THIRD WORLD U$A

Judge OKs federal intervention in struggling water system

Wed, November 30, 2022 


JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department has won a federal judge's approval to carry out a rare intervention to improve the precarious water system in Mississippi’s capital city, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Wednesday, months after the system's partial failure.

The department filed the proposal for intervention on Tuesday and U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate approved it later that day in Mississippi. The move authorized the appointment of a third-party manager to oversee reforms to Jackson’s water system, which nearly collapsed in late summer and continues to struggle.

At a news conference in Washington, Garland said the proposal is necessary to “stabilize the circumstances” in Jackson as soon as possible while city, state and federal officials negotiate a court-enforced consent decree.

“We have to get something done immediately," Garland said. “The water is a problem right now, and we can’t wait until a complaint is resolved.”

For days last August, people waited in lines for water to drink, bathe, cook and flush toilets in Mississippi’s capital as some businesses were temporarily forced to close for lack of potable water. The partial failure of the water system that month followed flooding on the nearby Pearl River, which exacerbated longstanding problems in one of Jackson's two water-treatment plants.

The Justice Department also filed a complaint Tuesday on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency against the city of Jackson, alleging it has failed to provide drinking water that is reliably compliant with the Safe Drinking Water Act. By approving the proposal, Wingate put that litigation on hold for six months.

Garland said the purpose of the complaint is to allow the Justice Department to negotiate a consent decree, which would empower a federal court to force changes to Jackson's water system.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said in a news release Wednesday that the proposal, which the city and the state health department signed, was the culmination of months of collaboration.

"The agreement is another step in a long process and is a collective effort that ensures Jacksonians will not be forgotten, and that our ultimate goal of creating a sustainable water system will be realized," Lumumba said. "We hope that this collaborative effort to repair, replace and modernize Jackson’s water infrastructure will become a national model for other U.S. cities facing similar issues.”

Lumumba also praised the selection of Ted Henifin as the interim third-party manager of the Jackson water system and Water Sewer Business Administration, the city’s water billing department. Henifin, a former public works director in Virginia, has been “instrumental” in lending his expertise to local officials, Lumumba said.

The Justice Department proposal lists 13 projects that Henifin will be in charge of implementing. The projects are meant to improve the water system’s near-term stability, according to a news release. Among the most pressing priorities is a winterization project to make the system less vulnerable. A cold snap in 2021 left tens of thousands of people in Jackson without running water after pipes froze.

Garland said the Justice Department's involvement in the Jackson water crisis is part of the department's strategy for achieving environmental justice in “overburdened and underserved communities.”

“The department’s founding purpose was to protect the civil rights of American citizens. Part of the reason that I wanted to be the attorney general was to work on those problems,” Garland said Wednesday. “This is an example of our using all the resources of the Justice Department on civil rights issues.”

In May, the Justice Department created an environmental justice division, following up on President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign promise to elevate environmental justice issues in an all-of-government approach. The Justice Department said in July that it was investigating illegal dumping in Black and Latino neighborhoods in Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city.

The situation in Jackson required the Justice Department to respond with the “greatest possible urgency," Garland said.

“We realize how horrible the circumstances are there," he said. "It’s hard to imagine not being able to turn on a tap and get safe drinking water.”

___

Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo contributed from Washington. Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/mikergoldberg.

Michael Goldberg, The Associated Press

El Salvador journalists sue spyware maker in US court

Wed, November 30, 2022 

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Journalists from an investigative news outlet in El Salvador sued NSO Group in United States federal court Wednesday after the Israeli firm’s powerful Pegasus spyware was detected on their iPhones.

In January, the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, an internet watchdog, reported that dozens of journalists and human rights defenders in El Salvador had their cellphones repeatedly hacked with the spyware.

Among them were journalists at the El Faro news site.

“These spyware attacks were an attempt to silence our sources and deter us from doing journalism,” Carlos Dada, El Faro’s co-founder and director, said in a statement released by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the El Faro journalists.

