[Just The News] In the same day watchdog Americans for Public Trust filed a complaint with Missouri’s Attorney General against the ACLU Foundation for allegedly violating the state’s Foreign Influence in Ballot Measures Act, the ACLU Foundation contributed $2 million to a ballot measure committee although it receives foreign donations itself.
Executive director of Americans for Public Trust Caitilin Sutherland told The Center Square that "as the recipient of millions in foreign money, ACLU Foundation is prohibited from spending in ballot issue campaigns in Missouri."
"Yet, in reckless disregard for Missouri’s law, the foundation took foreign money and then funneled half a million dollars to Stop the Ban" in March 2026, Sutherland said.
Sutherland said "the revelation that the ACLU Foundation continues to funnel foreign money into Missouri the very same day we filed a complaint for their apparent violations demonstrates a brazen and reckless disregard for the law."
"Missouri’s law is clear: foreign money is banned from directly or indirectly influencing ballot measure campaigns," Sutherland said.
"We urge Attorney General Hanaway to immediately seek an injunction as she investigates, to ensure foreign money does not taint Missouri's ballot process," Sutherland said.
"Given the substantial evidence in our complaint, and Attorney General Hanaway’s work to end foreign interference in Missouri, we have full confidence the state will take swift action against both organizations," Sutherland said.
"This is yet another illustration of why every state should have laws on the books banning foreign money in ballot campaigns," Sutherland said.
Is it actually "Foreign" funding, or is it funding laundered through countries to make it appear to have Non-US origins ?
#2
The ACLU once was once a justified and feared legal arm of the US Bill of Right, a much needed resource.
But over the years it has become more of a radical protection, LawFare group, and less American Constitution focused group.
It has clearly strayed too much from its founding cause and agenda. Since around the 70's it has become more political and less US Constitution Justice focused in its legal efforts.
Maybe, that's why today, its also called
American Criminal Liberties Union
[FoxNews] Judge cited law enforcement's mishandling of dash-camera SD card evidence from Aaron Spencer's truck
An Arkansas judge has dismissed the murder charges against a local sheriff candidate and Army veteran accused of gunning down a man who allegedly sexually assaulted his teenage daughter.
Aaron Spencer was initially charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 67-year-old Michael Fosler in Lonoke County in October 2024.
According to court records obtained by Fox News Digital, Special Circuit Court Judge Ralph Wilson Jr. dismissed the charges against Spencer on Thursday.
Prosecutors previously alleged Spencer discovered Fosler alone with his teenage daughter inside Fosler’s pickup truck in the wee hours of the night on Oct. 8, 2024. Authorities said Spencer allegedly forced the vehicle off the road before calling 911 to report he had shot the 67-year-old.
The judge cited law enforcement’s mishandling of dash-camera and SD card evidence from Spencer’s truck, adding a dismissal is "an extraordinary and extreme remedy" in any criminal case.
"However, based on the totality of the circumstances and the unique, specific, and particular facts and circumstances of this case, the Court finds that conduct by law enforcement was so egregious that dismissal of this case is warranted," the judge wrote.
Spencer’s defense team argued that law enforcement lost the SD card possibly containing footage of the altercation, and did not provide documentation regarding when the item went missing or details surrounding its disappearance.
The judge ruled that "the loss or destruction of the internal SD memory card of the dash camera has adversely impaired the Defendant's ability to defend himself pursuant to these defenses, and thus his right to a fair trial," according to court documents.
Fosler had previously been charged with "numerous sexual offenses" against Spencer’s teenage daughter and was out on bond at the time of the shooting, court records indicated.
In February, Spencer emerged as the winner of the Republican primary for Lonoke County sheriff after defeating the incumbent, in which he vowed to reform the county’s law enforcement agency.
"Through my own fight for justice, I have seen firsthand the failures in law enforcement and in our circuit court," Spencer said in a previous campaign video. "And I refuse to stand by while others face these same failures."
While Spencer admitted to gunning down Fosler, he pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. The case was set to go to trial on June 22.
[LI] Meanwhile, cruisers being isolated after hantavirus exposures return home and the first Clade 1 monkeypox case is reported in Connecticut.
There have been some intriguing developments in several infectious disease stories recently covered at Legal Insurrection.
In terms of the current Ebola outbreak, there are roughly 1,000+ suspected and confirmed cases and around 230–240 deaths across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda involving the Bundibugyo strain, with transmission still not fully contained.
As a reminder, the Bundibugyo strain has more than 30% genetic divergence from other orthoebolaviruses, including Zaire. This means that the vaccines and monoclonal therapies that have been developed to battle this hemorrhagic disease do not work, which is complicating efforts to contain this outbreak.
