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Energy Dept. Employee Arrested for Illegally Supporting the Houthis
Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, 51, of Richland, Washington, was arrested Thursday and charged with attempting to provide material support to the Houthis, an Iran-backed group designated as a foreign terrorist organization. The Department of Energy employee is an electrical engineer. The FBI says he bought precursor chemicals and drone parts, then in September 2025 used an official passport from his Army Corps of Engineers service to travel from Richland to Oman and into Yemen toward Houthi-held Sanaa. He told border officers the trip was official business. His supervisor said it was not. Prosecutors say he later helped an FBI source posing as a Houthi contact test and modify solar generators and communications gear, and supplied diagrams. The Hanford field office said the case did not involve a threat to the nuclear site. He faces up to 20 years if convicted and is due in court Friday.
Editorâs Note: Pretty damn close to treason.
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Georgia Election Board Asks DOJ to Bar QR-Code Vote Counting
Georgiaâs State Election Board asked the Justice Department to bar the stateâs QR-code tabulation before the midterms and to set a six-month deadline to replace it. Executive Director James Mills sent the Sept. 30 letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche after a Sept. 28 resolution by Carolyn Roddy passed 3-2. Voters mark choices on a touchscreen. The machine prints readable text, then encodes the counted choices in a QR code they can't read. Scanners tally the code. Mills said that setup conflicts with the Help America Vote Act and state law. He also asked for an investigation into Secretary of State Brad Raffenspergerâs (R) office over election records and data shared with private vendors, plus a forensic backup and a newer certified software version. A Raffensperger spokesman called the request unserious and said a QR-free system is aimed at 2028. Gov. Brian Kemp (R) delayed the statutory QR ban to Jan. 1, 2028. Early voting starts Oct. 13.
Pentagon Creates Four-Star Command to Scale Drone Warfare
War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the Autonomous Warfare Command, or AutoWarCom, at Quantico on Sept. 30. The four-star combatant command would have service-like authority to buy and field unmanned systems across the joint force. Hegseth said cheap computing and commercial manufacturing have put low-cost precision strike within reach of adversaries and that Ukraine showed the need for a system built to adapt. He set a target of Oct. 1, 2027, to stand up the command. Until then, Project Agincourt, led by the unmanned-systems portfolio office, will build the pathway, including manpower, budget, acquisition authority and new career fields. Owen West and Navy SEAL Max Strasiser are slated to lead that effort. Congress must approve the new command. Hegseth tied the plan to the Drone Dominance program and Task Force 401.
Cotton Demands Review After F-35 Parts Land in Hong Kong
US Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) asked War Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sept. 29 to review security controls on military shipments moved by contractors and commercial carriers. The request followed reports that Chinese authorities diverted unserviceable F-35 components bound for the United States from Australia to Hong Kong, took possession, and have not returned them. Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the Pentagon cannot afford to let equipment fall to an adversary through commercial transit. He asked to review the chain of custody, tracking, route-change approvals, rules for foreign transit, and safeguards against shipments through China. The F-35 Joint Program Office said it was working with U.S. authorities and industry to retrieve the parts. Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said he understood the shipment did not involve sensitive equipment and that the United States and Lockheed Martin would handle it. A 2023 audit found a prime contractor had logged more than 1 million F-35 spare parts, worth over $85 million, as lost since 2018.
Tennessee Halts Executions After Pike Survives Two Injection Attempts
Christa Pike, 50, remained alive after Tennessee tried twice Wednesday night to carry out her death sentence at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. Lawyers said she still had a heartbeat and could be heard snoring after both doses. Witnesses said she spoke in full sentences before the first attempt. She was taken to a hospital. By Thursday, her attorneys said she was in critical condition and receiving care. The Department of Corrections said it followed the attorney general-approved protocol and that the protocol does not allow further steps. Gov. Bill Lee ordered an outside review and canceled the stateâs remaining 2026 execution. The U.S. Supreme Court had lifted a same-day stay in a 6-3 vote. Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of classmate Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee since 1820.