“We are filing this lawsuit to defend our right to investigate and report, and to protect journalists around the world in their pursuit of the truth,” Dada said

NSO Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.

NSO, which was blacklisted by the U.S. government last year, says it sells its spyware only to legitimate government law enforcement and intelligence agencies vetted by Israel’s Defense Ministry for use against terrorists and criminals.

In response to the Citizen Lab report in January, NSO said it does not operate the technology once it is given to a client and cannot know the targets of its customers. But it said the use of its tools to monitor activists, dissidents or journalists “is a severe misuse of any technology and goes against the desired use of such critical tools.”

It said it has terminated multiple contracts in the past due to client misuse.

At the time, a spokeswoman for the administration of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said the government was not a client of NSO Group and had no association with Pegasus.

Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney with the Knight First Amendment Institute, said, “The use of spyware to surveil and intimidate journalists poses a truly urgent threat to press freedom.”

The lawsuit alleges NSO Group violated U.S. law by developing spyware and deploying it against the El Faro journalists.

Apple and WhatsApp have pending lawsuits against NSO Group in the same U.S. court in the Northern District of California.

Lava erupting from Hawaiian volcano Mauna Loa threatens critical highway


ABC News
JULIA JACOBO
Wed, November 30, 2022 

The lava flowing out of Mauna Loa, the world's largest active volcano located on Hawaii's Big Island, is inching closer to a main highway, according to officials.

The lava is flowing out of Fissure 3 in the northeast rift zone and is now just 3.6 miles from Saddle Road, a main highway that runs east to west through the center of the island and a route often used to travel between Kona and Hilo, the U.S. Geological Survey tweeted just before 10 a.m. local time.

MORE: A recent history of volcanic eruptions and their impact, as Mauna Loa erupts

Volcanic gas plumes are lofting high and vertically into the atmosphere, according to the Hawaii County Civil Defense.

Fissure 3 remains the dominant source of the lava and is feeding flows that are moving downslope toward the highway, according to the USGS. Around 7 a.m. local time, the lava fountains were reaching up to 82 feet, the USGS confirmed. Lava fountains have also formed at Fissure 4, which is emitting smaller fountains of hot magma and is also flowing downslope toward the road.

PHOTO: A satellite image shows lava flowing from Hawaii's Mauna Loa Volcano in Hawaii, Nov. 28, 2022. (Maxar Technologies via Reuters)

PHOTO: A river of lava flows down from Mauna Loa, Nov. 28, 2022, near Hilo, Hawaii. (Marco Garcia/AP)

Both fissures are feeding flows that are advancing northeast at .08 miles per hour toward the highway.

The flows are approaching a relatively flat area and will begin to slow down, spread out and inflate, according to the Hawaii County Civil Defense. It could take another two days for the lava to reach the highway, officials said.

MORE: Scientists observe 2 new lava flows on Mauna Loa, the world's largest active volcano

However, seismic detection of tremors in the location of the currently active fissures, indicates that magma is still being supplied and activity is likely to continue, according to the Hawaii County Civil Defense.

Emergency managers are beginning to ramp up planning, as the lava threatens the main route to travel east and west on the island, Talmadge Magno, an administrator for the Hawaii County Civil Defense, said on Wednesday. Magno is especially concerned about the "thousands of residents and visitors" who have flocked to the highway to view the eruptions, which are exacerbating the safety hazards, he said.

PHOTO: People pose for a photo in front of lava erupting from Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano, Nov. 30, 2022, near Hilo, Hawaii. (Gregory Bull/AP)

In addition, Pele's hair, or strands of volcanic glass, are falling in the Saddle Road area, officials said.


Dramatic video released by the USGS shows the volcano dispelling a nearly six-story wall of exploding lava.


Ash and lava began spewing out of the volcano on Sunday around 11:30 p.m. and has continued into Wednesday.

