Shocking Vids Show Plane Fall Out of Sky in Brazil; 62 Presumed Dead

Luis Cornelio
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Shocking Vids Show Plane Fall Out of Sky in Brazil; 62 Presumed Dead

Editor’s Note: This article contains graphic descriptions of a plane crash, including videos and details that some readers may find disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Harrowing videos have emerged showing the moment a plane crashed in Brazil, killing all 62 people onboard. 

The aircraft, operated by Brazilian airline VoePass, had taken off from Cascavel in Paraná before crashing in São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous city, according to Brazilian newspaper O Dia.

Online videos depict the plane engulfed in flames as it plummeted. The exact cause of the crash is not yet known. 

One video, shared by international news outlet BNO News, shows the plane spiraling downward with its nose pointed toward the ground. This clip has garnered nearly 20 million views. 

Another video, taken from a closer angle, captures the plane in what appears to be heavy rain and strong winds. This second clip was seen over 3 million times.

The aircraft quickly disappears behind trees before crashing, followed by a large cloud of black and gray smoke. “Caralho!” or “damn!” the individual behind the video is heard saying.

A third video shows the plane’s wreckage on fire, with an onlooker shouting to other bystanders. “Cuidado,” or “be careful,” a man warns the crowd in Portuguese.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed his condolences to the victims’ families in a press conference on Friday. 

“In memory of the 61 victims of the tragic accident in Vinhedo, we have declared 3 days of official mourning in the country,” Lula announced on Twitter.

Marcelo Moreno, Brazil’s chief investigator, told the reporters that the probe is “very premature” to zero in on what may have caused the crash, according to The New York Times. 

“Anything we might speculate at this moment, which may eventually be confirmed in the future, is still very premature,” he added. 

DOJ Probes Hunter Biden’s Romanian Ties, Only After Joe Drops Out of Race

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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DOJ Probes Hunter Biden’s Romanian Ties, Only After Joe Drops Out of Race

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) The Department of Justice prosecutors say that Hunter Biden was paid by a Romanian oligarch to “influence U.S. policy and public opinion” when his father, Joe Biden, was vice president.

Fox News reported that Special Counsel David Weiss filed the documents in the Central District of California on Aug. 7, 2024. They pertain to Hunter Biden’s tax trial in California.

The allegations are the closest prosecutors have come to tying Joe to Hunter’s overseas business dealings that may have accelerated after the former dropped out of the 2024 presidential race.

Romanian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu is expected to testify against Hunter in the trial, which will begin on Sept. 14, 2024, in Los Angeles. Weiss noted in the filings that Hunter had “entered into an oral agreement” in 2015 to help Popoviciu contest bribery charges in Romania.

At trial, prosecutors will “introduce the evidence described above, including that [Hunter Biden] and Business Associate 1 received compensation from a foreign principal who was attempting to influence U.S. policy and public opinion and cause the United States to investigate the Romanian investigation of [Popoviciu] in Romania.”

Weiss added that Hunter and his business associate “were concerned that lobbying work might cause political ramifications for [Hunter Biden’s] father [Joe Biden].”

The filing is the first to go into greater detail about Hunter’s international business affairs.

“Business Associate 1 and [Popoviciu] signed a ‘Management Services Agreement’ where Business Associate 1’s legal entity would purportedly provide management services to real estate properties in Romania, but that was not actually what [Popoviciu] was paying for,” the document stated.

Weiss also wrote that Hunter’s counsel had asked the court to dismiss allegations that he could have violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

“The government does not intend to reference allegations that the defendant violated FARA or improperly coordinated with the Obama Administration. However… the government will introduce evidence that Business Associate 1 structured a business relationship in an effort to avoid having to register as a foreign agent and that the defendant and his business partners did reach out to government officials, specifically the United States Department of State,” he wrote.

Prosecutors said that, between November 2015 and 2017, Hunter and two business associates split more than $3 million in payments from Popoviciu.

Hunter is charged with failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019 and filing false tax returns. It was also reported that he spent millions of dollars in funds on drugs, escorts, luxury cars and other high-priced items. He has since paid the taxes.

