, Florida, was organized by six prominent Scientologists, the Tampa Bay Times reported at the time. Christina Johnson, Bondi’s campaign spokeswoman, told the newspaper that Bondi was aware that Scientologists were staging the event.

Johnson said that Bondi first connected with Scientologists in 2010 when she and other elected officials toured some of the church’s facilities in Clearwater. She added that Bondi had spoken to a group of Scientologists about human trafficking and antidrug initiatives.

Ahead of the fundraiser in 2014, Johnson said: “It’s like-minded folks sharing the same goals: Protecting children against drug overdoses and human trafficking.”

Bondi’s office also cited the importance of speaking about the same issues before she addressed a group with ties to Scientology in 2016.

“Considering the seriousness of this issue, the Attorney General is open to talking to any organization about what our office is doing to combat this awful crime and educate them on what they can do to help,” Bondi’s spokeswoman Kylie Mason told the Tampa Bay Times.

Newsweek has contacted Bondi for comment outside of normal working hours.

A Trump spokesperson and The Church of Scientology have also been contacted for comment.

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Aides Panicked, Changed Biden’s Number After He Unknowingly Answered Reporter’s Call Then Started Answering Questions: New Book

Despite being out of office, former President Joe Biden’s aides are keeping a close watch on the former president and who he communicates with.

On Tuesday, Axios wrote about “2024,” a new book from reporters Josh Dawsey, Tyler Page, and Isaac Arnsdorf, who worked together at the Washington Post during last year’s presidential campaign.

As the title indicates, this book is about President Donald Trump’s campaign and subsequently victory to retake the White House, running first against Biden then former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Axios highlighted one especially sad, yet hilarious, moment that demonstrates just how lucky the American people are that we did not get a second Biden term and illustrates the extent of his lack of authority over his own decisions.

Pager called Biden on March 25 — two months after he left office — after having obtained his personal cell number.

“Biden said he would be willing to speak for this book the next day,” the authors wrote. “The next morning, he answered and said he was running late to catch a train. He said he had a ‘very negative’ view of Trump’s second term. … ‘I don’t see anything he’s done that’s been productive,’ he said.”

After saying he did not dwell on if he regretted dropping out of the race, Biden hung up the call.

Pager then received texts and calls from Biden’s aides, who were not happy: “After the first call,” the aides, “repeatedly called and texted [Pager]. After the brief second call, his aides blocked the reporter‘s calls to the former president,” the book continued.

“Two days later, a message from Verizon Wireless replaced Biden’s voicemail: ‘The number you dialed has been changed, disconnected, or is no longer in service.’”

Even post-presidency, Biden does not make his own decisions, his aides do.

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California provided $73.6M to anti-deportation groups, including protestors

Government transparency group Open The Books reported the state of California provided anti-deportation groups with $73.6 million in 2023 and 2024, including the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, which received $35 million. 

California Republican lawmakers responded by demanding an audit into the extent by which state funding is subsidizing CHIRLA’s protest and activism-related activities. 

“I’m formally requesting the Legislature audit the extent by which LA’s riots are being bankrolled by a taxpayer subsidized nonprofit,” said Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez, R-Trabuco Canyon, on X. “There is zero excuse for our tax dollars to go towards these riots.” 

OTB’s report highlights CHIRLA’s “Wise Up!” program, which it says teaches high schoolers how to become activists, and the organization’s policy platform.

According to CHIRLA’s website, the program seeks to “organize high school students — both undocumented and allies — around immigrant rights, and full access to educational opportunities,” and “activates students” by “engaging them civically to fight in the legislative arena and the public square for measures that ease their access to education and citizenship.”

CHIRLA’s website also outlines its policy advocacy pillars, which includes “challenge anti-immigrant legislation,” “reduce immigration enforcement,” and “invest in immigrant communities.”

Sanchez’s letter requesting the state audit detailed other CHIRLA activities, including some connected to the Los Angeles deportation riots — including its “Removal Defense Team” providing deportation defense, and allegations that CHIRLA “materially and financially supported the coordinated protests and riots that have wrecked havoc on portions of Los Angeles.”

CHIRLA’s social media presence on Bluesky includes recent posts on hotline to report sightings of federal immigration agents, and to get immigration-related help. 

