Son of Failed Trump Assassin Released on Bond, Pleads Not Guilty to Child-Porn Charges

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Oran Alexander Routh, 35, the son of failed Trump assassin Ryan Routh, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to possessing child pornography, and a federal judge released him from pretrial detention.

U.S. District Judge L. Patrick Auld’s decision to release the younger Routh went against the Justice Department’s urging and followed a spirited hearing, during which Routh’s mother and FBI agent Garrett Foo both testified.

The hearing started with the mother, Laura Routh, testifying that she’d serve as a suitable third-party custodian for her son. Prosecutors expressed skepticism, asking the mother about Oran’s allegedly abusive behavior.

Laura Routh said she’d make sure her son followed all the conditions of his release, including remaining inside, attending all hearings and staying off drugs.

“I think we’ll be just fine,” she said.

FBI agent Foo—who signed the criminal complaint for Oran—then testified about the gruesome details of Oran’s case.

According to Foo, the FBI found more than 20 devices linked to Oran. At least two were found to contain child pornography, and the bureau is continuing to search the others, he said.

Foo described horrific child-abuse videos on Oran’s phone, including one of a child as young as 3 years old being abused. Foo said there were “hundreds” of child-porn videos on Oran’s phones.

Foo also recounted Oran’s lengthy history of misdemeanor crimes, the most serious being an assault on his ex-girlfriend in 2016. In that case, he was given a deferred prosecution agreement. However, he failed by committing another crime: taking the same girlfriend’s phone and running off with it when she threatened to call the police on him for drunken driving.

It was also revealed that Oran was under investigation for possessing child porn since late last year, when the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, NCMEC, flagged a video allegedly on his phone. NCMEC passed that tip along to the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office, which visited his mother’s home in February.

At the time, Oran’s mother told law enforcement she didn’t know her son’s address. She did tell Oran that the sheriff’s office was looking for him, but he never contacted law enforcement.

In any event, the sheriff’s office executed a search warrant on Oran’s phone after receiving the NCMEC tip, and found neither the originally flagged video nor any other evidence of child porn.

It’s not clear whether the FBI knew about the NCMEC child-porn tip before searching his home earlier this month in relation to his father’s alleged assassination plot. Agent Foo inititally said heknew about the NCMEC tip before changing his testimony to say that he only found out afterward.

Either way, DOJ prosecutor Eric Iverson used the mother’s lack of knowledge about her son’s whereabouts to imply that she was not a suitable custodian.

The DOJ also hammered Oran for the drugs found at his home, which included ketamine, MDMA and cocaine.

Oran’s defense attorney responded by stressing that the drugs found were in smaller quantities for personal use—not for dealing.

However, Judge Auld agreed with the defense—and with the probation officer’s recommendations—that Oran be released on strict conditions. He’s on “total lockdown,” as his defense attorney put it, and is barred from the internet.

Oran had been a stage rigger for a firm called Stage Co. before his arrest. It was said in court that he travelled around the country, as well as overseas, to build stages for concerts. No one said where overseas Oran has worked.

Oran was still being processed out of his pretrial detention as of the publication of this article.

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

Tanzania Launching Domestic Gold-Buying Program to Expand Reserves

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) Tanzania is poised to expand its gold reserves. According to a Reuters report, the East African nation’s mining regulator has ordered all mining firms and gold exporters to allocate 20 percent of their gold for purchase by the Tanzanian central bank. 

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) began purchasing gold from local traders and miners earlier this year, hoping to boost foreign reserves as its local currency devalues. According to Reuters, the BoT plans to buy six tons of gold.

Miners and gold traders will be required to transfer gold to two refineries in the country. According to a statement from the mining regulator, “All payments will be done according to the Bank of Tanzania arrangements.” The agency didn’t provide details on the rates it would pay for the gold.

This is just one in a series of steps the Tanzanian government has taken to shore up its currency.