This is the first time Mauna Loa has erupted in nearly 40 years. The last time it erupted was in March and April 1984. The volcano is so large it takes up more than half of the Big Island

MORE: Tongan volcano eruption 'largest ever recorded,' New Zealand scientists say

Geologists do not expect any activity outside of the northeast rift zone, and there are still no threats to populated areas, as there are no homes downslope from the northeast rift zone, according to the USGS.

PHOTO: In this long camera exposure, cars drive down Saddle Road as Mauna Loa erupts in the distance, Nov. 28, 2022, near Hilo, Hawaii. (Marco Garcia/AP)

PHOTO: Brian Lichtenstein, takes a photo in front of lava erupting from Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano, Nov. 30, 2022, near Hilo, Hawaii. (Gregory Bull/AP)

Since the eruption is occurring to the northeast, where the peak's slope seaward is more gentle, it would take weeks of a continuous eruption for it to reach Hilo, Michael Poland, research geophysicist for the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory, told ABC News earlier this week.

However, officials have advised residents at possible risk from Mauna Loa lava flows to review preparedness and refer to Hawaii County Civil Defense information for further guidance.

ABC News' Jennifer Watts contributed to this report.

Meteorological winter starts today! Why? Because it's science!

Scott Sutherland
Thu, December 1, 2022 

Meteorological winter starts today! Why? Because it's science!

By the calendar, the First Day of Winter in the northern hemisphere is on December 21. However, for meteorologists and climatologists, the 1st of December marks the start of the season. Here's the story behind Meteorological Winter.

Our calendar year is broken down into four seasons. In the northern hemisphere, we observe spring from March to June, summer from June to September, fall from September to December, and winter from December to March. The exact day on which each season starts and ends varies from year to year. However, it's typically somewhere around the 20th of the month, give or take a day or two.

There's a specific reason for this. Long ago, our ancestors noticed patterns in the motion of the Sun across our skies. In addition to crossing from east to west daily, the Sun's path across the sky also changes. For half of the year, that path gets higher and higher above the horizon until it reaches a maximum. Then, the path gets lower and lower for the other half before reaching a minimum.

This day-by-day change is because Earth is tilted on its axis by approximately 23.4 degrees. So as the planet orbits around the Sun, that tilt causes the relative angle we view the Sun at to change

.

Earth Seasons Orbit New

Since it is defined by the Sun, this cycle is how we define our 'astronomical' seasons.

Spring and Fall start at the Equinoxes. These moments in time occur when an observer standing on Earth's equator sees the Sun directly overhead at noon, lighting both the northern and southern hemispheres equally. The exact season beginning at that time depends on which hemisphere you are in and which direction the Sun is crossing the equator. For example, in March, the Sun crosses the equator towards the north, so this is the beginning of spring for the northern hemisphere and fall for the southern hemisphere.

Summer and Winter begin at the Solstices. These occur at the exact moment when the Sun appears to reach its maximum and minimum height in the sky, respectively. Again, which hemisphere you are in is the deciding factor for which season is beginning at that time. In late June, the Sun reaches its maximum height above the northern hemisphere, marking the start of northern Summer. At that same time, it reaches its minimum height in the sky for the southern hemisphere, denoting the start of southern Winter. In late December, it's the reverse: the Sun is at its maximum height in the southern hemisphere, marking the beginning of Summer there, while Winter starts in the northern hemisphere.

NASA satellite views of equinoxes and solstices

These satellite views of Earth show the start of the four seasons. From left to right, in the northern hemisphere, there is summer, fall, winter, and spring. Credit: NASA

Using astronomical timing to define our seasons has worked for a long time, so there's no need to change that now.

However, these dates do not necessarily line up with our seasonal weather and climate. Also, they definitely don't mesh well with how we keep records of weather conditions throughout the year.

Shifting alignment

When keeping weather records, consistency is essential. Daily, weekly, monthly, and even yearly records maintain this consistency since these time periods are always the same (except for the occasional leap year). That way, atmospheric scientists can easily make comparisons, find extremes, and track trends.

Comparing seasons and seasonal trends is important too. However, as astronomical seasons are anything but consistent, they throw an added complication into the process.

