WOODWARD: Biden’s Russia Provocation a 50/50 Crapshoot for Nuclear War

Maire Clayton
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WOODWARD: Biden’s Russia Provocation a 50/50 Crapshoot for Nuclear War

(Maire Clayton, Headline USA) Watergate journalist (and suspected CIA asset) Bob Woodward revealed in his forthcoming book War that top national security advisers to President Joe Biden had warned of a 50–50 chance that his meddling in Ukraine could lead to nuclear war, according to social-media influencer Alex Muse.  

“With Joe Biden at the helm, the White House ratcheted its assessment of the threat from 5% to a hair-raising 50%, reflecting how unmoored Biden’s judgment can be,” Muse posted on X. “This wasn’t statesmanship; it was panicked, clumsy diplomacy.”

In one bungled attempt to project strength, Biden dispatched Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to deliver an ultimatum to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, only to be told,  “I don’t take kindly to being threatened.”

Woodward also alleged in the book, due to be released next Tuesday, that former President Donald Trump had made up to seven phone calls to Vladimir Putin since leaving office, the Associated Press reported.

Trump senior adviser Jason Miller told Woodward he would “push back” on the claims from an anonymous Mar-a-Lago staffer, although Miller conceded that if Trump wanted to reach Putin, “I’m sure they’d know how to get in touch with each other.”

Woodward also alleged Trump secretly sent COVID testing equipment for Putin’s personal use during the height of the pandemic.

In an interview Tuesday with radio host Howard Stern, Vice President Kamala Harris accused Trump of giving medical equipment to a “murderous dictator” at a time when “everyone was scrambling” to get tests.

“This person who wants to be president again, who secretly is helping out an an adversary while the American people are dying by the hundreds every day,” said Harris.

The U.S. has never been at war directly with Russia, and relations between the two countries were cordial prior to the escalation of tensions during the Biden–Harris administration.

Provocations over the possibility of Ukraine joining the NATO alliance was among the factors that compelled Russia to take a more aggressive military posture in its longstanding conflic with the former Soviet satellite.

According to Woodruff, President Joe Biden blamed his former boss, Barack Obama, for failing to take Putin seriously enough following a 2014 CIA-backed color revolution that ousted the Russia-friendly leader of Ukraine.

“They f**ked up in 2014,” Biden reportedly told a close friend. “Barack never took Putin seriously [and] … never should have let Putin just walk in there.”

Obama named Biden his special envoy to oversee Ukraine, much the way Biden appointed Harris to be his border czar. However, Biden’s primary concern in the country appears to have been securing a lucrative position for his son Hunter with the Burisma energy company.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung fired back that none of the allegations made in Woodward’s book had merit and the Washington Post writer “suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome” according to a statement from the campaign.

“Trump gave him absolutely no access for this trash book that either belongs in the bargain bin of the fiction section of a discount bookstore or used as toilet tissue,” Cheung said.

Last year, Trump filed a $49 million lawsuit against Woodward after he claimed the journalist sold private tapes of former interviews.

Trump stated the interviews were meant for the purpose of Woodward writing a book and not for public release. The audiobook, called The Trump Tapes, included 20 interviews Woodward conducted with the former president.

Cheung said Woodward was “an angry, little man,” and he was upset because Trump was “successfully suing him.”

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, was asked Tuesday about Woodward’s claims during a campaign stop in Michigan.

“I honestly didn’t know that Bob Woodward was still alive until you just asked me that question,” Vance stated, as he was not going to entertain the claims Woodward made.

Other highlights from Woodward’s book, according to the AP:

  • He confirmed longstanding rumors that President Joe Biden had called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “son of a bitch” and “a bad f***ing guy” while meeting with an associate earlier this year, although the story had previously been reported on by Politico and other outlets.
  • Biden was privately furious with Attorney General Merrick Garland for appointing a special counsel to investigate Biden’s son Hunter in a tax-and-gun prosecution. “Should never have picked Garland,” he told an unnamed associate.
  • RINO South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, an off-and-on Trump frenemy, compared the GOP leader’s residency, surrounded by sycophants, at Mar-a-Lago to the cult of personality surrounding Kim Jong Un. It’s “a little bit like going to North Korea,” Graham claimed. “[E]verybody stands up and claps every time Trump comes in.”

