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A New York professor notoriously caught on camera holding a machete to a reporter’s neck last year has reportedly been fired from her latest teaching gig after espousing anti-Israel views.

Shellyne Rodriguez, who was terminated last year from her position at New York City’s Hunter College, was fired again – this time from her most recent role at Cooper Union in Manhattan.

“Cooper Union has fired me because of a social media post I made about ‘Zionists’… effective immediately,” Rodriguez, 47, wrote in a Jan. 23 email to students, according to the New York Post. Cooper Union Students for Justice in Palestine shared the email on Instagram the next day.

“This is fascism. Ya’ll are learning about it in real time,” Rodriguez wrote. “Stay strong, [stay] brave, stay defiant, don’t bite your tongue, and drink plenty of water! Pa-lante!”

NYC PROFESSOR GETS NEW GIG TEACHING, MONTHS AFTER THREATENING REPORTER WITH MACHETE

“This firing represents an intense escalation of McCarthyist repression meant to intimidate and punish those in support of a Free Palestine, and must be resisted to prevent its further normalization and the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” the student group wrote, calling on followers to email the art school dean.

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Reached by Fox News Digital about Rodriguez’s reported termination, a spokesperson for Cooper Union said, “We don’t provide comment on personnel matters.”

The Post noted how Rodriguez is no longer listed as an adjunct on Cooper Union’s faculty page.

The reasoning for her latest termination was not immediately clear but came after Rodriguez participated earlier last month in a CUNY for Palestine virtual panel in which she spoke about the possibility of a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement rent strike in New York involving not making rent payments to Jewish landlords or landlords who support Israel.

Her remarks, widely condemned online as antisemitic, also included Rodriguez explaining, “the idea that we could be a Trojan horse, that we are inside empire, and you’re here to upend it.” Of others supporting Israel, she told those on the panel, “You probably wait tables where they go to brunch. Find them, go to their offices, don’t let them sleep.”

According to the Post, Rodriguez also torched former Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. as a “roach” and “Zionist lapdog” in one post on her own Instagram account.

“Jewish students at Cooper Union are very relieved that they fired her,” Jeffrey Lax, a CUNY law professor and co-founder of Students and Faculty for Equality at CUNY, which advocates for Jewish students on campus, told the Post. “Her comments were really despicable.”

NYC PROFESSOR WHO THREATENED REPORTER WITH MACHETE PLEADS GUILTY TO MENACING

“Normally, I would say I commend the university for taking action against this professor but in this case, how can I possibly say that she did something far worse before they hired her? I mean, she held a knife to a reporter’s neck,” Lax told the outlet. “They’re not to be commended, they should be ashamed of themselves.”

Last May, Rodriguez, an adjunct professor at Hunter College at the time, was caught on camera cursing at students who set up a pro-life table, claiming they were “triggering” others.

“You’re not educating s—. This is f—ing propaganda,” Rodriguez said in the video shared online by Students for Life of America. “What are you going to do like anti-trans next?”

When a New York Post reporter arrived at her apartment seeking comment about the incident, she was caught on video again – this time holding a blade to the reporter’s neck.

She pleaded guilty to harassment and menacing in connection to the attack on the reporter, the Post reported, citing the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. If she completes a therapy program, she would be permitted to withdraw the misdemeanor plea under the terms of her plea agreement and would be sentenced on the violation to a conditional discharge.

Rodriguez was sentenced in October to 13 months of behavioral therapy for menacing.

Her termination from Cooper Union also comes months after pro-Palestinian protesters there banged on the windows of the school library while Jewish students were inside.

Rodriguez also notably organized “f— police” demonstrations in 2020 after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Original article source: New York professor caught on video holding machete to reporter’s neck reportedly fired after anti-Israel rants

LORAIN COUNTY, Ohio (WJW) – An excavation crew made an unusual discovery at a construction site in Lorain County, that tells the story of Northeast Ohio’s prehistoric past.

The crew was digging sanitary sewer lines for a new housing development along Indian Hollow Road outside Elyria on Friday, when they hit something large under a couple of feet of soil.

