Democrat mayor arrested at ICE detention center, and it’s all captured on video



A Democrat mayor was arrested after allegedly trespassing into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Newark, New Jersey, and the incident was captured on video.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka accused the ICE detainment center of acting in violation of local laws before he was taken into custody by Homeland Security. He has criticized the center for a lack of safety inspections and proper permits.

'That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.'

Alina Habba, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, made a statement about the arrest on her social media account.

"The Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon," wrote Habba.

"He has willingly chosen to disregard the law," she added. "That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW."

Baraka, who is also running for the Democratic nomination for governor of New Jersey, said his goal was to get inside the center.

“We are trying to get in, and we are going to get in today,” said Baraka to WNJB-TV. “It doesn’t matter who is inside; I think they may have detainees; they shouldn’t be in there. We allowed the courts to negotiate this when there were no detainees and just workers, GEO, and us. ICE doesn’t have a long-term lease with these folks, so GEO is completely responsible and hiding behind ICE right now."

He claimed that officials of the detainment center were not allowing fire officials inside to inspect the center.

“Fire officials can go inside a building at any time they want to do any inspections, and they’re not allowing them in," said Baraka. "Fire officials were here, code officials were here yesterday, and they wouldn’t let us in. And now I am here today.”

The GEO Group, which operates the center, denied the allegations and accused the mayor and others of creating a publicity stunt.

Here's one of the videos of his arrest:

🚨DEMOCRAT MAYOR OF NEWARK, NJ HAS BEEN ARRESTED AFTER STORMING AN ICE FACILITY pic.twitter.com/c1Rsz2Dyx6
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) May 9, 2025

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Trump's NIH launches health study for East Palestine train derailment victims forgotten by Biden



President Donald Trump's National Institutes of Health is reportedly working on a health study concerning the February 3, 2023, train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that resulted in toxic chemical spills.

On Thursday, the Trump administration's leading health officials joined Fox News to discuss their efforts to deliver on the president's "Make America Healthy Again" agenda.

'President Trump and I have never forgotten the people of East Palestine, and we will never stop fighting for the cleanup effort in this community to be completed.'

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya told host Bret Baier that the agency has partnered with Vice President JD Vance to conduct a health study for the residents of East Palestine.

"The study that most people don't know about that the NIH has been doing — we've been working with Vice President Vance to look at a study and find answers for people affected in East Palestine by that train disaster that happened during the Biden administration," Bhattacharya said.

"Shockingly, the NIH had not asked that question," he continued. "But what I'm looking forward to is that we're going to address the health questions and the health needs of the American people with excellent, gold-standard research."

In February, Vance visited East Palestine on the second anniversary of the disaster.

"President Trump and I have never forgotten the people of East Palestine, and we will never stop fighting for the cleanup effort in this community to be completed," Vance wrote in a post on X. "We are with you for the long haul."

He guaranteed the community that the environmental cleanup would be completed, calling it "a tragedy and a shame" that the Biden administration failed to finish the effort.

Former President Joe Biden took a year to visit the town after the disaster.

The Environmental Protection Agency's preliminary data in 2023 found that "concentrations for nine of the approximately 50 chemicals measured were relatively high in comparison to the levels considered safe for lifetime exposure."

"Overall, if ambient levels persisted for these chemicals, they could pose health concerns, either individually (e.g., acrolein, a known respiratory irritant) or cumulatively. Thus, subsequent, spatiotemporal analysis was pertinent," the report added.

In September, a federal judge approved a $600 million settlement between Norfolk Southern, the company that operated the train, and East Palestine residents.

Less than two weeks ago, an Ohio jury determined that Norfolk Southern would be responsible for paying the entirety of the settlement, finding that GATX, the company that owned the derailed train cars, will not have to assist with paying the settlement.

"For more than two years, Norfolk Southern has paid the costs related to the derailment while acknowledging and acting on our own responsibility for the accident. Our belief has always been that GATX shares in that responsibility and should also be held to account," Norfolk Southern stated.

GATX said it was "pleased with the trial outcome," adding that the jury's decision "affirms what we have known for some time: Norfolk Southern alone is responsible for the derailment and resulting damage in East Palestine."

The NIH did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

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Bill Gates accuses Musk of killing children, destabilizing foreign nations with USAID cuts



Bill Gates appears desperate to convince the world of his magnanimity and of his fellow billionaire Elon Musk's maleficence.