Hunter is charged with three felonies and six misdemeanors in the tax case.

Tim Walz Repeatedly Hosted Jew-Hating, Pro-Hitler Muslim Cleric

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Tim Walz Repeatedly Hosted Jew-Hating, Pro-Hitler Muslim Cleric

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) On at least five occasions as governor of Minnesota, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz hosted a Muslim cleric who celebrated Hamas‘s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and promoted a Neo-Nazi film that glorifies Adolf Hitler.

The Washington Examiner reported that, in May 2023, Imam Asad Zaman of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota joined other Muslim leaders for a mosque security meeting with Walz’s state’s gubernatorial office.

In May 2020, Zaman also spoke at an event to call for peaceful protests with Walz during the riots in Minnesota sparked after George Floyd’s death. In April 2019, the cleric delivered an invocation before Walz’s state address — just months after Zaman called for an end to a government shutdown at a press conference with Walz in January of the same year.

Social media posts also showed that Zaman attended an event that Walz hosted for Ramadan in May 2019.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Zaman, a Bangladesh native, said that he “stands in solidarity with Palestinians against Israeli attacks.” On the same day, he also shared an image of a Palestinian flag on Facebook in response to a post by Yusuf Abdi Abdulle, director of the Islamic Association of North America, declaring that “Palestine has the right to defend itself.”

Zaman continued showing his Jew-hatred by using his Facebook page over the years to share official Hamas press releases, blog posts on antisemitic websites attacking Jews and a link to a piece on a website for a pro-Hitler film called The Greatest Story Never Told. The propaganda movie that was released in 2013 became very popular among Jew-haters and Nazi supporters.

Additionally, the news source reported that Zaman equated Hamas committing terrorism to Israel defending itself.

State records indicated that Walz’s administration had awarded the organization over $100,000 in funding.

“It is astounding that with all the available public reporting and information about the iniquities of Imam Asad Zaman and MAS, Minnesota Gov. Walz has repeatedly given public platforms and taxpayer money to this extremist. Across the country, Islamists hungry for government support will surely welcome Walz as vice president,” Sam Westrop, a terrorism researcher and analyst at the Middle East Forum think tank, said.

Flight, Flight, Flight!: Trump Reassures Worried Public after Emergency Landing

Luis Cornelio
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Flight, Flight, Flight!: Trump Reassures Worried Public after Emergency Landing

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) President Donald Trump addressed concerns after his plane made an emergency landing in Montana, where he was scheduled for a fundraiser on Friday. 

Trump Force One had to land in Billings, roughly 152 miles from his original destination of Bozeman, due to mechanical issues. He continued his journey on a private jet, the New York Post reported. 

In a minute-long video posted on Truth Social, Trump reassured his supporters without directly addressing the emergency landing. 

“I just landed in a really beautiful place in Montana—so beautiful flying over it. … I’m here to do some fundraisers and most importantly, to support Tim Sheehy who is running for the U.S. Senate,” Trump said.

Although Montana is not considered a swing state for presidential purposes, Republicans are eyeing a potential Senate flip, with Sheehy leading incumbent Sen. Jon Tester by two points, according to an Emerson College poll released Friday. 

Tester was elected senator in 2006 and most recently won re-election in 2018, defeating challenger and now-Rep. Matt Rosendale. 

“We think he’s gonna do really well,” Trump added. “We’re gonna have a rally. It will be a lot of fun.” 

Trump also blasted his “phony” opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, who joined the Democratic ticket after President Joe Biden was pressured into exiting the 2024 race.

Harris is a “person who had no idea what she was doing at the border,” Trump said, also blaming for rampant border crossings and the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. 

During the Biden-Harris-led withdrawal, 13 U.S. servicemen tragically died in a terrorist attack by ISIS-K, as thousands tried to flee Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover. 

Chicago Approves Anti-Israel Protest Ahead of DNC, but Not Pro-Israel One

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Chicago Approves Anti-Israel Protest Ahead of DNC, but Not Pro-Israel One

(Headline USA) Chicago granted permits to anti-Israel protesters ahead of the Democratic National Convention, but allegedly ignored requests for permits from pro-Israel groups.