“It amazed me and I’ve been working here 10 years,” said Robert Woods of DiGioia Suburban Excavating.

Dying thief who admitted stealing ‘Wizard of Oz’ ruby slippers won’t go to prison

As Woods kept digging with his excavator, he discovered that what he hit was a boulder that was deposited in Northeast Ohio by a glacier thousands of years ago.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before. I mean, it’s the biggest rock we’ve dug up,” he said.

The outdoor experiences manager for the Lorain County Metro Parks suspects the boulder was swept here 12,000 to 14,000 years ago by glaciers formed in Canada, that carved out the landscape of Ohio and formed Lake Erie and other large bodies of water.

“There is some granite cliff or mountain top in Canada that is missing some rocks,” said Bev Walborn with a chuckle.

She told us the large stone is known as a glacial erratic, and she suspects it is a form of granite.

“We mostly have sedimentary rock like shale and sandstone here, but up in Canada, granite is the rock that’s found up there. So, those big, huge mountains of ice pulled that rock along with them and as the glaciers started to melt and started dropping items and off it went,” she said.

VIDEO: Truck stuck in large Cleveland sinkhole

Supervisors for the construction company have not yet decided if the ancient boulder will be kept as a centerpiece of the new neighborhood or will be moved off-site.

Students of geology say what Woods dug up on Friday was more than just a big rock.

“It’s a great find and I think it reminds us of the history and our place on this planet and what happened in the course of time before we even stepped foot here,” said Walborn.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.

WASHINGTON — In the hours before the United States carried out strikes against Iran-backed militants on Friday, the U.S. hit Iran with more familiar weapons: sanctions and criminal charges.

The Biden administration imposed sanctions on officers and officials of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the country’s premier military force, for threatening the integrity of water utilities and for helping manufacture Iranian drones. And it unsealed charges against nine people for selling oil to finance the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

The timing seemed designed to pressure the Revolutionary Guard and its most elite unit, Iran’s Quds Force, at a moment of extraordinary tension in the Middle East. Although the sanctions have been brewing for some time and the charges were filed earlier under seal, the region has been in turmoil for months.

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The actions are part of a coordinated governmentwide effort to disrupt Iran’s efforts to use illicit oil sales to fund terrorism, and to push back on the country’s increasingly capable offensive cyberoperations. In the 15 years since the United States mounted a major cyberattack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the country has trained a generation of hackers and struck back at Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States, among others.

Two U.S. officials said the United States conducted cyberoperations against Iranian targets Friday but declined to provide details.

The effects of sanctions and indictments are hard to measure. Few Iranian officers or officials keep assets in Western banks or travel to the United States, meaning the sanctions may have little practical effect. Although the indictments and sanctions have a psychological element — demonstrating to Iranians and their business associates around the world that Western intelligence agencies are often tracking their movements and their transactions — actual arrests and trials are infrequent.

“The reason that we bring these cases is we know that the money Iran obtains from the illicit sale of oil is used to fund its malign activities around the world,” Matthew Olsen, who heads the national security division of the Justice Department, said Friday. “The threats posed by Iran and the destabilizing effects of its actions have only come into sharper relief since the attacks of Oct. 7,” the day of the Hamas attack on Israel that killed roughly 1,200 people.

There has been a spate of action against Iran in the past week, culminating with Friday’s strikes on Iranian proxies in Syria and Iraq. The airstrikes were in retaliation for a drone attack Sunday that killed three U.S. service members at a base in Jordan.

On Monday, the Justice Department unsealed charges in Minnesota against an Iranian man accused of hiring a member of the Hells Angels to kill Iranian dissidents living in Maryland. On Wednesday, four Chinese citizens were indicted in Washington, accused of trying to smuggle and export technology used in military equipment and weapons for groups associated with the Revolutionary Guard, part of a constant effort to evade the West’s many prohibitions on selling technology that could be used in weapons systems or surveillance.

