Study: Risk of Suicide Increases 12x After 'Gender-Affirming' Surgery (2024)

A study published last month shows that those who underwent gender surgery had a suicide risk 12 times higher than those who did not, adding more data showing the dangers of the life-altering procedures.

Thestudyutilized patient data from 56 health care organizations in the U.S. and over 90 million patients. Four different groups of patients were looked at in the study, including 1,501 people aged 18-60 who had “gender-affirming surgery” and an emergency visit (cohort A) and 15,608,363 adults who visited the emergency room but had no “gender-affirming surgery” (cohort B). The third group (cohort C) included 142,093 “adults with emergency visits, tubal ligation or vasectomy, but no gender-affirming surgery,” while a fourth group of patients with pharyngitis (cohort D) was studied “to validate the results from cohort C.”

“Data from February 4, 2003, to February 4, 2023, were analyzed to examine suicide attempts, death, self-harm, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within five years of the index event,” the study said, adding that its results found that “Individuals who underwent gender-affirming surgery had a 12.12-fold higher suicide attempt risk than those who did not.”

The study concluded, “Gender-affirming surgery is significantly associated with elevated suicide attempt risks, underlining the necessity for comprehensive post-procedure psychiatric support.”

The study’s findings fly in the face of the argument from those espousing radical gender theory, including the Biden administration, whoclaimthat “gender-affirming care” prevents suicide attempts among those who identify as transgender.

DailyWire+ host Dr. Jordan B. Peterson blasted both President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau following the release of the study’s results as both countries have yet to take any action to curb the dangerous effects of gender procedures, especially on children.

“12x the suicide rate post ‘gender affirming’ surgery. The butchers and liars were murderously wrong,” Peterson wrote on X. “The Cass report indicated this. Canada and the US are still enabling this. That’s you @POTUS and @JustinTrudeau and it is utterly barbarous and inexcusable. Putting children to the knife. ‘Follow the science,’ gentlemen.”

12x the suicide rate post "gender affirming" surgery

The butchers and liars were murderously wrong

The Cass report indicated this
Canada and the US are still enabling this

That's you @POTUS and @JustinTrudeau and it is utterly barbarous and inexcusable

Putting children to the…

— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) May 16, 2024

The most recent study showing the disturbing increase in suicide risk among those who undergo gender surgery isn’t alone. Dr. Hilary Cass released a long-awaited British report last month that criticized gender procedures for children. Last year, a landmark study in Denmark found that trans-identifying people had a suicide death rate 3.5 times higher and a suicide attempt rate 7.7 times higher than people who did not identify as transgender.

Following more data showing the risk of gender surgeries, puberty blockers, and hormonal treatments on children multiple European countries began dialing back their policies that approved the life-altering procedures for minors. Numerous Republican-led states have also outlawed gender procedures for children, but no action has been taken at the federal level to stop the dangerous procedures.

Related Topics:news

Advertisem*nt

At least five people were killed and dozens others hurt when part of a stage collapsed during a campaign rally in Mexico attended by a long-shot presidential candidate who escaped injury, according to officials.

Terrifying video shows a strong gust of wind forcing the top of the stage to crumple while at least seven people stood on stage for the Citizens Movement party event in the city of San Pedro Garza Garcia in the state of Nuevo Leon.

The party’s presidential nominee Jorge Álvarez Máynez was seen smiling and waving his hands as the crowd chanted his name before looking up to see the beams shake loose.

He and several others sprinted for safety toward the back of the stage, while some were spotted cowering in place.

At least five people died, officials said. An estimated 50 people were injured, including some who were trapped.

Álvarez Máynez said on social media that he was “fine” after being taken to a local hospital, but that members of his team were injured in the accident.

Se desploma el templete en evento de campaña de Lorenia Canavati, candidata a la alcaldía de San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, donde se encontraba Jorge Álvarez Máynez.
Más allá del accidente, esperando no existan heridos, esta es la imagen real de la política, cuando hay… pic.twitter.com/o1NeZxVYBG

— Cesar Gutiérrez Priego M.R. (@cesargutipri) May 23, 2024

He also noted that there were “victims,” but did not say how many were injured, adding that a “gust of wind” was to blame for the tragedy.

Álvarez Máynez was one of the main headliners for the campaign event along with Mayor of San Pedro Lorenia Canavati.

“San Pedro Garza García”:
Porque se desplomó el escenario donde se llevaba a cabo el evento de campaña de Lorenia Canavati, candidata a la alcaldía de San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, donde se encontraba Jorge Álvarez Máynez. pic.twitter.com/czzAP0ZmdV

— ¿Por qué es Tendencia? (@porktendencia) May 23, 2024

Escenario cae en cierre de campaña de Lorenia Canavati en Nuevo León.

El escenario del cierre de campaña de Lorenia Canavati y Jorge Álvarez Máynez en San Pedro, Nuevo León, se desplomó por fuertes vientos.

La estructura cayó sobre los asistentes, causando caos. Se sabe que… pic.twitter.com/GbmPjlZc5Z

— Sopitas (@sopitas) May 23, 2024

Canavati shared an image of the giant stage in the hours before the rally, which showed that the roof of the structure was held by eight beams.

“Waiting for you starting at 6pm here at the El Bishop Baseball Field to celebrate together that soon San Pedro will be better,” she wrote in the photo caption.

Samuel Garcia, the governor of the northern border state of Nuevo Leon and a leading member of Álvarez Máynez’s Citizens Movement party, said in a taped statement that “unfortunately, there are (people) injured.”

Garcia said the “strong winds blew down a stage at a campaign closer.” Such events are being held this week and next in anticipation of the June 2 presidential, state and municipal elections.

Álvarez Máynez has been running third in polls in the presidential race, trailing both front-runner Claudia Sheinbaum of the ruling Morena Party, and opposition coalition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez.

Go deeper ( 2 min. read ) ➝

The 15-year-old girl accused of viciously beating classmate Kaylee Gain into a coma will not be charged as an adult, a St. Louis judge ruled on Wednesday.

The case will remain in juvenile court after the judge reviewed the unnamed suspect’s school history and met with the girl and her family several times since the brutal March fight outside Hazelwood East High School.

Gain, 16, was left severely injured in a fight on March 8.

Disturbing video showed her attacker get on top of the teen and repeatedly bash her head into the pavement.

She awoke from a coma several days later, but still has a long road to recovery, her family has said.

The teen’s defense attorney, Greg Smith, said in court Wednesday that Gain was previously suspended from school for a fight and struck the 15-year-old first.

Gain’s parents were present in the courtroom.

Smith argued that his client had a stable home life, performed well in school and had behaved well while locked up in a juvenile detention center.

Gain is back home after spending months in the hospital after the brawl.

She’s doing well but still suffers from short term memory loss, attends speech and physical therapy several days per week and will have surgery to reattach a piece of her skull.

She still deals with “trauma, fear and pain that have arisen from this incident,” Gain’s family attorney Bryan Kaemmerer said in an update on her condition earlier this month.

Karmmerer said that the Gain’s family would “respect” the judge’s decision regarding trying the 15-year-old as a juvenile or adult.

The suspect’s family claimed that the juvenile suspect had been acting in self-defense and that they received numerous racial threats after the incident.

Go deeper ( < 1 min. read ) ➝

Former UN ambassador and GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said Wednesday that she will vote for former President Trump in November, a shake-up to the 2024 race.

Haley’s nod could give Trump a boost as he’s repeatedly struggled to court her voters in recent GOP primaries, even after she suspended her presidential campaign.

Haley has continued to draw about 20% in GOP primary contests, creating a warning sign for Trump’s campaign.

She also drew double-digit vote shares in key suburban counties in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia, areas that could determine the election.

Haley said during a conversation at the Hudson Institute that Trump has not been “perfect” on a number of policies, but President Biden has been a “catastrophe.”

“I will be voting for Trump. Having said that, I stand by what I said in my suspension speech,” she said.

“Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me.”

The event marked Haley’s first public remarks since suspending her presidential campaign in March.

Go deeper ( < 1 min. read ) ➝

Hours after the release of several seemingly damning emails revealing his provocative COVID-era communications, a former top adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci offered excuses and apologies — but few real answers — during a contentious congressional showdown.

