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Former Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times Reporter Claims She Was Attacked with ‘Direct Energy Weapons’ at Her Home Over Epstein Reporting

A veteran journalist who has spent months covering Jeffrey Epstein’s sprawling Zorro Ranch compound in New Mexico says she is permanently leaving the United States after suffering what she describes as two “direct energy weapon” attacks inside her home office in New Mexico.

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, a former Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times reporter turned bestselling novelist and independent investigator, announced her plan to flee the country in a post on her Substack last week.

The reporter claims the attacks left her with symptoms matching “Havana syndrome” and forced her to abandon her New Mexico residence immediately.

“Okay, folks. It appears my home has been located by, well, whomever is unhappy about my reporting about Zorro Ranch and the local cover up here and the military intelligence roots of the child sex trafficking operation Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were running here in New Mexico,” Valdes-Rodriguez wrote.

The post continued, “This morning, I was hit in my home office by two episodes of what I later learned were likely Direct Energy Weapon attacks. Look up Havana Syndrome. My symptoms are consistent with such attacks, and entirely new. We wasted no time in leaving the house, for good. We will be staying in safe houses while we finish plans to permanently relocate abroad.”

“The hardest part will be transporting our pets. It is very expensive. I am going to set up a gofundme to help cover that expense and a security detail until we are out of the USA. Yes, it has come to this. We kind of figured it might,” the post concluded.

The U.S. Department of Defense defines DEWs as systems that use concentrated electromagnetic energy, rather than kinetic energy, to “incapacitate, damage, disable, or destroy enemy equipment, facilities, or personnel.”

The U.S. has researched DEWs since the 1960s, with billions invested. The first operational U.S. DE weapon was a 30 kW laser installed on the USS Ponce in 2014.

Other nations, including China, Russia, and Israel, are also actively developing DEWs.

Valdes-Rodriguez wrote in a later post that the attacks may have involved a “backpack-sized” device placed on or near her roof by “private military contractors” and a second incident from “the back of a large semi truck that parked across from my house.”

“These are the most cowardly weapons ever created. They attack you at your most vulnerable and trusting, in your home, in bed, and do not kill right away,” Valdes-Rodriguez wrote.

No police report or independent verification of the attacks has been made public.

Valdes-Rodriguez was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and built a respected career in mainstream journalism before transitioning to fiction and, more recently, independent investigative work.

Earlier this year, after the Department of Justice released millions of pages of previously unseen Epstein files, Valdes-Rodriguez began systematically combing through the documents with a laser focus on Epstein’s 7,500-acre Zorro Ranch, now renamed Rancho de San Rafael, located roughly 30 miles outside Santa Fe.

Key elements of her Zorro Ranch investigations include claims that Epstein hired Bradbury Stamm Construction, New Mexico’s largest industrial contractor, known for building facilities at the state’s nuclear weapons labs to construct the remote ranch.

The firm’s phone number appeared in Epstein’s personal contacts.

Valdes-Rodriguez linked this to Ghislaine Maxwell’s father, Robert Maxwell, and alleged Israeli intelligence penetration of U.S. nuclear programs in the 1980s.

Additionally, she reported on a still-active private microwave communications license at the property and its strategic location forming a near-perfect triangle with the two top-secret nuclear labs. She has alleged the ranch may have been used for surveillance operations.

Drawing on FBI tips and DOJ files, she has reported on allegations of buried victims, “two foreign girls,” young girls allegedly raped at the ranch, and possible disappearances of American scientists tied to the area.

Valdes-Rodriguez also reported that former U.S. Attorney for New Mexico John J. Kelly served as Epstein’s personal power of attorney for the 1993 purchase of the ranch from then-Governor Bruce King.

Kelly has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and called the insinuations “categorically false.”

She also highlighted the Zorro Trust’s $85 million Oklahoma Lottery win shortly after Epstein’s 2008 prison stint.

