“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
Important Takeaways:
- Former President Trump became the first-ever former U.S. president to become a convicted felon on Thursday.
- Trump, the presumed 2024 GOP nominee, is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, just one week before the Republican National Convention.
- His attorney Todd Blanche told CNN Trump’s legal team would “vigorously fight” with motions in the coming weeks and if unsuccessful with these, they would appeal following his sentencing.
- The appeals process is unlikely to conclude before the November election.
- Would Trump go to jail?
- Judge Juan Merchan will determine whether Trump’s punishment will include a prison sentence.
- The 34 charges are all Class E felonies — the least severe level in New York. They each carry the possibility of up to four years in prison.
- But the judge can also decide to sentence Trump to probation without prison time. That would require the former president to regularly report to a probation officer. If he commits any more crimes, Trump could then be jailed.
- Can Trump run for president as a convicted felon?
- While Trump can still run for president, it’s not yet clear if he’ll be able to vote for himself since some states have laws that limit the voting rights of a person with a felony conviction.
- Trump moved his residency to Florida after leaving the White House in 2021. According to Florida law, the ability of people with a felony conviction to vote depends on the laws in the state where they were convicted.
- “New York only disenfranchises people while serving a prison sentence, so assuming Trump is not sentenced to prison time, his rights would be restored by New York law and therefore also in Florida,” Blair Bowie, an attorney at the Campaign Legal Center said.
- “The only way he wouldn’t be able to vote is if he is in prison on Election Day,” Bowie said.
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Important Takeaways:
- Eric Adams under pressure to divulge details on ‘outside agitators’ at campus protests
- Adams, a Democrat and former city police officer, was asked by local reporters on Thursday morning to give a breakdown of the arrest numbers. He repeatedly declined to provide details.
- When pressed to provide further details, he said his office had “turned everything over to the school, and it is up to the school to determine if they’re going to release the names of students and non-students”.
- New York police department issued a press release saying that among those arrested at Columbia, “approximately 29% of individuals were not affiliated” with the school, while 60% of people arrested at the CCNY protests were not affiliated with the school
- NYPD commissioner said “These individuals are not university students, they are not affiliated with either the institutions or campuses in question, and they are working to escalate the situation.”
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Important Takeaways:
- The earthquake was centered near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey
- A 4.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the Northeast Friday morning, shaking buildings from Philadelphia to New Jersey to New York City to Connecticut to Westchester, New York.
- John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport are all on a ground stop while runways are inspected for damage.
- The New York City mayor’s office said there’s no immediate reports of damage in the city but crews are still assessing the impacts.
- Cars at the Holland Tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan are being temporarily held so the tunnel can be inspected, according to the Port Authority.
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Important Takeaways:
- A Lebanese migrant who was caught sneaking over the border admitted he’s a member of Hezbollah, he hoped to make a bomb, and his destination was New York
- Basel Bassel Ebbadi, 22, was caught by the US Border Patrol on March 9 near El Paso, Texas
- Ebbadi said in a sworn interview after his arrest that he had trained with Hezbollah for seven years and served as an active member guarding weapons locations for another four years
- Ebbadi’s training focused on “jihad” and killing people “that was not Muslim,” he said.
- Border agents continue to see a surge in migrants whose names appear on the terror watchlist entering the US illegally as crossings continue at record levels.
- Border agents recorded 98 encounters with terror watchlisted individuals at both the northern and southern borders in fiscal year 2022, and almost twice as many, 172, in fiscal year 2023, which ends Sept. 30.
- So far, in the first four months of 2024, 59 people have been apprehended, according to federal data.
- “The federal government has failed to enact border security measures, and the state of Texas, through Gov. [Greg] Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, will continue to take unprecedented action to help secure the border,” DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez said.
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Important Takeaways:
- The northern invasion: New York, New Hampshire and Vermont see highest EVER border crossings as migrants take advantage of lax laws to get into Canada
- New York, Vermont and New Hampshire counties have seen a record number of illegal border crossings in recent months, startling statistics show.
- The new numbers, up more than twofold from 2022, come as an increasing number of migrants elect to travel through Canada rather than Mexico to avoid detection, creating a new spin on the now years-long crisis.
- While most still use legal ports of entry, more than 12,200 were apprehended crossing illegally from the north in 2023 – much more than the 3,578 arrested the year prior.