In June, Tanzania Finance Minister Dr. Mwigulu Nchemba issued a directive mandating that all transactions in the country must be advertised and conducted in Tanzanian shillings in an effort to curb the widespread use of the U.S. dollar in the country.

In May, the Tanzanian central bank began selling dollars held in its reserves to commercial banks hoping to ease a dollar shortage. The combination of a growing demand for greenbacks coupled with the shortage led to a growing black market for dollars.

During a budget speech before the Tanzanian National Assembly, Nchemba emphasized the problems with dollarization and said that it is “hindering economic progress.” He also said the situation increases “unnecessary” demand for foreign currency and that it undercut those who need dollars to import essential goods into the country.

Tanzania isn’t the only African nation expanding its gold holdings through the purchase of domestic gold. In July, Uganda announced a domestic gold-buying program. 

According to a statement on the Bank of Uganda’s website, “The gold purchase program will help in accumulating foreign currency reserves and address the associated risks in the international financial markets.“

Nigeria also runs domestic gold-buying scheme to bolster its reserves. In addition to buying locally sourced gold, the Nigerian central bank has announced plans to bring its existing gold reserves back into the country “to mitigate risks associated with the weakening U.S. economy.”

“Economic indicators such as rising inflation, escalating debt levels, and geopolitical tensions have raised apprehensions among Nigerian policymakers about the stability of the U.S. financial system.” 

According to a report by Business Insider Africa, Ghana also requires big gold miners in that country to sell 20 percent of their refined gold to the country’s central bank.

Meanwhile, a presidential candidate in Ghana recently said he would back the country’s currency with gold if he wins the election.

“Ultimately, my goal is that we are going to back our currency with gold and that is where I want us to go, increasingly backing our currency with gold,” Dr Mahamadu Bawumia said.

He went on to say a gold-backed currency would “keep a lot of stability in the exchange market.”

“Right now, we don’t have an anchor to hold the currency, but if we back it with gold, it will be very stable, because its value ultimately will be reflected by the value of gold, which is very stable.”

Ghana recently overtook South Africa to become Africa’s biggest gold producer.

The growing movement toward gold in Africa underscores an important truth: while fiat currencies come and go, gold has remained a trusted money for over 5,000 years. 

Secret Service Site Agent Has ’No Idea’ Why Mystery ATF Agent Was at Trump Shooting

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Senate Homeland Security Committee has released transcripts of its interviews of the Secret Service agents involved in the deadly July 13 Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania—including one agent who had an encounter with an unidentified ATF agent who was there for reasons that are still unclear.

Questions about who the mystery ATF agent is and why he was at Butler have persisted ever since Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., released information about the unidentified man days after the shooting.

According to Johnson, a mysterious man in a gray suit was one of the first officials on top of the AGR building to examine the body of the alleged shooter, Thomas Crooks. Johnson said that gray-suite man directed law enforcement to send photos of Crooks to an ATF agent in Philadelphia, ostensibly to run a facial recognition search on the deceased shooter.

Johnson’s disclosure had many observers, including this writer, suspecting that the gray-suit man was with the ATF.

However, a Secret Service site agent told the Senate committee that the ATF agent she encountered was dressed in plain clothes.

The Secret Service site agent said the ATF agent approached her before the shooting with concerns about a bike rack that was used as a crowd barrier.

“He was concerned that people, it might fall over, that people might, you know, be able to, to get, you know, get over it.  And so then he kind of brought it to my attention. I was like, ‘Well, who are you?’ … He said, ‘ATF,’” the agent told lawmakers, according to the interview transcript.

The Secret Service site agent admitted that she didn’t ask for the man’s credentials.

“He just was acting like part of the plan … And then I just, I didn’t ask any further questions.  I mean, at that point I was just like, okay.  I don’t know,” she said.

“I still don’t know why ATF was there or who asked them to be there or what their role was,” she added.

The Secret Service agent’s name was redacted in the interview transcript, but is identified as the assistant site agent—meaning she’s likely either Myosoty Perez and Dana DuBrey, the two site agents identified by the New York Times.