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The Public School Mess

For most of my life, I’ve wanted to do two things: teach and write. I’ve now done both, but I’ve been more successful at one than the other. I went to college to be a teacher. It took me five and a half years to get my degree and teacher certification. It took me a year and a half of substitute teaching to get a teaching position. I taught 9th-grade English and, later, World Geography at a majority minority high school southwest of Houston. I was teaching there on 9/11. I quit two years later. I lasted all of five years. It took me longer to get my degree and teacher certification than the time I was actually on the job. 

Why didn’t I stay longer? There is a very long list of reasons, far too many to list here. Had the public school system been the one I had graduated from 10 years before, I might have stayed in the classroom. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. The public school system is a mess and has been for decades. People wonder why public school teachers today have purple hair and like to talk about their sexuality with their students. They wonder where the normal teachers are. The normal teachers quit like I did. It’s simple, really. When you chase away the people who want to be there, like me, you’re stuck with what’s left, including the purple hair people. 

Don’t believe me? The turnover rate for the state I live in, Texas, is 12%. Twelve percent of all teachers hired do not return for a second year. In the state’s largest district, the Houston Independent School District, the turnover rate is 15% higher! Nearly 30% of all teachers hired by Houston I.S.D. do not return for a second year. This absurdly high turnover rate is one of the many reasons that Houston I.S.D. is being run by the state right now and not the school district.

What is the problem? Why do so many teachers quit? What can be done to improve the public school system, if at all? The main problem, as I see it, is that teachers are no longer valued. They’re appreciated a couple of times a year, but they’re not valued. Teachers are interchangeable. Today, teachers are seen as the hired help. If one quits, you just find another. No big deal. My school district, the district I graduated from, did not see me as a teacher. I was a babysitter at a “problem school.” The district would never say that in public, but that was the very clear implication. 

Students are believed over teachers. Teachers are expected to solve all the problems thrown at them without help or backup and without stopping the lesson. If the problems aren’t solved, it’s the teacher’s fault. In fact, it’s ALWAYS the teacher’s fault, ALWAYS. Misbehaving student? Teacher’s fault, poor classroom management. Lack of supplies? Teacher’s fault, they didn’t bring enough. Not enough copies for the classroom? Teacher’s fault, they used up their allotment before the end of the month. Higher than average failure rate? Teacher’s fault, the lessons aren’t interesting enough. Do you see a pattern? I certainly do. It turns out that constantly being told you’re terrible at your job and that you’re wrong about everything is not conducive to teachers wanting to return for another year. 

I would hope that this doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone reading this. Teachers do not teach for the money. I promise you, they don’t. I didn’t. I taught because I was good at it and I enjoyed it until I didn’t. Why complain? Teachers get the summers off. Surely that’s enough time to recover. It might be if teachers were paid during the summer. They’re not. Not unless they’re teaching summer school. Teachers are paid for nine months. They stretch nine months of pay to cover all twelve months. I know, I’ve done it. Who gets paid all twelve months? Administration. All the paper pushers sitting in their nice offices, making twice or three times what the average teacher makes, miles from any school, making sure they justify the continuation of their job, those are the ones who take an ever larger chunk of the money the school district receives. Those are the ones who need to go. Every last school district in the U.S. needs to be DOGED. Every last one. 

There has been a fundamental shift in public education in the last twenty to thirty years, moving from student accountability to permissiveness, under the guise of equity and inclusion. Everyone, from the students to the faculty to the staff, is allowed to live their truth. Now, it’s okay for students to run wild, talk back to the adults, and assault the teachers. Anything goes nowadays. It’s not even babysitting, it’s chaos with an educational imprimatur. What happened? 

Progressives happened. They rule with emotion, not logic. If they hear something they don’t like, they ignore it. Boys in the girls’ locker room? What’s the big deal? The boys identify as girls; it’s sexist to kick them out. The girls should be more understanding. It’s never a progressive’s fault, either. They mean well. They just want everyone to be happy and equal. Yes, equally miserable. 