Dr. David Morens, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) senior adviser, appeared before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on Wednesday afternoon with few insights about the alarming messages but a host of apologies to lawmakers. The newly released emails detail interactions between Morens and Dr. Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance, a non-governmental organization that funded coronavirus research in Wuhan, China.

“It’s just something I’m very ashamed that I can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube,” Morens said of the emails’ language, much of which he attributed to being just “black humor.”

Republican lawmakers accuse Morens of deleting emails and using his personal email account to skirt Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

In one of the newly released emails to Daszak, Morens said he “learned from our FOIA lady here how to make emails disappear after I am FOIA’d, but before the search starts. So I think we are all safe. Plus I deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to Gmail.”

During Wednesday’s testimony, Morens said “that was a joke” when House Rep. Richard McCormick, R-Ga., asked what he learned from the “FOIA lady.”

“Are you sure about that? We can subpoena her email too,” McCormick responded. “You said she gave you advice… so you were lying then but telling us the truth now?”

“I wasn’t lying, I was making a joke. I said something like, ‘I have a way to make it go away.’ But that was just a euphemism,” Morens responded.

Morens also wrote from his personal email account to Daszak, saying, “We are all smart enough to know to never have smoking guns and if we did, we wouldn’t put them in emails. And if we found them, we would delete them.”

Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., asked Morens if he “deleted any records” or had conversations with Fauci regarding deletions.

“Not to my knowledge,” Morens said. “But again, we’re at the issue of defining what’s a federal record? I deleted a lot of emails. I do it every day.”

At one point in the hearing, Morens offered: “I don’t know what to say except I’m sorry.”

In other released emails, Morens appeared to express concerns about what was being sent to his work email and what was sent to his personal email, informing those on the email chain that they did not need to worry and that he would “delete anything I don’t want to see in the New York Times.” It is not clear if any deletions actually occurred.

“As you know, I try to always communicate on gmail because my NIH email is FOIA’d constantly,” Morens wrote in a September 2021 email, which was sent at the time to many scientists involved in the debate about the origins of the COVID-19 virus. “Stuff sent to my gmail gets to my phone … but not my NIH computer.”

GOP lawmakers are considering recommending criminal charges against former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci’s senior adviser.

“At the very least, he misled Congress through his transcribed interview,” subcommittee Chair Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, told the Examiner. “Lying to Congress is a felony.

“As we go through it and learn more, we may make some criminal referrals. Hopefully, we have a Department of Justice that’s willing to act when laws have been violated.”

Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., told Newsmax last week he believes Fauci lied to Congress when he testified about government funding at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

“I do believe on the evidence that we’ve seen that he has lied to Congress,” McCormick said on “The Record With Greta Van Susteren.”

Go deeper ( 3 min. read ) ➝

Harrowing video released Wednesday shows the moment five female Israeli soldiers — covered in blood and surrounded by the bodies of their massacred comrades — were threatened with rape then taken away to Gaza by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7.

Bodycam footage from the Hamas gunmen shows the moment the young women, operating at the Nahal Oz base outside the Gaza Strip, were handcuffed and pressed against a wall while still in pajamas.

In the sickening video, the terrorists could be heard gloating and announcing their apparent plans to sexually assault the soldiers.

“Here are the girls who can get pregnant,” one of the gunmen said.

“You’re so beautiful.”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which released the video, said the harrowing tape shows the horrifying reality of the five hostages still in the clutches of the terror group in Gaza. They were identified as Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy.

Berger’s father, Shlomi, told The Post that he couldn’t imagine what it felt like for his 19-year-old daughter to face those threats while surrounded by dozens of armed men.

“This is a wakeup call to the world: look what we’re dealing with,” Shlomi said. “You saw how many terrorists were in that video.

“You only see three minutes but we know that they sat in the same place for two or three hours, and in front of their eyes they saw their friends that were murdered on the floor,” he added.

“Maybe they told themselves, ‘I’m lucky, I’m just wounded.’ But I don’t know how someone can be in this situation and be okay in their mind.”

Shlomi, who was first shown the video last month, said he could see just how afraid his daughter and her fellow soldiers were.

“When they said, ‘You are pretty,’ and ‘I can get you pregnant,’ I don’t know what a young girl who is hearing this is thinking,” the father lamented.

“Here are the girls who can get pregnant” – Hamas footage shows moment they took 5 young Israeli women as hostages on October 7. Beaten, scared and dragged to Gaza. Here is the video: pic.twitter.com/7zWOlTIaPt

— Jotam Confino (@mrconfino) May 22, 2024

“It’s crazy as a father that my girl is in that situation and I can’t help her. I can’t do anything to help her.”

Shlomi said he and the other parents backed the decision to release the video to the public to put pressure on Israel’s leadership to advance negotiations to secure the release of the hostages in Gaza.

The women are among the roughly 100 hostages who have remained under Hamas captivity for more than seven months.

“The video is a damning testament to the nation’s failure to bring home the hostages, who have been forsaken for 229 days,” the group said in a statement urging that the hostage exchange talks with Hamas resume.

“The Israeli government must not waste even one more moment — it must return to the negotiating table today!”

The video, which was shot inside the Nahal Oz base’s bomb shelter, shows the Palestinian terrorists in complete control by 9 a.m. Oct. 7.

The gunmen could be seen inspecting the injured and bloodied women as they called them “dogs” and ordered them to pose for photos with their assailants.

Levy could be seen with blood smeared across her face as she pleaded with the gunmen and told them that she has friends in Gaza.

Another one of the hostages was bleeding profusely from her mouth, with blood also staining her white pajama pants.

All of the women were wearing pajamas , as the base was attacked in the early morning during the Sukkot holiday.

Gilboa, 19, was seen wearing Snoopy pajama pants.

During the heated confrontation, Albag was seen uriging the gunmen to find someone who could speak English with her.

The terrorists, however, yell at them to be quiet and sit down, accusing the women of being behind the death of their comrades, who were presumably killed when Hamas overran the base.

After the terrorists stopped for a moment to pray, they could be seen hauling the injured women into the back of a car amid a flurry of gunfire pounding in the background.

Several of the women could be seen limping and having trouble getting to the vehicle, with some of the terrorists shouting at them to leave the bodies of their friends behind.

The final moments of the video show the women packed in the back of the car as dozens of angry screams could be heard while the vehicle drove off.

Albag’s mother, Shira, said it was hard to stomach the video, with families allowed to view an uncensored version before it was released to the public.

“I can tell you that I am one of the only mothers who have seen the video,” Shira Albag told public broadcaster KAN. “Most of the mothers have not watched it. It is very difficult to watch.

“This is a very edited video, very censored,” she added. “It is three minutes long and does not show everything that happened there in the entire two hours — but one can only imagine.”

Gilboa’s mother, Orly, said she stood behind the decision to release the video to try to pressure lawmakers to renew negotiations to help release the more than 130 hostages who remain in Gaza.

“The decision-makers have time to wait — they have other goals, so this led us to release the video to the public,” she told Ynet News. “I personally have not dared to [watch] all the footage — but the decision-makers need to see what the girls have been going through for 230 days.”

“In my worst nightmares, in the biggest and most terrible Hollywood movie, I never thought I would see such a moment in my daughter’s eyes,” Orly said of the footage she did view.

Levy’s mother, Dr. Ayelet Levy Shachar, was stunned by the video, and said that her daughter was a proponent of peace between Israelis and Palestinians and had participated in several demonstrations calling for peace.

She was completing military service, which is compulsory for nearly all Israelis, when she was taken hostage.

“At that moment, she probably couldn’t believe her situation and was trying to say whatever she could to explain to spare her life,” Levy Shachar told CNN.

The heartbroken mother also fought back tears as she discussed the sexual violence being threatend by Hamas against her daughter.

“I’m scared. I’m hurting for her, and I’m frustrated,” she said about the video and stalled cease-fire talks.

“What we see in that video is what’s been going on for them since,” Levy Shachar added. “This cannot be a side story.”

The mother added that several Israeli leaders refused to watch the video because they wanted “to sleep OK at night.”

In total, Hamas kidnapped seven female soldiers from the Nahal Oz base on Oct. 7, including Ori Megidish, who was rescued on Oct. 30, the Times of Israel reports.