Other Secret Service agents interviewed by the Senate committee also expressed ignorance about the ATF. The lead sniper, for instance, said he didn’t know ATF was at Butler, while the boss of the Secret Service’s Pittsburgh office, Timothy Burke, said the site agent never told him about the mystery plain clothes ATF agent.

The ATF didn’t immediately respond to a Headline USA email query about the site agent’s interview transcript.

According to the Senate’s report on the Trump shooting, the ATF said the agent was there in a “personal capacity.”

“ATF told the Committee that there was an ATF agent present in his personal capacity at the Butler rally on July 13 but that ATF as an agency had no official presence at the rally and did not provide any security assistance before shots were fired. The committee has yet to speak with the ATF agent who was at the rally,” the report said.

The committee added that it “continues to seek a transcribed interview” with the agent, and that it is still seeking info “related to any ATF facial recognition searches of Crooks’ body.”

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

Gold Overtakes Euro to Become 2nd-Largest Central Bank Reserve Asset

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) According to Bank of America, gold has overtaken the euro to become the world’s second-largest central bank reserve asset.

With the central bank gold buying spree over the last several years, along with the rapid rise in price in 2024, the yellow metal now makes up about 16 percent of total reserve assets, just ahead of the euro.

The dollar’s share of reserves has dropped to 58 percent.

There appears to be a movement to replace fiat currencies, including the dollar, with gold, especially in emerging market countries in the East. 

Central banks globally added a net 483 tons of gold through the first six months of this year, 5 percent above the record of 460 tons in H1 2023, and aggressive buying has continued in Q3.

Last year, central bank gold buying of 1,037 tons fell just 45 tons short of 2022’s multi-decade record.

Central bank gold buying in 2023 built on the prior record year. Total central bank gold buying in 2022 came in at 1,136 tons. It was the highest level of net purchases on record dating back to 1950, including since the suspension of dollar convertibility into gold in 1971.  

Meanwhile, the share of dollars making up global reserves has dropped by 14 percent since the turn of the century, according to data compiled by the Atlantic Council. 

As of 2002, dollars accounted for 72 percent of global reserves. Today, dollars make up about 58 percent of reserves.

This doesn’t mean the dollar is about to collapse. It’s more like a death by 10,000 paper cuts. But it does reveal a slow drift away from dollar dominance as other countries seek to minimize their dependence on the greenback and cut the monetary strings the United States often pulls on to advance its foreign policy goals.

Analyst Dave Kranzler warns that the recent monetary policy “recalibration” could put further downward pressure on the dollar.

“The Fed has painted itself into a corner. It’s under enormous pressure from the market and Wall Street to cut interest rates. But if it does that, it risks a rapid sell-off in the dollar.”

The dollar isn’t in imminent danger of collapse, but any weakening of the greenback is problematic for the U.S. As Kanzler pointed out, “A falling dollar and lower interest rates will make it even more difficult to attract foreign interest in funding additional Treasury debt – something which has already become problematic.”

Falling demand for Treasuries could drive interest rates higher despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to push them down. That’s a problem given that the debt-riddled U.S. economy struggles to operate even in a normal rate environment. Rising interest expense is also a big issue for the federal government. In fiscal 2024, Uncle Sam will pay over $1 trillion in interest expense. It’s the biggest spending category behind Social Security.

As demand for dollars declines, it could eventually lead to a dollar glut. 

The dollar’s role as the reserve currency means there is a constant demand for the U.S. currency. This allows the U.S. government and central bank to create far more dollars than it otherwise could. The world soaks up those extra dollars, somewhat mitigating price inflation due to rampant money creation. In effect, this allows the U.S. government to borrow and spend more than it otherwise could. It also enables the massive U.S. trade deficit. 

So, what happens if the world no longer needs dollars? 

