Trump reported getting ready to take over 2026 elections
Donald Trump is reported to have reviewed a draft Executive Order which when issued would allow him to take over control of this year’s mid-term elections. Sources indicate that Trump would be able to throw out certain votes in order to change the outcome of elections if he did not like the way the legitimate results picked a winner. The draft Executive Order is reported to have been prepared by a group of pro-Trump lawyers who worked with Trump supporters including former Trump White House aide Michael Flynn and the MyPillow guy Mike Lindell. The Executive Order supposedly claims that China has interfered with the election and it declares a national emergency.
Bill Clinton’s deposition
Former President Bill Clinton was undergoing questioning in a deposition in Chappaqua today about his past relationship with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Documents show Clinton rode on Epstein’s private plane 16 times, though he has maintained that his interactions with Epstein took place before the financier’s crimes were exposed. On Thursday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton concluded hours of defiant testimony before the House Oversight Committee, repeatedly saying she had no ties to Epstein or his criminal conduct. She also blasted GOP lawmakers for fixating on her instead of questioning President Donald Trump and others named in the Epstein files. Neither of the Clintons nor Trump has been accused by law enforcement of any criminal wrongdoing related to Epstein.
Calls for investigation into death of refugee
The death of a nearly blind refugee in Buffalo, New York, has raised questions about how federal immigration agents handled his release from their custody and what happened in the five days he was missing before his body was found. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has defended the agents’ actions, but local and state leaders are calling for investigations. Nurul Amin Shah Alam, 56, who spoke little English and was nearly blind, was released from the Erie County Holding Center on Feb. 19. Border Patrol agents say they briefly took custody of him before determining he shouldn’t be deported and, later that night, dropped him at a closed coffee house alone in near freezing temperatures. His body was found on Feb. 24, about four miles away.
U.S. military shoots down U.S. drone
The U.S. military used an anti-drone laser system to shoot down a unmanned aircraft operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Texas, according to congressional representatives. The incident comes just weeks after use of a laser system near El Paso led to confusion and exposed communication lapses among several U.S. agencies. “Our heads are exploding over the news that DoD reportedly shot down a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) drone using a high risk counter-unmanned aircraft system,” three Democrats on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure said in a statement. The Department of Defense (DOD), CBP and the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed in a joint statement to CNN on Friday that an “engagement occurred.” As a result of the incident, the FAA implemented a temporary flight restriction starting Thursday evening above the town of Fort Hancock, Texas, to “ensure safety.”
Wholesale inflation goes up more than expected
Wholesale inflation heated up more than expected in January, new data showed Friday. The Producer Price Index, which measures the average change in prices seen by producers and manufacturers, rose 0.5% last month, a pickup from December’s 0.4% rate, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Gas and food prices tumbled during the month; however, those decreases were countered by a sharp increase in “trade services,” a category that measures profit margins for wholesalers and retailers. Trade services leapt 2.5% in January, a potential indication that costs could be passed along to other businesses and consumers. When excluding food and energy, the core PPI gauge (which provides a measure of the underlying inflation trend) picked up sharply. Prices rose 0.8% versus 0.6% in December to bring the annual rate to 3.6%, the highest in 10 months.
Paramount emerges as buyer of Warner Bros. Discovery
Paramount emerged as the victor in the months-long battle to buy Warner Bros. Discovery after Netflix backed out of the bidding war Thursday, leaving Paramount poised to acquire Warner’s vast media empire that includes the news network CNN. Netflix said it has “declined to raise its offer for Warner Bros.” after the Warner Bros. Discovery board determined that Paramount has submitted a “superior” offer for the media giant. Trump supporter Larry Ellison’s son David Ellison is CEO of Paramount. Some of Trump’s critics fear that CNN would be turned into a right-leaning news operation akin to Fox News and they point to changes made by Ellison at CBS News after taking over that network.