The seventh kidnapping victim, Nao Marciano, 19, was confirmed dead earlier this month, allegedly killed by Hamas terrorists inside Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital.

The harrowing video of the women at Nahal Oz comes as Norway, Ireland and Spain announced a joint decision to recognize Palestine as a state despite backlash that such acknowledgement rewards Hamas for the brutal Oct. 7 attack.

Speaking at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said the European leaders were essentially “giving a prize to Nukhba [Hamas’s elite commando unit] murderers and abusers,” the Times of Israel reports.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, however, claimed that the decision to recognize Palestine was in no way a show of support for Hamas terrorists or a condemnation of the Jewish state.

“This recognition is not against the people of Israel and certainly not against the Jewish people,” he said in a statement. “It’s not in favor of Hamas. It’s in favor of co-existence.”

Irish leader Simon Harris said he expects other countries to join the three nations, who will officially recognize Palestine next Tuesday.

Go deeper ( 5 min. read ) ➝

China on Thursday launched two days of military drills to surround self-ruled Taiwan in what it said was “strong punishment” for the island’s “separatist acts”.

The drills come after Lai Ching-te was sworn in as Taiwan’s new president this week and made an inauguration speech that China denounced as a “confession of independence”.

Communist China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to bring the island under its rule, by force if necessary.

Thursday and Friday’s drills involve military aircraft and naval vessels surrounding the island.

This will “test the joint real combat capabilities of the forces of the command”, the Chinese military said.

Taiwan responded quickly to China’s announcement on Thursday morning, announcing it had deployed forces to “defend freedom”.

“The Ministry of National Defence strongly condemned such irrational provocations and actions that undermine regional peace and stability.

“We have dispatched sea, air and ground forces to respond… to defend freedom, democracy and the sovereignty of the Republic of China,” it said, referring to Taiwan by its official name.

On Tuesday, China warned of strong reprisals to Lai’s speech, in which he hailed a “glorious” new era of democracy for Taiwan.

Top diplomat Wang Yi also warned that Taiwanese “separatists will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history”.

China had previously branded Lai a “dangerous separatist” who would bring “war and decline” to the island.

China’s drills will “focus on joint sea-air combat-readiness patrol, joint seizure of comprehensive battlefield control, and joint precision strikes on key targets”, spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command Naval Colonel Li Xi said.

They are taking place in the Taiwan Strait and to the north, south and east of the island and kicked off at 7:45 am (2345 GMT), Li said.

This week’s drills will also take place around the outlying islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin, he added.

“Ships and aircraft arrived at combat patrols near Taiwan Island… to test the actual joint combat capabilities of the theatre forces,” Li said.

The drills would also serve as a “strong punishment for the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan independence’ forces and a stern warning against the interference and provocation by external forces”, he said.

Beijing, which split with Taipei at the end of a civil war in 1949, regards the island as a renegade province with which it must eventually be reunified and has refused to rule out using military force to do so.

Relations have plunged in recent years as China has stepped up pressure on the democratic island, periodically stoking worries about a potential invasion.

Beijing “clearly feels it needs to send a very strong message to Lai and anyone who supports him”, analyst Bill Bishop wrote in his influential Sinocism newsletter.

“I would be surprised if this new exercise is smaller and less threatening than any last year,” he said.

The last time China announced similar military exercises around Taiwan was in August 2023 after Lai, then vice president, stopped over in the United States on a visit to Paraguay.

Those drills also tested the PLA’s ability “to seize control of air and sea spaces” and fight “in real combat conditions”, according to state media.

Beijing at the time described them as a “stern warning”.

They followed on the heels of April drills that simulated the encirclement of the island, triggered after Lai’s predecessor Tsai Ing-wen met then-US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.

China also launched major military exercises in 2022 after Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the US House of Representatives, visited Taiwan.

The country also held drills when then-president Tsai later transited through the United States.

World powers are keen to see as much stability as possible between China and Taiwan, not least because of the vital role the island plays in the global economy.

The Taiwan Strait is one of the world’s most important maritime trade arteries, and the island itself is a major tech manufacturer, particularly of vital semiconductors — the tiny chips used in everything from smartphones to missile systems.

Go deeper ( 3 min. read ) ➝

Germany’s Parliament (Bundestag) has received the votes necessary to remove a section of the Criminal Code which made the possession of child sexual abuse materials a felony crime. Once the bill, passed last Thursday, comes into effect, minimum sentences for the possession of child p*rnography will be reduced, and the offense will be downgraded to a misdemeanor.

According to the Bundestag, the bill stipulates that “possession and acquisition should be punishable with a minimum penalty of three months’ imprisonment, and distribution with a minimum penalty of six months’ imprisonment, and distribution with a minimum penalty of six months’ imprisonment. The offenses regulated in Section 184b of the Criminal Code are therefore classified as misdemeanors and not as crimes.”

The possession of child sexual abuse materials was first classified as a crime in 2021 after Federal Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) introduced a minimum sentence of one year for the offense. The move classified the act as a felony, which it remained for three years until this most recent downgrade.

Responding to the passage of the bill, chairman of the association “German Children’s Aid – The Permanent Children’s Representation” (Deutsche Kinderhilfe – Die ständige Kindervertretung), Rainer Becker, pointed out that Germany could violate a directive from the European Union that classifies any child p*rnographic media as a serious criminal offense with the change to the law.

A statement of opposition was released by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). “The distribution, possession and acquisition of child p*rnography must, in principle, remain classified as crimes,” reads the declaration.

“Even if the increase in the penalty range in Section 184b of the Criminal Code in 2020 has led to practical problems in certain cases, a blanket reduction in the penalty range is the wrong solution. A change should be limited to the problem cases and solve them effectively. Scientific findings show that if the penalty framework shifts downwards, the penalties imposed in practice also tend to be lower.”

The rationale behind the downgrading of the crime to a misdemeanor included consideration for parents and teachers of children who download the content in order to inform law enforcement. “Such cases have occurred particularly frequently among parents and teachers of older children or young people who found child p*rnography on them and passed it on to other parents, teachers or the school management to inform them of the problem,” reads Article 1 of the bill.

The legislation continues: “A downgrade to a misdemeanor is also urgently required in order to be able to respond appropriately and with the necessary flexibility to the large proportion of juvenile offenders. Here, too, the perpetrators generally do not act in order to be sexually aroused by the child p*rnography content, but rather out of a drive typical of the adolescent stage of development, such as naivety, curiosity, thirst for adventure or the desire to impress.”

However, despite acknowledging such circ*mstances, the bill has not made certain exceptions, but rather downgrades possession of child p*rnography altogether – a fact that has not gone unnoticed by pro-pedophile campaigners.

The move has already been praised by a notorious German pro-pedophile activist group. Known as Krumme-13, or simply K13, the activist group has been described as a “self-help” organization for “pedosexuals.”

In a blog post written by its founder and dated May 17, K13 laments that “no politician in all factions apologized to the thousands upon thousands of those affected who fell victim” to the 2021 law which had made possession of child sexual abuse materials a felony.

K13 further advises all visitors to their site to have any relevant defense lawyers “submit applications for stays of proceedings on behalf of their clients in ongoing proceedings,” in order to wait out the period of time until the law goes into effect.

The notorious group was founded by Dieter Gieseking, who has been repeatedly charged with the possession of child p*rnography.

In 1996, Gieseking was sentenced to eighteen months, for which he served one year in prison, on charges related to operating a mail order child p*rnography service from a van. In 2003, Gieseking again appeared in court accused of possession of child sexual abuse materials obtained between July 1999 and January 2001. The p*rnography was found on Gieseking’s computer after a search of his residence in August 2001. His devices contained a total of 216 image files of naked children, and he was sentenced to eight months in prison.

Go deeper ( 3 min. read ) ➝

Rishi Sunak has vowed to “fight for every vote” as he called an early UK general election for Thursday 4 July.

The PM made the announcement in a rain-soaked speech outside 10 Downing Street, as he bids to win a fifth term in office for the Conservatives.

The surprise move overturned expectations of an autumn poll, which might have given the Tories a better chance of closing the gap with Labour.