The sanctions related to the water utilities involved hacks on what are called “logic controllers,” which are made by an Israeli company, Unitronics, and run the pumps and valves in the water systems. Getting at the controllers is a way of reminding the United States and other countries that their critical infrastructure is vulnerable.

“The United States, in coordination with the private sector and other affected countries, quickly remediated the incidents with minimal impacts,” the Treasury Department said. But it was hardly the only attack of that kind to come from Iran: Ransomware attacks have emanated from Iranian hackers, including one against Boston Children’s Hospital three years ago and against even a major Las Vegas casino.

The sanctions were against a series of officials of the Revolutionary Guard’s “electronic warfare and cyber defense organization,” including its leader, Hamid Reza Lashgarian.

Another set of sanctions, issued by the State Department, focused on four companies that the United States said were supplying materials and technology to Iran’s drone and missile programs. The drones have been of particular concern because Russia is using them in large numbers against Ukraine.

The most sweeping move came from the Justice Department, which unsealed charges against nine people from Iran, Turkey, China and Oman related to efforts to smuggle and sell Iranian oil in violation of U.S. laws.

The legal action came as tensions between the United States and Iran deepen. Attacks such as the one that killed three Americans are funded by illicit Iranian oil sales, officials said. And the intensity has increased since Oct. 7, with more than 160 attacks against U.S. military forces in Iraq, Syria and Jordan by Iran-backed militias.

“Today’s cases are part of the department’s ongoing efforts to cut off the flow of black-market Iranian oil that funds the regime’s malign activity, threatening the United States and our interests around the world,” Olsen said.

c.2024 The New York Times Company

By Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam and Ariba Shahid

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Khan were sentenced to seven years in prison and fined on Saturday by a court that ruled their 2018 marriage broke the law, his party said.

It was the third ruling against Khan this week and comes ahead of national elections on Thursday that he is barred from contesting.

Khan, 71, has in recent days been sentenced to 10 years for leaking state secrets and 14 years along with this wife for illegally selling state gifts. His representatives say he will launch appeals in all three cases.

It was not immediately clear if his various sentences would run concurrently.

Khan is in prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, while his wife will serve her sentence at their hilltop mansion in nearby Islamabad. He already faces a 10-year disqualification from holding public office.

“After hours of rushed hearings at court, no cross examination of witnesses, and no due process – a mockery of the law,” Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said in a statement.

“With the way these trials are being conducted, there will be a huge question mark on the February 8th elections. This is a test case for Pakistan’s higher judiciary.”

The couple were each fined 500,000 rupees ($1,800), ARY News reported.

Bushra was accused of not completing the waiting period mandated by Islam, called “Iddat”, after divorcing her previous husband and marrying Khan.

The Khans signed their marriage contract, or “Nikkah”, in January 2018 in a secret ceremony seven months before the former cricket superstar became prime minister for the first time.

There was controversy over whether they had wed before the period was complete. After initial denials of the marriage, PTI confirmed it weeks later.

The Khans both denied wrongdoing.

“Can say I’m a witness in the Nikkah and it’s a categorically yet another fake case,” Khan’s media advisor Zulfi Bukhari told Reuters. “From witnesses to the evidence to the procedure.”

CRIMINAL COMPLAINT

Bushra’s ex-husband, Khawar Maneka, to whom she was married for about 30 years, brought a criminal complaint against the Khans, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Khan has often called Bushra his spiritual leader. She is known for her devotion to Sufism, a mystical form of Islam.

Born Bushra Riaz Watto, she changed her name to Khan after her marriage. Her husband and followers commonly refer to her as Bushra Bibi or Bushra Begum, titles that denote respect in Urdu.

It was not clear when or how Khan met Bushra, but former aide Aun Chaudhry said Khan was impressed with her spirituality.

Khan, who had acquired a playboy image in the 1990s as his cricket career took off, has said he is keenly interested in Sufism.

Khan’s two previous marriages – to Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of tycoon James Goldsmith, and television journalist Reham Nayyar Khan – ended in divorce.