Continued de-dollarization of the world economy would cause the value of the U.S. currency to crash and could ultimately spark a currency crisis. This would further erode the purchasing power of the dollar and drive prices even higher. In the worst-case scenario, it could even lead to hyperinflation.

Babylon Bee Sues Calif. over War on Free Speech

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) In response to Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., signing a series of anti-free speech, also known as “deep fake” laws, that target outlets that publish satire and parody, Babylon Bee, a well-known conservative satirical website, filed a lawsuit against the state on Sept. 30, 2024.

According to the complaint exclusively shared with the Daily Wire, Babylon Bee stated that Newsom wrote on Twitter about how the state’s law should suppress any criticism or mocking of the current Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris.

“Manipulating a voice in an ‘ad’ like this one should be illegal. I’ll be signing a bill in a matter of weeks to make sure it is,” Newsom wrote on July 28, 2024.

“The legislature heard the call and passed two laws that forbid political expression under the label of ‘materially deceptive content,’” Babylon Bee wrote in the lawsuit.

The conservative satirists then explained how the anti-free speech bill would force social media platforms that are already controlled by conservative-hating Big Tech companies to become “state snitches” and inform the totalitarian state of California about who should be punished for exercising one’s First Amendment rights.

The company’s CEO, Seth Dillon, stated that it is possible to avoid being persecuted by leftists if a company or a person behind the account would put a disclaimer that states the post is a joke. However, Dillon told the Wire that it “completely stifles and kills the joke.”

“If we’re unable to publish satire without putting disclaimers all over it, and we’re going to face potential penalties if we don’t do that, then that’s a very serious issue too,” he told the news source.

It wasn’t the first time when the leftist government tried to silence Babylon Bee. Facebook censored and demonetized the conservative jokester both in 2020 and 2021. The New York Times also attacked Babylon Bee, later admitting they were lying. Right before Elon Musk purchased Twitter and made it a free-speech social media platform, in March 2022, the Big Tech platform also censored Babylon Bee.

However, Babylon Bee engaged in the censorship of free speech last year when the organization fired Donald Trump-supporting conservative activist and columnist Gavin Wax.

After receiving backlash from Trump supporters, Dillon said the reason why Babylon Bee fired Wax was not because he supports Trump but because he used an expletive as a representative of an allegedly conservative Christian company.

However, some people on Twitter wrote that it was just an excuse for a Ron DeSantis-supporting Babylon Bee to get rid of a Trump supporter, using other organization’s employees who previously used expletives and were never fired for it as evidence of that.

Airbnb Interferes in 2024 Election, Evicts Pro-Trump Ballot Chasers

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) It was recently revealed that an Airbnb host in Philadelphia evicted Donald Trump-supporting ballot chasers because of their political beliefs.

In its exclusive report, Breitbart News wrote that the ballot chasers with Citizens Alliance’s PA CHASE program, a pro-Trump operation that knocks on 500,000 doors across the battleground state, were given one hour to leave the owner’s house on Sept. 23, 2024.

The ballot chasers told the news source that the leftist owner immediately reported them to Airbnb and canceled the allegedly $5,000 reservation after realizing that they were chasing votes for Trump.

“This is how you know the PA CHASE is over the target — being discriminated against in Philadelphia is nothing new for conservatives. Democrats are furious that we are finally fighting fire with fire and beating them at their own game,” Cliff Maloney, PA CHASE founder, said.

“Let me be clear: we will not back down… we will not stop… and we will not let off the gas until we crush the commies and claim victory on November 5.”

On Sept. 26, 2024, the organization released a statement in which it wrote that the ballot chasers could find another place to stay. It added that the PA Chase requested a refund and talked to its attorneys about a potential lawsuit.

According to the statement, Airbnb began investigating what happened and hasn’t yet granted the $5,000 refund.

Maloney also wrote on Twitter, clarifying some things, such as that the “Airbnb host became [irate]” when he discovered that the organization supports Trump, the Philadelphia team is “knocking in Bucks Count,” the ballot chasers “did not lose any door-knocking productivity because we re-booked immediately” and that the PA CHASE will reach its goal of knocking on 500,000 doors.

