Tag: corruption

Locals Protest Mexican Government’s Unwillingness to Stop Gulf Cartel Targeting Innocents

Dozens of residents in the cartel-controlled city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, took a high risk by holding a protest, blocking one of the area’s main avenues, and asking to be able to live in peace. The protest follows an attack by gunmen from the Gulf Cartel that led to the murder of two innocent citizens with complete impunity, while the Tamaulipas government claims that the state is one of the safest in the nation.

This week, residents in Reynosa held hands as they blocked Hidalgo Boulevard, one of the city’s main arteries, demanding peace. The peaceful protest lasted for a short while as passing motorists honked and cheered in support. The move came just one day after a group of gunmen with the Gulf Cartel shot and killed two victims in a brazen daytime attack.

The attack also took place along Boulevard Hidalgo when the gunmen pulled up next to a motorist and began shooting. The male victim got down and tried to run away, but died in a hail of bullets. The gunmen were able to drive off with complete impunity. Some of those bullets also struck a young teen girl who was on her way to school. Her parents tried to rush her to a local hospital, but the girl died soon after.

Preliminary information points to the gunmen having killed the male motorist for having tried to sell a vehicle without paying a fee or tax to the criminal organization. Breitbart Texas has reported extensively on the reign of terror spread by the Gulf Cartel, where the criminal organization collects extortion fees from average citizens for most business endeavors.

The shootings sparked much outrage within the city, where residents began pressuring the local mayor and dared to become widely outspoken about the poor security conditions in the region.

By Friday evening, after much pressure from various protests and local news outlets, the Tamaulipas government issued a prepared statement claiming that they had arrested seven individuals in connection with the shooting. As with other cases in the past, the arrests focus on low-level gunmen, with government officials rarely targeting the leadership of the top Gulf Cartel, who are the ones that impose the extortion fees and have the protection of top-level government officials.

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DOJ Targets Blue State for Giving Illegals Financial Assistance While Neglecting U.S. Citizens

The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit to scrap New Jersey rules allowing illegal immigrants to qualify for in-state tuition rates at public colleges, even though Americans living outside of New Jersey are charged higher tuition.

“Imagine being denied the opportunity of education in your own country,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said, according to a Department of Justice news release.

“By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, the state of New Jersey is doing just that,” he said.

Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division added that “this is a simple matter of federal law: in New Jersey and nationwide, colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens.”

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Legal Scholar John Yoo Says State and Elected Officials in Minnesota Could Absolutely End Up in Prison Over Fraud: ‘These People Are in a Lot of Trouble’

John Yoo is a law professor at UC-Berkeley who worked in the Justice Department under President George W. Bush. Today, he appeared on FOX News with
Kayleigh McEnany.

She asked him if there was any possibility that elected officials and state officials in Minnesota could go to prison over the massive fraud that has been uncovered there.

He said that they absolutely can, and maybe not in the way you might think.

Yoo says:

“These people are in a lot of trouble. These are not just overpayments. This is not just, as we were talking about the other day, criminal fraud.

Now that you’re seeing the money end up in the hands of foreign terrorist organizations, the Justice Department’s counter-terrorism and national security division should now get involved and see whether any of these state officers knew or were abetting these money transfers, because if they did they are giving material support to terrorists and they could go to jail for a very long time.”

Kayleigh then asks if any of these people would be covered by any sort of immunity, to which Yoo replies “Of course not.”

As an example, he points to the Wisconsin judge who was recently found guilty of trying to hide an illegal alien from federal officers. He then goes on to say that the situation in Minnesota is actually worse than that.

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Seattle’s socialist Mayor Katie Wilson slammed for cutting short interview over basic public safety question

Seattle socialist Mayor Katie Wilson is facing renewed backlash after abruptly cutting short an interview when pressed on a basic public safety question.

The two-minute video has amassed nearly 1 million views on X and sparked fierce criticism of the newly installed mayor.

Wilson awkwardly exited the interview with Seattle’s TV station KOMO after being asked about the role of surveillance cameras amid rising gun violence in the city.

“That’s obviously been an issue that you weighed in on. Does that change it? Does that change your perspective at all?” a reporter asked.

As the question was posed, the mayor began to break eye contact and glance at what appeared to be her press staffers off camera, who could be heard telling the reporter to “keep it on topic.”

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Fugees Rapper Pras Reports to Prison to Begin 14-Year Sentence for Illegal Foreign Obama Donations

Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of the Fugees has reported to federal prison to begin a 14-year sentence following a conviction over illegally funneling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.

Michel reported to prison Thursday, a spokesperson said, with federal records listing him as an inmate at a low-security correctional institution in Arizona.

“Today is a painful day for Pras, for his family, and for everyone who believes in a fair system of justice. Pras honors the legal process as he reports to begin his sentence,” said Erica Dumas, a spokesperson for Michel, adding that his legal team is still contesting his charges.