Headline USA’s Ben Sellers and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Harris Stumbles on ‘The View’ with a Softball Question

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Harris Stumbles on ‘The View’ with a Softball Question

(Headline USA) Kamala Harris wanted to help voters get to know her better with a cascade of media appearances on Tuesday, but the most lasting impression might have been her unwillingness to break with Joe Biden.

Asked on ABC’s “The View” how she would be different from the president she’s served under for four years, Harris said “we’re obviously two different people” and “I will bring those sensibilities to how I lead.”

However, she was not able to identify a decision where she would have gone another way. “There is not a thing that comes to mind,” Harris said.

Some Harris aides privately winced as clips of her response circulated and Donald Trump swiped at her in a social media post, calling it “her dumbest answer so far.”

It wasn’t until later in the show that Harris named something that she would do differently than Biden—she would put a Republican in her Cabinet.

The Democratic nominee said she would welcome contributions from the other party “because I don’t feel burdened by letting pride get in the way of a good idea.”

Even though her abbreviated and unexpected campaign for the presidency is more than half over, Harris is still attempting to introduce herself to voters.

After “The View,” she spoke to radio host Howard Stern and planned to tape a show with late-night comedian Stephen Colbert.

The trio of appearances came after Harris granted interviews to CBS’ “60 Minutes,” which aired Monday night, and Alex Cooper’s podcast “Call Her Daddy,” which was released Sunday.

Harris’ decision to open up is a sharp shift after largely avoiding interviews since replacing Biden at the top of the ticket.

By the time she was finished with the interview, listeners learned irrelevant information about the presidential candidate. Some examples:

She ate a family sized bag of Doritos after Trump beat Hillary Clinton. She works out on an elliptical every day. Her first job was cleaning test tubes at her mother’s laboratory, and she got fired. Her favorite Formula One driver is Lewis Hamilton. She went to see U2 at the Sphere in Las Vegas, and she recommends going with a “clear head,” meaning not high on drugs, because “there’s a lot of visual stimulation.”

Republican communications strategist Kevin Madden said defining Harris in voters’ eyes is a challenge of the campaign.

“This race is actually pretty simple in the sense that the next few weeks are about who’s going to fill in the blanks on who Harris is,” he said.

Harris’ name recognition grew when she became vice president, but 1 out of 10 people still said they didn’t know enough about her to have an opinion, according to AP-NORC polling.

Other polls have similar results. One-quarter of likely voters said they still feel like they need to learn more about Harris, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll conducted after her debate against Trump, while about three-quarters say they pretty much already know what they need to know about her.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Deadspin Fails to Get Defamation Suit Thrown Out after ‘Blackface’ Hoax

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Deadspin Fails to Get Defamation Suit Thrown Out after ‘Blackface’ Hoax

(Headline USA) A Delaware judge has refused to dismiss a defamation lawsuit against sports website Deadspin over an article accusing a 9-year-old NFL fan and his family of racism because of his game-day attire.

The lawsuit was filed by California residents Raul Armenta Jr. and his wife, Shannon, on behalf of themselves and their son, Holden, who attended a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Las Vegas Raiders last November.

According to the lawsuit, Holden, referred to in the lawsuit as “H.A.”, is a Chiefs fan who also loves his family’s Chumash-Indian heritage.

He wore a Chiefs jersey to the game, with his face painted half-red and half-black, and a costume Native American headdress.

Holden got the opportunity to pose with Raiders cheerleaders and was also shown briefly during the television broadcast of the game, with his red-and-black face paint visible.

An Associated Press photographer also captured an image of Holden showing both sides of the boy’s painted face.

However, using a screenshot that showed only the side of Holden’s face painted black, Deadspin writer Carron Phillips published an article the next day accusing the boy of being racist.

“The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress,” the headline on the article reads.

“They’re doubling up on the racism,” a subhead reads. “Are you going to say anything, Roger Goodell?”—a reference to the NFL commissioner.

In the article, Phillips wrote that the boy had “found a way to hate black people and the Native American at the same time.” He suggested that the boy had been taught “hatred” by his parents.