He then urged people to sponsor a ballot chaser and, thus, “help [them] push back against this thuggery.”

“Surely this is a violation of law,” @amuse wrote about what Airbnb did.

Trump Allies Push Back Against Chinese Takeover of U.S. Land

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) On Sept. 30, 2024, two Donald Trump-supporting Republicans revealed a policy that would help Americans battle the Chinese Communist Party inside the United States itself.

The Daily Caller exclusively reported that in August of this year, Richard Grennel, the former acting director of National Intelligence in the Trump administration, and former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., launched the “Protecting America Initiative,” an organization that was founded to ensure that the CCP would not have any influence inside the U.S., such as buying farmland and pushing propaganda inside American colleges and universities.

“Beijing does not have the best interests of Americans in mind as it secretly works to leverage our food supply, economy, education and businesses. China’s pervasive influence and malignant intentions cannot be ignored. If Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will not stand up for Americans and our country, states must take immediate action,” Grenell informed the news source.

He continued that the United States needs “strong [and] precise policies to counter the CCP’s aims in this country.”

The politicians explained what Americans needed to do to solve the communist infiltration, sharing a solution to the CCP buying American farmland with the Caller.

The recent news came after reports, including from Headline USA, highlighted the infiltration of Chinese communists in this country.

The most explicit example of this kind of infiltration was when conservative journalists started researching Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn. after Harris chose him as her running mate and found out that he was a communist.

It was discovered that Walz had previously brainwashed high school students with communist propaganda and visited China, where people there were constantly presenting him with different gifts, which resulted in people questioning whether he was a communist spy because unknown teachers from Nebraska didn’t receive this kind of attention as regular tourists. He also promoted research facilities connected to the Chinese military.

All of this evidence resulted even in Democrats admitting that Walz is a Manchurian candidate. The U.S. House Republicans investigated Walz’s alleged ties to the CCP. However, the FBI decided to ignore the House Oversight Committee by not handing over documents and communications related to Walz and his partnerships with communists.

Aside from Walz, the CCP concentrated on New York by inserting its spies into the state’s local government to subvert the United States from within.

Former University of Kentucky Staffer Says Hurricane was God’s Punishment for MAGA

(Matthew Doarnberger, Headline USA) Betsy Packard, a former staff member at the University of Kentucky, recently took to social media to claim that Hurricane Helene was God’s way of punishing Donald Trump’s supporters.

Following the destruction that left over 100 dead in the southeast, Packard posted what she thought was the cause of the devastation, the Dail Mail reported.

“Hurricane Helene … what if GOD is punishing MAGA populations for their hate and hypocrisy? Works for me!”

About an hour later, she doubled down on the claim of the almighty having it in for those she politically disagrees with, the New York Post noted.

“Hey. If they got hit with An Act of God of this magnitude, God must be REALLY pissed off with MAGA.”

A spokesperson with the university told the Daily Mail that school officials were aware of the posts and stated that Packard had not worked at the school since 2022, when she was employed as a teaching assistant.

University of Kentucky spokesman Jay Blanton condemned Packard’s harmful rhetoric in a statement released by the school.

“Such statements are abhorrent and do not reflect our values as an institution,” Blanton said.

“Our thoughts and concerns are with those impacted by these devastating storms,” he continued. “As an institution, we have many members of our community directly impacted by them and are working with them to provide support and resources at this time.”

Considering that Buncombe County, N.C. was one of the hardest hit areas by the storm, Packard’s assertion that “MAGA” was being punished doesn’t seem to make sense.

Joe Biden was able to win the county (which includes the city of Asheville) with almost 60% of the vote in 2020.

More that 1,000 residents of Buncombe County remain unaccounted for as emergency responders scramble to locate them. At least 40 deaths as a result of Helene have come from that county alone.