Another challenge is the community in which the outbreak is occurring. A burial team transporting the bodies of deceased Ebola patients was attacked en route. Meanwhile, 11 Ebola patients fled isolation.
This is beyond serious. Every image coming out of the Congo confirms why it's spreading. Few are complying with even basic practices for any disease, much less one with a 50-90% mortality rate. The attacks on hospitals are suicide missions. https://t.co/GCr245PYnb
Interestingly, Ebola has made its way to the region of the DRC controlled by Islamic State militants.
A rare strain of Ebola has reached a corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo controlled by Islamic State militants, a place too dangerous for health workers fighting to stop the deadly virus.
The Bundibugyo strain has killed one person in the militant-controlled territory of Mambasa, which is some 100 miles from the outbreak’s epicenter in a gold-mining town of Mongbwalu. Mambasa is the stronghold of the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamic State affiliate conducting an insurgency against Congolese and Ugandan troops. Their ISIS designation is ISCAP, ISIS in the Central Africa Province.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] A strong and prolonged magnetic storm of category G3 will begin on Earth on the evening of June 4. This was reported by the Solar Astronomy Laboratory of the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
“The onset of a strong and prolonged magnetic storm of category G3 is expected this evening as a result of the arrival of several clouds of plasma ejected [on June 3] by the Sun in the direction of the Earth as a result of a series of strong flares,” the scientists stated.
Experts explained that, despite the nearly 10-hour difference between the first and last ejections, the magnetic storm will be continuous. According to their calculations, later streams of solar material will overtake the previously ejected plasma clouds on their way to Earth, forming a single structure approximately 200 million km long.
"Given the size and direction of the ejected gas cloud, the possibility of avoiding an encounter with it is practically non-existent, but in practice, such cases have occurred," the scientists added.
On June 3, a " black explosion " occurred on the Sun following powerful solar flares. The Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences explained that the flare dispersed a cloud of neutral hydrogen in the solar corona, blocking some of the radiation and creating a "black blanket" effect on the star's surface.
Earlier, the Earth was hit by a magnetic storm. Initially, its intensity was G2, classified as moderate. Afterward, its strength began to wane.
[Breitbart] Charges weren’t laid against the Bathurst breeder but a stern lecture was delivered to dissuade him from ever again venturing into the illicit cockroach trade.
Some heroes are more flawed than others, but none are perfect. That’s ok — he stepped forward when it mattered, and willingly risked all to do the right thing.
[IsraelTimes] The Sydney man credited with saving dozens of lives during December’s deadly mass shooting on a Hanukkah gathering on Bondi Beach has been charged with assaulting his father in March this year, local media and police say.
Ahmed al Ahmed was widely praised as a hero for wresting a gun from one of the attackers during the antisemitic assault, in which 15 people were killed.
Local media including national broadcaster ABC said Ahmed, 44, had been charged after allegedly assaulting his father.
Asked to confirm the reporting, New South Wales police tell AFP: “On Sunday 15 March 2026 police received a report of an alleged assault at a home in Bankstown on Monday 9 March 2026.”
They add that a 44-year-old man had then been charged this week with assault and stalking.
He will face court on June 29, police say.
Australian police as a rule do not identify individuals charged with crimes to the media.
Ahmed, who was shot during the Bondi Beach attack, tells ABC that the alleged incident was “fake information… it’s not true at all.”
“I don’t have any information at all,” he is quoted as saying.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Fedot Streletsky
[REGNUM] On June 3, the UN General Assembly once again elected new non-permanent members of the Security Council for 2027–2028. Two Western European countries were to receive one mandate each, and countries from Africa, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region were to receive one mandate each.
To many, the vote came as a surprise, with Germany losing no seats. Germany had previously participated in the elections six times, all six times successfully. Furthermore, it had repeatedly indicated its intention to seek permanent membership. This, however, is quite problematic.
It all comes down to the UN Charter, written back in 1945 by the countries that won World War II: the USSR, the USA, China, Great Britain, and France. According to the document, they are permanent—that is, essentially eternal—members of the Security Council. The USSR's place, of course, is now rightfully occupied by Russia.
If anyone were to amend the Charter (say, to expand the number of permanent members of the Security Council), it would first need to be approved by two-thirds of the General Assembly and then ratified by all permanent members of the Council. Under current circumstances, this is, of course, unlikely.
Nevertheless, attempts in this direction are regularly observed, and from various sides. In particular, just a year ago, UN Secretary-General António Guterres himself called for reform of the Security Council, pointing out that it currently "corresponds to the world of 1945, and this creates not only a problem of legitimacy but also a problem of effectiveness."
