Biden Spent Independence Day at a ‘High-End Trailer Park’

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Biden Spent Independence Day at a ‘High-End Trailer Park’

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Joe Biden, broke and desperate for relevancy, appears to be persona non grata within Democratic circles.

The disgraced former president was spotted celebrating Independence Day at what the Wall Street Journal described as a “high-end” trailer park in California—all the while struggling to stay afloat financially.

“It was a far cry from how Biden’s peers spent their summers. Barack and Michelle Obama wined and dined on Martha’s Vineyard while Bill and Hillary Clinton donned black tie in the Hamptons for wedding celebrations uniting her former staffer Huma Abedin with the favored son of billionaire Democratic funder George Soros,” the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Biden’s unusual presence at the trailer park, owned by a family friend Moby, was highlighted by The Wall Street Journal in a report on his collapsing finances since leaving office in January

The newspaper noted that Biden has struggled to secure the financial backing offered to his predecessors, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

He has failed to raise money for a presidential library, has been passed over for major speaking engagements and has been allegedly forced to accept reduced fees for the few gigs he did land.

Biden does not travel on private jets and instead relies on first-class seats on American Airlines or Amtrak trains.

He pledged to pay off $800,000 in personal debt and said he wanted to help his daughter Ashley cover expenses following her recent divorce filing.

He recently signed a $10 million book deal. This is far below the $60 million paid to the Obamas after leaving office.

The Ivy League University of Pennsylvania reportedly rejected plans to host Biden’s presidential center after the discovery of classified documents he abandoned upon leaving the Obama administration.

Biden’s struggles stand in stark contrast to the millions his family raked in after he left the vice presidency in 2016, money that later became the focus of congressional investigations.

Trump Says the US Has Bombed Three Boats Near Venezuela

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Trump Says the US Has Bombed Three Boats Near Venezuela

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) President Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the US has “knocked off” a total of three boats in the Caribbean as the US military campaign near Venezuela continues.

The president previously announced the bombing of two boats near Venezuela that he claimed were carrying drugs, without providing evidence, and released footage of the strikes. “We knocked off actually three boats, not two, but you saw two,” Trump said.

He made the comments when asked what message he wanted to send to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “Stop sending Tren de Aragua into the United States, stop sending drugs into the United States,” he said.

The Trump administration has claimed that Maduro controls the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TDA), but that contradicts a declassified US intelligence assessment. “The Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States,” a memo from the Office of the Director of Intelligence, dated April 7, 2025, reads.

The Trump administration launched the campaign against Venezuela despite the country’s willingness to cooperate on prisoner swaps and deportations. Maduro said on Monday that communications with the US have been “thrown away,” though he said the two countries are still in contact to facilitate the return of Venezuelans from the US.

“The communications with the government of the U.S. have been thrown away, they have been thrown away by them with their threats of bombs, death, and blackmail,” Maduro said.

The Venezuelan leader also said that the US policy amounted to “aggression” against Venezuela. Other Venezuelan officials have suggested that the US may be trying to provoke a response from Venezuela to justify another military escalation. Media reports have said that the US is considering launching strikes against alleged cartel targets inside Venezuela, and Trump has not ruled out the possibility.

While Trump and other US officials claim the military action and pressure on Venezuela’s government is about drug trafficking and a response to overdose deaths in the US, fentanyl doesn’t come from or through Venezuela, and the majority of the cocaine that is transported to the US comes through the Pacific, not the Caribbean.

Democrats in Congress have slammed the US military campaign in Venezuela, with Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) calling the strikes “lawless killings” and warning that it could lead to a full-blown war. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has also been very critical of the military action, pointing to the fact that even the worst criminals get trials in the US.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com. 

Netanyahu Says Trump Invited Him To Visit the White House for the Fourth Time This Year

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Netanyahu Says Trump Invited Him To Visit the White House for the Fourth Time This Year

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that President Trump has invited him to visit the White House, which would mark the Israeli leader’s fourth visit to Washington this year as the Trump administration continues to strongly back Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and other military action across the region.