“This chapter is difficult, but it is not his final one,” Dumas said.

Michel, 53, was convicted in 2023 on 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. He was sentenced late last year.

Prosecutors said he obtained over $120 million from Malaysian billionaire Low Taek Jho — also known as Jho Low — and steered some of that money through straw donors to Obama’s campaign. Michel also tried to end a U.S. Justice Department investigation of Low, tampered with two witnesses and perjured himself at trial, prosecutors said. Low has maintained his innocence.

Michel was a founding member of the Fugees along with childhood friends Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, with the group going on to win two Grammy Awards and selling tens of millions of albums.

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Fauci Colleague’s Indictment Might Shed Light on Covid’s Murky History

David Morens was formerly a senior adviser to Anthony Fauci when he was the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Morens also co-authored several science papers with the former director. One of these argued hubristically in Cell that the U.N. and the World Health Organization should be empowered to “rebuild the structure of human existence” toward the end of preventing future pandemics. Imagine the bureaucratic possibilities!

Back in 2024, Morens was suspected of avoiding FOIA requests around the funding of gain-of-function research that might have led to Covid. Soon thereafter, Fauci distanced himself from his former colleague in congressional testimony, stating that while Morens had helped with some science papers, he wasn’t really an adviser on NIAID policy.

Now, Morens has been indicted. From the DOJ press release:

A former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) employee is facing indictment for his role in a scheme to evade Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in connection with COVID-19 research grants.

David M. Morens, 78, of Chester, Maryland, is charged with conspiracy against the United States; destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations; concealment, removal, or mutilation of records; and aiding and abetting. Morens served as a senior advisor in NIAID’s Office of the Director from 2006 through 2022.

“These allegations represent a profound abuse of trust at a time when the American people needed it most — during the height of a global pandemic,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “As alleged in the indictment, Dr. Morens and his co-conspirators deliberately concealed information and falsified records in an effort to suppress alternative theories regarding the origins of COVID-19.”

Intriguingly, two unnamed “co-conspirators” are alleged to have participated in the information-suppressing plot:

According to the indictment, Morens, Co-Conspirator 1, Co-Conspirator 2, and others conspired during the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud and commit several offenses against the United States after NIH terminated Co-Conspirator 1’s grant. NIH terminated the grant, Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence (bat coronavirus grant), based on allegations that COVID-19 emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan, China. NIAID awarded the grant to Company #1 and Co-Conspirator 1, who made a subaward to the WIV.

Following the termination, Morens and Co-Conspirator 2 pledged to help Co-Conspirator 1 restore the termination of the bat coronavirus grant and counter the narrative that COVID-19 leaked from a lab. In anticipation that their communications would be requested through a FOIA Request, Morens, Co-Conspirator 1, and Co-Conspirator 2 agreed in writing to intentionally hide from public view their communications by corresponding using Morens’s personal Gmail account, rather than his official NIH email account.

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Psychiatry Won’t Pull Paper on Misleading Safety of PAXIL, Despite Massive Drug Settlement, Consumers Get “Expression of Concern”

A D.C. judge just sided with a long‑discredited Paxil study instead of the kids it was used to sell drugs to. GlaxoSmithKline has already paid $3 billion for fraud that included how it pushed Paxil for children and supported this very study, yet the article still stands in the medical record.  Those who rush to always defend psychiatry as “experts” of the human condition should really look at the bigger picture.

According to the lawsuit, that study falsely claimed Paxil was safe and effective for depressed teens, even though the company’s own trial data did not show real benefit and did show serious safety concerns, including suicidal thoughts and behavior. The case explains why lawyer George Murgatroyd went after the journal and its publisher for continuing to publish and sell the article, how the court’s ruling let psychiatry’s publishing system avoid full accountability once again, and how consumers were left with only a small warning label on the paper instead of the clear retraction many believe is needed.

At the center of this case is attorney George W. Murgatroyd III, a product‑liability lawyer who has represented families whose children died by suicide after taking Paxil. Murgatroyd sued the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the publisher Elsevier, arguing they were still “publishing, distributing, and selling a fraudulent scientific article” that misleads the public and endangers adolescent mental health, while charging readers to access it. He asked the D.C. Superior Court to treat that article as a deceptive practice under the District’s consumer‑protection law and to order a full retraction.

In March 2026, Judge Robert Okun dismissed his case. The judge did not say Study 329 was honest or reliable. Instead, he ruled that Murgatroyd lacked legal standing and that a journal article is not a “consumer good or service” under that particular law, so the court could not use that statute to force a retraction. In practical terms, the decision shields the journal and publisher: they keep the article online, charging for access, under the protection of free‑speech arguments rather than being treated like sellers of a defective product. For an industry already tied to a historic fraud settlement over this very drug and trial, it is another escape.