Due to slight changes in the timing of Earth's orbit and rotation, the equinoxes and solstices change from year to year. This changes the exact day and time each season starts and ends. As a result, the lengths of the seasons can vary.

For example, Spring of 2022 began on March 20 at 11:33 a.m. EDT and ended on June 21 at 5:13 a.m. EDT. In 2023, the season starts on March 20 at 5:24 p.m. EDT and ends on June 21 at 10:57 a.m. EDT. In 2024, the days will change, to March 19 at 11:09 p.m. EDT, and June 20, at 4:50 p.m. EDT.

Solargraph-Toronto-Canada-2-2016-06-20-fine-art

This 'solargraph' image was produced by leaving a pinhole camera aimed at the Toronto skyline for 113 days in 2016. The image captures the Sun's path across the sky for each day from February 28 to June 20. Credit: Bret Culp (Used with permission)

It's not that comparisons can't be made. These days, computers can easily tally all the weather records between the precise start and end times of any astronomical season. Even so, applying adjustments and corrections to make the comparisons more accurate would be bothersome.

However, over 200 years ago, when the first meteorological network was set up (Societas Meteorologica Palatina), such a task would have been far more cumbersome and time-consuming.

To align the seasons better with how meteorological records were kept, meteorological seasons were created.

Each meteorological season is still three months long. Unlike astronomical seasons, though, they start and end on the exact same dates from year to year. Also, they align precisely with our calendar months.

Meteorological spring begins on the 1st of March. Meteorological summer starts on the 1st of June. Meteorological fall begins on the 1st of September. Meteorological winter starts on the 1st of December.
Does it make that much difference?

Meteorological seasons are useful for more than just bringing consistency to seasonal comparisons. As it turns out, they are often well-timed to capture the most 'representative' weather of each season.

Meteorological-Winter-Graph-Canada

As the graph above shows, while some of these Canadian cities experience much colder winters than others, nearly all follow a similar temperature trend throughout the season.

With the meteorological and astronomical seasons plotted on the graph, meteorological winter captures the coldest part of that temperature trend far better than its astronomical counterpart.

(Thumbnail image courtesy Rachelle Mack/UGC)

'Pure Nazism': Observers shocked by Kanye West's pro-Hitler rant on InfoWars

Brad Reed
December 01, 2022

BIPOLAR Kanye West AKA YE

Rapper Kanye West drew shocked reactions on Thursday when he went on a pro-Hitler rant during an appearance on Alex Jones' InfoWars show.

Even though West has made multiple baldly anti-Semitic remarks in the past, he seemed to take even Alex Jones aback when he said that he sees "good things about Hitler" and encouraged people to stop demonizing Nazis.

Many observers posted shocked reactions on Twitter and warned that West's rants should not be dismissed as just another celebrity meltdown.

"We're all gawking at Kanye saying he sees 'good things about Hitler' but I can't escape the absolute dread that people who know no better and look up to this man and stumble upon this interview will be moved, even on the margins, by him," wrote Politico reporter Sam Stein. "This is not a clown show. It's dangerous."

NBC News reporter Ben Collins made a similar argument and warned about the dangers of West having the ears of former President Donald Trump, who is currently the frontrunner to be the Republican Party's nominee in 2024.

"Honestly I'm not sure what to do here," he wrote. "I cannot tell you how unbelievably antisemitic this Kanye West Infowars interview is. This is straight up, old fashioned Naziism being mainstreamed from celebrities who are in the ear of the last U.S. president."

Jeet Heer, a progressive journalist at The Nation, also noticed that West's rant went beyond his previous stated hatred of Jews and into something even darker.

"Kanye's new interview is well beyond even antisemitism," he wrote. "It's pure Nazism."

This sentiment was echoed by Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who has regularly called on more lawmakers to speak out against the mainstreaming of anti-Semitism.

"This is Nazism," he wrote. "When are we going to say ENOUGH?"

And Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill said that people needed to stop seeing West as a man struggling with mental illness and to understand that he has simply become an advocate of evil.

"Ye is a terrible person," he wrote. "He’s not misunderstood. This isn’t just mental illness. He's trash."

Kanye West Tells Alex Jones: ‘I Like Hitler’

Will Sommer
Thu, December 1, 2022 

Infowars

Ye’s appearance on far-right conspiracy-theory outlet InfoWars quickly turned into a chance to preach antisemitic hatred on Thursday, as the star formerly known as Kanye West praised Adolf Hitler within the first thirty minutes of the broadcast.

Ye, whose face was entirely hidden behind a black mask, began praising the genocidal German dictator soon after the broadcast began. Ye began to commend Hitler after InfoWars host Alex Jones tried to defend the rapper’s recent streak of antisemitic statements.

“You’re not Hitler,” Jones said. “You're not a Nazi.”

“Well, I see good things about Hitler,” Ye said, later adding: “Every human being has value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.”

Kanye West Storms Out of Interview After Tim Pool Lightly Defends Jews

Jones repeatedly tried to steer Ye away from supporting Hitler. But Ye, who dined at Mar-a-Lago with Donald Trump last week, insisted on complimenting the murderous regime behind the Holocaust.

“They did good things too,” Ye said. “We’ve got to stop dissing the Nazis all the time.”

Ye’s appearance featured plenty of other antisemitic remarks and attacks on Jewish people, with Jones claiming there is a “Jewish mafia” and that Jewish people control Hollywood. Ye held up an orange net and a bottle of Yoo-hoo chocolate drink, which he claimed represented Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Tucker Carlson Once Mocked Conspiracy Theories, Said ‘Alex Jones Freaks Me Out’

The longtime prime minister, along with Mossad, an Israeli intelligence agency, want to take Ye’s children away, the rapper bizarrely claimed.

Ye appeared on InfoWars alongside his campaign aide Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist leader who participated in the 2017 Charlottesville rally. Ye repeatedly prompted Fuentes to launch antisemitic attacks, asking the avowed white supremacist whether Jews support pedophilia.

Trump provoked criticism last week for dining at his Mar-a-Lago resort with Fuentes, who joined Ye’s entourage at the meal.

Jones appeared to be caught off-guard by the vitriol of Ye’s antisemitic remarks, at one point questioning whether Ye was even behind the mask.

“I don't like Nazis,” Jones said.

“I like Hitler,” Ye replied.

Afro-Germans during the Holocaust

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org › content › article › afr...

Jan 27, 2022 — Read about the Nazi persecution of Afro-Germans, as well as the experiences of African Americans in Nazi Germany.

Black people - Holocaust Memorial Day Trust

https://www.hmd.org.uk › nazi-persecution › black-peo...

The Nazis viewed them as a threat to the purity of the Germanic race. Nazi propaganda posters, showing friendship across racial groups, referred to 'a loss of ...

Persecution of black people in Nazi Germany - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Persecution_of_black_...

While black people in Nazi Germany were never subject to an organized mass extermination program, as in the cases of Jews, homosexuals, Romani, and Slavs, ...

‎Background · ‎Rhineland sterilisation program · ‎Civilian life · ‎In the armed forces

Being black in Nazi Germany - BBC News

https://www.bbc.com › news › world-africa-48273570

May 22, 2019 — A new film explores the little-known story of Germany's mixed-race population in the 1930s and 1940s.

Black people were Hitler's victims too – that must not be ...

https://www.theguardian.com › commentisfree › jan › b...

Jan 28, 2022 — Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. On this day we remember 6 million Jewish people murdered by the Nazis and the millions of people, including ...

The Erasure of People of African Descent in Nazi Germany

https://www.aaihs.org › the-erasure-of-people-of-africa...

Apr 18, 2017 — Afro-German during the Third Reich. Photo: Propaganda-Pravada. Recently, Donald Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer made some peculiar and ...