Gates, 69, recently went on a liberal media tour, telling late night script-reader Stephen Colbert, the New York Times Magazine, the Financial Times, and other outfits reflexively receptive to his preferred narrative all about his intention to spend $200 billion on philanthropy before closing down the Gates Foundation — which underwent a name change in January in the wake of reporting about Gates' relationship with child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and then the billionaire's divorce.

According to the New York Times Magazine, this potential charitable giving is especially important after the Trump administration's termination of programs at the U.S. Agency for International Development that Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized "did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States."

Gates, whose foundation's relationship with USAID has been likened to a "money-laundering scheme — one that 'cleans' both wealth and power for people like Gates while sustaining thousands of projects, employees, and placeholders in organizations that rely entirely on a circular flow of public funds" — suggested to the Financial Times that diseases such as measles, HIV, and polio could see a massive resurgence as a result of the USAID cuts championed by Musk.

Elements of the scientific community have furnished Gates with hypotheticals and estimates to lean on. For instance, a preprint study published by the Lancet and amplified by Nature, despite its lack of peer review, suggested that a:

complete cessation of US funding without replacement by other sources of funding would lead to dramatic increases in deaths from 2025-2040: 15.2 (9.3-20.8) million additional AIDS deaths, 2.2 (1.5-1.9) million additional TB deaths, 7.9 million additional child deaths from other causes, 40-55 million additional unplanned pregnancies and 12-16 million unsafe abortions.

"The picture of the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children is not a pretty one," said Gates.

'They were put in the woodchipper.'

"I'm not even sure the administration understands what is going on in the field because we do have, for the first time in 25 years, we have more children dying," continued Gates. "Instead of it going down, it's now going up. And unless we reverse pretty quickly, that will be over a million additional deaths."

Gates suggested that while his foundation will spend roughly $10 billion a year on global health, with a focus on vaccines and maternal and child health, this private philanthropy would not make up for the American taxpayer dollars saved through USAID cuts.

The Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, began exposing in December that USAID had blown taxpayer funds on anti-American, leftist causes and radical initiatives.

The administration discovered, for example, that the USAID previously blew:

  • $45 million on DEI scholarships in Burma;
  • $1.5 million "to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia's workplaces and business communities";
  • $6 million to "transform digital spaces to reflect feminist democratic principles";
  • $19 million for two separate "inclusion" programs in Vietnam;
  • $2 million on sex-change activism in Guatemala;
  • $20 million for a "Sesame Street" show in Iraq;
  • $2 million for "activity to strengthen trans-led organizations to deliver gender-affirming health care" in Guatemala;
  • $37.7 million to study HIV among "sex workers (SWS), their clients, and transgender (TG) people" in South Africa; and
  • $1 million to assist disabled people in Tajikistan to become "climate leaders."

"Unfortunately, you know, there was a weekend where it was decided they [USAID] were criminals and they were put in the woodchipper, and so we lost a lot of capacity there. Now, we can get it back," Gates told Colbert. "Eventually, Congress is the one who will have the final word on this."

Gates suggested to the New York Times Magazine that he is counting on Congress to once again undermine the Trump agenda where funding is concerned but realizes "the cuts are so dramatic that even if we get some restored, we're going to have a tough time."

The billionaire also expressed confidence that future administrations will not similarly cut back foreign aid, noting that he sees it "as a four- to six-year interruption."

Elon Musk, responding to another interview where Gates claimed the DOGE would cost two million lives, wrote, "Gates is a huge liar."

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600 murderers in Michigan could soon receive lighter sentences, thanks to Democrats on state supreme court



Hundreds of convicted murderers in Michigan may soon be resentenced after the state supreme court ruled that imposing an automatic life sentence on "late adolescents" amounted to unconstitutionally "cruel" punishment.

Back in April, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled 5-2 to ban an automatic life sentence for defendants who committed first-degree or felony murder at the age of 19 or 20. The court made a similar ruling about 18-year-olds in 2022. Michigan does not have the death penalty.

'19- and 20-year-old late adolescents are more similar to juveniles ... than they are to older adults.'

Writing on behalf of the all-Democrat majority, Justice Elizabeth Welch stated in the decision that the brains of 19- and 20-year-old murderers were too immature to receive the same sentence as older adults.

"As a class, 19- and 20-year-old late adolescents are more similar to juveniles in neurological terms than they are to older adults," Welch wrote. "There has long been a scientific consensus that, in terms of neurological development, there is 'no meaningful distinction' between a 17-year-old and 18-year-old individual. … But the lack of meaningful distinction does not stop at age 18."

