A large-scale criminal investigation into alleged corruption among officials of a Ukrainian state-run energy company reportedly pointed to a former business associate of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to a source familiar with the probe.

Seven people were charged in the alleged $100 million kickback scheme, including Energoatom, a nuclear energy agency, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukraine is under pressure to stamp out corruption as a part of its bid to join the European Union.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine said that five of the seven were arrested, but none were named publicly. NABU officials said they conducted 70 searches over 15 months of the investigation.

A Reuters report cited a source familiar with the matter that said Timur Mindich was among those charged. Mindich and Zelenskyy are longtime friends and business associates.

NABU said only that two of those charged were “a businessman who is the head of the criminal organization” and “a former adviser to the Minister of Energy.”

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said an urgent audit of Energoatom would be conducted after the agency’s supervisory board was dismissed.

“We expect the audit results as soon as possible,” Svyrydenko wrote on Telegram. “The data will be handed over to law enforcement and anti-corruption bodies.”

Reuters said Mindich did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ukraine is under pressure to stamp out corruption as a part of its bid to join the European Union.

On Monday, Zelenskyy said in a video address that the integrity of the energy agency is a priority.

“Everyone who has built corrupt schemes must face a clear procedural response,” the president said. “There must be convictions. And government officials must work together with NABU and law enforcement bodies — and do it in a way that delivers real results.”

RELATED: White House hits Russia with massive sanctions, demands ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Ukraine

Critics of the ongoing U.S. support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion have pointed to accusations of corruption to bolster their calls to end military aid to the beleaguered nation.

The allegations of corruption in the energy sector would enrage many Ukrainians who are suffering widespread electricity blackouts as the bitter winter edges closer. Russian missile and drone attacks on the energy grid have also worsened the situation.

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The government shutdown may be ending, but it revealed something very important about Americans as a whole — too many rely on the government to survive.

And that is a very dangerous situation to be in.

“Whenever a society gets into this situation, history will show us a poisoned promise begins,” Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck explains.

“The socialists always arrive making all kinds of poison promises,” he says. “And there is a pattern, and it is so ancient it could be scripture. … Every socialist experiment starts with the same smooth-tongue promise: ‘We are going to make life fair.’”

“Unfortunately for socialists, you know, history keeps impeccable books. The receipts are really, really damning. Fortunately for socialists, nobody ever reads history,” he continues.

These receipts that Glenn pulls out are in the form of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Fidel Castro in Cuba, and Adolf Hitler in Germany.

“This story of socialism is written in blood in ledger books all over the world,” Glenn says. “And it always starts with the promise of equity or equality. And it always leads to the rise of an elite who decides what equality means. And every time it fails, they say, ‘Well, that was just put in the hands of the wrong people.’”

“No, the key word here is not ‘wrong,’ it’s ‘people.’ People. The workers never get the factories. The peasants never receive the land. The poor never get any of the wealth. And it’s this story over and over and over again,” he continues.

“Socialism begins with a promise but always ends with a ruling class armed with absolute power,” he says, adding, “Only the names change.”

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The daughter of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a campaign for a California state Senate seat after her mother said she would not seek re-election.

Christine Pelosi, 59, has worked as an attorney, an author, and the chair of the California Democratic Party’s Women’s Caucus, and she believes that experience qualifies her to become a state senator.

‘Fighting for consumer rights, women’s rights, gun violence survivors, immigrants, and our most vulnerable communities against the threat we face.’

“I’m running to represent you, San Francisco, in Sacramento,” Pelosi said in a video she posted to social media Monday. “Fighting for consumer rights, women’s rights, gun violence survivors, immigrants, and our most vulnerable communities against the threat we face.”

Her mother announced Thursday that she was not seeking re-election to the U.S. House after 38 years in the same office, where she was the first and only female speaker of the U.S. House in history.

“What do we do when our freedoms are under attack?” Christine Pelosi continued. “We speak up, we fight back, and we organize power for the people, and that’s what I want to do for you.”

She is currently on the executive committee of the Democratic National Committee and previously worked as a special counsel in the Clinton administration.

Some had speculated that the daughter might seek Nancy Pelosi’s office after she retired, but Christine Pelosi decided against it.

“I like the thought of forging my own path,” Christine Pelosi said in an interview.

RELATED: Video shows Nancy Pelosi exploding with fury at reporter over Jan. 6 claims: ‘SHUT UP!’

“I don’t think that there is a better representative or a better speaker in Washington, D.C., for San Francisco than Nancy Pelosi,” she continued. “And I wish everybody luck as they attempt to follow in those stilettos.”