Texas Capitol Threat Suspect Moved to Federal Custody After Bond Report
Benny Caldera Jr., 40, of Converse, was arrested at his home northeast of San Antonio around 3 a.m. Wednesday after Texas DPS received a tip that he planned to attack the state Capitol on Oct. 1. He was charged with felony terroristic threat against a public servant. County records showed a $75,000 bond and a morning release, prompting reports he was free within hours. DPS later said the FBI took him from Bexar County Jail on additional federal charges and that he is not out on bond. An affidavit cited by local outlets said he told a friend he was going to âshoot it up.â Secretary of the Senate Patsy Spaw called him the âmain suspectâ and referred to possible co-conspirators. No other arrests were reported. Gov. Greg Abbott and FBI Director Kash Patel credited the tip and the rapid arrest. DPS raised security at the Capitol while the investigation continues.
Editorâs Note: How did someone like this get bond in the first place?
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Obama Judge Reinstates Seattle U.S. Attorney Trump Fired in an Hour
U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian, an Obama appointee, ruled Thursday that President Trump cannot fire a U.S. attorney named by a district court. He reinstated Roger Rogoff as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington and said Rogoff has held the office since taking the oath on July 15. Judges in the district unanimously picked Rogoff in July after the Senate did not confirm a Trump nominee. Trump fired him less than an hour later. The administration then treated First Assistant Charles Neil Floyd as the acting chief. Bastian said the law lets judges appoint someone until the vacancy is filled, not until the president fires that person. He barred the Justice Department from treating anyone else as the districtâs top prosecutor. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had said the president can fire a court-appointed U.S. attorney.
Editorâs Note: A blatant transgression of the Separation of Powers. US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the POTUS.
Fairfax Superintendent Out-Earns the President in a District Built on Equity Policy
Fairfax County Public Schools pays Superintendent Michelle Reid $469,936 a year, about $70,000 more than the President of the United States, who earns $400,000. A public-records review found Chief Equity Officer Nardos King at $288,064, above the $253,100 paid to Cabinet secretaries. Thirteen district employees earn more than the U.S. education secretary. The district puts âequityâ at the center of its strategic plan. Parents have sued over claims the schools hid student gender transitions from families. An adult student in the country illegally was accused of groping girls at a Fairfax high school. Reid runs a system of about 180,000 students that lost 6,894 pupils from 2015 to 2025, the largest drop in Virginia, and is projected to fall another 6.6 percent by 2030. The board still bought a former academy for $150 million. A starting teacher makes $63,599.
Judge Rules Wisconsin Mosque Leader Can Be Deported
An immigration judge ruled Wednesday that the United States can deport Salah Sarsour, president of Wisconsinâs largest mosque, as a national-security and foreign-policy threat. Chicago Immigration Court Judge Jayme Salinardi found him removable under a Cold War-era provision of immigration law. She rejected the governmentâs claim that he lied on his green card application. ICE detained Sarsour in Milwaukee in March. A federal judge ordered his release in June after he raised a claim that the detention was retaliation for his criticism of Israel. Sarsour was born in the West Bank and was imprisoned in Israel in 1988 after confessing to throwing a Molotov cocktail and stones at military personnel. He was convicted in 1995 of attempting to possess weapons. He denies the crimes and says the confessions were coerced. He called the ruling disappointing and said he will appeal.
Two-Thirds of Young Democrat Women Blame Men for Womenâs Problems
A Survey Center on American Life brief found that 66 percent of Democrat women ages 18 to 29 said the challenges women face are due in great part to the behavior or actions of men. Only 18 percent of Republican women the same age agreed, a 48-point gap. Among women 30 to 49, 54 percent of Democrats and 33 percent of Republicans agreed. Among women 50 to 64, they were 47 percent and 25 percent. The gap narrowed with age and did not close. More than two-thirds of young women said women face âa lotâ of discrimination. Asked the reverse, only 16 percent of men overall blamed women for menâs problems. Young Republican men were the highest male group, at 26 percent. The center did not explain the cluster. The findings align with other polls showing men and women drifting apart politically.
Florida Cabinet Labels CAIR, Muslim Brotherhood and Antifa Terror Groups
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the Florida Cabinet voted Tuesday to designate more than 90 groups as terrorist organizations under House Bill 1471, which took effect July 1. The list includes the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim Brotherhood and Antifa, plus groups already on the federal foreign-terror list, among them Tren de Aragua, two Mexican cartels and Iranâs Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The vote came with little comment and no public testimony. FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass said the groups met the statute. CAIR has sued in federal court in Tallahassee, arguing the designation violates the First Amendment and due process. The ACLU said it would seek a preliminary injunction and that the notice alleges no violent act by CAIR in violation of Florida or U.S. law. The designation takes effect Nov. 5 unless a court blocks it.