The majority opinion expressed optimism that these murderers "are capable of significant change" and have "greater prospects for reform."

The majority also claimed that the automatic life sentence violated the Michigan state constitutional ban on "cruel or unusual punishment," a marked distinction from the prohibition in the U.S. Constitution against "cruel and unusual punishment."

Moreover, the majority of justices agreed with plaintiffs that by nature of their youth, young killers given an automatic life sentence unfairly receive longer sentences than older offenders who commit the same crime later in life. Welch called these sentences "harsh and disproportionate."

The majority made clear that the ruling applies to anyone automatically sentenced to life without parole for a murder committed when the defendant was 19 or 20. According to estimates, there are nearly 600 such convicted murderers currently in Michigan prisons, nearly half of them in Wayne County, home of Detroit, alone.

Jose Burgos, who served 27 years behind bars after he was sentenced for murder at 16, believes that automatic life sentences for young murderers are "horrible."

"As a juvenile lifer, as a child who went to prison, was [given] a life without parole sentence, I knew that the only way we were going to change that is that somebody who experienced that was going to have to come out here and explain to the people, explain to the state of Michigan, explain to this country, how horrible it is to sentence children to life without parole," said Burgos, who now advocates for "fair sentencing" for young offenders.

'These are all First-Degree Murder cases where these defendants were lawfully convicted.'

Not everyone is as enthusiastic about the decision. The two dissenting justices, the only Republicans on the Michigan Supreme Court, argued that the majority focused too much on the offender and too little on the victim.

"While I recognize that it makes some sense to consider characteristics of the offender in an as-applied challenge, such as that here," wrote Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement, "I believe the majority unjustifiably allows such considerations to loom so large in its analysis that the majority downplays the gravity of first-degree murder."

Justice Brian Zahra joined Clement in the dissent.

County prosecutors added that the ruling will revictimize grieving families.

Midland County Prosecutor J. Dee Brooks, president of the Michigan Prosecuting Attorneys Association, claimed:

We’ve listened to survivors say they need certainty and finality in the sentences of the convicted criminals who took the lives of their loved ones. They have described the retraumatization that results from the never-ending litigation of these cases.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, a staunch Democrat, made a similar statement:

As has been the case with the MSC for years now, they do not seem to care about the plight of victims and the survivor families. These are all First-Degree Murder cases where these defendants were lawfully convicted. And we intend to be thoughtful and fair to each of these defendants. The WCPO is going to need a substantial amount of extra resources to be able to follow the dictates of the Court and do the right thing.

All 600 or so murderers must be reassessed on a case-by-case basis. In some cases, prosecutors will once again request a life sentence without parole. Others will be given a defined sentence of somewhere between 25 and 60 years.

Maya Menlo, an assistant youth defender with the Michigan State Appellate Defender Office, confirmed that resources will be devoted to resentencing these convicted murderers but argued that the expense is worthwhile.

"Yes, there will be court resources spent on resentencing these individuals, but the savings and the potential to avoid needless, inhumane incarceration is massive," said the female defender.

Worthy described the six-month timeline given by the court to complete this reassessment process as "untenable."

"The MSC gave us six months to review over 400 Wayne County cases," she said. "Justice cannot be fair with this timeline. We intend to be thoughtful in evaluating these cases."

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Trump rips into 'highly neurotic' MSNBC host for saying he's 'backed into a corner' on tariffs



President Donald Trump took aim at an MSNBC host over her criticism of his tariff policy and said the progressive network should be taxed and penalized as a mouthpiece of the "Democrat Party."

Stephanie Ruhle, host of "The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle," predicted that the president's trade war would backfire on him after he announced a trade deal with the United Kingdom that Trump called a "great deal for both countries." He also admitted that the final details of the deal were yet to be hammered out.

'I just watched an exhausted, highly neurotic Stephanie Ruhle spew LIES.'

"I'm not saying Donald Trump has changed what he thinks in his heart, but he's backed into a corner and he needs to get off this crazy tariff train, and he knows it," Ruhle said while appearing on the "Morning Joe" show.

“Look at the cargo ships coming into Seattle, the port of Los Angeles, pick the port, we're getting fewer and fewer ships with less and less cargo," she continued. "And unless he turns this around, three weeks from now, you walk into a store, and we’re going to have a COVID-like supply chain crisis, and Trump is looking for an exit."

The president lashed out at Ruhle from his social media account and accused her of having a low intelligence.