Khan has been fighting dozens of cases since he was ousted from power in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in 2022. He says his removal was backed by the powerful military with whom he fell out while in office.

He and his party say they have been subjected to a military-backed crackdown, including arrests of hundreds of supporters, party members and key aides.

The military, which has for decades held sway over Pakistan’s politics, denies the claims.

NAB, the anti-graft agency that put Khan on trial, has at various times investigated, tried and jailed all prime ministers to have served since 2008, including Nawaz Sharif, whose party is considered the frontrunner in next week’s election.

(Reporting by Ariba Shahid and Gibran Peshimam; Editing by William Mallard and Giles Elgood)

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On February 4, celebrated singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, 80, will be performing at the 2024 Grammy Awards ceremony for the first time in her more than 50-year career, the Grammys announced in a news release.

In addition to performing at the award show, Joni is also nominated for a Grammy in the Best Folk Album Category for her 2023 album, Joni Mitchell at Newport [Live]. The nine-time Grammy Award winner’s nominated album is a recording of her set from the 2022 Newport Folk Festival —a surprise performance and her first time taking the stage after suffering a brain aneurysm in 2015, per NPR.

In a 2017 biography, Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell by David Yaffe, Joni revealed that she was battling a mysterious illness called Morgellons disease. “I have this weird, incurable disease that seems like it’s from outer space,” she said in the book.

With her historic performance approaching, you might be wondering what exactly Morgellons disease is and what Joni has had to deal with over the years. Ahead, here’s everything to know about Morgellons.

What is Morgellons disease?

There’s not much information available about the condition, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls it an “unexplained dermatopathy” or skin disease, per the Mayo Clinic.

The disease involves the “belief that parasites or fibers are emerging from the skin,” making it feel like something is crawling, biting, or pinching the skin, and creating an intense itching feeling, the Mayo Clinic explains.

Doctors don’t agree on the origin of the disease. Some medical experts think Morgellons is a physical illness, while others believe it to be a type of psychosis that they call “delusional parasitosis,” (a.k.a. the person thinks parasites have infected their skin), per WebMD.

What are the symptoms of Morgellons disease?

According to the Mayo Clinic, people suffering from Morgellons may experience the following symptoms:

• Skin rashes or sores that create an intense itching feeling

• Crawling sensations on or under the skin

• Some will have the belief that fibers, threads, or black stringy materials are present on or under the skin

• Inability to concentrate

• Depression

• Muscle and joint pain

In a 2012 study, CDC researchers were unable to find “a common underlying medical condition or infectious agent” in people experiencing Morgellons symptoms, per Medical News Today.

And while some skin samples from participants in a 2015 Morgellons study uncovered some “fiber-like materials,” upon further evaluation, researchers concluded that the fibers were actually from naturally occurring hair follicles, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

What causes Morgellons?

Unfortunately, the cause isn’t clear, but the condition could potentially be related to Lyme disease. In the same 2015 study mentioned above, researchers found Lyme disease present in 24 out of the 25 Morgellons patients being studied.

“The scientific community is divided between those who believe it is a purely psychological disorder and those who believe it may be due to a pathogen,” Medical News Today reports.

What is the treatment for Morgellons disease?

Once diagnosed with Morgellons, treatment plans vary depending on what the doctor pinpoints as the cause. Blood tests and skin samples are usually taken, and a treatment plan is created once results come back.

Some doctors may suggest using antibiotics if they suspect a bacterial infection or a tick-borne illness. Treatment may also be provided if there are any opened or long-lasting skin lesions, according to Medical News Today.

Often, those in the medical field who label the condition as delusion or a mental illness will treat it with antidepressants, antipsychotic drugs, and cognitive behavioral therapy, per Mayo Clinic.

Is it curable?

Since Morgellons disease is poorly understood, there is no cure for it.

How common is Morgellons?

Over 14,000 people have been affected by the disease, according to Medical News Today.

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• Rick Grossman, 70, has struggled with loneliness for most of his life.

• That changed when he joined a “senior village,” a community that connected him with virtual and in-person resources.