Deadspin posted the article on X, generating more than 18,000 comments and a “community note” clarifying its falsity. Phillips, described in the Armentas’ lawsuit as “someone who makes his livelihood through vicious race-baiting,” nevertheless doubled down.

“For the idiots in my mentions who are treating this as some harmless act because the other side of his face was painted red, I could make the argument that it makes it even worse,” Phillips wrote on X. “Y’all are the ones who hate Mexicans but wear sombreros on Cinco.”

The Armentas started receiving hateful messages and death threats, with one person threatening to kill Holden “with a wood chipper,” according to the lawsuit.

The Armentas say they made repeated demands for Deadspin to retract the article and apologize.

In response, Deadspin instead republished an edited version that retained the accusations of racism and continued to display Holden’s picture.

Deadspin later updated the article again, removing Holden’s picture and changing the headline to read, “The NFL Must Ban Native Headdress And Culturally Insensitive Face Paint in the Stands.”

“We regret any suggestion that we were attacking the fan or his family,” the article reads.

Unsatisfied with Deadspin’s updates instead of a formal apology and retraction, the Armentas sued for defamation.

On Monday, Superior Court Judge Sean Lugg denied Deadspin’s motion to dismiss the Armentas’ lawsuit, rejecting arguments that the article was opinion and thus protected from liability for defamation.

“Deadspin published an image of a child displaying his passionate fandom as a backdrop for its critique of the NFL’s diversity efforts and, in its description of the child, crossed the fine line protecting its speech from defamation claims,” the judge wrote.

“Having reviewed the complaint, the court concludes that Deadspin’s statements accusing H.A. of wearing black face and Native headdress ‘to hate black people and the Native American at the same time,’ and that he was taught this hatred by his parents, are provable false assertions of fact and are therefore actionable,” Lugg added.

Lugg also refused to dismiss the lawsuit based on Deadspin’s argument that it should have been filed in California, where the Armentas live, instead of Delaware, where Deadspin’s former parent company, G/O Media, is incorporated.

One month after the Armentas filed their lawsuit, G/O Media sold the Deadspin website to Lineup Publishing, and the entire staff was laid off.

“Deadspin and Carron Phillips have never shown a morsel of remorse for using a 9-year-old boy as their political football,” Elizabeth Locke, an attorney for the Armentas, said in an email. “The Armenta family is looking forward to taking depositions and presenting this case to a jury at trial.”

A spokesperson for G/O Media said in an email that the company had no comment.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

States Sue TikTok, Stating It’s Addictive to Kids

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States Sue TikTok, Stating It’s Addictive to Kids

(Headline USA) More than a dozen states and the District of Columbia filed lawsuits against TikTok on Tuesday, saying that the popular short-form video app is designed to be addictive to kids and harms their mental health.

The lawsuits stem from a national investigation into TikTok, which was launched in March 2022 by a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from many states, including New York, California, Kentucky and New Jersey. All of the complaints were filed in state courts.

At the heart of each lawsuit is the TikTok algorithm, which powers what users see on the platform by populating the app’s main “For You” feed with content tailored to people’s interests.

The lawsuits note TikTok design features that they say addict children to the platform, such as the ability to scroll endlessly through content, push notifications that come with built-in “buzzes” and face filters that create unattainable appearances for users.

“They’ve chosen profit over the health and safety, well-being and future of our children,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a news conference in San Francisco. “And that is not something we can accept. So we’ve sued.”

The latest lawsuits come nearly a year after dozens of states sued Instagram parent Meta Platforms Inc. in state and federal courts for harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing addictive features that keep kids hooked on their platforms.

Keeping people on the platform is “how they generate massive ad revenue,” District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in an interview. “But unfortunately, that’s also how they generate adverse mental health impacts on the users.”

The legal challenges, which also include Google’s YouTube, are part of a growing reckoning against social media companies and their effects on young people’s lives. In some cases, the challenges have been coordinated in a way that resembles how states previously organized against the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries.

TikTok, though, is facing an even bigger obstacle, as its very existence in the U.S. is in question. Under a federal law that took effect earlier this year, TikTok could be banned from the U.S. by mid-January if its China-based parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t sell the platform by then.