Sir Keir Starmer said it was “time for change” away from “Tory chaos”.

Labour has been posting large leads in national opinion polls, and has insisted it has a fully organised campaign ready to go.

Parliament will now be suspended on Friday, before it is formally shut down on Thursday next week ahead of an official five-week election campaign.

It means there are only two days to pass any outstanding legislation – a move which will mean some of the government’s measures will have to be abandoned.

October or November had previously been thought more likely for an election date.

But the rumours started swirling from early on Wednesday morning, after confirmation that annual inflation had fallen to its lowest rate in almost three years.

And as Prime Minister’s Questions got under way in the Commons, it still was not clear whether an announcement was coming. It was not until just after 17:00 BST that the UK’s first July election since 1945 was confirmed.

The prime minister referred to the inflation figures as he announced the election date in Downing Street later in the day, in a sign he hopes to frame his campaign around a narrative of economic recovery after a period of rising living costs.

He added that the fall in inflation, along with the UK’s emergence from recession earlier this year, were “proof that the plan and priorities” he had set out were working.

But his statement did not go entirely to plan, as he battled worsening rain and activists blasting out New Labour anthem Things Can Only Get Better over a loudspeaker.

There was confusion in at least some parts of the Conservative Party about why Mr Sunak had decided to call the election sooner than had been widely expected.

“I just don’t understand it,” one Tory MP told the BBC. “The economy is improving. Why not give that more time to bed in?”

One senior minister was annoyed that Mr Sunak had given his speech in the driving rain.

“If the whole point was to remind the public that he was Mr Furlough, why not do the speech inside from the same briefing room?”

They added: “Labour MPs are happy. We’re not. That tells a story.”

Go deeper ( 2 min. read ) ➝

The headquarters of the Republican National Committee was put on lockdown Wednesday morning after two vials of blood were discovered in a package addressed to former President Donald Trump.

Multiple sources confirmed to The Post that the blood was delivered to the Capitol Hill building.

The vials were addressed to Trump, one source familiar with the situation told the Associated Press. It was unclear to whom the blood belonged.

There were no immediate reports of any injuries, but a hazmat unit was called to the headquarters and RNC staff were forced to exit the building and wait outside for about an hour.

Capitol Police issued a statement confirming the contents of the package, which they said “was cleared by our Hazardous Incident Response Division.”

“The source of the package and its contents will be further investigated,” the statement added.

Multiple sources told The Post an “all clear” had been given around 9:40 a.m. and the employees were allowed to go back into the site at that point.

Allies of the 45th president took over the party apparatus in early March after Trump became the presumptive GOP nominee.

Michael Whatley and Lara Trump were unanimously voted in as chair and co-chair, respectively, and some employees were told they had to reapply for their jobs.

The RNC team is also being led by Trump adviser Chris LaCivita and employees in the DC headquarters have been working on site as they ramp up for the Nov. 5 election.

This article was updated.

Go deeper ( < 1 min. read ) ➝

Three left-wing European governments say they will officially recognise Palestine as a state later this month, leaving a furious Israel accusing them of rewarding terrorism.

Norway, Ireland, and Spain are to break with the Western norm and join nations worldwide including Russia and China in recognising Palestine as a state, they said. The change is to officially take place on May 28th.

The Financial Times notes the initiative to recognise Palestine as legal state has been led by Spain and Ireland, and that they had actively courted other European states to join them. While Norway appears to be one of those, others including Belgium, Malta and Slovenia declined to join Tuesday’s declaration.

Europe is already deeply split over the Hamas terror attack against Israel and its consequences, differences illustrated by the variegated responses to the International Criminal Court (ICC) stating it would be seeking an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week.

These differences of opinion often boil down to political positioning, with Europe’s foreign affairs chief — a Spanish socialist politician — proclaiming his own views as European policy.

The trio of nations declaring for Palestinian statehood today are, too, all led by left-wing progressive governments. At the heart of the declaration and the remarks of the nations’ leaders is calls for a “two state solution” for Israel.

Spain’s now increasingly notorious socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez accused Netanyahu of causing a “massacre” against Palestine and that: “we’re not going to allow the possibility of the two-state solution to be destroyed by force because it’s the only just and sustainable solution to this terrible conflict”.

The Jerusalem Post reports, and has withdrawn its ambassadors to the Norway, Ireland, and Spain. The ambassadors of those states to Israel have been summoned to Jerusalem to receive protests in person, it is stated.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused the countries of rewarding Hamas terrorism by now giving into their demands. He wrote: Israel will not remain silent in the face of those undermining its sovereignty and endangering its security.

Today’s decision sends a message to the Palestinians and the world: Terrorism pays… these countries chose to reward Hamas and Iran by recognizing a Palestinian state.”

Norway, Ireland, and Spain had handed a boost to Hamas, undermined efforts to get Israeli hostages returned, and damaged hopes for peace, Katz said.

Go deeper ( 2 min. read ) ➝

Primary elections in Kentucky, Georgia, Idaho, and Oregon and a special election in California proved to be a good night for some incumbents facing challengers from their own parties.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) easily won the GOP primary in Kentucky, fending off two Republican rivals, as did Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA), who won a Democratic primary against two challengers in Georgia. In Idaho, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) also survived GOP primary challengers.

In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis won a Democratic primary to continue in her role. The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case Willis brought against former President Donald Trump last year also won election to a full term on Tuesday night.

But in Oregon, progressive candidates were defeated by more mainstream Democrats in races that could determine control of the House. Results from left-leaning District Attorney Mike Schmidt’s primary challenge from Nathan Vasquez were pending but showed Vasquez with a significant lead. Meanwhile, a successor for former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s old seat emerged.

Here are the seven takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries.

Fani Willis survives primary challenge

Fani Willis survived a Democratic primary for district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, against Christian Wise Smith. This is Willis’s second time defeating Smith after they faced off four years ago.

The Associated Press showed Willis winning over 87% of the vote compared to Smith’s nearly 13%.

Willis is prosecuting Trump over allegations he attempted to overturn the 2020 race. Tuesday’s primary win means that Willis will likely continue prosecuting Trump for the time being after a scandalous relationship rocked the case.

Judge Scott McAfee ruled in March that Willis could continue on the case after allegations she was involved in a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor on the Trump case.

However, McAfee added the caveat that Wade would have to leave the case for Willis to continue. Wade showed up at Willis’s victory party, surprising some guests.

Willis will still have to contend with the Georgia Court of Appeals, which agreed to a review from Trump’s team over whether Willis can keep her job as the top prosecutor against Trump.

She will face Republican Courtney Kramer in the general election in the fall.

Georgia incumbent judges keep seats

McAfee, Fulton County Superior Court judge, won the election to retain his seat against Robert Patillo, a civil rights lawyer and radio show host.

McAfee won more than 83% of the vote, while Patillo received nearly 17%, according to the Associated Press.

McAfee oversees the case Willis brought against Trump in Fulton County and will continue to do so after winning the election. He is set to serve another four years beginning in January.

Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA), who appointed the incumbent judge in 2022, and former Georgia Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes both endorsed McAfee in his election.

Incumbent Georgia Supreme Court Justice Andrew Pinson also won his reelection bid against former Democratic Rep. John Barrow.

Barrow campaigned heavily on abortion, a topic that has been successful for Democrats, but it wasn’t enough to thwart Pinson, who won 55% of the vote compared to Barrow’s 45%.

Protest votes continue against Biden

Both President Joe Biden and Trump cruised to presidential primary victories in Kentucky, with the Associated Press calling the race for the candidates as soon as polls closed at 7 p.m. Eastern time.

However, nearly 18% of Democrats opted to vote “uncommitted” in Kentucky’s primary with 98% of votes counted, a major snub of Biden, who won 71.3% of the vote.

Meanwhile, more than 6% of Republicans opted to vote for Nikki Haley in the primary despite the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations dropping out of the race more than two months ago.

Trump won nearly 85% of the vote in Kentucky’s GOP primary.

In Oregon, Biden again won the Democratic primary with nearly 89% of the vote, with 32% of the votes counted, while 5% of voters chose to write in a candidate.

Oregon progressives had a bad night

Oregon progressives in the 3rd and 5th Congressional Districts lost their primary races against centrist Democrats Tuesday night.