"I just watched an exhausted, highly neurotic Stephanie Ruhle spew LIES about Tariffs, as do many others, in order not to give me the Victory that they all see coming," he wrote on Truth Social.

"Few people know Stephanie Ruhle, but I do, and she doesn’t have what it takes. Our Deal with the United Kingdom yesterday was AMAZING for both Countries and, in addition to everything else, British Airways just ordered $10 Billion Dollars worth of new Boeing planes," he added.

The deal with the U.K. left in place a 10% tariff but lowered the tariff on some goods including automobiles, steel, and aluminum imports to the U.S.

"We’re going to make a fortune with Tariffs, only smart people understand that, and Stephanie was never known as a 'High IQ' person," Trump continued.

"MSDNC has become the Voice of the Democrat Party, and they should be treated as a Political Advocate with all of the Taxes and Penalties therefrom," he added. "Their Ratings are terrible, but [Comcast CEO] Brian Roberts and his crew should be forced to TELL THE TRUTH."

Trump has said that he is in negotiations with numerous countries over his across-the-board tariffs. Supporters of the tariff policy say the tariffs will raise federal revenue while at the same time incentivizing manufacturing to return to the U.S. Some economists have criticized his tariffs as destructive to established businesses while alienating trading partners.

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Homeland Security Committee chair explains why he rejected Democrats’ taxpayer trip to El Salvador



Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) explained in an op-ed in the Daily Caller why he denied the use of committee funds for committee Democrats to travel to El Salvador to advocate the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Congressional Democrats have been clamoring to go on a taxpayer-funded trip to the Central American country to highlight the plight of Garcia, an accused MS-13 gang member and human trafficker who was deported to El Salvador's mega-prison for gang members while he had a stay of deportation to that country.

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) was the first to go to El Salvador and speak with Garcia, but other Democrats have said they intend to travel there as well. It was reported House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told House Democrats to stop the trips, but his office denied those reports.

Green said he was proud to be the first committee chair to tell Democrats if they wanted to go to El Salvador, they would have to pay their own way.

"As more details come to light, Democrats planting their anti-immigration enforcement flag on his case has become even more repugnant. We now know that Abrego Garcia’s current wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, filed for a protective order against him in 2020. In the request, Vasquez Sura said that Abrego Garcia told her former mother-in-law, '[E]ven if he kills [his wife] no one can do anything to him.' The violence Vasquez Sura details in the request is shocking and heartbreaking," Green wrote.

"Abrego Garcia was ordered to be removed by a federal judge in 2019, and earlier this year was returned to El Salvador," Green continued. "The judge who ordered Abrego Garcia to be removed also stated he could not be sent to El Salvador (or Guatemala — the decision is unclear), because the judge believed Salvadoran gang Barrio 18 posed a potential threat to his life. But was it because perhaps — Abrego Garcia feared Barrio 18 because he may have been a member of their greatest rival."

On account of the growing evidence of Garcia's criminality while he was in the U.S. illegally, Green called Democrat attempts "to provide aid and comfort to an illegal alien, and potential MS-13 gang member, accused wife-beater, and possible human trafficker" and wanting to use "taxpayer money to do so" "simply beyond the pale" and "reprehensible."

Green said he was proud to be the first committee chair to tell Democrats if they wanted to go to El Salvador, they would have to pay their own way.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Senate Democrats during Thursday's hearing multiple times that Garcia would not be returning to the United States because he had no right to be in the country.

— (@)

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Scotland bans men from women's bathrooms in parliament — 'male' and 'female' will refer to biological sex only



Scottish parliament has banned men from women's restrooms in a swift move after its Supreme Court upheld accurate definitions of gender in a recent ruling.

The parliament building, known as the Holyrood, declared bathrooms designated "male" or "female" will refer to biological sex only, as opposed to the gender identity and/or delusion of any individual.

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body made the announcement after the U.K. Supreme Court upheld a definition of sex from the 2010 Equality Act.

"This examination of the language of the EA 2010, its context and purpose, demonstrate that the words 'sex,' 'woman' and 'man' in sections 11 and 212(1) mean (and were always intended to mean) biological sex, biological woman and biological man," the court noted in an 88-page ruling.

'It will exclude us and segregate us in the heart of Scotland's democracy.'

Presiding officer Alison Johnstone said the move was to ensure "confidence, privacy and dignity" for staff and visitors. The SPCB declared the changes were to be immediate and that they were practical and made at a "minimal cost."

