Riots grip France as Marine Le Pen gains ground ahead of 2027 election
www.thenews.com.pk

... We are living through a profound crisis of trust, of authority that poses a threat to democracy, said Marine Le Pen'

In a major update, France is facing renewed unrest as riots grip parts of the country while polling gains traction for Marine Le Pen ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Marine Le Pen, frontrunner for the 2027 presidency censured the upheaval as a failure of governance while her polling jumped to 31-37% in first-round intentions even leading a potential runoff against Jean-Luc Melenchon 69-31%.

Her allies demanded President Macron's resignation and she conceded that Islam aligns with the state on the condition that Sharia is rejected. The chaos exposes the severe polarization in France six months ahead of the April election with international voices like Elon Musk calling it the nation's last chance.

Marine Le Pen on her social platform X, stated, "You saw yesterday our cities, our streets, our country, battered, mistreated, ransacked."

"We are living through a profound crisis of trust, of authority that poses a threat to democracy. This observation must alert us: our country is caught in a vise, or even taken hostage, between violence and powerlessness." ...

How France's worst rioting in years erupted and how the government responded
apnews.com

... Rioters clashed with police, set cars on fire, stormed public buildings and engulfed a historic city hall in flames in France's worst civil unrest in years as violence and looting swept through major cities during nationwide protests.

About 2,400 people were arrested over the weekend, and authorities said thousands of businesses were damaged or looted. The rioting overshadowed demonstrations against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools in which hundreds of thousands of people marched peacefully.

President Emmanuel Macron denounced "unrestrained violence" by "insurrectionist elements from radical far-left groups, joined by numerous criminals."

More protests could be in store. High school and university student organizations called for more demonstrations Thursday and Saturday. The National High School Student Coordination group urged young people to "take to the streets" and backed continued blockades and demonstrations.

A group of activists seeking to revive the 2018 "yellow vest" movement against perceived social injustices also announced nationwide demonstrations planned for Saturday under the slogan "Macron must go." ...

JD Vance blindsided at NC rally by Epstein heckler standing right behind him
www.rawstory.com

... A protester standing directly behind Vice President JD Vance confronted him at a North Carolina rally, shouting, "Release the Epstein files!"

Vance was speaking Monday when the man stood up in the crowd behind the stage, according to a video FactPost shared on X.

Trump 47 Committee Inc., a political action committee aligned with President Donald Trump, hosted the event at Hyder Warehouse in Hendersonville, WBTV reported.

Vance was there to boost Republican Jennifer Balkcom in North Carolina's competitive 11th Congressional District race two weeks before the midterm elections, according to WLOS.

The FactPost video shows Vance, one hand on the podium, turning around to face the man as he yelled.

" ... a protester directly behind Vance gets up and yells release the Epstein files!'" independent journalist Aaron Rupar wrote on X.

"Vance suggest[s] he's an illegal immigrant," Rupar added in the same post. ...

"Thomas Jefferson created the Marines for the Islamic pirates that were happening." (2010)
politifact.com

... On his Fox News program on Jan. 29, 2010, Glenn Beck was providing a history lesson on progressives in U.S. politics when he made the point that the difference between progressives and the Founding Fathers is that the founders thought the United States "should be Switzerland. We should stay out of everybody's business, be friends with everybody."

"I mean, if you're going to mess with us, we're going to pound you," Beck said. "Thomas Jefferson created the Marines for the Islamic pirates that were happening, right?" ...

The Marine Corps annually marks its birthday on Nov. 10, to commemorate the day in 1775 that the Continental Congress formally adopted a resolution founding the Continental Marines, Neimeyer said. During the Revolutionary War, Marines fought with distinction. On March 3, 1776, 200 Marines spearheaded the first American landing on foreign soil, an assault in the Bahamas.

So that's why, if you go the Marine Corps' History Web site, you'll see the banner, "Since 1775, the Marine Corps has been winning battles and defending our nation."

Obviously, that predates Thomas Jefferson's presidency.

It also happens to predate the United States of America. ...

Stranglers - Skin Deep (1984)
www.youtube.com

Is Abdul El-Sayed a doctor? Fact-checking Mike Rogers in Michigan Senate race
politifact.com

... If your time is short

Abdul El-Sayed has a doctor of medicine degree, commonly known as MD, from Columbia University in New York and a doctorate in public health from Oxford University in England.

He did not do a residency after medical school, which is typically the next step in becoming a practicing physician, instead focusing on a career in public health. He's never been licensed to practice medicine or treat patients.

Michigan law and federal law define a physician as someone licensed to practice. But major medical professional organizations don't have that requirement.
...