Both TikTok and ByteDance are challenging the law at an appeals court in Washington. A panel of three judges heard oral arguments in the case last month and are expected to issue a ruling, which could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In its filings Tuesday, the District of Columbia called the algorithm “dopamine-inducing,” and said it was created to be intentionally addictive so the company could trap many young users into excessive use and keep them on its app for hours on end.

TikTok does this despite knowing that these behaviors will lead to profound psychological and physiological harms, such as anxiety, depression, body dysmorphia and other long-lasting problems, the district said.

TikTok is disappointed that the lawsuits were filed after the company had been working with the attorneys general for two years on addressing to the issues, a spokesman said.

“We strongly disagree with these claims, many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading,” the TikTok spokesman.

Alex Haurek, said. “We’re proud of and remain deeply committed to the work we’ve done to protect teens and we will continue to update and improve our product.”

The social media company does not allow children under 13 to sign up for its main service and restricts some content for everyone under 18.

But Washington and several other states said in their filings that children can easily bypass those restrictions, allowing them to access the service adults use despite the company’s claims that its platform is safe for children.

The District of Columbia alleges TikTok is operating as an “unlicensed virtual economy” by allowing people to purchase TikTok Coins—a virtual currency within the platform—and send “Gifts” to streamers on TikTok LIVE who can cash it out for real money.

TikTok takes a 50% commission on these financial transactions but hasn’t registered as a money transmitter with the U.S. Treasury Department or authorities in the district, according to the complaint.

Officials say teens are frequently exploited for sexually explicit content through TikTok’s LIVE streaming feature, which has allowed the app to operate essentially as a “virtual strip club” without any age restrictions.

They say the cut the company gets from the financial transactions allows it to profit from exploitation.

The 14 attorneys general say the goal of their lawsuits is to stop TikTok from using these features, impose financial penalties for their alleged illegal practices and collect damages for users that have been harmed.

The use of social media among teens is nearly universal in the U.S. and many other parts of the world. Almost all teens ages 13 to 17 in the U.S. report using a social media platform, with about a third saying they use social media “almost constantly,” according to the Pew Research Center.

High school students who frequently use social media more commonly have persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, according to a new survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted last year in which about 20,000 teenagers participated.

Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued TikTok, alleging the company was sharing and selling minors’ personal information in violation of a new state law that prohibits these practices.

TikTok, which disputes the allegations, is also fighting against a similar data-oriented federal lawsuit filed in August by the Department of Justice.

Several Republican-led states, including Nebraska, Kansas, New Hampshire, Kansas, Iowa and Arkansas, also previously sued the company, some unsuccessfully, over allegations it is harming children’s mental health, exposing them to “inappropriate” content or allowing young people to be sexually exploited on its platform.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

CDC Survey: 3.3% of High Schoolers Identify as Transgender

Ken Silva
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CDC Survey: 3.3% of High Schoolers Identify as Transgender

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Center for Disease Control and Prevention released the results of a 2023 survey on Tuesday, finding that 3.3% of U.S. high school students identified as transgender as of last year.

The CDC survey also found that 2.2% of students “identified as questioning.” The study, from the 2023 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey, was touted as the first of its kind.

“Until recently, population-based data describing the experiences of transgender students and students questioning whether they are transgender (questioning) have been limited,” the agency said Tuesday.

Of the trans-identifying students, about 47.5% of them identified as female.

There were also apparently fewer black transgender students.

“A lower proportion of transgender students identified as Black and higher proportion identified as White compared with cisgender or questioning students. In addition, for questioning students, differences in grade distribution were observed,” the CDC said.

The CDC survey found that trans students perform more poorly than their “cisgender” counterparts in just about every metric.

“Transgender and questioning students experienced a higher prevalence of violence, poor mental health, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and unstable housing, and a lower prevalence of school connectedness than their cisgender peers,” the CDC said, defining “cisgender” students as “those whose gender identity aligns with their sex assigned at birth.”

According to the CDC, some 40% of transgender and questioning students were bullied at school, and 69% of questioning students and 72% of transgender students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness—a marker for experiencing depressive symptoms.