On Tuesday, CHIRLA leaders spoke on stage at an anti-deportation protest in front of Los Angeles City Hall and were shortly followed by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. 

“I need your prayer to be fierce,” said CHIRLA Executive Director Angelica Salas at the event. “I need your prayer to stop the raids. Provide our people due process.”

“Set us free as immigrants in this country,” continued Salas.

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‘Like a video game’: Israel enforcing Gaza evacuations with grenade-firing drones

The Israeli military has weaponized a fleet of Chinese-manufactured commercial drones to attack Palestinians in parts of Gaza that it seeks to depopulate, an investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call can reveal. According to interviews with seven soldiers and officers who served in the Strip, these drones are operated manually by troops on the ground, and are frequently used to bomb Palestinian civilians — including children — in an effort to force them to leave their homes or prevent them from returning to evacuated areas.

Soldiers most commonly use EVO drones, produced by the Chinese company Autel, which are primarily intended for photography and cost around NIS 10,000 (approximately $3,000) on Amazon. However, with a military-issued attachment known internally as an “iron ball,” a hand grenade can be affixed to the drone and dropped with the push of a button to detonate on the ground. Today, the majority of Israeli military companies in Gaza use these drones.

S., an Israeli soldier who served in the Rafah area this year, coordinated drone attacks in a neighborhood of the city that the army had ordered to be evacuated. During the nearly 100 days that his battalion operated there, soldiers conducted dozens of drone strikes, according to daily reports from his battalion commander that +972 and Local Call reviewed.

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Psychedelic Drug May Slow Aging

Could magic mushrooms hold the key to slowing down aging? New research from Georgia’s Emory University suggests they just might.

A new study has found that psilocin—a compound produced in the body after consuming psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms—extended the lifespan of human skin and lung cells in the lab by more than 50 percent.

The researchers also found that mice treated with psilocybin lived 30 percent longer—not to mention more healthily—than their peers.

“This study provides strong preclinical evidence that psilocybin may contribute to healthier aging—not just a longer lifespan, but a better quality of life in later years,” Dr. Ali John Zarrabi, Director of Psychedelic Research at Emory University’s Department of Psychiatry said in a statement.

“As a palliative care physician-scientist, one of my biggest concerns is prolonging life at the cost of dignity and function. But these mice weren’t just surviving longer—they experienced better aging,” added Zarrabi, who co-led the study.

As part of their study, the researchers ran the first long-term assessment of psilocybin’s systemic effects in living animals.

They treated aged, 19-month-old mice—which is something like 60–65 in human years—with an initially low psilocybin dose of 5 mg, followed by a high dose of 15 mg every month for 10 months.

The team found that psilocybin-treated mice survived around 30 percent longer than their untreated peers. Moreover, the treated mice also looked healthier for it, with better fur quality, fewer white hairs and even hair regrowth.

While psilocybin is usually studied for its mental health benefits, the findings suggest that the compound may also tackle key drivers of aging.

According to the team, the psilocybin treatments reduced oxidative stress, improved the cells’ ability to repair DNA and helped preserve the length of telomeres—the protective caps on chromosomes that guard against damage leading to diseases like cancer, neurodegeneration and heart disease.

“Most cells in the body express serotonin receptors, and this study opens a new frontier for how psilocybin could influence systemic aging processes, particularly when administered later in life,” said senior author and former Emory professor Louise Hecker in a statement.

Though psilocybin may be best known for its hallucinogenic effects on the brain, most cells in the body have serotonin receptors, suggesting it could have much wider impacts.

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7,000-year-old Village Sites Reveal Thriving Life on Remote Alaskan Island

Archaeological discoveries on Shuyak Island in Alaska’s Kodiak Archipelago have unveiled a remarkable chapter in Native American history, with the identification of what may be the island’s oldest known settlement dating back approximately 7,000 years.

The groundbreaking findings, announced by the Alutiiq Museum’s archaeology team, have dramatically expanded our understanding of ancient Indigenous settlement patterns across Alaska’s rugged coastal landscape. Led by Patrick Saltonstall, the museum’s curator of archaeology, the multi-year survey has uncovered dozens of previously undocumented village sites, particularly on the island’s lesser-studied eastern shores, reports Alaska Public Media.