With progressives in control, there is no one to enforce standards and accountability, so there are no standards or accountability. The agency supposedly created to enforce educational standards, the U.S. Department of Education, has been an absolute disaster. After its creation, the U.S. was no longer #1 in the world in terms of education. Today, according to the World Population Review, the U.S. is 38th in Math and 24th in Science. 

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SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler Reveals $200 BILLION in Fraudulent PPP Loans Were Hidden by Biden Admin – “People Are Going to Jail”

Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler revealed during a White House cabinet meeting on Wednesday that her agency has uncovered staggering amounts of fraud, including $200 billion in fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans that the Biden regime kept hush-hush. 

“We found $200 billion in fraudulent PPP loans that the Biden administration tried to hide and forgive and sweep under the rug,” she said.

Amid discussions about fraud and Vice President JD Vance’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, Loeffler made the stunning announcement.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, President Trump went off on the Somali fraudsters in Minnesota and Somali Rep. Ilhan Omar for pillaging the US Treasury. He further suggested that even more fraud has been discovered that will shatter the earth.

“In two months, we’ve exposed 10s of billions of dollars of defrauded taxpayer money, prosecuted numerous fraudsters,” he said.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Trump added. “Wait till you see. I’m getting reports from Todd, from JD. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

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US, India Sign Critical Minerals And Rare Earths Mining Pact

The United States and India signed a key agreement on May 26 to secure critical minerals and rare earth mining, processing, and supplies, further loosening China’s grip on the global market, during Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s four-day visit.

“We are two countries who have a strategic interest in ensuring reliable long-term access to critical minerals and supply chains that are important for our innovation economy,” Rubio said during the signing. “This is a very important step.”

Rubio was in India for a four-day diplomatic visit May 23-26 to shore up the United States’ partnership with what he called “one of our most important strategic partners in the world.”

He said the talks included a scope of issues that the United States works together on with India.

In a similar statement about the agreement, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said the framework will strengthen resilient and diversified supply chains, help both nations collaborate on financing, and also help with the effective management of critical minerals and rare earths.

“I think it’s a very important initiative,” Jaishankar said during the signing. “It’s one more sign of how close our cooperation is and how important it is today in a world where there are so many challenges but also so many opportunities.”

The framework for the agreement first began to take shape in February when India signed onto Pax Silica, a U.S.-led strategic initiative and coalition aimed at securing a global supply chain for artificial intelligence (AI) progress and economic security. India was one of 14 countries to sign the agreement.

India has one of the world’s largest rare earth elements reserves, and existing processing capabilities that can be developed, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a bipartisan think tank organization. The country has rich sand deposits containing monazite, which includes thorium and other minerals. Thorium is a nuclear fuel.

China accounts for about 60 percent of global rare earth elements production and about 90 percent of processing.

On May 26, Rubio also announced signing a partnership charter and agreement on critical minerals with Armenia.

Rubio held a ceremony with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan signing the bilateral framework agreement on the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. They also signed a Strategic Partnership Charter and agreement on critical minerals.

Armenia mainly mines iron, copper, molybdenum, lead, zinc, gold, silver, antimony, and aluminum. The country also has valuable reserves of rare metals, including gold-polymetallic, copper-molybdenum, and copper pyrite deposits, according to the U.S. International Trade Administration.

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California’s New Age-Verification Bill Frees Linux But Expands Age Tracking to the Open Web

California Assembly Bill 1856 is getting friendly press coverage because it now exempts Linux from the state’s age-tracking mandate. The part nobody’s talking about is that it simultaneously expands the surveillance to your web browser.

AB 1856, authored by the same lawmaker who wrote the original Digital Age Assurance Act, amends the law to exclude open-source operating systems from its definition of “operating system provider.”

Any software distributed under a license that lets users “copy, redistribute, and modify the software” would no longer be covered. Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch Linux, and Mint all walk free. That sounds like a win and tech outlets are reporting it as one. It’s also a distraction from what the bill adds.

The original law, AB 1043, required operating systems to harvest users’ ages during device setup and feed that data to app stores and app developers through a real-time API.