Christine Pelosi is the second of five children of the former speaker.

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A woman who has organized a local farmers’ market for years in the city of Pataskala, Ohio, was prohibited from putting on a live nativity display for a Christmas-themed market until officials backed down.

Susan Conley requested in September to be allowed to set up the nativity scene on public grounds this year after previously having it located on private property. The city denied the request, despite allowing other displays that included the Grinch, Santa Claus, and Buddy the Elf.

‘Pataskala cannot ban religious displays on public property just because they’re religious.’

The First Liberty Institute, which represents Conley, said in a press release that city officials backtracked after the organization sent a letter to them on her behalf.

“This is nothing new for Susan. She has worked with the city for nearly a decade to set up a live Nativity as a part of Pataskala’s annual Mainstreet Christmas event,” reads the statement from the organization.

Conley said she had organized live nativity displays on private grounds in the city for about 16 years.

“It was very frustrating. I couldn’t understand really why the city would deny my request,” she said to WKEF-TV.

“For many in the community, celebrating the season means coming together to celebrate Jesus,” she continued.

Mayor Mike Compton admitted that he and other officials initially had concerns about religious expression on public grounds. “This was brand new, and we just said, ‘Hey, you know what? Staying with our normal policy, not mixing religion on city property, your permit is approved, but you cannot do the nativity. You will have to find another location,'” Compton said, according to WBNS-TV.

After Conley and FLI threatened a lawsuit, city officials reconsidered their decision.

“We are grateful that the city administration recognized that the Constitution protects Ms. Conley’s right to put up a nativity at the farmers’ market,” said First Liberty Institute senior counsel Nate Kellum.

“Pataskala cannot ban religious displays on public property just because they’re religious,” he added.

RELATED: Court victory for Christian mom banned from adopting foster children over religious beliefs on LGBTQ agenda

Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy released a statement on his social media siding with Conley.

“The city of Pataskala, Ohio recently denied a petition from local residents to set up a live nativity scene at a holiday-themed farmers market in December. This is blatantly unconstitutional,” he wrote.

“Denying permits for religious displays on public property because of their content is a First Amendment violation & has a chilling effect on all religious faiths. In recent years, Christianity has been unfairly targeted by secular political leaders; in the future, it could easily be other faiths too. But it’s always wrong, unconstitutional, and un-American,” he added.

“I stand ready to help local residents in my home state who stand up for their constitutional rights,” Ramaswamy concluded.

Ramaswamy later posted that he had discussed the issue with Mayor Compton and that it had been “resolved.”

“Thank you to the leaders of the great city of Pataskala for handling the matter promptly!” he wrote.

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Republican lawmakers officially passed their funding bill to reopen the government on Monday night. In addition to getting the ball rolling on reopening the government, their bill sets the stage for possible retribution over the Biden FBI’s Arctic Frost operation.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) published damning documents last month regarding the Biden FBI’s Operation Arctic Frost, an investigation that ultimately morphed into former special counsel Jack Smith’s federal case against President Donald Trump regarding the 2020 election.

‘Arctic Frost was a grotesque abuse of power. It was Joe Biden’s Watergate.’

The documents revealed that the bureau not only subpoenaed records for over 400 Republican individuals and entities but secretly obtained the private phone records of numerous Republican lawmakers as part of what the Iowa senator called a “fishing expedition.”

According to the Grassley, those behind Arctic Frost “were spreading a wide net because they were looking for anything they could to hook on Trump, put Trump in prison, keep him from running for president, and things of that nature.”

The funding bill passed by the Senate this week contains a provision that would enable any senator whose phone records were “acquired, subpoenaed, searched, accessed or disclosed” without his or her knowledge to file a civil lawsuit against the government inside the next five years for at least $500,000 plus legal fees for each instance of a violation.

Senators would be able to take legal action if at the time their records were seized, they were a target of a criminal investigation; a federal judge issued an order authorizing a delay of notice to the senator in question; the government complied with the judge’s order; and the subpoena was faithfully executed.

RELATED: Republicans torch Obama judge over his role in Biden FBI’s ‘partisan vendetta,’ demand impeachment

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The provision, which is retroactive to 2022, notes that “no officer, employee, or agent of the United States or of any Federal department or agency shall be entitled to assert any form of absolute or qualified immunity as a defense to liability” in relation to such violations.

“It’s designed to put real teeth into federal law that prohibits the executive branch from surveilling the Senate,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — whose Senate office hard-line and cellphone records were reportedly targeted — told the Daily Caller. “Arctic Frost was a grotesque abuse of power. It was Joe Biden’s Watergate.”