Three more existing public restrooms will be designated as gender-neutral bathrooms, in addition to female-only and male-only bathrooms, among other accessibility- and disability-related bathrooms.

Johnstone said it was important to take such steps after the latest ruling and added that parliament needed to fulfill its legal responsibilities sooner rather than later.

"Such clarity is an important element in offering all individuals confidence, privacy and dignity when using our facilities," she explained. "Everyone working in, or visiting, Holyrood should feel welcome in the building and be confident there is a suitable facility for them."

Tess White, a conservative politician and minister for women and equalities, pressured the leader of the country, known as the first minister, to implement the same rules nationwide.

"If the Scottish Parliament can respond to the Supreme Court judgment so swiftly, there is no excuse for [First Minister] John Swinney to keep dragging his heels."

White continued, "He must instruct all public bodies to uphold the law immediately instead of pandering to gender extremists."

Predictably, pro-trans activist groups in Scotland were not pleased with the decision.

The Scottish Trans and Equality Network called the decision "rushed, unworkable and exclusionary," according to the BBC.

Manager of the organization Scottish Trans, Vic Valentine, who uses "they/them" pronouns, claimed not to be able to "understand why this decision has been described as one that will bring 'confidence, privacy and dignity' to everyone."

Valentine claimed it would not bring any of those things for transgender people, but that it would cause segregation in Scotland's most important institutions.

"It will not do so for trans people. It will exclude us and segregate us in the heart of Scotland's democracy."

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Trump says he's ending Biden's 'Digital Equity' program — and Democrats are freaking out



Democrats are furious at President Donald Trump for saying that he will shut down the Digital Equity Act signed into law by former President Joe Biden.

The president said Thursday that he wanted to end the program signed into law in 2021, which spent billions ostensibly to expand internet access to underserved communities.

'The Biden/Harris so-called "Digital Equity Act" is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL. ... I am ending this IMMEDIATELY, and saving Taxpayers BILLIONS OF DOLLARS!'

"I have spoken with my wonderful Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, and we agree that the Biden/Harris so-called 'Digital Equity Act' is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL," wrote Trump on Truth Social.

"No more woke handouts based on race!" he added. "The Digital Equity Program is a RACIST and ILLEGAL $2.5 BILLION DOLLAR giveaway. I am ending this IMMEDIATELY, and saving Taxpayers BILLIONS OF DOLLARS!"

Some of the funds allocated for the bill have already been handed out, including to some red states like Kansas, Alabama, and Arkansas. Defenders of the bill deny the president's allegation that it is racist and claim that the legislation hardly even mentions race, according to the New York Times.

Democrat Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, who authored the bill, expressed her outrage at the suggestion.

“It is absolutely insane that resources meant to help red and blue communities—everyone from local school districts and libraries to workforce training programs and Tribes—close the digital divide will be illegally blocked because the President doesn’t like the word equity," wrote Murray.

"Americans are sick and tired of extremist right-wing culture wars being forced down our throats," she added. "Republicans will have to explain to their constituents why this Republican administration doesn’t believe their local library should get funding to help seniors navigate telehealth options or why middle schoolers in rural districts shouldn’t get laptops.”

Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts (D) similarly excoriated the president over the threat.

"Congress passed the Digital Equity Act to help ensure that all Americans could participate equally in the online world. This illegal action will hurt our economy, our schools, our seniors, and our democracy. We will fight back against it," he wrote.

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119 Amtrak workers loot $12M in record-breaking fraud heist — many keep taxpayer-funded gig: Report



The Amtrak Office of Inspector General released the findings of a bombshell investigation on Wednesday, revealing "the largest employee conspiracy our office has ever investigated."

According to the OIG, at least 119 Amtrak employees participated in "a widespread scheme," conspiring with New York health care providers to defraud the company's health care plan out of over $12 million.

'The sheer volume of employees who cavalierly participated in this scheme to steal Amtrak's funds suggests not only a serious lapse in basic ethics, but a troubling workforce culture, at least in the Northeast region, in which blatant criminal behavior was somehow normalized.'

The investigation stated that the fraud occurred between 2019 and 2022 and involved 28 now retired or resigned workers. Another 30 employees departed from Amtrak for "other reasons."

However, the majority of the 119 alleged crooked workers are reportedly still with Amtrak, a company that has never turned a profit since its creation in 1971 and leans on taxpayer funds to cover its losses.

The office said, "The OIG's findings on 61 remaining active employees were given to Amtrak for consideration of appropriate administrative disciplinary action."