Shuyak Island, known in the Alutiiq language as Suu’aq meaning “rising out of the water,” has long been considered sparsely populated throughout its history. Today, the island is largely encompassed by Shuyak Island State Park, attracting kayakers and wildlife enthusiasts to its pristine wilderness. However, the recent archaeological evidence tells a different story.

“Shuyak Island has always sort of been a place where I think it seems like there were fewer people up there,” Saltonstall explained. “But finding that, you know what your preconceptions are and what you actually find often don’t match” reported Archaeology Magazine.

The survey identified one remarkable village site featuring 11 house pits that researchers believe housed between 200 and 300 people approximately 300 years ago. Even more surprising was the discovery of the 7,000-year-old settlement, which represents the earliest evidence of human habitation ever found on the island.

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Dershowitz Claims He Saw Full Epstein Client List While Defending Himself In Giuffre Case

Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz claimed he’s seen Jeffrey Epstein’s full client list — but said confidentiality rules prevent him from naming names in a March 19 interview.

The resurfaced clip from “The Sean Spicer Show” has fueled new scrutiny of Epstein’s alleged connections, even as newly released FBI and Justice Department memos say no list exists and rule out foul play in his 2019 death.

“But I’m bound by confidentiality — from a judge and cases — and I can’t disclose what I know,” Dershowitz said. “Hand to God, I know the names of the people whose files are being suppressed in order to protect them, and that’s wrong.”

Dershowitz alleged that key documents in the Epstein case are being “deliberately, willfully suppressed” to protect certain individuals. He claimed to know both the names and the officials suppressing the information.

Pressed by Spicer on whether those individuals were politicians or business leaders, Dershowitz replied, “They’re everything.” He went on to argue that some alleged victims named in the files may themselves have been perpetrators, accusing judges of shielding false accusers from scrutiny.

“If the accusation is allowed out, so should the material that diminishes the credibility of the accuser,” he said, reiterating his call for “total transparency” with no redactions. Dershowitz added that he has waived any privacy rights over his own records, insisting, “I know I haven’t touched a woman other than my wife from the day I met Jeffrey Epstein.”

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Bipartisan Senators Agree To Delay Planned Federal Hemp Product Ban For One Year

A powerful Senate committee has approved a bill that contains provisions hemp industry stakeholders say would devastate the market by banning consumable hemp products with any “quantifiable” amount of THC. However, bipartisan members agreed to delay the implementation of the ban for one year.

On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA spending legislation that covers the next fiscal year—and also includes provisions that would significantly revise hemp laws following the crop’s legalization under the 2018 Farm Bill.

The bill “closes the hemp loophole that has resulted in the proliferation of unregulated intoxicating hemp products being sold across the country,” a committee summary says.

Ahead of the panel vote, several sources told Marijuana Moment that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who championed hemp legalization through that 2018 legislation while serving as majority leader, was behind the restrictive cannabis language, vying to redefine his legacy by recriminalizing intoxicating cannabinoid products such as delta-8 THC.

At Thursday’s hearing, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said he appreciates McConnell’s concerns but worries that the new prohibition would be overbroad and impact even non-intoxicating products, saying the language “addresses one very important issue, but causes another problem.”

“It’s been a privilege to work with Senator McConnell on hemp,” he said. “We first brought to this committee the idea that research should be done on hemp, and then later we put in an amendment that proceeded to allow seeds to be transferred across states, and now there is a hemp industry.”

“The important issue it addresses is not allowing hemp to be grown to produce hallucinogenic products, and that, unfortunately, due to the magic of laboratories, has occurred,” Merkley said. “But then there are other products that come from hemp such as CBD that has, in fact, been a significant factor as a healthcare supplement in many, many products across America that does not have a hallucinogenic effect.”

“I would like to continue to work with Senator McConnell to see if we can develop, in the course of this year, a definition that addresses hallucinogenic factors but does not eliminate the CBD product that is non hallucinogenic [and] that is valued by many Americans across the land,” he said.

“I know that there’s important work to be done on the hemp, but this one year [delay] will enable our farmers who are growing hemp currently to produce this year’s crop within the existing framework, and we’ll have a conversation over the coming year,” Merkley said.

McConnell appeared less interested in using the year to establish an alternative regulatory framework, saying that he’s simply agreeing to “give our hemp farmers ample time to prepare for their future.”

