News
Compiled by Michael Hernandez, 10-11-24
There are so many stories making up the mosaic of national/international news that we can’t cover them all every week. The biggest stories now seem to be: election, Trump lawfare, immigration, wars, massive orchestrated ‘Palestine’ protests/riots, weaponization of government, our nation going bankrupt, massive inflation, phony climate change controversy and related expenses of government/industry attempting to address these issues, and the Chinese threat. So here are just a few:
Oct. 6: The New York Post By Associated Press
Tennessee Nurse And His Dog Died Trying To Save A Man From Hurricane Helene: ‘My Guardian Angel’
As the Hurricane Helene-driven waters rose around the Nolichucky River in Tennessee, Boone McCrary, his girlfriend and his chocolate lab headed out on his fishing boat to search for a man who was stranded by floodwaters that had leveled his home. But the thick debris in the water jammed the boat’s motor, and without power, it slammed into a bridge support and capsized.
McCrary and his dog Moss never made it out of the water alive. Search teams found McCrary’s boat and his dog’s body two days later, but it took four days to find McCrary, an emergency room nurse whose passion was being on his boat in that river. His girlfriend, Santana Ray, held onto a branch for hours before rescuers reached her.
David Boutin, the man McCrary had set out to rescue, was distraught when he later learned McCrary had died trying to save him. “I’ve never had anyone risk their life for me,” Boutin told The Associated Press. “From what I hear that was the way he always been. He’s my guardian angel, that’s for sure.”
The 46-year-old recalled how the force of the water swept him out his front door and ripped his dog Buddy — “My best friend, all I have” — from his arms. Boutin was rescued by another team after clinging to tree branches in the raging river for six hours. Buddy is still missing, and Boutin knows he couldn’t have survived.
McCrary was one of at least 230 people killed by Hurricane Helene’s raging waters and falling trees across six states — Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia — and was among a group of first responders who perished while trying to save others. The hurricane caused significant damage in nearby Unicol County, where flooding swept away 11 workers at a plastics factory and forced a rescue mission at an Erwin, Tennessee hospital.
McCrary, an avid hunter and fisherman, spent his time cruising the waterways that snake around Greeneville, Tennessee. When the hurricane hit, the 32-year-old asked friends on Facebook if anyone needed help, said his sister, Laura Harville. That was how he learned about Boutin.
McCrary, his girlfriend and Moss the dog launched into a flooded neighborhood at about 7 p.m. on Sept. 27 and approached Boutin’s location, but the debris-littered floodwaters clogged the boat’s jet motor. Despite pushing and pulling the throttle, McCrary couldn’t clear the junk and slammed into the bridge about two hours into the rescue attempt. “I got the first phone call at 8:56 p.m. and I was a nervous wreck,” Harville said. She headed to the bridge and started walking the banks.
Harville organized hundreds of volunteers who used drones, thermal cameras, binoculars and hunting dogs to scour the muddy banks, fending off copperhead snakes, trudging through knee-high muck and fighting through tangled branches. Harville collected items that carried McCrary’s scent — a pillowcase, sock and insoles from his nursing shoes — and stuffed them into mason jars for the canines to sniff.
On Sunday, a drone operator spotted the boat. They found Moss dead nearby, but there was no sign of McCrary. Searchers had no luck on Monday, “but on Tuesday they noticed vultures flying,” Harville said. That was how they found McCrary’s body, about 21 river miles (33 kilometers) from the bridge where the boat capsized, she said.
The force of the floodwaters carried McCrary under two other bridges, under the highway and over the Nolichucky Dam, she said. The Tennessee Valley Authority said about 1.3 million gallons (4.9 million liters) of water per second was flowing over the dam on the night McCrary was swept away, more than double the flow rate of the dam’s last regulated release nearly a half-century ago.
Boutin, 46, isn’t sure where he will go next. He is staying with his son for a few days and then hopes to get a hotel voucher. He didn’t learn about McCrary’s fate until the day after he was rescued. “When the news hit, I didn’t know how to take it,” Boutin told the AP. “I wish I could thank him for giving his life for me.”
Dozens of McCrary’s coworkers at Greenville Community Hospital have posted tributes to him, recalling his kindness and compassion and desire to help others. He “was adamant about living life to the fullest and making sure along the way that you didn’t forget your fellow man or woman and that you helped each other,” Harville said.
Oct 8: Fox News By Alec Schemmel
Biden Undermines Harris Claim that Ron DeSantis Is Politicizing Hurricane Response: ‘Doing A Great Job”
President Joe Biden praised GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for being “cooperative” and doing a “great job” in his response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, despite Vice President Kamala Harris slamming DeSantis for “playing political games” instead of doing his job in response to the storms.
NBC News reported Monday that DeSantis was denying phone calls from Harris’ team. “People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games with this moment, in these crisis situations, these are the height of emergency situations, it’s just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish,” Harris told reporters Monday.
“The governor of Florida has been cooperative. He said he’s gotten all that he needs. I talked to him again yesterday, and I said – no – you’re doing a great job, it’s all being done well and we thank you for it,” Biden said at a press conference from the White House Tuesday. “There was a rough start in some places, but every governor, every governor – from Florida to North Carolina – has been fully cooperative and supportive.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, President Joe Biden’s opinion about the GOP Florida governor’s response to Hurricane Helene and his preparation for Milton, diverged substantially from that of his vice president’s.
