NEWS - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2024 - NEWS
Donald Trump's criminal trial enters its second day in New York as he faces 34 felony charges. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments over whether to throw out a charge filed against Trump and hundreds of defendants from the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. CBS
VOA VIEW: They should.
A whopping 10,000 athletes will cary the torch 3,100 miles over 68 days. CBS
Maine is the newest frontier for the illicit marijuana trade, with potentially hundreds of suspected unlicensed grow houses operating in the state. CBS
VOA VIEW: China is trying to pollute the minds of Americans.

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Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, signed a bill into law last year that prohibits gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender minors. CBS
VOA VIEW: Good!
Protests cropped up in multiple cities across the U.S. on Monday demanding President Biden do more to broker a cease-fire in Gaza. Meanwhile, Mr. Biden is also urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be cautious about any response to Iran's recent attack on Israel. CBS
VOA VIEW: All fools.
Yellen's comments come as Israel's war cabinet is weighing how to respond to the attack in retaliation for an Israeli strike on an Iranian consulate in Syria. CNBC
VOA VIEW: The Biden Adm does not have a clue.
Several airlines have suspended flights to Israel while some are swerving flightpaths over the Middle East. CNBC
VOA VIEW: Caution should be taken.
President Biden initially proposed a foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and U.S. border security in October. CNBC
VOA VIEW: Biden can't be trusted.
The United States Navy is expecting to fall short of its recruitment goals, failing to keep up with success from the U.S. Army and Air Force reported this recruiting year. FOX News
VOA VIEW: Sad!

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A couple who owned a Colorado funeral home faces fraud charges among other things, after allegedly spending over $880,000 in COVID relief funds on vacations and luxury items FOX News
VOA VIEW: Dumb!
Chaos broke out at an IRS office in Houston after taxpayers got into a brawl and people rushed into the building. The office was forced to close early. FOX News
A Houston man "fully equipped to deceive" was arrested for impersonating a police officer after he attempted to pull over real deputies during a racing event over the weekend. FOX News
VOA VIEW: Stupidity!
Multiple school districts have investigated the circulation of AI-generated nude photos of students online and in text messages. FOX News
VOA VIEW: Madness!

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President Joe Biden's re-election campaign will pick up steam this week as he makes a three-day swing through the battleground state of Pennsylvania, including his hometown of Scranton. UPI
VOA VIEW: Biden is desperate and so are his lies.
As Americans rushed to get their taxes filed Monday, the White House released the 2023 tax returns of President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, who made a combined income of nearly $620,000 last year. UPI
VOA VIEW: More than presidents pay.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Monday said the federal agency had seized over $5 million worth of cocaine in Puerto Rico. UPI

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A federal judge on Monday tossed out a motion by former Trump campaign official Rudy Giuliani seeking to have a $148 million defamation judgment against him dismissed. UPI
President Joe Biden met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani at the White House on Monday to discuss the future of 2,500 U.S. troops stationed there amid renewed ISIS threats and tensions in the Middle East. UPI
Supreme Court conservatives questioned whether the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act can be used to prosecute those who attacked the U.S. Capitol in 2021. LA Times
VOA VIEW: Makes sense.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., released a statement on Tuesday calling on the Senate to reject a potential motion to dismiss articles of impeachment against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. Newsmax
VOA VIEW: It was a foolish thought.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., dismissed the gathering threat within the GOP on Tuesday to oust him from his House leadership role. "I am not resigning and it is in my view an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion," Johnson said, according to ABC News. Newsmax
VOA VIEW: Foolish thought.

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The U.S. Government Accountability Office, a non-partisan agency that reports to Congress, said in a release Tuesday that the federal government could lose $233 billion to $521 billion annually due to fraud. Newsmax
VOA VIEW: Thanks to Biden.
The Chinese Communist Party is helping to fund the U.S. fentanyl crisis through tax rebates and other financial incentives that subsidize companies that make and export materials used to make the drug, according to a House panel report released Tuesday. Newsmax
VOA VIEW: The CCP is trying to do anything possible to hurt the US.
As his airplane was moments from hitting the ground, a pilot unbuckled his seatbelt and flew out of the aircraft, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report of a fatal crash in Pennsylvania in October 2022. Newsmax

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Attorney General Merrick Garland repeatedly defended President Biden’s cognitive fitness for office Tuesday, telling Congress the commander in chief “has no impairment” — despite special counsel Robert Hur citing Biden’s foggy memory as a reason not to prosecute him for mishandling classified records. New York Post
VOA VIEW: Garland if a Biden lapdog.
“Real Time” host Bill Maher took a swipe at his corporate colleagues at CNN for the network’s non-stop bashing of former President Trump, suggesting it has gotten “boring” even for a Trump hater like himself. New York Post
VOA VIEW: Dems are going too far.
Melania Trump has long referred to the hush-money case involving Stormy Daniels as her husband’s problem, not hers. But she has privately called the trial a “disgrace” that could threaten his campaign. New York Times
The justices’ questions considered the gravity of the assault and whether prosecutors have been stretching the law to reach members of the mob responsible for the attack. New York Times

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COMMENTARY OF THE DAY
By
Robert Namer
Voice Of America
©2018 All rights reserved
April 20, 2024

     DHS is one of the biggest spreader of misinformation.  The Department of Homeland Security has claimed in internally circulated memos that it has regulatory or statutory authority to seek out and ask social media companies to censor accounts and individuals it has deemed are spreading misinformation. 


     The memos, dated as early as February 2022, include pages titled “DHS Authorities in the MDM Space,” shorthand for misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation. But the pages are completely blank, redacted by DHS, which relied on exemptions under a Freedom of Information Act request by the libertarian Americans for Prosperity Foundation.

     The documents refer to a “Ukraine playbook.” The memos ostensibly were generated prior to last year’s launch of the DHS’ Disinformation Governance Board, which was disbanded only weeks after its revelation due to publicity of the office. However, the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana subsequently filed suit against the Biden administration, winning a July 4 court order prohibiting it from further contact with social media companies. The order by U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty claimed the DHS “seems to have assumed a role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth.’

    The Supreme Court stayed the order until Friday, when it was expected to rule further. AFPF’s Director of Investigations Kevin Schmidt said that while the Disinformatio n Governance Board may have been disbanded, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified to the Senate Homeland Security in May 2022 that the office was supposed to have developed “guidelines” and “guardrails” so as to “not infringe on people’s free speech rights.”  Since the board has been disbanded, and the DHS has responded to the FOIA request with redacted critical information, it is unclear what those guidelines and guardrails are or under what authority the DHS is operating.