The March on the DNC, organized by a coalition of anti-Israel groups, received permission from the city for their protest route last month.

The group expects more than 25,000 protesters to attend and rally against the Biden administration’s continued support for Israel in its military campaign against Hamas.

The Israeli American Council, a pro-Israel group, also submitted two applications with Chicago’s Department of Transportation to hold its own march, but has not heard back from the city yet, they said.

“It seems like we don’t have equitable access to whatever the other group was approved for,” Aya Shechter, chief programming officer for the IAC, told Jewish Insider. “We didn’t get any offer to do a march, not even in an alternative location.”

The IAC previously filed an application to hold a stationary protest near the DNC, but that request was rejected because there were not “sufficient city resources” to “secure an assembly at the location for the dates and times requested,” the city told them.

They were offered an alternative location for the stationary protest several blocks from the DNC. 

The anti-Israel groups, however, were granted permission to demonstrate near the convention, the IAC alleged.

“[We are] deeply disappointed by the City of Chicago’s ongoing delays in processing our request to hold a solidarity march during the Democratic National Convention … especially when our goal is to peacefully raise awareness about the U.S. citizens affected by the October 7 attacks and those still held hostage by Hamas as well as the unbreakable bond between Israel and the U.S.,” the group said in a statement.

“Our hope was to provide a counterbalance to the anti-Israel rhetoric expected at the convention, and it is frustrating to see our efforts hindered by bureaucratic delays.”

However, Chicago officials said that while protesters would be allowed to demonstrate “within sight and sound” of the DNC, no permits had been issued to protest “near the United Center or McCormick Place,” which is where the DNC will be held. 

Walz Repeatedly Hosted Radical Islamist Who Celebrated Oct. 7 Massacre

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Walz Repeatedly Hosted Radical Islamist Who Celebrated Oct. 7 Massacre

(Headline USA) Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz repeatedly hosted a radical Islamist who went on to celebrate Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year.

As Minnesota governor, Walz met with imam Asad Zaman on at least five occasions, according to the Washington Examiner.

In 2023, Walz met with Zaman and other Muslim state leaders for a meeting about mosque security. 

In 2020, Walz asked Zaman to speak at an event with other religious leaders to call for rioters to stop burning down the state’s cities in the wake of George Floyd’s death. 

And in 2019, Zaman delivered an invocation before a state address by Walz, and appeared at a press conference alongside Walz calling for an end to a government shutdown. Also that year, Zaman attended a Ramadan event hosted by Walz.

Zaman, who works for the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, endorsed Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack, sharing an image on Facebook of a Palestinian flag the day of the attack with the caption “Palestine has the right to defend itself.” 

He has also shared official Hamas press releases repeatedly, as well as antisemitic blog posts questioning the Holocaust and celebrating Nazi Germany. One article Zaman shared in 2015, for example, praised a pro-Hitler film called “The Greatest Story Never Told.”

Zaman’s organization, the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, released a statement on Oct. 7 saying it “reaffirms its unwavering support for the Palestinian people in their struggle against the Israeli occupation.”

The Muslim American Society has its own troubling history, which includes ties to terrorism, according to federal prosecutors. It was founded as the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S., prosecutors alleged, and has promoted violence against Jews.

Video footage that resurfaced in 2019 shows members of the Muslim American Society’s Philadelphia chapter saying, “We will chop off their heads, and we will liberate the sorrowful and exalted Al-Aqsa Mosque,” according to the Times of Israel.

Trump Assassination Attempt Task Force Chairman Gives Update

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Trump Assassination Attempt Task Force Chairman Gives Update

(Christen Smith, The Center Square) The chairman of a congressional task force assembled last month to probe former President Donald Trump’s assassination attempt gave a glimpse into its work during an interview with a local radio station Wednesday.

U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., told The Daily Focus the bipartisan 13-member panel wants to know why the federal agents chose the Butler Farm Show grounds for the July 13 rally and why the event was allowed to continue despite admitted knowledge that a “suspicious” person was spotted scaling a nearby roof with a rifle in tow.