“Approximately 26% of transgender and questioning students attempted suicide in the past year compared with 5% of cisgender male and 11% of cisgender female students,” the CDC said.

Trans students are also gayer than cisgender ones, the survey found.

“Most cisgender students reported their sexual identity as heterosexual (79.4%), whereas only 8.7% of transgender students and 7.5% of questioning students identified as heterosexual. Transgender questioning students had a higher prevalence of questioning their sexual identity (20.4%) than both cisgender and transgender students (4.1% and 7.0%, respectively),” the CDC said.

“The prevalence of students who described their sexual identity in some other way was greatest among transgender students (32.8%), followed by transgender questioning students (23.2%), with only 2.9% of cisgender students identifying as such.”

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Hamas Fans Celebrate 10/7 Anniversary by Terrorizing NYC

Julianna Frieman
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Hamas Fans Celebrate 10/7 Anniversary by Terrorizing NYC

(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) Anti-Israel protesters wreaked havoc on New York City on Monday as they celebrated the anniversary of Islamic terror group Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack.

Crowds of keffiyeh-clad crusaders created chaos on the streets of Manhattan, video posted on X by independent journalist Brendan Gutenschwager showed.

Pro-Palestine demonstrators marched in a large mass while chanting slogans and waving Palestinian flags and another that read, “Long Live October 7th.”

The protests seemed oriented not only on the events of the previous year, but also the month ahead, directed at putting pressure on influencing the U.S. political discourse with slightly less than a month to go before the Nov. 5 general election.

Like the early-summer campus riots that led many to rethink the policies being promoted by higher-education instututions, civil unrest among Hamas supporters in the U.S. could be a particularly unwelcome development for Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign as she seeks to walk a delicate like to avoid offending the Left’s various identity politics constituencies.

In New York, where the Jews constitute an estimated 10% of the population, a Trump electoral win would prove catastrophic. Other battleground states—including Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and North Carolina—have growing Muslim populations, however, that may exert a significant impact by not voting, or switching their allegiance altogether.

“The Democratic Party is very afraid because they will face consequences for carrying out a genocide,” Nerdeen Kiswasni, protest organizer and founder of pro-Palestine group Within Our Lifetime, spoke to an energized crowd.

One group of agitators gathered around a vehicle, which they reportedly spat on while harassing the driver.

“You dumb b***h! F**k you!” one male protester yelled at the driver, whose window was rolled up.

“Are you scared now? What happened to the f**king—” a female protester shouted as the man continued to curse.

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” A woman was heard shouting. “Yeah, I love Hamas!”

“Yeah! Open your window, dummy!” another woman chimed in. “Open your windows now, who’s here?”

Officers arrested several individuals at the demonstration, the New York City Police Department said.

The march spanned Wall Street, City Hall, Washington Square, Union Square, Times Square and Grand Central before the crowd accumulated at Madison Square Park, WABC reported.

Pro-Israel counter-protesters were also present among the demonstration, according to the outlet. Video showed pro-Israel protesters chant “Death to Hamas” next to pro-Palestine demonstrators.

“You’re all terrorist lovers, all of you. You’re not American,” one man said in a confrontation with pro-Palestine protesters, video showed.

One mob of anti-Israel protesters chanted, “Yemen, Yemen, make us proud. Turn another ship around,” as they made their way through Manhattan.

Kiswani criticized Harris’s Saturday announcement of $157 million in aid for Lebanon, telling her to “keep your money here.”

The pro-Palestine protest organizer told the Democratic nominee to use the money for American “victims” instead.

 

 

“You guys have enough victims here, we don’t want American money, keep your money,” Kiswani urged. “Don’t send the bombs that kill our people, and we don’t need your money.”

Approximately 1,200 men, women and children—including 46 Americans—were killed by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. The radical terrorists took 254 people hostage as well, including 12 Americans, according to a U.S. State Department press statement issued on the one-year anniversary of the attack.

Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer also published by the Daily Caller and The Federalist. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.

The Russian Prisoner That Biden Swapped for Brittney Griner is Dealing Arms Again

Ken Silva
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The Russian Prisoner That Biden Swapped for Brittney Griner is Dealing Arms Again

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer who was released from prison in the U.S. by President Joe Biden in a widely criticized swap for WNBA star Brittney Griner last December, is reportedly back in business.