Oregon state Rep. Janelle Bynum defeated Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner, a progressive attorney, in the 5th Congressional District primary.

The Associated Press called the race for Bynum nearly 40 minutes after polls closed at 11 p.m. Eastern time. With 48% of the ballots counted, Bynum led McLeod-Skinner 70% to 30%.

Democrats are itching to flip the seat back from Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR), who defeated McLeod-Skinner during the 2022 midterm elections.

In Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District, Susheela Jayapal, the older sister of Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), lost the Democratic primary to Maxine Dexter.

The Associated Press called the race within an hour of the polls closing, with Dexter winning 53.2% of the vote and Susheela Jayapal winning 25.1%, with 37% of ballots counted.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee had targeted Susheela Jayapal’s candidacy over fears she would have the same views as her sister, who has called for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas battle.

Incumbent House members defeat challengers

Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA) handily won the Democratic primary for Georgia’s redrawn 6th Congressional District against Cobb County Commissioner Jerica Richardson and state Rep. Mandisha Thomas.

A little over 30 minutes after polls closed at 7 p.m. Eastern time, the Associated Press called the race for McBath, who won nearly 85% of the vote.

She will face Republican Jeff Criswell, who ran uncontested in the GOP primary.

Over in Georgia’s 13th Congressional District, the 78-year-old Rep. David Scott (D-GA) defeated six challengers to win the Democratic primary.

Scott won nearly 58% of the vote with 93% of the ballots counted, according to the Associated Press, which called the race at 9:46 p.m. Eastern time, more than two hours after polls closed.

Scott’s win may be a good sign for Biden, who has also faced accusations that he is too old for another four years in office.

Scott will face Republican Jonathan Chavez, who won the GOP primary, in November.

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) won the GOP primary for Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District, fending off Republicans Scott Cleveland and Sean Higgins.

With 60% of votes counted, Simpson pulled in nearly 57% of the vote, a comfortable lead over Cleveland at nearly 34% and Higgins at 9.3%.

Rep. Thomas Massie wins GOP primary against challengers

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) easily defeated Republicans Eric Deters and Michael McGinnis in Kentucky’s GOP primary for the 4th Congressional District.

The Associated Press called the race in Massie’s favor, at nearly 76% of the vote, 11 minutes after polls closed at 7 p.m. Eastern time.

Deters followed in second place at nearly 13% of the vote, and McGinnis got 11.5% of the vote.

Massie bucked GOP leadership by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) during the Republican presidential primary and pushed for the ouster of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) earlier this month. But despite these efforts, Kentucky voters opted for the incumbent rather than the Republican challengers.

Victor emerges in battle to replace Kevin McCarthy

California state Assemblyman Vince Fong won the runoff primary in California to replace former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s seat, defeating Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux 60.5% to 39.5%.

Fong was McCarthy’s handpicked successor and former staffer who will likely carry on the former House speaker’s legacy while he serves the remainder of McCarthy’s term through January.

Current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is sure to welcome another Republican in the House as the GOP faces slim margins, forcing him to rely on Democrats to pass major legislation.

As of now, there are 217 Republicans in the House, but when Fong is sworn in, it will be 218 Republicans compared to 213 Democrats.

Go deeper ( 5 min. read ) ➝

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will reportedly lose a high-powered trio of top policy staffers barely six months into his speakership.

The influential advisers — Brittan Specht, Jason Yaworske, and Preston Hill — are leaving Johnson’s office at the end of May, Punchbowl News reported. Each of the three previously worked for then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

Johnson ascended to the top of House leadership without the existing policy, communication, and fundraising strategy as others who have spent years in leadership. The departure of such an experienced group is likely to sting, particularly as appropriations season kicks into high gear before the end-of-September deadline.

Specht had served as McCarthy’s policy director, and Yaworske is an expert on appropriations and budget issues. Both would have been leaned on heavily as the House crafts appropriations bills.

However, reports indicate Congress is likely to pass a continuing resolution to continue current spending levels into the lame duck session of Congress — after the November elections but before a new Congress, and possibly a new president, is sworn in.

While Johnson had kept Specht on staff, he replaced him as policy director with Dan Ziegler, who had previously worked for Johnson. Before returning to the House, Ziegler lobbied for Williams & Jensen, a massive lobbying firm.

Johnson, who despite holding a small majority has repeatedly advanced Democrats’ priorities to the point that 163 Democrats voted earlier this month to save his speakership, committed to soldiering on.

“Because the 118th Congress became the first in history to vote to change Speakers midstream, these friends committed to assist us for the first six months of the transition, and through some of the most difficult policy challenges in decades,” Johnson said in an emailed statement to Punchbowl.

“We are truly happy for them as they now pursue their new opportunities in the private sector, and we know they will be a great success.”

“We look forward to announcing soon the new talent that will be joining our policy team — as we continue to advance our conservative agenda and build momentum to grow our Republican majority this fall,” Johnson concluded.

McCarthy talked up the trio, telling Punchbowl, “Brittan, Jason, and Preston are the strongest brain trust in the Capitol. They have been involved in every major negotiation over the last 7 years. Whether it’s tax, appropriations, financial services, or defense, AI and the debt limit, they’ve been in the room and at the table with the highest stakes.”

Go deeper ( 2 min. read ) ➝

An undisclosed number of people were killed when a tornado tore through a small town in Iowa, leaving a wide swath of obliterated homes and crumpled cars and also twisting and toppling wind turbines outside of the town.

After devastating Greenfield, a town of 2,000, on Tuesday the storms moved eastward to pummel parts of Illinois and Wisconsin, knocking out power to tens of thousands of customers in the two states.

The deadly twister that slammed Iowa came amid a historically bad season for tornadoes in the U.S. at a time when climate change is heightening the severity of storms around the world. April had the second highest number of tornadoes on record in the U.S.

Through Tuesday, there have been 27% more tornadoes in the country than average. The preliminary count for this year of 859 is the highest since 2017 and is significantly more than the average of 676 through May 21, according to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. Nearly 700 of the tornadoes have been in April and May.

Iowa has had the most tornadoes this year with 81, followed by Texas with 74 and Kansas and Ohio each with 66.

Greenfield’s hospital was among the buildings that were damaged in the town, which meant that at least a dozen people who were hurt had to be taken to facilities elsewhere, according to Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla.

“Sadly we can confirm that there have been fatalities,” Dinkla said at a news conference Tuesday night, without specifying how many. “We’re still counting at this time.”

Dinkla said he thought they had accounted for all of the town’s residents but that searches would continue if anyone was reported missing. The Adair County Health System said in a Facebook post Tuesday night that it had set up a triage center at the Greenfield high school and that people who need medical attention should go there.

The tornado destroyed much of Greenfield, which is located about 55 miles (90 kilometers) southwest of Des Moines, during a day that saw multiple tornadoes, giant hail and heavy rain in several states. The National Weather Service said it received 23 tornado reports Tuesday, with most in Iowa, and one each in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

On Facebook, people as far as 100 miles (160 kilometers) away from Greenfield posted photos of ripped family photos, check stubs, damp yearbook pages and other items that were lifted into the sky by the Greenfield tornado.

In Wisconsin, the weather service’s Green Bay office dispatched a staffer Wednesday morning to survey storm damage near the village of Unity in western Marathon County after law enforcement received a report from the public about a tornado on the ground about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday in that community about 55 miles (89 kilometers) east of Eau Claire, said meteorologist Roy Eckberg. He said staffers would also be visiting Outagamie County near the city of Kaukauna, some 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of Green Bay, to investigate significant wind damage there.

Eckberg said high winds were reported Tuesday night across parts of central Wisconsin, with a wind gust of 70 mph (113 kilometers per hour) in the city of Marshfield and with wind damage also reported to the northwest in the city of Wausau.

Weather service staff would also be assessing storm damage Wednesday in southeastern Minnesota after radar indicated that a tornado touched down Tuesday night in Winona County, said Kate Abbott, a meteorologist with the agency’s La Crosse, Wisconsin, office.

“With that one we did have a radar confirmed tornado, but we’re going out and survey there to make sure the damage is consistent with a tornado,” she said.