Black Nazis! A Study Of Racial Ambivalence In ... - Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com › book › show

A Study Of Racial Ambivalence In Nazi Germany's Military Establishment: Non German Ethnic Minority And Foreign Volunteers, Conscripts, Laborers And Po Ws, 1940 ...

How American Racism Influenced Hitler | The New Yorker

https://www.newyorker.com › Magazine › Adolf Hitler

Apr 30, 2018 — Why do these books pile up in such unreadable numbers? This may seem a perverse question. The Holocaust is the greatest crime in history, one ..

ALT CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

What's being done about 'murder-for-hire' sites on the dark web, and how dangerous are they?

The latest episode of the Sky News Daily podcast looks at "murder-for-hire" websites, how dangerous they are, and what is being done about them.

Tom Gillespie
News reporter @TomGillespie1
Monday 28 November 2022 

At some point in our lives most of us have done something to upset someone.

That person might have responded by politely asking you not to do it again, or they may have decided life is too short and simply let it go.

If you're lucky they won't have responded by paying a hitman thousands of pounds to have you killed.

Alexis was 19 when she received a call from the police in her hometown in the United States in 2018.

The officer told her to come to the station immediately for a conversation that would change her life forever.

"They asked if I had p****d anyone off and I said 'no, I don't think so'... then they said someone had paid a couple of grand to put a hit out on me."

Alexis, whose surname we are not reporting to protect her identity, was understandably left wondering why somebody would want to have her killed, and on top of that - who did she know that had access to a hitman?

However, it turns out whoever it was didn't need to go to the effort of making contacts in the mafia or violent street gangs.

Finding a hitman was apparently much easier than that.




This person had simply fired up their laptop and accessed a dangerous online space where criminals can remain anonymous as they operate outside the law.

It is known as the "dark web".

The hidden underbelly of the internet allows people to buy and sell drugs and weapons, watch illegal pornography and even hire hackers to target individuals or businesses.

There is also a disturbing amount of apparent "murder-for-hire" sites offering hitman services in exchange for cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin.

One site claims to have 'thousands of satisfied customers'

An anonymous dark web user had logged on to a site called Camorra Hitman and made a Bitcoin transaction worth $5,770 (around £4,800) to have Alexis kidnapped and murdered.

Camorra Hitman is no longer running but dozens of sites claiming to offer the same services are still operating on the dark web.

'Contract murder from $15,000'

Sky News contacted several of these websites to see if they would put someone forward for interview to discuss their operations.

None of the websites responded.

The order form from one of the sites - which asks customers for the name and address of the 'target'

A couple of the sites feature images of people who appear to have been killed in knife attacks or road accidents. It's not clear if the photographs are real or genuinely linked to the services the websites claim to offer.

One site, which we have chosen not to name, claims to offer "contract murder" from $15,000 (£12,600) and "beatings" from $2,000 (£1,600).

Dark web users provide personal details of people they want killed

Chris Monteiro is a UK-based hacker and dark web vigilante who gains access to transactions between buyers and sellers on these sites.

He then passes the information on to law enforcement agencies in the UK and abroad.

In fact, it was Mr Monteiro who tipped off police in the United States about the hit on Alexis.

"Over several years I have encountered thousands of legitimate murder plots," he said.

"People are going to these sites and providing details of the person they want killed, such as where they work, where they live and how much they're willing to pay."

Chris Monteiro says he has uncovered thousands of legitimate murder plots on the dark web

'I had a knife on me'

However, over the years Mr Monteiro discovered the websites he had been hacking into were not what they seemed to be.

The ones he had accessed were not real - and all investigations into "murder-for-hire" websites have found them to be fake.

And thankfully for Alexis, this includes the one used by her would-be perpetrator.

But whether the site was real or not, there was still someone out there who had used it with the intention of ending her life.

"I was a little scared at first... I had pepper spray on me. I had a knife on me. I had a plank of wood in my car in case someone attacked me. So life was very different."