“The 2018 Farm Bill federally legalized hemp as an agricultural product,” the senator said. “This language had an unintended consequence that has allowed for intoxicating hemp-derived synthetic products to be made and sold across our country.”

“These intoxicating products have flooded the market in the absence—no regulatory structure, and [businesses] often use deceptive and predatory marketing towards children with packaging and logos similar to existing food products such as Oreos, candy, gummies and cereals,” McConnell said.

“The way I see it, the language I helped secure takes us back to the original intent of the 2018 Farm Bill, and closes this loophole,” the former Senate majority leader said, adding that the hemp provisions prior agriculture legislation “sought to create an agricultural hemp industry—not open the door to the sale of unregulated, intoxicating lab-made, hemp-derived substances with no safety framework.”

The hemp language in the new Senate spending bill is nearly identical to what the House Appropriations Committee passed late last month, with noted cannabis prohibitionist Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) leading the charge.

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School board chairman set to resign after ‘please shoot Republicans’ post surfaces

A school board chairman in Northern Kentucky has allegedly submitted his resignation amid revelations that he commented “please shoot Republicans” on social media years ago came to light.

The Erlanger-Elsmere Board of Education was slated to accept the resignation of chairman Jeffrey Miller at a meeting Thursday night, according to the board’s agenda posted online. The district includes eight schools and learning centers in Kenton County, including Lloyd Memorial High School, and has an enrollment of 2,399 students. It’s located about 11 miles south of Cincinnati.

The revelation comes after state Rep. Steve Doan, an Erlanger Republican, received complaints from constituents about Miller’s online comments.

The Enquirer reached out to the school district and Miller for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Doan called for Miller’s resignation

Doan received the complaints this spring while he was working to reopen a track at the district to the public in the evenings. He emailed officials, attended a few school board meetings, and posted about his efforts online.

That’s when he was sent screenshots of some of Miller’s Facebook comments.

One comment was posted to Facebook on Aug. 28, 2018, the day after a mass shooting killed at least three people at a Madden 19 video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida, USA TODAY reported at the time.

In response to another commenter, Miller said on Facebook he would be OK with the National Rifle Association if “these psychos were just once the victims of a mass shooting.”

He followed that statement with “WINK WINK: please shoot republicans.”

Doan shared the screenshot with The Enquirer. Miller also made a comment on Facebook at some point that said “f— the police” and added that police are interested in oppressing people instead of serving the public.

Doan said it became clear that Miller is “definitely a loose cannon” so he looked into him further and found that Miller was found guilty of driving under the influence in 2017, after he had been elected to the school board in 2016.

A police officer said in Kentucky court records that Miller was “highly intoxicated” and nearly struck the back of a patrol car. Miller’s license was suspended for 90 days and he was sentenced with a $250 fine and 14 days of conditional jail time.

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UK: Ofcom-Backed Study Could Be Part of a Push to Extend “Impartiality” Rules to Online Media

A government-funded research campaign spearheaded by Ofcom and Cardiff University will raise red flags among free speech advocates, as it aims to scrutinize the so-called impartiality of political news coverage across UK media.

This expansive project, backed by £755,625 ($1,028M) in public funds from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), specifically includes online and broadcast outlets and coincides with the run-up to the 2024/25 general election.

Though framed as an academic endeavor, the collaboration involves not only researchers but a cadre of mainstream broadcasters with longstanding ties to government regulation.

These include the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky News, and ITN. Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator and enforcer of the wide-reaching and controversial online censorship law, the Online Safety Act, is a central partner.

The project description emphasizes “challenging but urgent questions” about how political coverage is presented to the public and hints at future interventions under the pretense of raising editorial standards.

Cardiff University, which is leading the study, openly states that it intends to “identify where editorial standards can be raised to better inform…audiences.”

While no explicit call for regulatory changes is made, the language closely mirrors the justification often used to extend oversight, particularly toward newer or nonconforming media platforms.

The announcement states that “accusations of so-called media bias abound, often fuelled by edited clips circulating across online and social media platforms rather than scientific studies of news reporting.”

Impartiality rules enforced by Ofcom have repeatedly been used as tools to investigate and sanction broadcasters like GB News and TalkTV which have a large online presence.

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