ON THIS DAY IN 1962:
Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show for the first time, launching a legendary 30-year run that defined late-night television and American pop culture.
đ International
Iranâs Revolutionary Guard Asks Americans to Vote Out Trump Allies
Iranâs Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps released a 26-page open letter on Tuesday telling American voters to reject President Trump and Republicans in the midterms. The letter said politicians win votes through deception and told readers to âremove from power the evil, deceitful, and violent politicians.â It claimed Iranâs nuclear program is peaceful, defended the slogan âDeath to Americaâ as aimed at the government rather than the public, and portrayed the war as a failure for Washington. Spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said voters might listen even if the administration does not. The State Department called the letter a smokescreen meant to hide the effects of military action. The IRGC is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
Editorâs Note: So, voting Democrat aligns you with the IRGC.
Pentagon Sends Third Carrier and About 10,000 Troops Toward Iran
The Pentagon is sending the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group from San Diego toward the Middle East, which could put a third aircraft carrier in the region by late November. The group, with the Makin Island amphibious ships and Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, carries roughly 9,000 to 10,000 sailors and Marines. The USS George H.W. Bush and USS George Washington are already there. Officials have not said whether the Roosevelt will add to that force or relieve the Washington, which is normally based in Japan. President Trump has rejected Iranâs seven-day cease-fire offer and has said bombing could resume after the midterms. The Navy loaded extra food and supplies after Iranian strikes disrupted a Bahrain port, and sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln reported shortages during a record deployment. About 20 Navy ships are already helping escort traffic in the region.
Bolivia Arrests Attorney General After U.S. Visa Ban Over Drug Ties
Bolivian police arrested Attorney General Roger Mariaca and 13 others Wednesday night in an operation the government says targeted a criminal network inside the Public Prosecutorâs Office. Interior Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo said the group, which he accused Mariaca of leading, protected drug trafficking. Mariaca was taken at Viru Viru airport in Santa Cruz, two days after Washington revoked his visa and accused him of taking bribes to help traffickers. The sweep followed video and audio attributed to Uruguayan trafficker SebastiĂĄn Marset, captured in Bolivia in March and later sent to the United States, in which he called Mariaca a friend and claimed a large payment to keep operating. Also held were Santa Cruz prosecutor Alberto Zeballos, senior prosecutor MartĂn Irusta and a police major. Oviedo said the charges include criminal organization, money laundering, and drug trafficking. Mariaca, appointed in 2024 under the previous socialist government, had denied the U.S. claims.
Moscow Warns It Could Use Nuclear Arms if NATO Isolates Kaliningrad
Russia told NATO in a diplomatic note that it would use its full arsenal, including nuclear weapons, if the alliance tried to cut off Kaliningrad from the rest of Russia. The exclave sits on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania and hosts forces of the Baltic Fleet. The note also raised strikes on âdecision-making centersâ in NATO states at the start of a conflict. President Vladimir Putin repeated the warning Thursday at the Valdai forum, saying a direct attack on Kaliningrad would put every Russian weapon on the table. He said Russia does not plan to attack Europe. NATO answered that it is a defensive alliance, that its drills do not threaten Russian territory, and that the nuclear talk should stop. Lithuania called the warning baseless and said it would keep backing Ukraine.
French School Unrest Centers on Migration-Background Youths
Student blockades that began last week over teacher shortages and building conditions spread Thursday to hundreds of French high schools and about 30 universities. Prime Minister SĂŠbastien Lecornu called a crisis meeting after officials described the unrest as urban violence. A person close to the prime minister told the meeting that intelligence agencies said the hard-left France Unbowed party of Jean-Luc MĂŠlenchon was behind the movement. Fires damaged schools in Nantes and elsewhere. In Marseille, staff at Victor Hugo High School were assaulted and doused with gasoline, and youths forced firefighters from a truck and set it alight. Buses were targeted near schools. The interior ministry reported 1,949 arrests Thursday and 305 officers injured. Remix News and VisegrĂĄd 24 said the violence was concentrated at schools with large immigrant populations and identified many of those setting fires and attacking crews as second- and third-generation migrants, not the generic âFrench studentsâ in other accounts. Neither outlet published a count showing a majority were refugees.
