Author: J.P. Knowles

President Donald Trump declared that some action would be taken to ban the popular social-networking site TikTok by rejecting a deal in the works for Microsoft to buy the app from their Chine parent company.

“As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump stated to reporters on their way back to Florida on Air Force One.

With growing fears that the China-based company could potentially become a spy front, Trump insisted that he could use emergency economic powers or even an executive order to shut it down asserting that “it’s going to be signed tomorrow.”

The China-based company with over 80 million daily active users rushed to offer the Trump admission a last-minute deal to prevent a ban of the app. Under this new deal, the company will forsake all shares of the local company shares, and turn over 100 percent control of the company to the tech mogul Mircosoft. The terms of this deal seem unclear if shareholders from the US ByteDance investors can retain minority stakes of the new business.

China has long banned US-based social media companies from their software including Facebook and Twitter. With relations quickly falling apart with India, they already banned the app and dozens more.

“I don’t think TikTok is ‘uniquely dangerous’, but it is a Chinese app with tens of millions of US users so it stands out in that regard,” Balaji S. Srinivasan, a tech investor, was quoted saying to The Post. “The logic of banning them may well be extended to other apps like WeChat.”-which is also a Chinese based app.

The following Saturday morning TikTok US general manager delivered a statement that begins to set a defiant tone to the public. “We’re not planning on going anywhere,” said General Manager Vanessa Pappas. “TikTok is a home for creators and artists to express themselves, their ideas, and connect with others across different backgrounds and we are so proud of all the various communities that call TikTok their home.”

Nancy Pelosi was quick to dismiss criticism from White House chief of staff Mark Meadows during a briefing on Friday. Meadows accused Democrats of playing politics in the coronavirus stimulus negotiations.

Meadows blames Democrats for not being able to reach a short-term deal to extend certain benefits provided to those who have been affected by unemployment due to the coronavirus. Four separate offers were made to Democrats that were promptly rejected without a counterproposal.

“What we are seeing is politics as usual from Democrats on Capitol Hill,” Meadows said to reporters. “The Democrats believe that they have all the cards on their side, and they’re willing to play those cards at the expense of those that are hurting.”

Pelosi was asked to respond to a tweet in which Meadows called Democrats a “politically motivated party that won’t take ‘yes’ for an answer.”

“Every time they say something, I say, ‘Perhaps you are characterizing yourself and think that that’s how we are,’” Pelosi said. “We’re not. We’re here. This is serious. This is life-and-death.”

Pelosi made the argument that Congress moving short-term extensions of expiring programs was just a temporary band-aid used when the parties are close to agreeing on a long term fix. Unfortunately, the two sides can’t seem to agree on an expansive stimulus package so the short-term patch would be meaningless.

Meadows then left the briefing without taking any questions, leaving White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany to answer inquiries from reporters. She called the Democrat-passed bill “unserious” and ensured that the White House was determined to pass an extension for unemployment benefits.

When asked what the Americans who will lose their $600 per week in unemployment should do, McEnany recommended they call the offices of Pelosi and Schumer and tell them to “get to work and stop engaging in politics on the backs of Americans.”

In the recently unsealed documents related to the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, many emails show a correspondence between her and Jeffery Epstein even though she previously made claims that she had no contact with him for more than a decade.

In January of 2015, Epstein wrote to Maxwell, “You have done nothing wrong and I urge you to start acting like it.” This was around the time that more allegations of sexual abuse against him surfaced.

“Go outside, head high, not as an escaping convict. Go to parties, deal with it,” said Epstein, who supposedly killed himself in jail while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, though it’s highly believed by many that he was murdered.

Maxwell pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking young girls for Epstein’s growing list of high profile associates. The documents provide disturbing allegations of Maxwell being in charge of recruiting and grooming girls as young as 14 to be abused on Epstein’s private island.

The emails also show that in January of 2015, Maxwell appears to take the pressure off herself by distancing herself from any romantic relationship she had with Epstein. She wrote, “I would appreciate it if shelley would come out and say she was your g’friend — I think she was from end 99 to 2002.” Shelley has yet to be identified.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre said that Epstein and Maxwell were “joined hip by hip” and Maxwell was directly involved in the sex trafficking ring, “Ghislaine Maxwell brought me into the sex trafficking industry. She’s the one who abused me on a regular basis. She’s the one that procured me, told me what to do, trained me as a sex slave, abused me physically, abused me mentally.”

Maxwell denies all the allegations against her and called Giuffre an “absolute liar.”