- Experts have attributed this phenomenon to Canada’s lax laws, like not requiring travelers from Mexico to have a visa to enter the country.
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Important Takeaways:
- California, New York residents moving out as 8.2 million Americans relocate to other states
- The federal agency estimated that the number of interstate movers rose about 4% from nearly 7.9 million people in 2021 to about 8.2 million last year. State-to-state migrations also comprised a larger share of all movers between 2021 and 2022, jumping from 18.8% to 19.9%.
- “The two largest flows, which were not statistically different from each other in size, came either to or from the four most populous states: large numbers of people moved from California to Texas and from New York to Florida,” survey statistician Mehreen S. Ismail wrote in a summary of the findings.
- According to the bureau, 102,442 people moved from California to Texas last year, the most between any two states. Another 91,201 people relocated from California to Arizona. California’s population is about 39 million, while Texas’ is 30 million. Arizona is home to 7.4 million people.
- In the next-biggest state-to-state jump, 91,201 people left New York for Florida. Another 75,103 people moved from New York to neighboring New Jersey.
- Texas had the country’s lowest outward migration rate at 11.7% of all movers, with 42,479 relocating to California and 38,207 to Florida.
- On the flip side, California had the nation’s lowest inward migration rate at 11.1% of all movers, with most coming from Texas.
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Important Takeaways:
- Attorney General Tish James took the rare step of declining to represent the state and its governor, fellow Democrat Kathy Hochul, by recusing herself from a case brought to force New York City to house those in need, including tens of thousands of migrants.
- Hochul believes the legal requirement to provide shelter to those in need only applies to New York City and not statewide as she fields criticism from suburban Democrats who don’t want migrants resettled in their towns.
- James disagrees because she views housing as a “human right” that applies across the state.
- The case over the so-called right to shelter law is playing out as the city struggles to house more than 58,000 asylum-seekers in its care.
- Hochul in a NY1 interview on Wednesday insisted James’ decision was based on a different interpretation of the law without going into detail.
- There have been moments in recent state history when attorneys general have refused to defend the state they are elected to represent, but recusals are rare.
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Revelations 13:16-18 “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”
Important Takeaways:
- Mayor Eric Adams announced the plan on Wednesday, arguing the city could not handle any more migrants as it has taken in 90,000 since April last year.
- “We have no more room,” said the leader of America’s biggest city.
- A copy of the flier tells migrants: “Please consider another city as you make your decision about where to settle in the US.”
- It warns – in English and in Spanish – that the cost of food, transportation and other necessities in New York are expensive and says the city cannot guarantee housing and other social services for new arrivals.
- Critics of Mr Adams’ new plan argue it violates the city’s right-to-shelter rules, which guarantee temporary housing for those in need. Mr Adams has attempted to weaken those rules amid the influx of migrants.
- In May, he announced he would send willing migrants to nearby counties outside of the city, sparking a backlash from some local New York officials.
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Revelations 13:16-18 “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”
Important Takeaways:
- More Than Eight Million Americans Reportedly Behind on Rent
- 8,070,524 people ages 18 or older in the U.S. aren’t caught up on rent payments. Put another way, 13.17% of the nation’s adult renters live in a household that charges them rent and are behind on payment.
- Nationwide, 3,560,345 adults — 5.81% of adult renters — live in a household that doesn’t pay rent.
- The states with the largest share of adults behind on rent payments are New York, Nevada and Louisiana.
- Mississippi, West Virginia and Alaska are the states where the largest share of people live rent-free.
- Over the past year, 53.03% of renters across the U.S. saw their rent increase, while 36.91% saw no increase and 1.75% saw a decline. The majority of those who saw their rent payments jump reported increases between $100 and $249 a month.
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Luke 21:25 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves
Important Takeaways:
- Air quality concerns continue as Canadian wildfire smoke covers the Northeast
- The smoke in major metro areas, including New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., was expected to cause unhealthy air for all groups.
- The smoke in major metro areas, including Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., was expected to continue through the day and cause unhealthy air for all groups
- There are wildfires burning in the U.S., but the smoke that is affecting millions of people in the country is drifting south from Canada, where more than 400 wildfires were burning Wednesday, according to officials there.
- The city’s air quality sank to the worst in the world around 9 p.m. Tuesday, according to a ranking by IQAir, a Swiss site that monitors air quality in several major cities around the globe — and it remained in the No. 1 spot Wednesday
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