Authorities announced a mandatory curfew for Greenfield and said they would only allow residents to enter the town until Wednesday morning. They also ordered media representatives to leave the city Tuesday night.

In the aftermath of the storm, mounds of broken wood from homes, branches, car parts and other debris littered lots where homes once stood. Some trees still standing were stripped of their limbs and leaves. Residents helped each other salvage furniture and other belongings that were strewn in every direction.

Rogue Paxton said he sheltered in the basem*nt of his home when the storm moved through. He told WOI-TV he thought the house was lost but said his family got lucky.

“But everyone else is not so much, like my brother Cody, his house just got wiped,” Paxton said. “Then you see all these people out here helping each other. … Everything’s going to be fine because we have each other, but it’s just going to be really, really rough. It is a mess.”

A tornado also apparently took down several 250-foot (76-meter) wind turbines in southwest Iowa. Some of the turbines caught fire, sending plumes of smoke into the air. Wind farms are built to withstand tornadoes, hurricanes and other powerful winds.

Mary Long, the owner of Long’s Market in downtown Greenfield, said she rode out the storm at her business in the community’s historic town square, which largely escaped damage. Long said there appeared to be widespread damage on the east and south sides of town.

“I could hear this roaring, like the proverbial freight train, and then it was just done,” she said.

Camille Blair said the Greenfield Chamber of Commerce office where she works closed around 2 p.m. ahead of the storm.

“I can see from my house it kind of went in a straight line down the road,” she said of the tornado.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said she planned to visit Greenfield on Wednesday morning.

“It was just a few weeks ago that tornadoes hit several other Iowa communities, and it’s hard to believe that it’s happened again,” she said in a statement. “Iowans are strong and resilient, and we will get through this together.”

Iowa had braced for severe weather after the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center gave most of the state a high chance of seeing severe thunderstorms with the potential for strong tornadoes. The storms and tornado warnings moved into Wisconsin on Tuesday evening and night.

Earlier in the day, residents to the west in Omaha, Nebraska, awoke to sirens blaring and widespread power outages as torrential rain, high winds and large hail pummeled the area. The deluge flooded basem*nts and submerged cars. Television station KETV showed firefighters rescuing people from vehicles.

In Illinois, dust storms led authorities to shut down stretches of two interstates due to low visibility.

The storms followed days of extreme weather that have ravaged much of the middle section of the country. Strong winds, large hail and tornadoes swept parts of Oklahoma and Kansas late Sunday, damaging homes and injuring two in Oklahoma.

Another round of storms Monday night raked Colorado and western Nebraska and saw the city of Yuma, Colorado, blanketed in hail the size of baseballs and golf balls, turning streets into rivers of water and ice.

In Texas, deadly storms hit the Houston area last week, killing at least eight people. Those storms last Thursday knocked out power to hundreds of thousands for days, leaving many in the dark and without air conditioning during hot and humid weather. Hurricane-force winds reduced businesses and other structures to debris and shattered glass in downtown skyscrapers.

Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the weather service, said the system is expected to turn south Wednesday, bringing more severe weather to parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Missouri.

Go deeper ( 5 min. read ) ➝

When Arizona and Florida attracted the national spotlight over their abortion battles, this question arose: Would the issue upend the presidential contests in those states — or offset the drag on President Biden that inflation and the border have had on him nationally?

And the answer, right now, is no. Biden trails in Arizona by 5 points despite winning it last time, and Trump is comfortably up by 9 points in Florida, after winning it twice in the last two cycles.

Because despite broad support for abortion rights in both states, that effect doesn’t all accrue to Mr. Biden — or hurt Trump — as much as people’s views on finances and immigration shape the contests.

In Arizona, with a border many believe is in crisis, a majority say Biden has been “too easy” on migrants.

And there’s a perception that things have changed over four years.

Compared to summer 2020, more voters now say recent immigrants from Mexico and Latin America have made life in Arizona worse. And many Hispanic voters say this today too.

And then Trump’s policies are described as putting the interests of current U.S. citizens ahead of the interests of recent immigrants, whereas many Arizonans say Mr. Biden’s policies don’t.

The issue may be hurting Mr. Biden with key demographic groups, including Hispanic voters.

For example, Mr. Biden won a majority of Arizona’s Hispanic voters in 2020, but he is now running even with Trump among them.

Hispanic voters’ attitudes toward the choice and contest look a lot like voters overall: they’re dissatisfied with the economy, think they will be financially better off if Trump wins than say that about Mr. Biden, and are concerned about the border.

And there is a sizable number of Hispanic voters who now say recent immigrants have made Arizona life worse, as well — effectively even with those who say they’ve made it better.

(That said, Arizonans think transplants from other U.S. states have made life worse too.)

Most voters think Trump would take steps to reduce migrant crossings, while most think Mr. Biden would not.

On economics

Far more voters think Trump will make them financially better off if he wins; and in fact, more say Trump cares about their economic struggles in the first place, but both candidates elicit the majority view that they don’t.

That highlights the troubles for the Biden campaign in facing down the effects of inflation, here as elsewhere:

Even as inflation cools in the macro measures, Arizonans overwhelmingly feel prices are going up.

All of which help Trump to a lead.

There’s a marker that the election denialism and controversies that remained in Arizona’s politics and rhetoric after 2020 are still here. About half of Trump’s current voters would want to challenge the results if he loses. In contrast, the vast majority of Biden’s voters say they’d accept the election results if Trump wins.

Breaking down the impact of abortion

Meanwhile in Florida, the abortion issue isn’t enough to bring that state into “battleground” territory for Mr. Biden — Trump leads his home state fairly comfortably. Much the same dynamic is in play in both states.

Here are some reasons why.

First, while abortion is important, it isn’t as important as the economy and inflation.

Second, support for abortion access — either in principle or expressed as an amendment vote — is high, but there is not a one-to-one connection with voting for Biden.

This is partly because there are sizable numbers of Republicans who support abortion’s legality in at least some cases, but they vote for Trump.

Plus, Trump has distanced himself a bit on the issue, with half of voters neither blaming nor crediting him for Roe’s overturn.

And relatively fewer think Trump would pass a national ban going forward.

The main dynamic appears to hinge on whether or not voters are angry about the overturn of Roe, rather than merely dissatisfied.

And in Arizona, it’s habitual voters, more so than less frequent ones, who feel angry about the overturning of Roe and who are likelier to say the abortion issue in their state is boosting their motivation to turn out this year.

There is majority support in both states for establishing a right to abortion access. In Arizona a potential amendment that would do so, and in Florida one that would, get majority support, although as is often the case with referenda and amendments, there’s a lot of expressed uncertainty and a lot of people who have not heard or read about them yet.

At the moment, Democrats are more likely than Republicans and independents to report having heard about these ballot initiatives.

And while many Democrats say the abortion issue motivates them, Biden still shows overall trouble motivating parts of his regular Democratic base.

Two other Arizona Democrats fare better than Biden — Governor Katie Hobbs gets slight majority approval, and Ruben Gallego is ahead of Kari Lake in a potential Senate match-up. Gallego, among other differences, fares far better than Biden among Hispanic voters.

Meanwhile in Florida, Republican incumbent Rick Scott is comfortably ahead in his potential match-up.

These CBS News/YouGov surveys were conducted between May 10-16, 2024. They are based on representative samples of 1,510 adults living in Arizona and 1,576 adults living in Florida. Margins of error for the total sample of adults: Arizona +/-3.3 points and in Florida +/- 3.1 points. Margins of error for registered voters: Arizona +/-3.5 points and Florida +/- 3.9 points.

Arizona toplines

Florida toplines

Go deeper ( 4 min. read ) ➝

A Raging Vladimir Putin has launched a terrifying weapon system into space capable of killing other satellites, the US has warned.

The Pentagon said that the Russian counter-space weapon was put into the “same orbit” as a US government satellite – and is likely tracking the space device already.

The Russian space object believed to be Cosmos-2576 was launched on May 16 on a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome, some 497 miles north of Moscow.

It is now in the same orbit as the American spy satellite USA 314, operated by the US National Reconnaissance Office.

An unofficial Russian source claimed the launch carried a “secret military device”.