AB 1856 keeps all of that and extends the data pipeline to browser providers and website operators. Browsers would now be required to collect age signal data from the OS and pass it along to any website subject to online age verification laws.

We obtained a copy of the amended bill for you here.

Those websites, in turn, would have to request the age signal when you visit them. Your age bracket, declared once during OS setup, would follow you from app to app and now from site to site, broadcast to every developer and website operator who asks.

This is how a law originally limited to apps and app stores becomes an age-tracking system for the entire internet.

The Expanding Universe of “Covered” Websites

The category of websites subject to age verification laws started narrow as the earliest mandates targeted pornography sites. It has since expanded to social media platforms and a growing list of sites legislators consider likely to “harm” children in loosely defined ways. That list keeps getting longer and AB 1856 doesn’t define its own boundary. It piggybacks on whatever other laws exist, meaning every future expansion of age verification requirements automatically expands the reach of AB 1856’s browser-based data pipeline, too.

California has actually built an age-tracking infrastructure that scales itself.

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The Israeli Knesset just voted to dissolve itself, but this won’t end the Gaza genocide

Israel might change its government sooner than expected after the Israeli Knesset voted to dissolve itself last week. The bill presented to the parliamentary body on May 20, which passed with a majority of 110 votes in favor and no opposing votes, could lead to early elections in September rather than November of this year. The vote was held in the absence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is set to be reconsidered at three more readings before moving toward implementation.

If passed, the current Knesset will expire, along with the government coalition based on its composition and the current cabinet led by Netanyahu. According to Israeli polls, Netanyahu’s main coalition allies, namely hardline ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, have low chances of winning. Although the two main opposition leaders, Naftali Bennet and Yair Lapid, joined forces in a new party, polls indicate that Netanyahu’s Likud Party would still win 56 out of 120 seats in the Knesset. This leaves the Likud as the main political force in Israel, but without enough of a majority to form a government on its own, forcing it to form a coalition with other opposition parties.

The vote came amid renewed controversy surrounding the military drafting of Orthodox Haredi Israelis to military service. Haredi leaders presented the bill after Netanyahu’s government failed to advance another bill to exempt the Haredis from military service. 

The vote to dissolve the Knesset also comes amid mounting criticism of Netanyahu over his performance during the war on Iran and the security failure on October 7, 2023.

But what would the dissolution of the Israeli Knesset mean for Palestinians? And what does it say about the current state of Israeli politics that Netanyahu didn’t oppose the vote to move to early elections?

The short answer is: not much, or at least not for the better. Israel’s opposition parties have backed the war on Gaza, the expansion of settlements, and the war on Lebanon just as fervently as Netanyahu’s coalition, and in some cases have criticized him for not going far enough. Any new government will most likely pursue the same fundamental policies toward Palestinians. In the near term, the more pressing concern is what the current government will do to shore up its electoral standing before it leaves office. Precedent suggests that means further escalation.

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Germany Moves to Control Social Media: ‘Trusted’ News Sources To Be Algorithmically Boosted By Law

Germany is moving toward what critics are calling a sweeping new form of state influence over online speech, after plans surfaced to force social media platforms to prioritize content from government-approved outlets—raising serious concerns about censorship, narrative control, and the future of free expression in Europe.

According to documents obtained by Apollo News, regulators are preparing a system that would require platforms such as X, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to give preferential treatment to content from so-called “reliable” media.

What makes the proposal particularly controversial is not just the intent, but the mechanism. For the first time, state-linked authorities would directly shape the algorithms that determine what information citizens see—effectively inserting government priorities into the digital public square.

At the center of the plan is the concept of “public value” media. In theory, these are outlets that provide socially beneficial information, but in practice, critics argue, they are media organizations vetted and approved by the same political system they are meant to scrutinize.

That distinction is crucial. The power to define what is “reliable” would rest with regulatory bodies tied to the state, not with citizens, readers, or independent market forces.

Once granted this status, approved outlets would receive algorithmic advantages. Their content would be pushed higher in feeds, made easier to discover, and given preferential visibility over competing voices.