“[It’s] a common-sense provision to ensure that no Department of Justice — Democrat or Republican — ever does that again,” added Cruz, who confirmed to Politico that Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) was “directly” responsible for the inclusion of the provision.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) told the Daily Caller the provision serves to protect against “a weaponization of government against members of the Senate” and stressed that “senators are going to take responsible action, and that’s what we’ve done here.”

Democrat lawmakers complained about the measure.

“I’m shocked that a huge change in policy would be dropped into a bill at the last minute, and the first that most senators learn about it is in the press,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told the Caller. “This is one more way in which the bill that passed the Senate tonight is even worse for the American people.”

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) similarly clutched pearls over the provision, telling Politico, “I am furious that the Senate minority and majority leaders chose to airdrop this provision into this bill at the eleventh hour — with zero consultation or negotiation with the subcommittee that actually oversees this work.”

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Violence erupted outside a Turning Point USA event on the UC Berkeley campus as protesters gathered to challenge TPUSA’s presence at the school on the final stop of TPUSA’s tour after Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September.

KTVU reported that protesters clashed on Monday with attendees outside Zellerbach Hall, where the event was scheduled to take place. Comedian Rob Schneider and Christian apologist Frank Turek headlined the event.

Other signs read: ‘Kirk said death penalties should be public, quick, and televised … Congrats Bud!’ and ‘TP belongs in the toilet.’

KTVU’s Crystal Bailey described a “rowdy” crowd outside the venue, noting that there was heightened security as well.

RELATED: Teacher’s assistant arrested in connection with Turning Point USA attack ahead of Alex Stein event at Illinois State Univ.

The event sold out the 1,900-seat venue, a UC Berkeley TPUSA chapter representative told KTVU.

Bailey reported that the protests turned violent as protesters and attendees clashed, saying that there was “blood splattered on the ground” as the result of an “altercation.”

In a now-viral video posted Monday night, leftist protesters and students could be heard chanting, “F**k your dead homie,” referring to late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was publicly assassinated exactly two months ago Monday.

The crowd can be seen holding signs that read, “This machine fights fascism,” “No safe space for fascists,” “Karma’s a b***h,” and “The lion doesn’t concern himself with the opinions of trash.”

Other signs read: “Kirk said death penalties should be public, quick, and televised … Congrats Bud!” and “TP belongs in the toilet.”

A large red sign with two hammer and sickle symbols could be seen with the words “Drown Fascism in a Sea of Resistance.” Underneath the slogan was an apparent reference to a group called the Revolutionary Student Organization. With a portrait of Mao Zedong on the “about” page of its website, the RSU participates in several forms of “direct action.”

In other videos from the event shared by reporter Andy Ngo, activists can be seen shouting incoherently at California Highway Patrol officers and igniting smoke bombs.

TPUSA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet still claimed the event was a success. “Despite Antifa thugs blocking our campus tour stop with tear gas, fireworks, and glass bottles, we had a PACKED HOUSE in the heart of deep-blue UC Berkeley,” he said, according to the New York Post.

KTVU reported that at least four students were arrested in connection with vandalism associated with the event.

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​Politics, Charlie kirk, Protesters, Tpusa, Jack posobiec, Uc berkeley, Revolutionary student organization, Tpusa tour, Fascism 

Failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris claims to have outplayed the campaign strategy employed by President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.

Harris made the comments while a guest on the “Storehouse and Friends” podcast hosted by Tamira Chapman. The podcast was published Sunday, but the clip of her comments went viral on social media.

‘I understood the game that was being played. And I made the decision that I wasn’t gonna get played!’

“I was aware of my opponent’s strategy, and I wasn’t about to fall prey or fall into those traps. And part of his strategy and those around him was to try to take me off our game and message,” Harris explained.

“And I wasn’t about to be distracted by those little, those flames that he was trying to throw to get me away from … my highest priority, which was talking to people about the economy and their well-being in terms of their financial well-being,” she added.

“And that’s, I understood the game that was being played,” Harris added. “And I made the decision that I wasn’t gonna get played!”

Harris cackled at her own joke and prompted the other women to similarly cackle.

“Chess, not checkers!” replied one.

“Three-dimensional chess! I’m telling you!” she added.

On the same show, Harris was asked by a co-host if she faced difficulties as a black woman, and she answered by blaming the Democratic Party.