The University of Kentucky had deleted Packard’s profile from the English department website as of Monday morning.

Kamala Blames Bungled Walz VP Pick on Sleep Deprivation

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Vice President Kamala Harris recounted how she lost sleep after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, particularly when she chose Tim Walz as her running mate. 

“Look from the time that [President Joe Biden] called me and told me he wasn’t running—I mean it just like everything was in speedy, speedy motion and I was not sleeping so well,” Harris said during a Tuesday interview on the All The Smoke podcast with co-hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. 

Harris’s comments on her sleep deprivation came after Barnes asked how she decided to ask Walz to join her on the ticket. She confirmed that she hadn’t been sleeping well on the day she picked him. 

“I guess that the process was ultimately I made a decision about my gut,” She claimed, recalling how she said Walz and her shared a similar experience about “seeing people.” The New York Post first reported on Harris’s comments about her insomnia.

Harris also shared that when Biden formally dropped out, she began cooking early in the morning while her family slept – because she could not sleep. 

“That one morning, I just, I mean, I had, I don’t know a few hours sleep and I, you know, I like to sleep. I just got up. I was like… and so, I just went out and got a pork roast and started marinating,” she said.

This wasn’t the first time Harris opened up about the moment Biden told her he was no longer running for president.

She previously mentioned that her sister, Maya Harris, and her nieces were visiting, and they all began cooking together that day. 

Harris became the presumptive nominee on July 21, after Biden caved to pressure from within his own party to exit the race.  

Democrats feared that Trump was cruising toward victory in the November election, as Biden appeared defeated, weak, and unable to defend his infamous record as president during the “bloodbath” debate on CNN. 

Harris is battling Trump for the White House. 

John Kerry: 1st Amendment a ‘Major Block’ for Gov’t Handling of ‘Disinformation’

(Matthew Doarnberger, Headline USA) Former Secretary of State John Kerry suggested during the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Impact Meeting that Americans’ freedom of speech was proving to be a thorn in the side of globalist elites’ efforts to implement a New World Order.

In response to an audience question about “climate misinformation,” Kerry lamented that government didn’t have more power to suppress dissenting views, RealClearPolitics reported.

“The dislike of and anguish over social media is just growing and growing,” Kerry complained.

“It is part of our problem—particularly in democracies—in terms of building consensus around any issue,” he continued. “It’s really hard to govern today.”

Whereas information used to be limited to a handful of streams that were easy for those in power to manipulate and coerce, the nearly limitless access to a diversity of opinions—and to facts heretofore censored and suppressed—forced those in power to be more directly accountable to the public.

“You can’t—the referees we used to have to determine what is a fact and what isn’t a fact have kind of been eviscerated, to a certain degree,” Kerry complained. “And people go and self-select where they go for their news, for their information.”

Continuing his desire to rid society of anything not approved of by the state, Kerry then called out the First Amendment as an obstacle to obtaining the sort of hive-minded consensus he desired.

“You know there’s a lot of discussion now about how you curb those entities in order to guarantee that you’re going to have some accountability on facts, etc.,” he claimed—although it was unclear who was discussing this and in what context.

“But look, if people only go to one source, and the source they go to is sick, and, you know, has an agenda and they’re putting out disinformation, our First Amendment stands as a major block to be able to just, you know, hammer it out of existence,” the failed 2004 Democratic candidate continued.

The attempt to prohibit misinformation online is frequently discussed considering recent controversies like the safety of experimental COVID-19 vaccines, Hunter Biden’s laptop and the coverup surrounding Joe Biden’s cognitive decline.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook made content moderation choices under pressure from the Biden administration while apologizing for censoring information about the laptop story.

Kerry, a longtime Massachusetts senator and husband of the Heinz ketchup heiress, served three years in the Biden Administration as special presidential envoy for climate—a position invented specially for him that appeared to answer to nobody in particular nor have any defined objectives—until leaving the position in March.