"A dozen employees have been criminally charged in the case, and seven have pleaded guilty, pending sentencing," the OIG stated.

Amtrak Inspector General Kevin Winters noted that he hopes the investigation will serve as a deterrent for other employees and health care providers.

"The sheer volume of employees who cavalierly participated in this scheme to steal Amtrak's funds suggests not only a serious lapse in basic ethics, but a troubling workforce culture, at least in the Northeast region, in which blatant criminal behavior was somehow normalized," Winters remarked.

The OIG launched the investigation after an agent observed "unusual billing patterns." Upon further review, the office discovered that three New York-based providers with a high number of Amtrak employees as patients had submitted "questionable billings."

The employees reportedly "accepted cash kickbacks from three health care providers in exchange for the use of their insurance information, and in some cases, that of their dependents."

"The providers used the employee-provided information to file fraudulent and questionable medical claims for services that were never provided or not medically necessary. In total, Amtrak's health care plan was billed over $16 million and paid out more than $12 million during the scheme," the OIG reported.

Amtrak told Fox News Digital it has taken "significant steps" to address the fraud.

"Like many employers, Amtrak calls on medical benefit providers and insurers to do more to identify suspicious activity and stop medical insurance fraud," the company stated. "Amtrak strongly condemns this reprehensible act that occurred between 2019 and 2022 and is taking swift action with all active employees involved in the investigation."

"While we continue to work closely with the OIG to identify and stamp out fraud, we also continue to work on other initiatives to address this issue," the statement continued. "Amtrak has implemented various measures to enhance fraud prevention and empower employees to report suspected wrongdoing. These efforts include increasing oversight and strengthening efforts to eliminate fraudulent schemes."

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JD Vance pushes America First position on India-Pakistan conflict: 'None of our business'



The decades-long dispute between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region has resulted in numerous bloody skirmishes and three full-fledged wars — in 1965, 1971, and 1999. In the wake of a horrific terrorist attack in the southern part of Indian-administered Kashmir last month, fighting has resumed and threatens now to embroil the two nuclear powers in another major war.

When pressed on Thursday to comment about the Trump administration's concern "about the potential for nuclear war between India and Pakistan," Vice President JD Vance told Fox News' Martha MacCallum that while concerned and keen on de-escalation, the U.S. is "not going to get involved in the middle of war that's fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America's ability to control it."

"Look, we're concerned about any time nuclear powers collide and have a major conflict," said Vance. "What we've said, what Secretary Rubio has said, and certainly [what] the president has said is we want this thing to de-escalate as quickly as possible."

Tensions once again came to a head between India and Pakistan on April 22 when terrorists massacred 26 people, mainly Indian tourists, near Pahalgam, a town in the southern part of Indian-administered Kashmir.

'It's a shame.'

Indian officials believe that the group claiming responsibility for the massacre, the Resistance Front, is actually a proxy for the Pakistan-based jihadist terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, reported the New York Times.

President Donald Trump stated in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack, "The United States stands strong with India against Terrorism. We pray for the souls of those lost, and for the recovery of the injured."

While India did not publicly blame the Pakistani government massacre, New Delhi nevertheless responded with missile strikes on alleged terrorist training sites in Pakistan while also reportedly arresting thousands of people in Kashmir.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif claimed that India's May 6 (local time) strikes amounted to a "heinous act of aggression [that] will not go unpunished."

President Donald Trump said Tuesday in response to the news of India's military operation against Pakistan, "It's a shame," adding, "I just hope it ends very quickly."

'What we can do is try to encourage these folks to de-escalate a little bit.'

Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted later on May 6 that he was monitoring the situation closely and echoed Trump's hope that "this hopefully ends quickly."

In recent days, India and Pakistan have reportedly traded artillery fire and drone strikes. Sharif claimed Wednesday that the Pakistani military had shot down five Indian jets.

"We can't control these countries," Vance, who was in India at the time of the terrorist attacks, told MacCallum. "India has its gripes with Pakistan. Pakistan has responded to India. What we can do is try to encourage these folks to de-escalate a little bit."

"Our hope and our expectation is that this is not going to spiral into a broader regional war or, God forbid, a nuclear conflict," continued the vice president. "We're worried about these things, but I think the job of diplomacy — but also the job of cooler heads in India and Pakistan — is to make sure this doesn't become a nuclear war."

According to the Federation of American Scientists, Pakistan and India have 170 and 180 nuclear warheads, respectively.

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