The need for reform is also supported by Vladimir Putin, who said in an interview that Russia and China are advocating “for giving the Security Council a more democratic character by including states from Asia, Africa, and Latin America in its membership.”
Nevertheless, the Security Council still has 15 members, ten of which are non-permanent. And Germany, whenever it has applied for a seat, has always been one of those ten. Until now. Instead, Western European mandates have now gone to Portugal and Austria, who won by significant margins: 134 and 131 votes, respectively, against Germany's 104. The required minimum is 127 votes.
The remaining spots went to Kyrgyzstan (for the first time in history), as well as Zimbabwe and Trinidad and Tobago. In short, no matter how you look at it, it's a diplomatic failure. Against this backdrop, official Berlin is trying its best to maintain its dignity. But, frankly, it's not going well.
Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz responded to the incident succinctly and tersely, acknowledging the failure and congratulating Portugal and Austria. "This outcome does not change the tasks we face at the United Nations. Germany will continue to be a reliable pillar of the multilateral system," he added.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul was much more expressive in his commentary, calling the incident a "bitter defeat." He then offered several theories about why this happened.
Moreover, they all boil down to one thesis, formulated by him as follows: "We have always taken a clear position on certain issues, and this position is not shared by all member states," Wadephul lamented. What this position is and who specifically does not share it is not difficult to guess, and yet a detailed explanation immediately followed.
First, it turns out that the whole point is that Germany "firmly supports Ukraine." That's why Russia allegedly doesn't want to see it at the negotiating table and has allegedly waged a covert campaign against it. This, according to Wadephul, "is no secret." But he, of course, didn't provide any concrete evidence.
Secondly, Germany is no less staunch in its support for Israel. Even more so, it "always takes responsibility for it in the Middle East conflict," whatever that means. And this fact, the German Foreign Minister believes, also cost Germany votes.
There's another reason: the Germans entered the election lobbying campaign too late. As a result, Germany was barred from the UN Security Council by Russia, unnamed anti-Semites, and unpunctuality. That's according to Johann Wadephul.
Adis Akhmetović, the SPD's foreign policy spokesman in the Bundestag, holds a slightly different view, stating that the vote results reflect "how Germany is currently perceived internationally." He did not elaborate on why (or how) Germany is perceived internationally.
However, Michael Lüders, deputy chairman of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance for Reason and Justice, has a clear, well-founded opinion on the matter. "The federal government has discredited us internationally with its one-sided foreign policy," he stated unequivocally, calling on Johann Wadephul to resign. "The world champion of morality must take a seat on the podium for global politics. This is actually grounds for the resignation of the Foreign Minister," Lüders said.
Meanwhile, Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-chair Alice Weidel placed the blame squarely on Friedrich Merz. "One disgrace follows another: if at the beginning of his chancellorship Merz wanted to return our country to the international arena, now Germany is left without a seat on the UN Security Council," she slammed the current prime minister on social media.
Apart from the fact that for Germany, the fourth-largest donor to the UN and still Europe's economic leader, not getting into the Security Council is an unprecedented and therefore particularly painful fiasco, undermining the country's image as one of the most influential world powers, what consequences can be expected from this defeat?
First of all, without a seat on the Security Council, Berlin is losing a key platform for influencing international crises in the coming years, which could lead to de facto diplomatic isolation. In this context, the fact that Annalena Baerbock, former German Foreign Minister, is presiding over the 80th session of the UN General Assembly adds a particular irony to the situation. Incidentally, it's quite possible that she played a significant role in this development.
Moreover, this will undoubtedly exacerbate the already rapidly brewing domestic political crisis, which is driven by multiple factors: economic stagnation, disagreements within the ruling coalition, the collapse of migration policy, and so on. As a result, the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) could further strengthen its already strong position. This, coupled with all of the above, opens up the most unpredictable prospects, including a restructuring of the party system.
Finally, Germany will have reason to more fundamentally reassess its foreign policy priorities. It's quite possible that the Germans will have to fundamentally alter their diplomatic strategy—toward seeking new allies outside the collective West, a complete departure from so-called "values" diplomacy, and a reorientation toward closer and more fruitful cooperation with the Global South.
And for the country's current leadership, this is akin to a nightmare come true, as evidenced by Merz's recent humiliating trips to China and the Middle East.
#3
Anyone who gets elected by the third world sh*hole cartel that calls itself the UN is doing something wrong.
If Merz was smart he'd reduce UN contributions to the legal minimum and cancel all development aid, making monetary lemonade out of the UN's rejection lemon.
[FoxNews] Pauken was paid more than $100K and made repeated trips from China to the U.S. to gather intelligence on American targets
An American citizen admitted to working on behalf of Chinese intelligence operatives for years, helping gather information on U.S. targets and attempting to penetrate American political circles, according to federal authorities.