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Bout is trying to broker the sale of small arms to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants.

“When Houthi emissaries went to Moscow in August to negotiate the purchase of $10 million worth of automatic weapons, they encountered a familiar face: the mustachioed Bout,” WSJ reported, citing a European security official and other people familiar with the matter.

“The potential arms transfers, which have yet to be delivered, stop well short of the sale of Russian antiship or anti-air missiles that could pose a significant threat to the U.S. military’s efforts to protect international shipping from the Houthis’ attacks,” the newspaper reported.

“The Biden administration has been worried that Russia might provide the Houthis with such advanced weapons to retaliate for Washington’s support of Ukraine, but there is no evidence that those missiles have been sent, or that Bout is involved in such a deal.”

When Moscow and Washington made a deal to swap him for Griner last December, Bout was held in a medium-security facility in Marion, Illinois and had not been scheduled to be released until 2029.

After his return to Moscow, Bout became a politician, winning a seat in a local assembly.

Several Republican leaders, including former President Donald Trump and ex-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., slammed Biden’s Bout-for-Griner trade as foolish and short-sighted when it happened.

“What kind of a deal is it to swap Brittney Griner, a basketball player who openly hates our Country, for the man known as ‘The Merchant of Death,’ who is one of the biggest arms dealers anywhere in the World, and responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and horrific injuries,” Trump said last December.

“Why wasn’t former Marine Paul Whelan included in this totally one-sided transaction?” Trump added. “He would have been let out for the asking. What a ‘stupid’ and unpatriotic embarrassment for the USA!!!”

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Shooter’s Toxicology Results Revealed

Ken Silva
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EXCLUSIVE: Trump Shooter’s Toxicology Results Revealed

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Officials conducted two toxicology exams on the body of alleged Trump shooter Thomas Crooks in the wake of his death, finding no drugs of abuse—but discovering elevated levels of lead, according to records obtained by Headline USA.

The toxicology exams, which this publication obtained following a roughly two-month legal battle, appear to be limited in scope. They show that Crooks tested negative for alcohol and drugs of abuse, but don’t include results for a wide variety of other drugs.

Two separate entities conducted toxicology exams on Crooks: The Allegheny County Medical Examiner, which also conducted the autopsy, and a private firm called NSM Labs.

According to the records, Allegheny County tested Crooks for alcohol and a wide variety of narcotics, including cocaine, opiates, fentanyl and methamphetamine—finding no trace of any of those substances. He also tested negative for benzodiazepines, which is a psychotropic used for anxiety and similar issues.

If Allegheny County’s drug screening tested for other drugs or therapeutics, they weren’t included in the reports obtained by this publication. Headline USA understands that toxicology exams typically don’t screen for all drugs when a subject’s cause of death is clear—which, in Crooks’s case, it is. However, in the extraordinary case of a presidential assassination attempt, officials arguably should have conducted the full battery of tests.

Allegheny County did have NSM Labs analyze Crooks’s blood for lead, arsenic, mercury and other compounds.

According to the NSM Labs results, Crooks tested positive for lead, antimony and selenium. Crooks’ lead levels were elevated—5.9 micrograms per deciliter, which exceeds the CDC’s acceptable limit of 5.0 mcg/dL—while the antimony and selenium levels were within “normal” ranges.

As the NSM Labs report referenced, elevated levels of lead can negatively affect brain development, lowering one’s IQ.

But it doesn’t appear that lead would cause the problems that may have been afflicting Crooks.

According to CBS, Crooks searched online in April about a “major depressive disorder.” Additionally, the FBI briefed the House Task Force investigating the Trump assassination attempts last month, telling members that Crooks exhibited strange behavior in the days leading up to the shooting, such as “walking around the house talking to himself” and “flapping his arms.”

And according to ABC News, “Investigators learned that throughout high school, Crooks would routinely sway back and forth while standing at the bus stop—but that Crooks never received any sort of formal diagnosis related to it.”