“At the end of the day we want to make sure that all of the conspiracy theories, all of the ideas out there and the statements that have been made of how it happened, we actually get to the truth of what happened that day, factually so that the American people and the people we work for say, ‘OK, fine, that makes sense’,” he said.

Kelly was among several congressional and state lawmakers present at the campaign rally in his home district when a gunman took aim at Trump, grazing his ear after the president turned his head to look at a projector screen behind him.

The would-be assassin fired several more shots into the crowd, killing 50-year-old Corey Comperatore and wounding 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaven.

U.S. Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle resigned after the shooting amid intense pressure from congressional lawmakers over the “stunning” security failures.

Cheatle’s own comments about reasons why law enforcement weren’t on the roof where the gunman staged himself ranged from blaming state and local police to the slight pitch of the roof itself being “too dangerous” to existing “overhead” support meant to identify threats.

The conflicting excuses only fueled conspiracy theories – backed by some prominent congressional lawmakers – that pointed to a broader government conspiracy to kill Trump. Cheatle has categorically denied the accusation.

Other officials have attributed the breakdown to incompetence, rather than conspiracy, including Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity.

Kelly, who was named chairman of the task force on July 29, said they will find the truth.

“There’s all these other ideas floating around, and some of them make a lot of sense,” he said. “The other question is, have we actually done a deep dive to see how true those statements are?”

Calif. Senator Switches to GOP, Blasts ‘Unrecognizable’ Democratic Party

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Calif. Senator Switches to GOP, Blasts ‘Unrecognizable’ Democratic Party

(Headline USA) A California state senator announced this week that she was leaving the Democratic Party for the GOP because of her party’s failed governance of the Golden State.

Marie Alvarado–Gill won the red-leaning 4th Senate District in 2022 and has been vocally critical of Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies throughout California.

The last straw for her was when her fellow Democrats shut down a series of bills she introduced to prevent the state from downgrading the punishment for certain criminal offenses, including property crimes.

Unilateral Democratic control in Sacramento is “simply not working for this state,” she told Politico.

“The Democratic Party is unrecognizable to what I once knew and lacks the will to fix the problems plaguing this state,” she said. “I cannot stand by a party that ignores the will of the people and disregards the core American values that my very community supports and believes in.”

In a separate interview, Alvarado–Gill told the Sacramento Bee that she is tired of her colleagues expecting her to blindly follow the party agenda.

“I would get asked, ‘How can you side with [tough-on-crime policies]? This is going to put more black and brown people in jail.’ I don’t tend to follow the race train. I’m looking at society as a whole.”

Alvarado–Gill argued Democrats’ refusal to change course has led to a mass exodus of people from California.

“If we don’t hold people accountable for their actions, there is a domino effect,” she said. “Not only in our prisons system, our education system, our economic system, our housing system and whether or not Californians see themselves as part of communities or they are packing their bags and leaving.”

Part of Alvarado–Gill’s calculation is likely also tied to her upcoming reelection race in 2026, which could be difficult to win as a Democrat. Though she flipped the district once, the majority of residents are registered as Republicans.

Kamala Refuses Extra Debates, Shamed into Interview w/ 3 Weeks Prep Time

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Kamala Refuses Extra Debates, Shamed into Interview w/ 3 Weeks Prep Time

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) On Aug. 8, 2024, Kamala Harris confirmed that she would participate in one debate with Donald Trump instead of the proposed three.

She also said that she agreed to one interview that would take place three weeks after the announcement.

ABC News correspondent Selina Wang reported that Harris’s campaign official said she would not agree to the Sept. 4, 2024, presidential debate on Fox News that Trump suggested.

Wang also stated that Harris would consider other debates only if Trump shows up to the ABC News debate that will happen on Sept. 10, 2024, which is after the proposed date for the Fox News debate.

NBC News also announced that they agreed to host the presidential debate on Sept. 25, 2024.

Harris herself also said that she was “looking forward” to the debate on Sept. 10, 2024.