• He’s found lasting friendships from the village, and he hopes for a greater focus on loneliness among older adults.

Rick Grossman, 70, thought it was absurd that at the start of the pandemic, he kept getting emails advising him not to isolate.

“I thought that was just about as helpful as saying, ‘don’t grow a tail,'” Grossman told Business Insider. “It’s advice without much more behind it.”

Grossman described himself as having “12 second acts,” holding jobs as a school teacher, computer tech support, business sales, corporate communications, and a toy store owner — and each of those employment opportunities has brought him to Pennsylvania, Texas, California, New Jersey, and now Seattle, where he currently lives.

All the moving around has made it difficult for him to maintain relationships. Additionally, growing up as a gay man on the autistic spectrum, Grossman said it was harder for him to find a community he felt he could belong to.

“A lot of gay people at my age had major issues with their families growing up and have completely separated, whether their families threw them out or whether they couldn’t accept them,” Grossman said. “Things are different in the future, but there are a lot of single people in the LGBTQIA community who don’t have the support and friendships that they need.”

That all changed about three years ago. Grossman was struggling to find friends in Seattle, and while he tried to join groups to meet new people, nothing seemed to stick. But when someone mentioned a “senior village” in Seattle to him, he decided to give it a shot. Since then, he’s found a community and formed close friendships.

Senior villages are a nationwide network of community-based nonprofits that connect older adults to others in their area through resources and activities. There are over 400 senior villages in the US, and they’re unique in that in contrast to a retirement community, these villages allow older adults to live where they choose while still having access to virtual and in-person resources that the village offers.

“There’s suddenly a lot of opportunities and activities that I can rely upon and be with people, and there are people who know me and care about me,” Grossman. said. “And if I were to sign up for something and didn’t go, someone would call me and say, ‘what happened?'”

A network of sponsors funds senior villages, and members of the villages can pay from $150 to $425 a year, depending on their level of involvement. For Grossman, the cost is well worth it.

“There are a lot of times when I would’ve just stayed home alone, and now I will do some of the things I wanted to do before, like go to the movies or to dinner,” Grossman said. “It’s like a family.”

‘We need to be more concerned about other people’

Loneliness is something that’s hit Americans of all ages especially hard over the past few years. In May, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy described the issue as an “epidemic of loneliness and isolation,” and it could have detrimental effects on a person’s physical and mental health if it goes unresolved.

Some Gen Zers have spent money on a range of activities in an attempt to meet new people and form friendships, but seniors tend to have fewer options. A University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging January survey found that one-in-three adults aged 50 to 80 reported feeling isolated.

Grossman said it needs to be talked about more.

“When COVID hit and everyone isolated, that’s when I became more aware that I really needed something,” he said.

“What if I were to fall down and get hurt in here? Who would know, and how long would it take? And if I go out and buy something on sale and get too much of it at the grocery store, I would like to be able to share that with people,” Grossman continued. “So just all of those things helped me realize that living as a single was very isolating.”

Senior villages are one way older adults can become involved in a community to meet others. The Village to Village Network has a resource that allows those interested to search for villages in their area they could join.

Meanwhile, other older adults are working on innovative ways to form connections later in life. BI previously spoke to Joe Lamy, a 75-year-old retiree who started biweekly groups at a senior center where people can simply sit in a room and talk to each other at no cost.

Grossman said he’s hopeful that the government will take more steps to address the loneliness epidemic and pay more attention to the challenges older adults are facing.

“It’s just about being a human being, and we need to be more concerned about other people,” Grossman said. “We can’t just abandon people when they age.”

Have you found a solution to loneliness? Reach out to this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.

Read the original article on Business Insider

WASHINGTON (AP) — While sentencing a North Carolina man to prison for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot, a Republican-appointed judge issued a stark warning: Efforts to portray the mob of Donald Trump’s supporters as heroes and play down the violence that unfolded on Jan. 6, 2021, pose a serious threat to the nation.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth condemned the depiction by Trump and Republican allies of Jan. 6 defendants as “political prisoners” and “hostages.” Lamberth also denounced attempts to undermine the legitimacy of the justice system for punishing rioters who broke the law when they invaded the Capitol.