The proposal does not stop there. Individual articles and videos could also be labeled as “public value,” creating a two-tier information system where some content is actively promoted while other viewpoints are quietly deprioritized.

Platforms would then be required to adjust their recommendation systems accordingly. In some cases, regulators are even discussing quotas to guarantee exposure for approved content, effectively turning private platforms into vehicles for state-guided messaging.

For many critics, this crosses a fundamental line. It transforms social media from an open marketplace of ideas into a managed information ecosystem shaped by political authorities.

Supporters of the initiative claim it is necessary to combat “disinformation” and preserve democratic discourse.

But that justification is precisely what alarms opponents. They argue that “fighting disinformation” has increasingly become a catch-all rationale for restricting dissent and controlling narratives.

“This is not about removing illegal content,” one observer noted. “This is about deciding which legal speech deserves to be seen—and which does not.”

Critics describe the system as a form of “soft censorship.” Instead of banning opposing views outright, it ensures they are drowned out by state-preferred content.
“It is reverse censorship,” analysts warn. “You don’t delete the message—you just make sure nobody sees it.”

The consequences for independent and alternative media could be severe. Outlets that challenge government policy or question mainstream narratives may find their reach quietly throttled, without any formal accusation or legal recourse.

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Don Lemon Discovers Rules After a Church Service Gets Disrupted

“Independent journalist” and former CNN anchor Don Lemon filed a motion today in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis seeking the release of grand jury transcripts in the federal civil rights case against him. From the AP:

Lemon pleaded not guilty in February to federal civil rights charges, following a protest at a Minnesota church where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor. He is one of 39 people charged in the January incident.

Lemon insists he was at the Cities Church in St. Paul to chronicle the Jan. 18 protest but was not a participant.

Lemon and another independent journalist, Georgia Fort, filed a motion in February seeking transcripts of the grand jury proceedings that resulted in the indictments against them and seven others.

In the latest filing in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Lemon’s attorneys argue that “the past 15 months have seen an unprecedented and growing distrust in the Justice Department’s use of the grand jury process.” For that reason, the transcripts from Lemon’s grand jury should be released, his attorneys said.

“In the past two weeks alone, several courts have chastised Justice Department prosecutors for irregularities in the grand jury process and gone so far as to dismiss indictments for grand jury misconduct,” Lemon’s attorneys said in the Wednesday filing.

Lemon and journalist Georgia Fort face charges tied to a Jan. 18 protest that disrupted worship at Cities Church in St. Paul. Prosecutors charged 39 defendants in the case, while Lemon insists he attended the protest to document events as a journalist, not to join the disruption.

The case centers on a protest at a house of worship connected to David Easterwood, a Cities Church pastor who also serves as acting director of the ICE field office in St. Paul.

Protesters entered during Sunday worship, chanted, confronted people inside, and turned a sacred space into a political theater.

Lemon’s defenders want the country to see only a journalist with a camera. Worshippers had reason to see something else: a service interrupted, a congregation targeted, and a church treated like fair game because activists disliked the pastor’s government job.

Lemon is now arguing that recent grand jury problems in other federal cases make the transcripts necessary, with his attorneys pointing to dismissals and judicial rebukes in Chicago, Wyoming, and Rhode Island. 

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ICE Arrests Daughter of Cuban Communist Regime ‘Old Guard’ General

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently arrested Alina Rosales Aguirreurreta, daughter of General Ulises Rosales del Toro, a longtime key figure of the communist Castro regime.

ICE sources confirmed to Martí Noticias on Tuesday that Rosales Aguirreurreta, who is a doctor according to past statements from her family, was arrested in Florida. Her 84-year-old father, General Rosales del Toro, is widely described as part of the Cuban regime’s “old guard.” While keeping a relatively low profile from the public, the Cuban general has reportedly exerted significant political and military power in Cuba throughout the years thanks to his deep ties with both late dictator Fidel Castro and his brother and successor, Raúl Castro.