Netanyahu said the visit will take place on September 29, three days after he is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly in New York. His announcement came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrapped up a two-day visit to Israel.

President Trump was asked on Tuesday about Israel’s offensive on Gaza City, which is happening amid a famine in the city due to the Israeli siege. While the US is supporting the assault by providing military aid and political support, Trump claimed ignorance.

When asked if he supported the start of Israel’s ground offensive, Trump said, “Well, I have to see, I mean, I don’t know too much about it. I can tell you that if they put the hostages in front of them, Hamas, as protection, they call them bodyguards, Hamas is going to have hell to pay.”

A day earlier, Hamas rejected claims President Trump made about Hamas bringing the Israeli captives above ground, saying his comments show a “blatant bias in favor of Zionist propaganda.” 

Hamas also said that the US “knows that Netanyahu is sabotaging the chances of any agreement, most recently by attempting to assassinate the negotiating delegation in Qatar while they were discussing Trump’s final deal.”

Trump has claimed that he was not notified of Israel’s plans to bomb Qatar, but according to a report from Axios, Netanyahu informed him ahead of the strikes, and Trump did not express opposition. Rubio also offered no criticism of the attack during his visit to Israel.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com. 

 

Smotrich Calls Gaza a ‘Real Estate Bonanza,’ Says US and Israel Discussing Dividing the Land

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Smotrich Calls Gaza a ‘Real Estate Bonanza,’ Says US and Israel Discussing Dividing the Land

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday described Gaza as a “real estate bonanza” and said that the US and Israel are in talks about dividing the land, the Israeli news site Ynet has reported.

Smotrich referenced what he called a “business plan” that Ynet said was similar to a plan being circulated within the Trump administration. According to a recent report from The Washington Post, the plan involves removing the Palestinian population and placing Gaza under the control of a US-administered trusteeship for 10 years as it is turned into a tourist resort and advanced technology manufacturing hub. The plan is modeled on Trump’s calls for a US takeover of Gaza.

The Post report said the removal of Palestinians from Gaza could be “temporary,” but Smotrich, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and other Israeli officials have made clear that their vision for Gaza involves the ethnic cleansing, or permanent removal, of the Palestinian population.

“This plan was built by the most professional people there are,” Smotrich said on Wednesday, adding that it’s currently on President Trump’s desk. “We are checking how this becomes a real estate bonanza—I’m not joking—and pays for itself,” he said.

Smotrich said that he was personally involved in the negotiations with the US on dividing up the Palestinian territory. “I’ve begun negotiations with the Americans, and I’m saying this seriously, because we paid a lot of money for this war. We need to work out how we share percentages on the land. The demolition phase, the first stage of urban renewal, we’ve already done. Now we need to build,” he said.

Smotrich’s comments come as Israel is conducting a major offensive in Gaza City with the goal of forcibly displacing the entire civilian population to southern Gaza and razing every building in the city to the ground. Earlier this year, Smotrich said that Gaza’s civilian population will soon be “concentrated” in southern Gaza and forced to leave the territory.

“The Gazan citizens will be concentrated in the south. They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places,” Smotrich said in May.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com. 

 

Trump Administration Clears First Arms Packages for Ukraine Funded by NATO Allies

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Trump Administration Clears First Arms Packages for Ukraine Funded by NATO Allies

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) President Trump’s War Department has approved the first weapons packages that will be sent to Ukraine under a new NATO initiative that involves US allies funding the shipment of US weapons into the proxy war, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

So far, NATO allies have pledged about $2 billion to the initiative, known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL). Sources told Reuters that Elbridge Colby, the War Department’s policy chief, has approved as many as two $500 million weapons shipments for Ukraine under PURL.

The sources did not detail the types of weapons that will be sent to Ukraine under the PURL initiative, besides saying that it will include air defenses. The report said the weapons will be sent to Ukraine from US military stockpiles.