Oct 9: The Hill By Ashleigh Fields
Trump Florida Resort Hosts Linemen Before Hurricane Milton Response
The Trump Organization extended an invitation to more than 200 power linemen to stay at their golf resort in Miami Wednesday, as Florida’s Gulf Coast prepares for Hurricane Milton to make landfall this week. Eric Trump, vice president of the organization, shared the news in a post on social platform X.
“Honored to have 275 incredible linemen from FPL at @TrumpDoral as they get ready to respond to the aftermath of Hurricane #Milton!” Trump, the son of former President Trump, posted online, sharing a video of men in yellow vests as their names were called for room assignments.
Oct. 10: Gateway Pundit By Christina Laila
Border Patrol Whistleblower In O’Keefe’s “Line In The Sand” Film Receives Memo From US CBP Demanding Answers
Zachary Apotheker, the Border Patrol whistleblower who appeared in James O’Keefe’s film titled, “Line In The Sand” received a memo from US Customs and Border Protection demanding answers about his involvement in the documentary.
“Undercover journalist James O’Keefe goes to the front lines of the migrant industrial complex using hidden cameras and raw testimonials. O’Keefe reveals the shocking reality of the U.S. border crisis like never before: Mexican freight trains, cartel tunnels, and U.S. funded child detention camps. Watch this gripping exposé of a corrupted system that demands change,” the film’s description reads.
The memo reads: “You are hereby instructed to provide a detailed memorandum responding to the questions below no later than the end of your shift on October 9, 2024. You will be provided time during your shift to complete your memorandum.”
Zachary Apotheker appeared in O’Keefe’s film because he just couldn’t sit back silently as children are trafficked, raped and abused. Zachary Apotheker responded with fire. “The only compensation I received and benefited from was a free, clean, and clear conscience because I told the truth to the American Public and fulfilled my duty to the Constitution,” Apotheker said. “There are over 300,000 missing children that the Department of Homeland Security has admittedly not been able to keep track of,” he said. “I received all the necessary approval I needed from the United States Constitution,” he added.
Oct 10: Breitbart By Joel Pollak
‘Dark Money’ Group Threatens Future Trump Lawyers With Disbarment
Project 65, a “dark money” left-wing group that has targeted lawyers that represented former President Donald Trump in 2020, is now warning potential Trump attorneys that they could be disbarred for working for him.
In an ad posted on Instagram, and apparently targeted at lawyers, Project 65 warns: “Don’t let partisan politics endanger your standing with the bar. The Porter Wright Partners face ethics complaints over Trump campaign post-election work. Don’t risk your law license by joining an effort to subvert democracy. We and the public are watching.
Porter Wright is a firm that represented Trump in Pennsylvania in 2020. Its lawyers withdrew from representing Trump mere days after the November election after coming under intense pressure.
As Breitbart News reported in 2022, Project 65 was launched with help from David Brock, the Hillary Clinton ally behind such groups as Media Matters. It does not disclose its donors, but has “ties to Democratic Party heavyweights,” Axios reported. As Breitbart News later reported, Project 65’s “ongoing efforts to prosecute, disbar, and smear attorneys who served as election lawyers for President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign could leave Republicans short of legal talent for the election fight in November 2024.” Some 100 attorneys have reportedly been targeted. Now, Project 65 is threatening attorneys who simply might be considering working for Trump, suggesting in the ad that merely representing him could “endanger” their “standing with the bar.”
The American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct declare: “A lawyer should use the law’s procedures only for legitimate purposes and not to harass or intimidate others.” The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right “to have the Assistance of Counsel” in criminal proceedings, of which Trump faces several.
Oct. 11: NTD By Steven Kovac (Taken From The Epoch Times)
47 US Elections Ended In Ties Or Were Decided By A Single Vote ln 2024
One vote can make a difference. That was the takeaway from a nationwide survey by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) that found 29 elections ended in ties and another 18 were decided by a single vote thus far in 2024.
“If people ever think their votes don’t matter, I hope they remember these tied elections,” said PILF President J. Christian Adams in an Oct. 9 press release. “Every single vote matters. Just one vote could determine who wins power. Everyone eligible should register and vote this November.”
This year, ties or single-vote victory margins occurred in 24 states, with the nation experiencing more instances than in 2023, according to the survey. The closeness of these elections illustrates “every vote and every mistake matter,” PILF said in a statement.
Since 2022, when PILF began tracking close elections across America, it has discovered 635 tied elections and 173 that were decided by a single vote. PILF researchers stated that those numbers do not represent all the incidents out there, and they do not include the thousands of close elections decided by two votes or more.
Lauren Bowman Bis, PILF’s director of communications, told The Epoch Times there was even more cause for concern given the possibility of noncitizens voting in American elections. “An illegally cast vote by an alien could have determined the outcomes of these tied and close elections,” she said. “These elections are proof that every vote matters. We should not let illegally cast votes by aliens determine our elections.”
Examples From PILF’s 2024 Findings
This year, the primary in California’s 16th Congressional District ended in a tie, with each candidate receiving exactly 30,249 votes for the second-place position in a three-person race. The tie was resolved by a recount which gave one of the candidates for second-place the victory by five votes. California runs a “jungle” primary in which the top two finishers, regardless of party, advance to run against each other in the general election.
According to its website, PILF is “the nation’s only public interest law firm dedicated wholly to election integrity.” Its mission is “to assist states and others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in American elections.”
Michael Hernandez, from California is co-founder of the Citizens Journal—Ventura County’s online news service. He is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor. Mr. Hernandez can be contacted at [email protected]and is editor of the weekly “Stories Speak Volumes,” “Nov. 5 Election Day Countdown” and “Revive America: Make America Great Again.”