Thomas Weir Pauken II, 50, pleaded guilty Thursday to acting inside the U.S. as an agent of the People's Republic of China without notifying the attorney general, the Department of Justice announced.
The guilty plea prompted a stark warning from the FBI, which said the case demonstrates how far the Chinese Communist Party is willing to go to collect intelligence and influence activities inside the U.S.
"By his own admission, not only did Thomas Pauken attempt to infiltrate U.S. political circles at the direction of China's Ministry of State Security, but he gathered intelligence on his American targets and reported it back to his Chinese intelligence handlers," FBI Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky said.
Federal prosecutors said Pauken maintained relationships with multiple China-based contacts who tasked him with identifying and cultivating people in the United States capable of providing information of interest to Chinese intelligence services.
According to court filings, Pauken acted as an intermediary between those contacts and individuals in the U.S., facilitating communications and relaying information gathered from his targets.
Authorities allege he was compensated more than $100,000 for his efforts and made repeated trips from China to the U.S. over several years as part of the operation.
Prosecutors also said Pauken prepared research and reporting for other China-based contacts he believed were connected to the Chinese government.
In addition, investigators said he provided information to a group based in Wuhan that sought insights into American technology and the Justice Department and was interested in locating expertise that could support cyber operations.
Pauken is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 1. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison, though his final sentence will be determined by a judge.
[DM] Dozens of people died of thirst in the Sahara desert after their truck transporting them back from a religious festival broke down.
Authorities said last night that 49 people were returning from Mali where they had been taking part in Eid celebrations when their vehicle got stuck in an isolated Sahara desert district in Niger with no signal.
It was reported that the truck had been carrying around a hundred passengers from Niger and it was believed that the driver had become lost, finally stopping after several days of travel.
Trapped in 'the heart of a hostile environment', the truck was unable to restart and passengers began dying of dehydration after they emptied their water barrels.
The region is said to be an area where temperatures are extreme and without enough supplies makes 'survival extremely difficult'.
Two people, named by local paper Actuniger as Mohamed Bachir Souley and Issa Omar, managed to walk more than 50 kilometres on foot to a nearby water source.
From there, they travelled onwards to Assamaka - a main crossing point between Niger and Algeria but also close to the Mali frontier.
Once the pair reached the crossing, they alerted authorities to the tragedy that had unfolded in the desert.
**Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics**, introduced in his 1942 short story *Runaround*, are a set of hierarchical rules designed to govern robot behavior:
1. **First Law**: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. **Second Law**: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. **Third Law**: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Asimov later added a **Zeroth Law** (*"A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm"*) which supersedes the original three. While originally a fictional device to explore logical constraints, these laws remain a foundational reference in real-world AI ethics and robotics safety discussions.
#7
^ Sure, but if we just put a fusion reactor, datacenter, and AI-powered molecular-scale food replicator in every neighborhood, we can get that down to fifteen minutes!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/05/2026 19:00 Comments ||
Top||
#9
^1
Skid makes a good point.
Back at the time of the Concord there was no zoom. There were electronic protocols for finance but they were still with defects. Crucial transactions had to be handled in person. That is still true but for a much smaller number of transactions. I really don't see the point of 1200 mph air travel that costs 5-10 times as much as 600 mph air travel.
BTW, the same argument is valid in opposing new high speed rail.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
06/05/2026 19:41 Comments ||
Top||
#10
told by Indian co-workers that London has the best Indian food on the planet.
And the best Chinese is probably in NYC or LA. Old Home recipes, imported spices, and Western proteins and produce. Dear friends were expats in Beijing and Guangzhou; they reported that even in the big cities where the foreigners live, the meat and produce are definitely Third World — poorly fed animals, poorly grown plants, and that doesn’t even account for the effects of diseases, parasites, and pollution. The advice to our Special Forces to cook everything in the field well done, just in case, goes for civilians, too. Or as Mr. Wife learnt the hard way (alternating food poisoning and dysentery until he’d lost 30 lb that first six-week trip to Egypt) avoid meat altogether and anything washed — wherever he went thereafter, he survived on bread, lentil dishes, unpeeled fruit, bottled water that came sealed to the table, and liquor. Apparently the desert grit in Egyptian flour gives their pita bread a special flavour.
#11
TW, raw honey helps with food poisoning. Honey naturally has peroxide which helps to kill off the invasive bacteria and some of the 158 enzymes are fertilizer for the remaining good gut bacteria. Plus the glucose helps the body rehydrate.
Be sure to purchase you honey from a beekeeper you know and not in a store. We sell a lot of ours in a local store. Hope this helps someone.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