Headline USA obtained the two toxicology reports along with an autopsy report on Monday from the Butler County Coroner’s Office, following a roughly two-month open records dispute with both Butler and Allegheny counties. Read about that legal process here.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Dems Boldly Trot Out Biden after Bait-and-Switch, Hope for Voter Amnesia of AWOL Leader

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Dems Boldly Trot Out Biden after Bait-and-Switch, Hope for Voter Amnesia of AWOL Leader

(Headline USA) The astroturfing rehabilitation effort undertaken by Democratic party elites following the Biden coup in August did not just seek to revamp the wildly unpopular Vice President Kamala Harris as the new “brat” alternative.

It also hoped to salvage the catastrophic legacy of the Joe Biden administration by actively hiding the sitting president for the duration of his term on what amounted to an extended vacation, with the occasional ceremonial appearance.

With less than a month to go until the election, Democrats, abetted by their allies in the Federal Reserve and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, have pulled off a stunning bait-and-switch to conceal the Biden–Harris administration’s devastating spending policies and sought to stave off any meltdowns—such as the threat of a labor-union strike—until after Nov. 5.

The Left’s media allies have likewise helped cover up the escalating problems stemming from immigration, violent crime, foreign policy fiascos and the recent mishandling of the response to Hurricane Helene in the southeastern U.S.

The Biden administration has even depleted the emergency petroleum reserves to ensure that prices on gasoline remain low during the leadup to the critical race.

With their Potemkin village erected, Democrats seem so self-assured of their ability to control the narrative that they are letting Biden out of the basement—and back onto the campaign trail.

On Tuesday, the 81-year-old president planned to campaign in Pennsylvania for a close ally and visit Wisconsin—where some internal polls show Harris trailing—to tout his infrastructure spending.

But as Biden makes a quick swing through the key states, two Democratic senators locked in competitive reelection battles are taking markedly different approaches to the outgoing president, whose approval ratings in a significant swath of the country remain in the pits.

Biden will be fully embraced by Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey when he participates in a private campaign fundraiser in suburban Philadelphia for the senior Pennsylvania senator.

But in Milwaukee, where Biden is spotlighting his administration’s efforts to replace the nation’s toxic lead pipes, incumbent Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin will be conspicuously absent.

“Democrats in tight races, for the most part, are calculating that the risk of embracing Biden far exceeds any reward that his efforts would bring to their campaign,” said Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Pennsylvania. “There just aren’t many places where he can be of much help to Democrats in competitive races.”

Biden has spent scant time on the campaign trail since being forced from his reelection effort in July. That makes his stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—two tightly contested states that  Harris and former President Donald Trump see as crucial—all the more notable.

Casey’s and Baldwin’s races are also seen as must-wins for Democrats who are trying to maintain their razor-tight control of the Senate.

Casey, running against Republican David McCormick as he seeks a fourth Senate term, has a long-running relationship with Biden, having grown up on the same street in Scranton where Biden spent his early childhood.

Their families have known each other for decades, and he’s campaigned with Biden countless times, including earlier this year. Biden—a Delaware resident but a Pennsylvania native—has long claimed Pennsylvania as his own.

Still, the feeling isn’t mutual for many residents of the Keystone State. About 4 in 10 Pennsylvania voters had a favorable view of Biden and about 6 in 10 had an unfavorable view, according to a Monmouth University poll published in late September.

Baldwin will spend Tuesday on the other side of Wisconsin from Biden, attending campaign events and getting an award, according to her campaign and Senate office.

“Senator Baldwin had a previously scheduled event at a family farm in Eau Claire to receive the American Farm Bureau Federation’s ‘Friend of Farm Bureau’ award recognizing her leadership fighting for America’s hardworking farmers, growers, and producers,” said Eli Rosen, Baldwin’s communications director, in response to a query about why she was skipping the president’s visit.

Biden’s favorability in Wisconsin has hovered around 40% for the past year and did not increase after he dropped out of the presidential race this summer, according to a recent Marquette University Law School poll.

Baldwin, who is seeking her third term, is facing Republican Eric Hovde, the CEO of a Wisconsin real estate development company.

She has skipped four of Biden’s five appearances in the state this year, including two in her hometown of Madison, before he dropped out of the race.

However, Baldwin has appeared with Harris, including speaking to a crowd of more than 10,000 people last month in Madison.