Read more about the dark web:
Global dark web drug network properties raided in North East and Surrey
Dark web crackdown on opioid traffickers triggers 179 arrests across the world

Law enforcement officials 'not doing enough'

The police passed the investigation on to the FBI who closed her case in 2019 and told her the "United States Attorney's Office has declined to prosecute".

Whoever did try and have Alexis killed is still living freely today.

Both Alexis and Mr Monteiro accuse law enforcement of doing little to resolve the problem around these sites.

When asked what they are doing to tackle the issue, the UK's National Crime Agency told the Sky News Daily podcast in a statement: "The NCA and its partners around the world work closely to remove criminal sites, and frequently identify and bring to account individuals committing serious and organised crime on the dark web - ranging from sharing indecent images of children to supplying class A drugs."

Regardless of the legitimacy of the "murder-for-hire" websites, it doesn't mean dangerous people aren't paying money to them with the intention of having people killed.

When it comes to her own murder-for-hire story, Alexis says she is now getting on with her life.

"I'm trying to really grow as a person... at this point, it's better to just move on, not to dwell on it and drag myself down."

Trump’s dinner with a Holocaust denier draws rare criticism from ZOA

Republican Jewish Coalition, Zionist Organization of America, and commentator Ben Shapiro blast Trump over dinner with antisemites.

Ron Kampeas, JTA
Nov 28, 2022, 

Two weeks after feting Donald Trump as America’s most pro-Israel president ever, the Zionist Organization of America had harsh words for the man who aspires to return to the White House.

“ZOA deplores the fact that President Trump had a friendly dinner with such vile antisemites,” ZOA said Sunday in a news release. “His dining with Jew-haters helps legitimize and mainstream antisemitism and must be condemned by everyone.”

The group was referring to Trump’s dinner last week with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West who came out as an antisemite in recent weeks, and Nick Fuentes, the right-wing provocateur and Holocaust denier. Trump hosted the pair at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, on Tuesday.

Reaction to the dinner was initially muted in the days before Thanksgiving, but over the long weekend, a host of figures denounced Trump for meeting with the two men, though some did so more strongly or explicitly than others. Among Jews, the criticism has come not only from Trump’s longtime detractors but from some of his biggest fans.

“To my friend Donald Trump, you are better than this,” David Friedman, Trump’s ambassador to Israel, said Friday on Twitter. “Even a social visit from an antisemite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable.”

Friedman is rarely anything but effusive in praising Trump, whom he once said would join the “small cadre of Israeli heroes” for moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights and exiting the Iran nuclear deal, among other measures. But on Friday, his tone was more pleading as he tweeted to Trump: “I urge you to throw those bums out, disavow them and relegate them to the dustbin of history where they belong.”

Trump for his part said in statements on his Truth Social social media site that he hoped to assist Ye, whom he described as “troubled,” and that he did not know who Fuentes was. (Ye said he had come to Mar-a-Lago to ask Trump to be his running mate in his own nascent campaign.)

“We got along great, he expressed no antisemitism and I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on ‘Tucker Carlson,'” Trump said of Ye. “Why wouldn’t I agree to meet? Also, I didn’t know Nick Fuentes.”

Fuentes, who routinely rails against Jews on his livestream, also attended the 2017 far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

But even those who took Trump at his word that he did not previously know Fuentes said that was little excuse for dining with him.

“A good way not to accidentally dine with a vile racist and anti-Semite you don’t know is not to dine with a vile racist and anti-Semite you do know,” the Jewish right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro tweeted on Sunday. (Shapiro’s tweet kicked off a heated exchange with Ye, who recently returned to Twitter as the social media platform’s new owner, Elon Musk, restores many accounts that were suspended for violating the site’s old rules, including Trump’s.)

Reaction to the dinner kept Trump in the spotlight over the course of a holiday weekend, a double-edged sword for the first Republican to declare a 2024 presidential campaign. Trump’s rise was fueled by nonstop media coverage, including of seeming misdeeds that did not doom him with his supporters. Still, one Trump advisor told NBC News that the event was a “f—ing nightmare” for the campaign, which has gotten off to a rocky start.