While it was previously reported as a Russian space satellite, the US has now warned it could be a counter-space weapon capable of attacking other such tech.

Pentagon spokesman Brig Gen Pat Ryder said last night: “Russia launched a satellite into low Earth orbit that we assess is likely a counter space weapon.

“It was deployed into the same orbit as a US government satellite and assessments further indicate characteristics resembling previously deployed counter space payloads from 2019 and 2022.”

“We will continue to monitor the situation … we have a responsibility to be ready to protect and defend the space domain and ensure continuous and uninterrupted support to the joint and combined force.”

Russia’s Roskosmos state space agency said the launch was “in the interests of the defence ministry of the Russian Federation”.

A US official told CNN that the US had been expecting the launch for at least several weeks.

It was closely tracked by the North American Aerospace Defense Command as well as the US Northern Command.

The US has increasingly sought to deter Russia from developing a nuclear space strike capability – fearing it could trigger a massive energy wave to cripple commercial and government satellites used for mobile phones and the internet.

Such a Russian nuclear weapon is not yet in orbit, it is understood.

US intelligence chiefs, however, warned in February that Russia is planning to launch nukes into space that would destroy satellites in a “grave” threat to the world’s security.

Military experts have warned that Putin would take the “suicidal” decision to launch the deadly weapons if he felt his grip on power was being threatened by Ukraine and the West.

Mad despot Putin has already tested orbital weapons designed for blasting Western kits – such as the anti-satellite weapon, Cosmos 2543.

While the weapon was not armed with a nuke for its 2020 firing – there are fears future versions of similar tech could take the next step amid the US’s chilling warning to the West.

Russia’s Cosmos 2543 ejects projectiles into space at incredible speed – like missiles which could destroy crucial Western kits orbiting the Earth.

On July 15 2020, the Cosmos 2543 was fired from its mothership the Cosmos 2542 – and launched a projectile object into the ether at an incredible 400mph.

The Russian spacecraft was also spotted skulking around the Pentagon’s spy satellite earlier that very same year.

Juliana Suess, a Research Analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, told The Sun it would be “wrong” to think Putin wouldn’t “sacrifice everything” by firing nukes into space.

For Dr David Jordan, Co-Director of the Freeman Air & Space Institute at King’s College London, Putin could make the disastrous knee-jerk reaction to fire nukes into space “because he can” or if “he thought he could get away with it”.

He said Putin could also push the red button if he felt the war in Ukraine was going to end with his removal of power.

“He could do it out of spite. He might think, I’ve lost, so you’re going to suffer as well,” Dr Jordan told The Sun.

Putin – along with ex-defence minister Sergei Shoigu – said that Moscow “has always been categorically against space war and is now against the deployment of nuclear weapons in space”.

However, the madman’s ambassador at the UN vetoed a US resolution against nuclear weapons in space last month.

Go deeper ( 3 min. read ) ➝

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh attended the mass funeral Wednesday in Tehran for Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed with Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and other officials in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

Watch:

Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh attends the funeral procession of martyr President Ebrahim #Raisi and his entourage in Tehran. pic.twitter.com/RBQwDniFCf

— IRNA News Agency (@IrnaEnglish) May 22, 2024

Photos were released of Haniey meeting with Iran’s “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Officials from other Iranian-backed terror groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, were also in attendance at the event.

The Times of Israel reported:

Iranian state media runs footage of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh attending the funeral of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

Haniyeh, the supreme leader of the Palestinian terror group, is based in Qatar and frequently travels across the region.

…

Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem is also in Tehran for the funeral.

Haniyeh has a net worth of billions of dollars after siphoning aid money and tax revenues while sending others to die.

The U.S. State Department had sent condolences in advance of the funeral and gathering of terrorist leaders, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended, upon being questioned by the Senate, as the “normal course of business.”

Asked by Breitbart News whether Israel also expresses its condolences, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer replied: “No, we don’t express our condolences.” He said that Raisi led a tyrannical regime that was the only case in which “a UN member, Iran, seeks to destroy another UN member, Israel.”

He added that Israel did not share Blinken’s condolences:

“There are no tears in Israel being shed for the death of this tyrant. … Any of these sort of fake expressions of regret about what has happened to these Iranian leaders — it turns our stomach, to be blunt.”

Go deeper ( 2 min. read ) ➝

Voters in Kentucky, Georgia, Idaho, Oregon, and California cast ballots in a handful of elections on Tuesday ranging from the top of the ticket to special congressional run-offs to complete the terms of incumbents who resigned.

In addition to the presidential primaries in which President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have already clinched presumptive nominee status, voters cast ballots in districts where incumbents face challenges from within their own party, wide-open seats, and the chance to serve out the remainder of the former House Speaker’s term.

KENTUCKY – Polls Close at 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. ET

Voters in the Bluegrass State will allocate 53 delegates in the Democrats’ presidential primary and 46 delegates in the Republican presidential contest.

In addition to the presidential primaries, there is a primary in Kentucky’s Fifth Congressional District where incumbent Republican Rep. Hal Rogers faces a challenge from three members of his own party, including Dana Edwards.

GEORGIA – Polls Close at 7:00 p.m. ET

The Peach State’s Third Congressional District GOP primary is wide open with incumbent Rep. Drew Ferguson deciding not to seek another term. Trump-endorsed candidate Brian Jack will face off against four other candidates including Mike Dugan and Mike Crain. It’s likely that a crowded field will hold candidates below the 50 percent-plus-one threshold to avoid a runoff.

IDAHO – Polls Close at 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. ET

The Republican primary in Idaho’s Second Congressional District pitted incumbent Rep. Mike Simpson against multiple challengers, including Scott Cleveland. With a strong fundraising advantage, Simpson — one of a few Republicans to vote in favor of setting up a January 6 committee in the House — hopes to secure renomination.

OREGON – Polls Close at 11:00 p.m. ET

Unlike other states voting on Tuesday, the Beaver State’s primaries are conducted by mail — meaning it’s unlikely there will be any race calls on Election Day while officials count the mail-in ballots.

The presidential primaries will see 66 delegates allocated from Democrat votes and 31 delegates distributed by Republican voters.

In the Third Congressional District’s Democrat primary, retiring Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s seat is being pursued by two leading candidates: State Rep. Maxine Dexter and Susheela Jayapal, a former county commissioner endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and the cousin of Rep. Pramila Jayalpal (D-WA).

The Democrat primary for the Fifth Congressional District has 2022 nominee Jamie McLeod-Skinner facing off against state Rep. Janelle Bynum. McLeod-Skinner narrowly lost the general election to GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer by just two points, but Bynum has a slight fundraising advantage against last cycle’s Democrat nominee this time around.

CALIFORNIA – Polls Close at 11:00 p.m. ET

A special general runoff election was held on Tuesday to fill the 20th Congressional District seat left vacant by the resignation of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a contest between Republicans Vince Fong and Mike Boudreaux. The former, a state assemblyman and McCarthy’s former district director, has endorsem*nts from his former boss and former President Donald Trump. Tuesday’s election will determine who serves out the remainder of the current term but both Fong and Boudreaux will face each other again in November’s regular general election to serve a full term beginning in January 2025.

Go deeper ( 2 min. read ) ➝

The Biden administration authorized the use of deadly force during the FBI’s raid on former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in August 2022 as part of its investigation into classified records, court documents revealed.

An “Operations Order” produced in discovery as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s alleged improper retention of classified records revealed that the “FBI believed its objective for the Mar-a-Lago raid was to seize ‘classified information, NDI, and US Government records,’” as described in the search warrant.

The order, according to a court filing, contained a “Policy Statement” regarding “Use of Deadly Force,” which stated, for example, “Law Enforcement officers of the Department of Justice may use deadly force when necessary.”

The FBI told Fox News in a statement, “The FBI followed standard protocol in this search as we do for all search warrants, which includes a standard policy statement limiting the use of deadly force. No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter.”

According to the filing, the DOJ and FBI agents “planned to bring ‘Standard Issue Weapons,’ ‘Ammo,’ ‘Handcuffs,’ and ‘medium and large sized bolt cutters,’ but they were instructed to wear ‘unmarked polo or collared shirts’ and to keep ‘law enforcement equipment concealed.”