“Baldwin may be able to skip a Biden event, but she cannot avoid the verdict of working families in Wisconsin when they head to the polls,” said Wisconsin GOP chairman Brian Schimming.

Biden’s visit to Wisconsin, which has some 340,000 lead pipes, comes as the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday issued a final rule requiring drinking water systems across the country to identify and replace lead pipes within 10 years.

Biden’s 2021 infrastructure law provides $15 billion to find and replace the toxic pipes, a legacy the Biden White House says will have an impact on generations to come.

Lead can lower IQ and create behavioral problems in children, and the administration believes the legislation will go a long way in removing some 9.2 million lead pipes carrying water to U.S. homes.

White House officials played down Baldwin’s expected absence from the event, while noting that Wisconsin’s other senator, Republican Ron Johnson, voted against the infrastructure law.

“Senator Baldwin is an amazing partner [to] this administration in leading the charge in the bipartisan infrastructure law,” White House deputy chief of staff Natalie Quillian said of Baldwin’s absence from the president’s visit.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, whose district includes Wisconsin’s deeply Democratic capital city of Madison, said Biden’s policies are popular in the battleground state even if polls show he is not.

“I don’t think that polling on Biden is based on what he’s done in office,” Pocan said. “The problem with some of the polls is overly simplistic. He looks old and people don’t want that in the White House, but he’s not running anymore.”

Pocan, who is not in a competitive race, also defended Baldwin not appearing with Biden.

“If you’re in a competitive race, you have your calendar,” Pocan said. “You have a strategy based on where you’re trying to get votes and you don’t change it when you have a surrogate come.”

Next week, Biden’s wife, Jill, is scheduled to campaign for Harris in Madison, Wisconsin, as part of a five-day effort by the first lady through the battleground states of Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Harris’ campaign and the White House announced Tuesday.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Why I’m Near-Term Cautious on Silver

Money Metals News Service
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Why I’m Near-Term Cautious on Silver

(Peter Krauth, Money Metals News Service) You won’t be surprised to hear that I’m a long-term precious metals bull.

Still, that doesn’t mean I think these metals go up in a straight line. Almost nothing does.

I’ve been saying for some time that silver and gold were due for a correction. We may be getting one now.

Here’s a chart of the silver price year-to-date:

Back in mid-July, I was telling subscribers that the move from $22 in February to $32 in May was unlikely to be sustained. My targets were $28 and then $26. Notice how it corrected to the $26.50 level back in early August.

I think we are in for another correction, as gold, too, has potentially gotten a little ahead of itself. A sustained correction in silver could initially take it back to the $28 level, which I think would make for another great opportunity to buy.

Additionally, silver speculators are extremely bullish, which makes for a strong contrarian signal as they are often on the wrong side at futures position extremes. At the same time, the smart money silver commercial hedgers are near a multi-year high in their bearish positioning. This suggests a higher risk of a silver price correction in the near term.

While all of this is happening, the US dollar may be at the start of a rally, which could help cement a precious metals selloff.

Still, the outlook for silver in the medium to long term is bright.

Global precious metals trader refiner and recycler Heraeus points out that in the previous quarter, silver ETF inflows reached 829 tonnes, the most in a quarter since early 2021 when holdings peaked. Heraeus figures that China’s recent fiscal and monetary stimuli will help boost industrial and investment demand. 

They also highlight that Chinese solar installations have so far exceeded 2024 forecasts and that energy analysts at Ember think installations could reach 334 GW, well above the 190 GW forecast by the China Photovoltaic Industry Association. What’s more, Ember expects global growth of 29% year-on-year.

And lately, more mainstream analysts are agreeing silver is primed to rise.

A recent Citibank research note was titled Commodities Flows, thanks to a dovish FED and their Q4 commodities outlook. They are clearly bullish on silver, with a year-end target of $35, while expecting silver to reach $38-$40 by mid-2025. They cite the Chinese energy transition demand for solar and EVs, in addition to a more recent jump in retail demand, as a store of value in response to weak property markets, consumer sentiment, and record-high gold prices.

When mainstream analysts get this bullish, I see that as another near-term contrarian signal, as they are often late to the party.

Still, with this increasingly fundamentally bullish backdrop, the silver outlook is compelling.

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