Also condemning the meeting were Jewish organizations that have not hesitated to criticize Trump’s flirtation with extremists in the past, including the American Jewish Committee, the Reform movement of Judaism and the Anti-Defamation League.

The Biden White House also condemned the incident. “Bigotry, hate, and anti-Semitism have absolutely no place in America, including at Mar-a-Lago,” its statement said. ”Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it must be forcefully condemned.” (Asked to comment on Trump saying he didn’t know Fuentes, Biden himself told a reporter, “You don’t want to hear what I think.”)

The White House’s statement did not name Trump, nor did statements from many Republicans, including the Republican Jewish Coalition, at whose annual conference Trump spoke last week. The group did not initiate a statement, but, in response to reporters’ queries, released one.

“We strongly condemn the virulent antisemitism of Kanye West and Nick Fuentes and call on all political leaders to reject their messages of hate and refuse to meet with them,” said the statement, first solicited by The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman. The RJC and its CEO, Matt Brooks, retweeted Haberman.

Why the RJC would not name Trump drew follow-up questions from reporters, including Haberman, as well as a barrage of criticism on social media.

Brooks, evidently stung, called such queries “dumb and short-sighted” on Sunday morning and said on Twitter by way of explanation, “We didn’t mention Trump in our RJC statement even though it’s obviously in response to his meeting because we wanted it to be a warning to ALL Republicans. Duh!”

Max Miller, a Jewish Republican just elected to Congress from Ohio, and a former wingman for Trump, also did not name Trump and instead appealed to Ye, who at least until recently had become cherished on the Right as a black Christian conservative, to make a course correction.

“Nick Fuentes is unquestionably an anti-Semite and a Holocaust denier. His brand of hate has no place in our public discourse,” Miller said on Twitter. Ye “doesn’t need to keep walking this path. Letting people like Nick Fuentes into his life is a mistake.”

Prominent Jewish Republicans not making statements included David Kustoff, a Tennessee Jewish Republican congressman; Jason Greenblatt, once a top Middle East adviser to Trump; and Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, who were both top advisers to Trump when he was president. A spokesman for Kushner did not reply to a request for comment.

Lee Zeldin, the Jewish Republican New York congressman seen as having a future in the GOP leadership after performing more strongly than expected in a failed bid to be elected governor of a Democratic state, also did not issue a statement, and his spokesman did not reply to a request for comment. Zeldin has otherwise been outspoken on Jewish issues in Congress and co-chairs the U.S. House of Representatives Black-Jewish caucus.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who is the only black Republican in the Senate and who co-chairs its Black-Jewish caucus, also had not commented as of Sunday night.

Other Republican leaders denounced extremism but did not call out Trump by name. Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman known for her closeness to the former president, like the RJC, replied only when asked by a reporter — in her case, from Bloomberg — and did not name Trump.

“As I had repeatedly said, white supremacy, neo-Nazism, hate speech, and bigotry are disgusting and do not have a home in the Republican Party,” McDaniel said.

Meanwhile, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned antisemitism — but without mentioning Trump, Fuentes, Ye or any of the forms of antisemitism they have expressed. Instead, Pompeo spoke of his own role in undermining the boycott Israel movement — a cause that none of the men who dined together has embraced.

“Anti-Semitism is a cancer. As Secretary, I fought to ban funding for anti-Semitic groups that pushed BDS,” Pompeo said on Twitter. “We stand with the Jewish people in the fight against the world’s oldest bigotry.”

Trump was the ghost in the Republican machine last weekend at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference in Las Vegas: the declared candidate who party leaders believe still commands the unswerving loyalty of at least a third of the base. With his capacity for lashing out at critics, taking on Trump directly is seen as a fool’s game by many in the party.

A handful of Republicans already known for their open criticism of Trump, including Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, did denounce him by name.

“This is just awful, unacceptable conduct from anyone, but most particularly from a former President and current candidate,” Christie tweeted on Friday.