Sen. Slotkin urges Dems to use prosecution to make young people afraid to serve in Trump admin
nypost.com

... "I want young people coming out of school to say, Should I go work for the Trump administration? That sounds fun, I might get an opportunity,'" Slotkin mused at a University of Chicago event last week that has since gone viral.

"I want them to be like, Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems I don't want, and so let me avoid participating in that,'" the senator went on. "I want that deterrence message sent." ...

So she seems to want the message sent that working within the Trump admin may expose yourself to problems down the road.

She seems to be quite correct in that assessment.

Russian GRU Offered $200K Bounties' for Every Dead American: Report (2025)
www.newsweek.com

... Russia reportedly paid fighters linked to the Taliban $200,000 for every Western coalition soldier they killed in Afghanistan.

An investigation by the independent Russian news outlet The Insider and German newspaper Der Spiegel sheds light on alleged collaboration between Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, and the Taliban.

American soldiers, as well as troops from coalition and Afghan military forces, were also targeted, the investigation said. ...

Trump offers long-promised pardons to some 1,500 January 6 rioters (January 20, 2025)
www.npr.org

... President Trump issued pardons for some 1,500 defendants who participated in the siege on the U.S. Capitol four years ago, including the leader of a far-right group, fulfilling a campaign promise to exercise executive clemency on behalf of people he's called "patriots" and "hostages."

"We hope they come out tonight," he said in a signing ceremony at the Oval Office on Monday evening.

The order would grant "a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021." That means a pardon for Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys chairman, who had been sentenced to 22 years in the federal penitentiary.

The proclamation posted on the White House website also included commutations for 14 people, including Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers group. The move paves the way for the release of Rhodes and Tarrio, who were both convicted of the rarely used charge of seditious conspiracy.

Trump also directed the Justice Department to dismiss scores of pending cases that stem from the attack on the Capitol.

Rhodes had been sentenced to spend 18 years in prison after a judge said he presented "an ongoing threat and peril to this country ... and to the very fabric of our democracy." ...

SpaceX differentiates between Starlink and Starshield, but the services are intertwined (August 2025)
fedscoop.com

... By offering two versions of its satellite internet service, SpaceX has attempted to draw a sharp line between its civilian and defense businesses. But despite that delineation, the Starlink and Starshield services appear fundamentally connected. ...

U.S. Officials Say Russia Is Providing Iran With Targeting Intelligence Against American Forces in the Middle East (March 2026)
www.thedefensenews.com

... U.S. intelligence officials say Russia is providing Iran with targeting intelligence intended to assist Tehran in conducting strikes against American military forces deployed across the Middle East, according to officials familiar with classified assessments.

The information, first reported by The Washington Post, was confirmed by three U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the intelligence. According to those officials, Moscow has been sharing sensitive targeting data with Tehran since the current regional conflict escalated and has continued doing so since the war began on February 28.

Officials stated that the intelligence reportedly includes detailed information about the locations of U.S. military assets across the region. This includes the positions of American warships, aircraft deployments, and other military infrastructure operating in the Middle East. The intelligence is believed to assist Iranian planners in tracking and identifying potential targets linked to U.S. military activity. ...

Republican Lt Gov Warns 60 Minutes Election Threats Are 'Coming From Within Our Own Government' For First Time
www.mediaite.com

... Utah's Republican Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson (R-UT) told 60 Minutes Sunday that for the first time, election threats are coming from within the federal government -- and she's all-in on defying the Trump administration.

"In the past two elections that I oversaw as lieutenant governor, the threats were all external," Henderson told correspondent Leslie Stahl. "Non-state actors, cybersecurity threats, and other things. But now we also have threats coming from within our own government."

"Your federal government," Stahl emphasized.

"That's right," Henderson said.

Stahl explained that Henderson is responsible for Utah's elections, "Everything from voter registration to counting the ballots on election day. Keep in mind, Henderson is a Republican in a deeply red state. President [Donald] Trump won the last election here by more than 20 points."

"Last year, the Justice Department zoned in on Henderson and her counterparts in states across the country, demanding their statewide voter registration list,' which includes voters' confidential personal information," Stahl continued. "Henderson had never seen anything like it. She said 'no.'"

"They wanted things that we typically are required by law to keep private," Henderson said. "Social Security numbers, full dates of birth, driver's license numbers."

Henderson said the Trump administration didn't give "very good answers" on why they needed the information, "and we were concerned about what they would do with that data."

"Henderson has been notified that if she knowingly allows any noncitizens to vote in Utah, she could be prosecuted and even sent to prison," Stahl said, telling Henderson, "You could go to prison." ...

The Steele Dossier: A Retrospective (2018)
www.lawfaremedia.org

... Not all of the material in the dossier has been proven. But none has been disproven. As a raw intelligence document, the Steele dossier holds up well. ...