The Trump administration has continued to ship weapons packages to Ukraine that were previously approved by the Biden administration and has approved several weapons sales for Ukraine, including one that’s partially funded by US military aid and will arm Ukrainian forces with long-range cruise missiles.

News of the approval of the PURL shipments comes as a peace deal to end the Ukraine war seems increasingly unlikely despite the recent summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the two sides remain very far apart on the terms.

President Trump and his top officials also seem willing to continue supporting the war as long as the US’s NATO allies commit to more funding. Vice President JD Vance recently said that the US was “done” with funding the conflict, but said if the Europeans “want to step up and actually buy the weapons from American producers, we’re okay with that, but we’re not going to fund it ourselves anymore.”

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com. 

3 Police Officers Killed and 2 Injured in Rural Pennsylvania Shooting

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3 Police Officers Killed and 2 Injured in Rural Pennsylvania Shooting

(Headline USA) Three police officers were fatally shot and two wounded Wednesday in southern Pennsylvania, and the shooter was killed by police, authorities said.

The officers were at the scene, amid rolling farmland, to follow up on a domestic-related investigation that began the previous day.

It was one of the deadliest days for Pennsylvania police this century. In 2009 three Pittsburgh officers responding to a domestic disturbance were ambushed and shot to death by a man in a bulletproof vest.

Condolences began pouring in from police departments across the region on social media and people began leaving flowers at the headquarters of the Northern York Regional Police Department.

The shooting erupted in the area of North Codorus Township, about 115 miles west of Philadelphia, not far from the Maryland line, authorities said.

Dirk Anderson, a farmer who lives across a two-lane country road from the scene, said he was in his shop “when we heard shots,” which he described as “quite a few.” He saw a helicopter arrive and a large police vehicle response.

The two injured officers were in critical but stable condition at York Hospital, authorities said.

Authorities did not identify the shooter, the officers or which police department they belonged to, or describe the circumstances of how they were shot, citing the ongoing investigation.

The emergency response unfolded on a rural road in south-central Pennsylvania. Officers were keeping people well back from the scene, with some 30 police vehicles blocking off roads bordered by a barn, a goat farm and soybean and corn fields.

Another officer in the area was killed in February, when a man armed with a pistol and zip ties entered a hospital’s intensive care unit and took staff members hostage before a shootout that left both the suspect and an officer dead.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

 

Brothers Testify about Box Left w/ Them by Alleged Would-be Trump Assassin

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Brothers Testify about Box Left w/ Them by Alleged Would-be Trump Assassin

(Headline USA) A pair of migrants living in North Carolina testified Wednesday about a box left with them by a man accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course last year.

Samuel and Lazaro Plata described in Spanish through translators how Ryan Routh left the container filled with pipes, bullets, wires and other items at Lazaro Plata’s home in Greensboro, North Carolina, in April 2024 — about five months before the alleged attempt.

Both men have known Routh for about 30 years and had previously worked at his roofing business. They contacted authorities last September after seeing news of Routh’s arrest.

Wednesday was the fifth day of testimony in the trial of Ryan Routh, who prosecutors said spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club.

Routh has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and several firearm violations.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had initially blocked off more than three weeks for trial at the Fort Pierce federal courthouse. But prosecutors have said they should be able to rest their case by Thursday or Friday, and Routh’s witnesses have been subpoenaed to appear by Friday.

Both brothers testified that they never opened the box until after Routh’s arrest. Lazaro Plata testified that he didn’t have any reason to think there was anything suspicious about Routh leaving the container.

An FBI agent testified that he found a 12-page letter in the box addressed to “Dear World.” Prosecutors only wanted the first few lines included as evidence.

“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you,” the handwritten letter said. “I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job.”

Routh had asked that the entire letter be allowed into evidence, arguing that the first few lines lacked context. He was specifically interested in a line that referred to shredding Trump’s plane. Routh said the letter doesn’t say anything about a golf course, the location of the alleged attack.

Cannon sided with prosecutors, saying the rest of the letter was irrelevant or hearsay.