In 2015 Epstein sent Maxwell what seems to be a defense statement. It says, “I have been the target of outright lies, innuendo, slander, defamation, and salacious gossip and harassment.”

It sounds to me like they were preparing a script to use when the truth comes out.

A woman from Summerfield, Florida, has been receiving Social Security benefits for the past couple of years. The problem with that is they aren’t meant for her, they’re for her boyfriend.  To make matters even worse, her boyfriend is dead.

The 75-year-old Rosemary Freeman was apart of a group of 12 people who were busted for stealing more than $700,000 in Social Security benefits. United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announced the filing of these federal charges against the group as a part of Operation Dead Ringer. This operation that began in the Middle District of Florida targets those who are stealing Social Security benefits unintentionally paid to beneficiaries that have already passed away.

Freeman alone collected a total of $83,488 from 2013 to 2019. She could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted.

United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announced the filing of federal charges in Tampa against Rosemary Freeman and 11 others charged in Operation Dead Ringer. The group of 12 was charged in 11 separate cases with cumulatively stealing more than $700,000 in Social Security benefits paid to beneficiaries who were deceased.

Gail S. Ennis, Inspector General of Social Security said, “As these charges demonstrate, stealing from SSA on behalf of a deceased beneficiary is a federal crime. We work closely with SSA and other government agencies to identify Social Security fraud and stop improper payments.”

The Social Security Administration and the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation is working closely with federal and local law enforcement agencies to investigate the eleven separate cases. Special Assistant United States Attorney Suzanne Huyler will be prosecuting the cases along with Assistant United States Attorney Yolande Viacava and Tyrie Boyer.

Earlier this week a man in Tamp, Florida, went on a shooting spree across the city that left several injured including one police officer.

Tampa Police began receiving 911 calls about a suspect shooting out of a moving vehicle along I275 with multiple victims having sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Police were able to catch up to the suspect and attempted to make a felony stop. The suspect, identified as Antonio Cruz Ortiz, then pulled onto a side street, exited the vehicle, and fired multiple rounds at the officer. The 24-year-old officer who had only been on the force for 11 months, was able to dodge the bullets that shattered the back windshield of his cruiser and broke the front windshield.

The suspect then ran into a nearby apartment complex where officers were able to track him to a third-floor landing. He was placed under arrest and taken into custody.

The young officer was transported to Tampa General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries from the shattered glass. Chief Dugan of the Tampa Police Department met him at the hospital and reports that he is well and in good spirits.

It’s reported that the suspect was also involved in a shooting spree across the county that lasted about 40 minutes until he was pulled over. Though several were reported injured during the suspect’s jaunt across the city, no one was killed.

The suspect is currently being held in jail without bond. Even though the investigation is still in its earliest stages he has already racked up a whole list of charges including attempted murder on a law enforcement officer, attempted murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and shooting into a vehicle.

Documents that have been unsealed shine a blinding light on Ghislaine Maxwell’s direct involvement in a child sex trafficking ring and the abuse that took place mainly on the late Jeffery Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean that is now better known as Pedophile Island.

In addition to Maxwell’s involvement, there is a long list of very powerful people who are said to be in Epstein’s private circle. It might not come as a shock to know one of the names mentioned was that of former President Bill Clinton.

Maxwell’s lawyers argued that the release of these new documents could “inappropriately influence potential witnesses or alleged victims” and filed an emergency stop motion. While the judge gave them one week to file the appeal she was expressed her disapproval of Maxwell’s defense team saying the court was “troubled- but not surprised- that Ms. Maxwell has yet again sought to muddy the waters as the clock ticks closer to midnight.”

Part of the documents that have already been released come from a civil case that accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre filed against Ghislaine Maxwell in 2015 and they include a conversation with lawyers that took place nearly ten years ago.

Witness interview:

Bill Clinton was at Epstein's island with Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and "2 young girls." pic.twitter.com/NG8PbaZLNt

— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) July 31, 2020

Even though sex orgies were said to be a frequent occurrence on the island, Giuffre said that she never saw Clinton behaving inappropriately. A tech worker on the island also recalls seeing Clinton at the villa on the island but only with Epstein.

In regards to Clinton’s involvement in Epstein’s illicit affairs, a spokeswoman for Clinton made the statement, “This was a lie the first time it was told, and it isn’t true today, no matter how many times it’s repeated.”

While Clinton’s office issued a statement saying that the former president had traveled aboard Epstein’s plane and visited his apartment in New York City, it had always been in the presence of Secret Service agents and other staff members. Clinton even claimed to have no knowledge of the sex crimes Epstein was guilty of.