“In my 37 years on the bench, I cannot recall a time when such meritless justifications of criminal activity have gone mainstream,” Lamberth, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, wrote in a recent ruling. The judge added he “fears that such destructive, misguided rhetoric could presage further danger to our country.”

As Trump floats potential pardons for rioters if he returns to the White House, judges overseeing the more than 1,200 Jan. 6 criminal cases in Washington’s federal court are using their platform to try to set the record straight concerning distortions about an attack that was broadcast live on television. A growing number of defendants appear to be embracing rhetoric spread by Trump, giving defiant speeches in court, repeating his false election claims and portraying themselves as patriots.

During a recent court hearing, Proud Boys member Marc Bru repeatedly insulted and interrupted the judge, who ultimately sentenced him to six years in prison. “You can give me 100 years and I’d do it all over again,” Bru said.

At least two other rioters shouted “Trump won!” in court after receiving their punishment.

Some people charged in the riot are pinning their hopes on a Trump victory in November.

Rachel Marie Powell, a Pennsylvania woman who was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for smashing a Capitol window, told a CNN reporter that the 2024 presidential election is “like life or death” for her. She said she believes she will get out of prison if Trump is elected.

The rhetoric resonates with the strangers who donate money to Jan. 6 defendant’s online campaigns, but it isn’t earning them any sympathy from the judges. Judges appointed by presidents from both political parties have described the riot as an affront to democracy and they repeatedly have admonished defendants for not showing true remorse or casting themselves as victims.

Over more than three years, judges have watched hours of video showing members of the mob violently shoving past overwhelmed officers, shattering windows, attacking police with things such as flagpoles and pepper spray and threatening violence against lawmakers. In court hearings, officers have described being beaten, threatened and scared for their lives as they tried to defend the Capitol.

Before sentencing a Kentucky man, who already had a long criminal record, to 14 years in prison for attacking police with pepper spray and a chair, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta admonished the man for propagating “the lie that what’s happening here in Washington, D.C., is unfair and unjust.”

“You are not a political prisoner,” Mehta, who was nominated by President Barack Obama told Peter Schwartz. “You’re not Alexei Navalny,” the judge said referring to the imprisoned Russian opposition leader. “You’re not somebody who is standing up against injustice, who’s fighting against an autocratic regime. … You’re somebody who decided to take the day into his own hands, much in the same way that you have used your hands against others for much of your life.”

Lamberth’s scathing remarks came in the case of James Little, a North Carolina man who was not accused of any violence or destruction during the riot and pleaded guilty only to a misdemeanor offense. Lamberth didn’t name the people responsible for what the judge called “shameless” attempts to rewrite history. But Trump has closely aligned himself with rioters during his presidential campaign. He has described them as “hostages,” called for their release from jail and pledged to pardon a large portion of them if he wins the White House in November.

Roughly 750 people charged with federal crimes in the riot have pleaded guilty and more than 100 others have been convicted at trial. Many rioters were charged only with misdemeanor offenses akin to trespassing while others face serious felonies such as assault or seditious conspiracy. Of those who have been sentenced, roughly two-thirds have received some time behind bars, with terms ranging from a few days of intermittent confinement to 22 years in prison, according to data compiled by The Associated Press.

Lamberth had originally sentenced Little in 2022 to 60 days behind bars, followed by three years of probation. But Washington’s federal appeals court sided with Little on appeal, ruling he could not be sentenced to both prison time and probation. When Little’s case returned to Lamberth’s court, the judge resentenced him to 150 days — with credit for time already served in jail and on probation — citing the man’s claims of persecution and efforts to downplay the Jan. 6 attack.

“Little cannot bring himself to admit that he did the wrong thing, although he came close today,” Judge Lamberth wrote. “So it is up to the court to tell the public the truth: Mr. Little’s actions, and the actions of others who broke the law on Jan. 6, were wrong. The court does not expect its remarks to fully stem the tide of falsehoods. But I hope a little truth will go a long way.”