Trump, who spent another day in a New York City courtroom for his unprecedented criminal trial stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into Trump allegedly falsifying business records, reacted to the revelations Tuesday afternoon.

“WOW! I just came out of the Biden Witch Hunt Trial in Manhattan, the ‘Icebox,’ and was shown Reports that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ, in their Illegal and UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE,” Trump posted on his Truth Social. “NOW WE KNOW, FOR SURE, THAT JOE BIDEN IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY.”

Trump added, “HE IS MENTALLY UNFIT TO HOLD OFFICE — 25TH AMENDMENT!”

Trump was charged out of Smith’s investigation into his retention of classified materials. Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony charges from Smith’s probe, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements.

Trump was also charged with an additional three counts as part of a superseding indictment out of the investigation: a count of willful retention of national defense information and two obstruction counts.

Trump pleaded not guilty.

The federal judge presiding over the case, Judge Aileen Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, postponed the trial stemming from Smith’s case indefinitely. The trial was set to begin May 20.

Go deeper ( 2 min. read ) ➝

Egyptian intelligence quietly changed the terms of a ceasefire proposal that Israel had already signed off on earlier this month, ultimately scuttling a deal that could have released Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and set a pathway to temporarily end the fighting in Gaza, CNN reported.

The ceasefire agreement that Hamas ended up announcing on May 6 was not what the Qataris or the Americans believed had been submitted to Hamas for a potential final review, the sources said.

The changes made by Egyptian intelligence, the details of which have not been previously reported, led to a wave of anger and recrimination among officials from the US, Qatar and Israel, and left ceasefire talks at an impasse.

“We were all duped,” one of those sources told CNN.

CIA Director Bill Burns, who has spearheaded the American efforts to broker a ceasefire agreement, was in the region when word reached him that the Egyptians had changed the terms of the deal. Burns was angry and embarrassed, the same person said, believing it made him look like he wasn’t in the loop or hadn’t informed the Israelis of the changes.

The soft-spoken and mild-mannered Burns “almost blew a gasket,” said the source.

The three sources familiar with the matter told CNN that a senior Egyptian intelligence official named Ahmed Abdel Khalek was responsible for making the changes. Abdel Khalek is a senior deputy to the Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, who has been Burns’ counterpart in leading Egypt’s mediation in the ceasefire talks.

One source familiar with the negotiations said Abdel Khalek told the Israelis one thing and Hamas another. More of Hamas’ demands were inserted into the original framework that Israel had tacitly agreed to in order to secure Hamas’ approval, the source said. But the other mediators were not informed; nor, critically, were the Israelis.

“Hamas was telling their people, ‘We will have a deal in place tomorrow,’” the first source said.

“All sides were under the assumption the Egyptians provided the same document” that Israel had signed off on and the other mediators, the US and Qatar, were aware of, the person said.

Instead, the second source said, the Egyptians sought to blur the lines between the original framework and Hamas’s response.

A deal was close at hand

A Hamas document obtained by CNN outlining the version of the framework they agreed to included achieving a permanent ceasefire and a “sustainable calm” to be reached in the second phase of the three-stage deal. Israel has been averse to agreeing to discuss an end to the war before Hamas has been defeated and the remaining hostages are released from captivity.

Now, three weeks later, with ceasefire talks stalled, those involved are raising questions about the motives of Egypt, which for years has served as a key intermediary between Israel and Hamas, particularly Hamas members inside Gaza.

Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday if he was concerned about Egypt being involved with future ceasefire talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel was not prepared to agree to terms that would allow Hamas to attack Israel again. “I hope Egypt understands that we can’t agree to something like that.”

The changes came more than a week after a team of Egyptian negotiators flew to Israel in late April to hammer out some of the final details of a framework to provide for the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting and the return of Palestinian prisoners.

Talks had been ongoing for months by then, since the last pause in the fighting fell apart in early December. With Israel agreeing for the most part to go farther than they previously had, there was a creeping sense of optimism taking hold that a deal was close at hand. Israel appeared willing to accept fewer hostages, release more Palestinian prisoners and allow Gazans in the southern part of the enclave to return home to the north unrestricted.

US officials emphasized how “extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel” the framework was, in the words of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

After discovering the Egyptian freelancing, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani informed Israel’s intelligence service Mossad that Egypt had acted alone, two of the sources told CNN.

Al Thani and CIA Director Burns got to work trying to salvage the proposal and re-balance it with elements they knew Israel would require.

“It doesn’t make sense,” a senior Biden administration official said of why Egyptian intelligence would try to push something through without the essential input from the others.

Changes made to appeal to Hamas

After the Egyptians came back from Israel and conferred with Hamas, it became clear the group wouldn’t go along with what Israel was agreeing to, one of the sources said. So the Egyptian official made significant changes to get Hamas to agree.

The day before Hamas made their May 6 public announcement agreeing to the proposal, an Egyptian source told CNN that Egypt had received Hamas’ response and relayed it to the Israeli side.

“Several alternatives and scenarios were proposed to overcome the main point of contention related to ending the war,” said the source.

The agreement’s language about ending the war has been perhaps the thornie*st issue throughout the negotiations. But what Hamas sent back, Netanyahu said, “was very far from Israel’s core demands.”

It wasn’t long before the discussions stalled.

Negotiators, including Burns, returned to Cairo for one more round of indirect talks with Hamas. Israel agreed to send a team, as did Qatar, but neither sent senior officials, an indication that despite earlier optimism a deal would not be as imminent as hoped.

Two days after Hamas’ response on May 6, Burns returned to Washington and sources told CNN the talks were “paused.”

Mediators had hoped that a pause in the fighting would delay or even prevent a serious incursion into Rafah by Israel. Military operations by Israel in Rafah are now expanding despite protest by the Biden administration that they will threaten the hundreds of thousands of civilians who had fled there for safety.

If talks resume, it’s expected that the Qataris would play a bigger role in the next round, the second source familiar with the negotiations said. A re-launch of the negotiations does not appear imminent but if it were to happen Egypt would still be expected to be central given their essential proximity to Hamas, as well as Israel’s preference of Egypt to Qatar.

The discussions would still be expected to center on a broad framework that would include an initial stage in which up to 33 Israeli hostages would be released over at least 6 weeks. Hamas has been pushing to include the bodies of dead hostages in the initial release and also have the first phase flow into a second with no break. Both are positions Israel has resisted.

US officials have argued that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar doesn’t actually want a deal since he may think he’s winning and the greater the Palestinian suffering the more the world turns on Israel. Critics of Netanyahu, including families of Israeli hostages, have accused him of being more concerned with removing Hamas from Gaza than getting his citizens home.

Go deeper ( 5 min. read ) ➝

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) filed an ethics complaint Tuesday accusing the judge presiding over former President Trump’s New York hush money trial of a conflict of interest, Axios reported.

“Acting Judge [Juan] Merchan is in clear violation of section 100.3(E)(1)(d)(iii) of the Rules of Judicial Conduct for the New York State Unified Court System as his family has enriched itself through anti-Trump fundraising mentioning this case directly,” Stefanik told Axios in a statement.

A Trump acquittal would be “detrimental to Democrats, including clients of Judge Merchan’s daughter,” Stefanik said in a letter to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct requesting an investigation.

“If, on the other hand, [Trump] is convicted, such a verdict would provide a fundraising windfall for Democrat clients of Judge Merchan’s daughter.”

Stefanik’s argument is akin to that of the Trump campaign and other Trump allies, who have seized upon Merchan’s daughter, Loren, and her Democratic consulting work to call for Merchan’s recusal.

Merchan last August rejected Trump’s demand that he step aside from the criminal hush money case, citing guidance from the New York court system’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics about his daughter’s employment.

Stefanik, a close Trump ally and one of his most vocal defenders in Congress, has filed five formal complaints against judges and prosecutors involved in cases against Trump.

Those include complaints to the New York Commission on Judicial Conduct, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the New York Bar Association and DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility.

In November of last year, Stefanik previously filed an ethics complaint against Judge Arthur Engoron, the judge presiding over Trump’s civil fraud trial, accusing Engoron of “weaponized lawfare” against Trump.

That complaint was dismissed.

Go deeper ( < 1 min. read ) ➝