Routh has indicated he plans to call a firearms expert, as well as two character witnesses. He hasn’t said whether he plans to testify himself. He tried to use the Plata brothers as de facto character witnesses during cross examination, asking questions like, “Did I teach your whole family how to roof and do construction?” and “Have I ever got into a physical fight?”

The judge gave Routh some leeway but eventually brought the questions to an end.

Also Wednesday, Ronnie Jay Oxendine testified that he sold Routh the SKS rifle used in the alleged assassination attempt, according to local news outlets. Oxendine was convicted of a weapons charge in July and was testifying against Routh as part of his plea agreement.

Recounting the incident at the Trump International Golf Club, a Secret Service agent testified last week that he spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot.

Law enforcement obtained help from a witness who testified that he saw a person fleeing the area after hearing gunshots. The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a nearby interstate where Routh was arrested, and the witnesses said he confirmed it was the person he had seen.

Just nine weeks earlier, Trump had survived an attempt on his life while campaigning in Pennsylvania. That gunman had fired eight shots, with one bullet grazing Trump’s ear. The gunman was then fatally shot by a Secret Service counter sniper.

ABC Suspends Jimmy Kimmel’s Show Indefinitely over Remarks about Charlie Kirk

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ABC Suspends Jimmy Kimmel’s Show Indefinitely over Remarks about Charlie Kirk

(Headline USA) ABC has suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show indefinitely after comments that he made about Charlie Kirk’s killing led a group of ABC-affiliated stations to say it would not air the show

Kimmel, the veteran late-night comic, made several comments about the reaction to Kirk’s assassination on his show Monday and Tuesday nights. He said that “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.”

ABC, which has aired Kimmel’s late-night show since 2003, moved swiftly after Nextstar Communications Group said it would pull the show starting Wednesday. Kimmel’s comments about Kirk’s death “are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse,” said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division. Nexstar operates 23 ABC affiliates.

There was no immediate comment from Kimmel.

On Twitter Wednesday night, White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich posted: “Welcome to Consequence Culture. Normal, common sense Americans are no longer taking the b———- and companies like ABC are finally willing to do the right and reasonable thing.”

In his monologue on Monday, Kimmel said that “we hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

Kimmel said that Trump’s response to Kirk’s death “is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?” He also said that FBI chief Kash Patel has handled the investigation into the murder “like a kid who didn’t read the book, BS’ing his way through an oral report.

He returned to the topic on Tuesday night, mocking Vice President JD Vance’s performance as guest host for Kirk’s podcast.

He said Trump was “fanning the flames” by attacking people on the left. “Which is it, are they a bunch of sissy pickleball players because they’re too scared to be hit by tennis balls, or a well-organized deadly team of commandos, because they can’t be both of those things.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

 

WATCH: Legislation to Designate Antifa a Terror Organization to See House Action

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WATCH: Legislation to Designate Antifa a Terror Organization to See House Action

(Sarah-Roderick Fitch, The Center Square) Less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump told The Center Square that he “100%” supports designating Antifa as a domestic terror organization, the U.S. House is expediting legislation to designate the group.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., introduced legislation to designate the left-wing group as a terror organization on Jan. 9, where it was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary, not moving since.

“I just received word from the Speaker that he is fully supporting my bill to designate ANTIFA as a terrorist organization, and it will be placed in the State Department reauthorization bill that will be going through committee this week,” Luna posted on X Tuesday afternoon.

The legislation cites multiple instances of violence, perpetrated across the country, allegedly committed or instigated by the group, resulting in billions of dollars in damage and the assault of several law enforcement officers.

The bill cites several incidents accusing the group of orchestrating acts of violence over the past decade, including damages during riots in the summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd, as well as an attack on a proposed police training facility in Georgia.