“Often I feel like black women have this tension between, you know, who they are and the mission that they are trying to accomplish. I want to know if you faced any of that tension when you were on your mission, especially considering that your mission was race agnostic and gender agnostic. You were trying to do the work that the country needed,” asked Melissa Butler. “Did you find that you faced tension of that sort?”

“I think the Democratic Party has taken black women for granted,” Harris responded. “There are very specific issues that impact black women in America that should be some of the highest priorities.”

RELATED: ‘He totally f**ked us’: Top Harris adviser blames Biden for devastating election loss

Harris is on a marketing tour for her campaign memoir titled, “107 Days.” The effort has been ruthlessly mocked and ridiculed by many on social media since she announced it in July.

Video of the entire show with Harris can be viewed on the show’s YouTube channel.

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​Kamala harris, Harris vs trump, 2024 presidential election, Harris on 2024, Politics 

Democratic senators finally capitulated to Republicans after the drawn-out, record-breaking government shutdown. Although Democrats didn’t actually accomplish anything, they maintain the shutdown was worth it.

Democrats originally shut down the government to force Republicans’ hand on extending health care subsidies from the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire at the end of the year. Over 40 days later, eight Democrats caved and voted with Republicans to reopen the government without securing a deal on health care.

‘We got people to pay attention.’

Republicans’ only concession to Democrats was to reverse reduction-in-force notices issued during the shutdown and a commitment to refrain from implementing any more through January 30, when the continuing resolution expires.

After eight Democrats flipped and voted with Republicans to pass the continuing resolution, many of their colleagues expressed outrage and disappointment. Even still, some Senate Democrats maintain that the record-breaking shutdown was worth it.

RELATED: ‘Pathetic’ Senate Democrats cave, advancing key shutdown vote and prompting intraparty uproar: ‘It’s a surrender’

Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado told CNN that demonstrating the overwhelming reliance millions of Americans have on the federal government made the shutdown worth it.

“Yeah, I think so,” Hickenlooper said. “I hate it, but yeah, it was worth it. Definitely.”

“We got people to pay attention to the fact that this is a traumatic, in many cases, life-or-death situation all over this country.”

RELATED: Senate Republicans pass key deal with Democrat defectors as end to record-long shutdown draws near

Photo by Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images

Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island echoed Hickenlooper, saying the shutdown was worthwhile.

“I think it was,” Reed said after a long pause. “Because I think the perception, we made it clear that it’s not just a health care issue, but the whole issue. I think it was remarkable when the president tried to use SNAP as the punishment to force us to capitulate.”

Notably, Reed’s claim that President Donald Trump weaponized food assistance programs like SNAP to bully Democrats is inaccurate. Congress is the only political body responsible for appropriating SNAP, and Democrats intentionally shut down and refused to reopen the government for over 40 days.

Additionally, neither Hickenlooper nor Reed were among the eight Democrats who voted to reopen the government.

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​Senate democrats, John hickenlooper, Jack reed, Chuck schumer, Donald trump, John thune, Mike johnson, Snap, Government shutdown, Healthcare, Aca subsidies, Obamacare, Affordable care act, Schumer shutdown, Congress, Reduction in force, Rifs, Politics 

The Islamification of the United States is in full swing, and BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales is continuing to sound the alarm, warning Americans of what’s happening right under their noses.

“They want to use the tax-deductible mosques to build the voter bloc. They want to use their CAIR (c)(4) — this was the CAIR executive director saying they want to use the (c)(4) of their organization to lobby, draft, and fight laws. They want to use their PACs to fund candidates, and they want to use super PACs for unlimited money to flip races,” Gonzales explains.

“Now, there are not a lot of people who will actually stand up and call out corrupt organizations like CAIR and call out what is actually happening right before our very eyes, for fear of being called an Islamaphobe,” she continues.

“Oh, no, a mean name,” she says mockingly. “I guess I’ll just stand by and watch my civilization be completely destroyed.”

CAIR is the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which Gonzales explains has “reported terrorist ties to organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood, also Hamas.”

Which is why Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) — who is running for attorney general of Texas — has introduced a bill to strip tax-exempt status from charities with known terror ties.

“I think there’s a lot of folks who don’t realize, or haven’t realized until lately, how bad it truly is,” Roy tells Gonzales, explaining that once he started speaking out about the Islamic takeover happening not just in America but across the world, he started getting harassed.

“They were, you know, harassing my staff and basically trying to target us, which is what they’re going to do,” he says.

But he warns that it’s going to get worse, as what has happened with Mamdani in New York City is not the “canary in the coal mine” but the “four-alarm fire that’s currently raging right here, right now.”