Rosales del Toro has occupied several high-ranking positions in the Cuban regime and the Cuban Communist Party over the past decades — including, but not limited to, vice president of the council of ministers, agriculture minister, and chief of the general staff of the revolutionary armed forces (FAR) in addition to holding the honorary title of “Hero of the Republic of Cuba.”

Martí Noticias first reported Alina Rosales Aguirreurreta’s presence in United States territory in February. According to testimonies given by her relatives, Rosales Aguirreurreta is reportedly believed to have entered the United States in 2023 during the administration of former President Joe Biden with a U.S. B-1/B-2 non-immigrant visa issued in Havana and has resided in Miami— staying in southern Florida hoping to adjust her migratory status.

“Let it be clear: the henchmen of the Castro regime and their accomplices have no place in the United States,” Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL) wrote in a social media post applauding the arrest of Rosales Aguirreurreta.

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Inside The FDA’s “Cover-Up” Of Child Deaths Linked To Covid Vaccines

In September 2025, then-US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr Marty Makary publicly acknowledged that the agency was investigating reports of child deaths following Covid-19 vaccination.

“We do know at the FDA…that there had been children who have died from the COVID vaccine,” Makary said during a CNN interview.

By that stage, however, a fierce internal dispute had already emerged inside the FDA over what investigators believed the evidence showed – and whether the public should ever see the full findings.

“It really did feel like there was some sort of cover-up going on about the Covid-19 vaccines,” said one individual familiar with the discussions.

MD Reports spoke with several current/former agency officials, advisers, and individuals briefed on the discussions, all of whom requested anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss internal FDA deliberations.

At the centre of the controversy was an internal FDA review led by Dr Tracy Beth Høeg, a physician-scientist who was working as a senior scientist inside the FDA’s vaccine division at the time.

FDA officials examined roughly 96 paediatric death reports submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), the government database used to detect potential vaccine-related adverse events.

The review included medical records, autopsy reports, pathology findings, and follow-up investigations conducted by agency staff.

About 25 deaths following Covid vaccination were ultimately considered serious enough for high-level internal discussion inside the agency.

The findings were expected to be presented at a September 2025 meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP), the federal panel that shapes US vaccine recommendations.

But before that could happen, details of the review leaked to the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Høeg quickly became the focus of intense media scrutiny and criticism from vaccine advocates and unnamed FDA officials who argued she was relying too heavily on VAERS reports and overstating preliminary findings.

People familiar with the fallout said some FDA staff strongly objected to Høeg’s methods and conclusions and allegedly sought to undermine her credibility by leaking details of the review.

The leak effectively ended plans for a public ACIP discussion and deepened divisions within the FDA over how the findings should be handled.

Some officials believed the findings warranted stronger warnings and greater transparency. Others feared public acknowledgement of vaccine-linked child deaths would damage confidence in the Covid vaccines.

“We know that there are these deaths that are due to the vaccine,” said one source, referring to myocarditis cases and published reports from countries including Korea and Israel.

The controversy intensified after then-FDA vaccine chief Dr Vinay Prasad ordered additional investigation into the deaths identified in Høeg’s review.

Months later, another leak brought the issue back into public view.

In November 2025, an internal memo circulated by Prasad became public. In it, Prasad acknowledged that “at least 10” children had died “after and because of receiving Covid-19 vaccination.”

He described the findings as “a profound revelation.”

“COVID-19 vaccines did result in the death of children,” Prasad wrote. “Dr. Hoeg was correct in her assessment.”

The memo triggered another round of backlash from media outlets and vaccine advocates, many of whom accused Prasad of overstating the evidence before the agency’s analysis had been finalised.

Inside Medicine reported on a Dec 5 memo about a subsequent FDA analysis using a World Health Organization causality framework, which classified zero deaths as “certain,” two as “probable/likely,” and five as “possible.”

But individuals involved in the discussions said pressure steadily mounted inside the agency to “downgrade” the findings with each successive review.

“It seemed like there was a lot of pressure to keep decreasing the number of deaths,” said one source.

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