An attorney for Little declined to comment on Lamberth’s remarks.

In other cases, judges have said their sentence must send a message when rioters have promoted the notion that they are being unfairly prosecuted for their political views. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper told Richard “Bigo” Barnett, the Arkansas man who propped his feet on a desk in then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office in a widely circulated photo, that he seemed to enjoy the notoriety of becoming one of the faces of the Jan. 6 attack.

“You have made yourself one of the faces of J6 not just through that photo but using your platform and your notoriety to peddle the misconception that you and other J6ers are somehow political prisoners who are being persecuted for your beliefs as opposed to your conduct on Jan. 6,” Cooper, an Obama appointee, told Barnett before sentencing him to more than four years in prison.

“So to all those folks that follow Bigo, they need to know that the actions of Jan. 6 cannot be repeated without some serious repercussions,” the judge said.

____

Richer reported from Boston.

A rusting rocket discovered in a man’s garage in Washington state is in fact an inert nuclear missile, police have said.

Authorities contacted a man in Bellevue after he called the Air Force Museum offering to donate a military-grade rocket that belonged to his late neighbour. He said that his neighbour had bought the item from an estate sale.

Bellevue police bomb squad technicians said it was a Douglas AIR-2 Genie, an unguided air-to-air rocket that is designed to carry a 1.5kt W25 nuclear warhead. They said there was no warhead attached and there was no danger of an explosion.

Seth Tyler, a spokesman for Bellevue police department, said the device was “just basically a gas tank for rocket fuel”.

He told the BBC the event was “not serious at all”, adding that “our bomb squad member asked me why we were releasing a news release on a rusted piece of metal”.

Mr Tyler said the museum did not appear to have warned the man that they had reported his offer.

He said that the individual in question “was not expecting a call from us” and was “extremely irritated” by the media coverage.

Mr Tyler added that he was “gracious enough” to let us have a look at it.

Police determined the item was safe and left it with the man to be restored for display in a museum.

“We think it’s gonna be a long, long time before we get another call like this again,” Bellevue police department said on Twitter.

The Genie was the first nuclear-armed air-to-air weapon.

It said it was the “most powerful interceptor missile ever deployed by the US Air Force”.

Production of the Genie ended in 1962.

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Sen. J.D. Vance’s interview on ABC’s “This Week” gets cut short after he made a comment implying he believes Trump can defy the Supreme Court.

During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” with Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) Sunday, George Stephanopoulos abruptly ended the interview after Vance implied that Donald Trump can defy Supreme Court rulings.

“The Constitution says that the Supreme Court can make rulings, but if the Supreme Court ― and look, I hope that they would not do this ― but if the Supreme Court said that the president of the United States can’t fire a general, that would be an illegitimate ruling and the president has to have Article 2 prerogative under the Constitution to actually run the military as he sees fit,” Vance said.

Vance’s comment was made after Stephanopoulos asked Vance about his comments on a 2021 podcast, where Vance said that if Trump is reelected in 2024, he would advise Trump to “fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people,” according to ABC News, and then when the courts tried to stop Trump, he should “stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did, and say, ‘The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.’”

Stephanopoulos then asked Vance if it was OK for the president to defy the Supreme Court, to which Vance responded that if the Supreme Court said the president couldn’t fire a general, then it would be an “illegitimate ruling.”

After Vance was finished with his answer, Stephanopoulos said, “You’ve made it very clear: You believe the president can defy the Supreme Court.”

Stephanopoulos thanked Vance for his time, while Vance could be heard saying, “No, no, George.” Stephanopoulos then cut to another segment and Vance’s audio went mute.

Vance and Stephanopoulos spoke about an array of things, including whether Vance would have certified the results of the 2020 election if he was vice president; former President Donald Trump’s sexual assault case, which he was found liable; and why Vance changed his stance on Trump since 2016, when he said Trump was not fit for office.

Vance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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