“Over the summer of 2020, Antifa assisted in inflicting over $2,000,000,000 in damages against churches, Federal buildings, businesses, and other downtown structures across 20 States, resulting in the death of at least 30 individuals as well as 700 injured police officers,” according to the text of the legislation. “[In] March 2023, Antifa-affiliated rioters set fire to the future Atlanta police training facility by launching fireworks, Molotov cocktails, and other destructive items at police officers and into the facility’s construction site resulting in arrests of 23 extremists on charges of domestic terrorism.”

The bill added that in May 2020, the Department of Justice “formally labeled Antifa violence as domestic terrorism.”

‘‘The violence instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly,” according to a DOJ statement.

After the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the president and his administration have been vocal about cracking down on a growing trend of left-wing violence. The Center Square asked the president if he would formally designate the group a domestic terror organization Monday evening, responding, “I would do that 100% and others also, by the way, but Antifa, is terrible.”

The president didn’t stop with Antifa; he said he’d consider designating other groups, but wouldn’t indicate others by name. He said he’s talked with Attorney General Pam Bondi about bringing federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) charges against some of these organizations and their donors.

“There are other groups, yeah, there are other groups. We have some pretty radical groups, and they got away with murder. And also, I’ve been speaking to the Attorney General about bringing RICO against some of the people that you’ve been reading about that have been putting up millions and millions of dollars for agitation,” Trump said. “These are protests. These are crimes. What they’re doing, where they’re throwing bricks at cars of the of ICE and border patrol.”

McMahon Reaffirms Commitment to Shut Down Education Department

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McMahon Reaffirms Commitment to Shut Down Education Department

(Andrew Rice, The Center Square) After spending $3 trillion since its inception in 1979, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon on Wednesday reaffirmed the Trump administration’s commitment to close the Department of Education by the end of 2029.

McMahon spoke at the Defense of Freedom Institute and Federalist Society’s Education Law and Policy Conference about the Education Department’s efforts to withdraw federal funds from schools, expand trade and apprenticeship programs, and move its functions elsewhere to other agencies.

“I have changed now how we are talking about closing the department really to returning education to the states, and in order to do that I think we have to continue to uphold the law,” McMahon said.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March giving McMahon authority to dismantle operations within the Department of Education.

McMahon said some operations in the Education Department have shifted to the Departments of Justice and Labor. Over the past several months, the Education Department has shifted responsibilities and some personnel to the Department of Labor to administer Pell grants and the Perkins Act.

“It’s much better to have them in the Department of Labor, where, you know, we can combine all of these workforce efforts,” McMahon said. “What we’re trying to do is to show how we can move different parts of the Department of Education to show that they can be more efficiently operating in other agencies.”

McMahon noted that the shifting department responsibilities cannot be fully implemented without approval from Congress.

“We can do this aspect of what we’re doing and build and show how it is best served with this department, how the allocated funds will run better and have one source managing all of labor,” McMahon said.

While the Education Department’s shifting awaits approval from Congress, McMahon said she has shifted focus to investigating and withholding federal funds from school systems and universities across the country for violations of civil rights laws.

“They have to be worthy to receive the funds they are receiving from the United States government,” McMahon said.

McMahon mentioned the Trump administration’s threat to withdraw more than $2 billion in federal funds against Harvard University and pointed to how the school changed some of its policies throughout the ongoing legal fight.

“Without even admitting any guilt in any way, they have started to change their policies, and that’s the ultimate goal of our investigation,” McMahon said.

McMahon also specifically referred to schools promoting transgender policies and race-based scholarships and admissions policies as targets for withholding billions of dollars of federal funds.

“Your admissions policy has to be based on merit and not on race,” McMahon said.

She referred to incidents where a northern Virginia county school system allowed transgender individuals to access locker rooms aligned with their perceived gender identity.

“Men are men and women are women, and I think the President’s executive order was very clear about that, and so that is the rule that we are holding as part of the Department of Education,” McMahon said.

McMahon said instilling patriotic values in education and decentralizing the government’s role will improve outcomes for students.

“We’ve taken more power away from the states with worse outcomes,” McMahon said, referring to recent test score reports. Education “will be better served at the state level without the bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.”

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