Murgatroyd’s work still produced one real gain for the public. After he filed his complaint, JAACAP finally attached an “expression of concern” to Study 329 in 2025, warning readers that serious issues have been raised about the article and that further review is underway. That warning label stays with the paper and marks it as disputed rather than trustworthy, a change that likely would not have happened without Murgatroyd pushing. In a landscape where a flawed study helped justify giving a risky drug to teens, naming him and his effort matters: he forced at least a small, visible sign of truth into the official record, even as the larger fight for justice and a full retraction continues.

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Trump’s sons claim share in mining group supported by US govt

A shell company backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump has agreed to a merger with a mining group that secured up to $1.6 billion from the US government in 2025 to facilitate the extraction of tungsten in Kazakhstan, the Financial Times has reported.

The agreement between Skyline Builders group, in which US President Donald Trump’s sons hold a stake, and Cove Kaz Capital group was signed on Thursday. The newly-formed entity will trade on Nasdaq as Kaz Resources, according to a statement.

Cove Kaz currently controls 70% of the Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty tungsten deposits in central Kazakhstan, believed to be one of the largest in the world. Last year, the federally-funded US Export-Import Bank and the Development Finance Corporation committed to invest heavily in the development of both projects.

The statement didn’t mention Trump’s sons, but the FT reported on Friday, citing informed sources, that they bought into Skyline last August via a special purpose vehicle run by a subsidiary of Dominari Securities. The size of their investment was not disclosed, but they increased it by $24 million in October.

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Former Dem mayoral candidate admits forging voter registration applications

Henrilynn Ibezim, a former Democratic mayoral candidate in New Jersey, pleaded guilty to forging nearly 1,000 voter registration applications during the 2021 Democratic primary, New Jersey’s Office of the Attorney General announced Thursday.

During the 2021 Democratic primary for Plainfield, New Jersey’s mayoral seat, Ibezim allegedly brought a garbage bag filled with around 1,000 falsified voter registration applications to a post office in Elizabeth, New Jersey, with the intention of mailing them to Union County’s registration commissioner.

Of the 1,000 applications, most were completed with the handwriting of only three or four people, according to the attorney general. None of the slips were marked as completed by somebody other than the voter whom they were supposed to represent.

Ibezim also attempted to coach a witness who helped him fill out the applications on how to respond to law enforcement questions, telling the witness not to “admit anything,” the attorney general’s office previously said.

Despite his efforts, Ibezim, who was running on the Unity Party ticket, received only 103 votes in the primary and lost to Plainfield’s current mayor, Adrian O. Mapp.

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Former Congressman David Rivera Convicted of Lobbying for Venezuela

Former Rep. David Rivera (R-Fla.) was found guilty on Friday of secretly lobbying on behalf of Venezuela’s government, following a seven-week federal trial.

Rivera—alongside associate Esther Nuhfer—was convicted on all charges, including failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiring to commit money laundering.

Prosecutors said the pair worked for the government of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro as part of a covert influence campaign.

According to the government’s case, Rivera leveraged his Republican political connections, including ties from his time in Congress, to push U.S. officials to ease their stance toward Venezuela’s socialist leadership.

Prosecutors alleged that Rivera secured a $50 million lobbying deal from Venezuelan official Delcy Rodríguez, with funds connected to the state oil company PDVSA.

As part of the effort, Rivera worked with Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and others to arrange meetings with U.S. officials and business leaders.

Sessions has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

The case highlighted Miami’s long-standing role as a center of influence in U.S.–Latin America relations, shaped by its large exile community and history of anti-communist activism.

Rivera was first charged in 2022. Prosecutors said he used encrypted communications to conceal his activities, including a messaging group called “MIA.”

One of his key contacts was Venezuelan businessman Raúl Gorrín, who has separately faced U.S. bribery charges.

Messages presented at trial allegedly showed the use of coded language—referring to Maduro as “the bus driver,” Sessions as “Sombrero,” and money as “melons.”

Rivera denied any wrongdoing.

His defense argued that his firm was hired by a U.S.-based subsidiary of Venezuela’s oil company, not directly by the Venezuelan government, and therefore did not require registration under foreign agent laws.

They also said his work focused on business matters, including helping Citgo operate in the United States, and on encouraging political change in Venezuela.

However, prosecutors pointed to a related civil case alleging Rivera performed little of the contracted work and used the agreement to mask illegal lobbying.

Of the roughly $20 million he received, they said millions were diverted to personal expenses, including maintaining Gorrín’s luxury yacht.

Prosecutors said Rivera viewed Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a key ally for gaining access to senior U.S. officials. Rubio was not accused of any misconduct.

Court records showed Rivera met with Rubio in Washington in 2017 and later encouraged him to support negotiations with Maduro, suggesting the United States should help facilitate a peaceful resolution.

The effort ultimately failed.

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