“And you know it, and I know it. You know, the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with EPIC. But it’s not just EPIC … there’s this massive Islamic center in Houston. There’s 300 mosques throughout the state of Texas. There’s more mosques being built in Texas every day than any other state in the union,” Roy explains.

“And that’s the last point,” he continues. “There are organizations, deeply funded, widely funded, with ties back to Middle East funding, but also radical Marxists, because that’s what people don’t understand: This is the combination element of Marxism and Islamism.”

“And it is purposeful, and they are targeting the United States of America specifically to take us over,” he adds.

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Police found a half-naked woman handcuffed in a Texas backyard who had been tortured for a considerable period of time by five people she knew for years, authorities said.

The Austin Police Department said in a statement that officers conducted a welfare check just after 9 a.m. Oct. 30 after a report regarding a “woman in distress who appeared to be restrained and calling for help.”

The woman told investigators she ‘got in trouble’ the night before police found her because her pants fell down, according to the affidavit.

Police said they discovered a woman outside a home who was “handcuffed to a piece of exercise equipment.”

“The woman showed signs of physical distress and had visible injuries consistent with prolonged restraint,” the press release read. “The woman told officers she had been held at the residence for several months and was not allowed to leave.”

Police said they had to cut through the “heavy metal links” to release the woman who soon was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Officers discovered three children inside the house who were “safely removed and placed in the care of Child Protective Services for safety and support.”

Police arrested five people from the residence and charged them with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, injury to elderly or disabled, and unlawful restraint.

The suspects were identified as 51-year-old Michelle Garcia, 32-year-old Mache Carney, 30-year-old Juan Pablo Castro, 21-year-old Crystal Garcia, and 21-year-old Maynard Lefevers.

The Austin American-Statesman said it obtained the arrest affidavit, which indicated the woman told police she was friends with one of the females who lived in the house and visited often — but “one day they decided they didn’t like her anymore and no longer allowed her to leave.”

The suspects said they had known the woman for years, the affidavit stated.

Carney told police they started restraining the woman to stop her from stealing from neighbors, the affidavit said.

Several of the suspects claimed the woman suffers from mental health issues, according to the affidavit.

Crystal Garcia told investigators that the woman was only “50/50” capable of consent, the affidavit stated.

RELATED: Female reportedly orders her 5 lovers to kidnap, torture, and deprive man of food and sleep for a week at Red Roof Inn

Citing the affidavit, KVUE-TV reported that the woman had been at the home since July and had been “handcuffed inside and outside the house for months.”

Castro — the husband of Carney — admitted to purchasing the handcuffs, according to the affidavit.

According to the affidavit, the woman told detectives a male and a female repeatedly shot her with a BB gun and that she was beaten with a baseball bat and fed only once a day.

Michelle Garcia told investigators they fed the woman one meal a day because she had gotten “chunky,” according to the arrest affidavit. However, police noted that the woman appeared malnourished when she was found.

Police said the woman told them she was punished if she tried to leave and had open wounds, cuts, swollen wrists, missing flesh from her hands and feet, extensive scarring all over her body from BB gunshots, and a battered face, the American-Statesman reported, citing the affidavit.

KVUE, citing law enforcement, reported that the woman had “hundreds of small BB scars across her body and a swollen shut right eye from a pellet injury.”

The affidavit said the suspects confessed to shooting the woman with BB guns. Castro told police he bought an electric rifle-style BB gun “to shoot her” because he didn’t want to touch the woman.

According to the arrest affidavit, Castro told authorities he would come home from work, grab the BB gun from his closet, and “chase her around the yard,” firing pellets.

“I [expletive] hate her,” Castro told investigators when asked why he shot the victim, the affidavit stated.

A 4-year-old child who lived at the home told a specialist during a forensic interview that Castro — his father — shot the woman when she was “bad,” according to the affidavit. The child said he could hear the woman outside screaming, according to the affidavit.

The woman told investigators she “got in trouble” the night before police found her because her pants fell down, according to the affidavit.

The American-Statesman said as “punishment,” a number of suspects “allegedly shot her repeatedly with a BB gun,” secured her in the backyard with handcuffs, then left her there “overnight without pants or food as temperatures dipped into the 40s.” The paper, citing police, added that the woman said she “begged and cried to be released, but was threatened with more and worse violence” if she kept pleading.

The investigation is ongoing, and those with information about the case are urged to contact the Austin Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit at 512-974-4786 or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at austincrimestoppers.org or 512-472-8477.

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​Strange news, Weird news, Odd news, Texas crime, Kidnapping, Texas, Crime, Austin, Torture, Aggravated assault