The Daily Wire reported that Harris also said there could be a long-form interview “before the end of the month.”

“I’ve talked to my team. I want us to get an interview scheduled before the end of the month,” she said.

She agreed to finally have an interview because conservatives, including Trump, had criticized and mocked her for avoiding taking questions from reporters or holding a press conference since she became the Democratic presidential nominee.

Trump-Vance campaign responded to the recent news on Aug. 9, 2024.

“Kamala Harris needs more time to prepare for a press interview than Joe Biden does. Maybe she’s the one who needs to decamp to Delaware in order to get ready,” the campaign wrote.

The campaign also started asking questions.

“Why would anyone need three weeks to prepare for an interview with a friendly outlet that will throw her softball questions? Why is she being controlled by her new team—consisting of former Obama officials—instead of making decisions herself? Is it because she can’t be trusted to make her own decisions? Who is actually in charge?” the campaign wrote.

After asking all of these rhetorical questions, the campaign answered.

“She isn’t in charge. She can’t be trusted to make her own decisions. And she’s ducking press interviews and press conferences because she’ll malfunction like Joe Biden if she’s unscripted,” the campaign said.

Youngkin’s Paper-Ballot Mandate Puts Va. in Play for Republicans

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Youngkin’s Paper-Ballot Mandate Puts Va. in Play for Republicans

(Sarah Roderick-Fitch, The Center Square) An executive order has been issued to codify Virginia’s “election security procedures” implemented by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

The governor issued Executive Order 35 on Wednesday to “protect legal voters and accurate counts,” which includes “stringent ballot security, complete and thorough counting machine testing,” and “best-in-the-nation voter list maintenance.”

Youngkin touted the commonwealth’s election integrity, reaffirming the need for every “legal” vote to be counted.

“The Virginia model for election security works,” Youngkin said. “This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue, it’s an American and Virginian issue. Every legal vote deserves to be counted without being watered down by illegal votes or inaccurate machines. In Virginia, we don’t play games and our model for election security is working.”

The governor outlined how votes are tabulated, reiterating his commitment to ballot security as Virginia moves back into the spotlight as a potential battleground in November’s presidential election.

“We use 100% paper ballots with a strict chain of custody,” the governor said. “We use counting machines, not voting machines, that are tested prior to every election and never connected to the internet. We do not mass-mail ballots. We monitor our drop boxes 24/7.

“We verify the legal presence and identity of voters using DMV data and other trusted data sources to update our voter rolls daily, not only adding new voters, but scrubbing the lists to remove those that should not be on it, like the deceased, individuals that have moved, and noncitizens that have accidentally or maliciously attempted to register.”

Youngkin’s office indicated over the last two years that nearly 80,000 deceased voters were removed from voter rolls via a “comprehensive audit” by conducting multiple National Change of Address mailings, which resulted in the removal of the deceased voters.

In addition, between January 2022 and July 2024, 6,303 noncitizens were removed from the voter rolls, according to the executive order.

The commonwealth is only one of three states in the country that require individuals to provide their full nine-digit Social Security number to register for voting. Youngkin’s office added that over 90% of commonwealth voters electronically register to vote through the Department of Motor Vehicles ELECT.

The DMV “requires applicants to submit proof of identity and legal presence for those that do not yet hold a valid Virginia credential.”

“When issuing a credential such as a driver’s license, DMV verifies applicants’ proof of identity and legal status with the Department of Homeland Security Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database and the Social Security Administration database,” according to the governor’s office.

In addition, the order directs the commissioner of the Department of Elections to certify in writing annually that election security improvements are in place. Lastly, it also “outlines the procedures in place for noncitizens who attempt to violate the law and register to vote,” including referral to commonwealth attorney offices and the Office of the Attorney General.

Polling between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden showed a narrow Trump victory in a state that has been a Democratic stronghold for two decades. However, in the fallout of the “bait-and-switch”, recent polling has shown trending toward Vice President Kamala Harris according to a New York Times poll from July.

Headline USA’s Elias Irizarry contributed to this report.
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