"Any person holding any office or any stock in any institution in the nature of a bank for issuing or discounting bills or notes payable to bearer or order, cannot be a member of the House whilst he holds such office or stock." -- Third Congress of the United States Senate, 23rd of December, 1793, signed by the President, George Washington

GOP leaders reverse to strip Ukraine aid from defense spending bill 

House Republicans moved to strip $300 million in Ukraine aid from their defense spending bill Wednesday night and set up a separate vote on the funds, reversing course ahead of an expected final vote this week and amid uncertainty about whether the bill would pass.

The House Rules Committee convened a last-minute meeting to remove the funding for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative — which is intended for training Ukrainian soldiers and purchasing weapons — from the Department of Defense appropriations bill. The panel approved it to move as a stand-alone bill. 

The party-line vote to remove the funding from the bill was a transparent move to get enough support for the spending measure to pass in the slim House GOP majority amid opposition to funding Ukraine. Republicans can spare just a handful of votes, since all Democrats are expected to oppose the bill’s final passage.

Plans for Tuesdays vandalism were an open secret on social media, and the destruction was documented in videos through the night

The plans to break into, vandalize and steal from Philadelphia businesses on Tuesday night were not much of a secret.

As word spread that a Philadelphia judge had dismissed all criminal charges against the former police officer who shot and killed Eddie Irizarry last month, people took to Instagram to share their anger and plan a response.

“WHAT TIME WE GOING “SHOPPING”???” one person asked.

“We looting or not??!!” wrote another.

“I know they say tearing up our stuff ain’t right,” someone said, “but that’s the only way they hear us.”

Before the night was over, police said, groups had broken into businesses across Philadelphia, stealing, ransacking and leaving destruction in their wake. Dozens of people — including what police described as a caravan of “criminal opportunists” — broke into stores along popular shopping corridors from Center City to the Northeast to West Philadelphia, authorities said. They broke through metal door protectors and spliced locks with bolt cutters, then looted the stores and fled with electronics, shoes, clothes, liquor, pharmaceuticals, and other goods.

### Webmaster addition: Left unmentioned in this article is that Eddie Irizarry was brandishing a knife, which made the shooting justified.

Oil prices finish at highest level in a year

US oil prices closed at their highest level in more than a year Wednesday on a mixed day for global equities as the dollar continued its upward climb.

The US futures benchmark, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in November, jumped 3.6 percent to $93.68 per barrel as traders begin to eye $100 oil.

The rise came on the heels of a surprising drop in US crude inventories. Oil prices have been trending higher following moves by Russia and Saudi Arabia to limit output.

Analysts cited the rise in crude prices as a drag on US equities, which opened higher, but finished mixed as oil prices surged and bond yields reversed.

Buenos Aires central square becomes nighttime soup kitchen as poverty hits 40%

Argentina's historic Plaza de Mayo square in the center of Buenos Aires, where crowds often gather to celebrate or protest, has become the scene for a regular silent nighttime vigil: growing numbers of people in poverty looking for a hot meal.

The South American country is battling annual inflation of 124%, which has pushed poverty levels over 40% and is raising the chance that voters deliver a shock to the political elite by backing a radical outsider in general elections next month.

Standing in a long line for food in the central square that is flanked by the Casa Rosada presidential palace, Erica Maya, 45, told Reuters she could earn just 3,000-4,000 pesos working all day collecting cardboard, worth $4 at real exchange rates.

Entire U.S. Treasury yield curve moves toward or above 5%, raising risk something may break 

On a day devoid of any major market-moving news, investors sent yields in the roughly $25 trillion Treasury market closer to or further above 5% on Wednesday. It isn't the level of yields that may prove to be problematic as much as it is the speed with which they got there, with the pace only accelerating since the Federal Reserve's policy announcement last Wednesday, analysts said.

Three years ago, during the U.S. onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, yields on everything from Treasury bills to the 10-year security were near zero. But in just the past handful of months, rates on 2-, 10- and 30-year government debt have all jumped by more than a full percentage point each from their 2023 lows. One of the biggest factors that is sending long-term Treasury yields to multi-year highs is a recalculation of what's known as term premium, or compensation that investors demand for the risk of holding a bond over the life of that security, according to Alex Pelle, an economist at Mizuho Securities in New York. Unlike the risk of holding cash, which is seen as limited, the same can't necessarily be said for long-term government debt.

Looting rocks Philly for a SECOND night: Brazen thieves rip out safe and lottery machine of closed liquor store in latest flash mob crime to hit City of Brotherly Love

Looting has rocked Philadelphia for a second night in a row as brazen thieves ransacked a liquor store.

Shocking footage out of the City of Brotherly Love showed Fine Wine And Good Spirits smashed apart in the latest flash rob mob crime.

The brutes made off with the safe and raided the lottery machine on a night when liquor stores were shut down by the authorities.

Fox29's Steve Keeley, who originally reported on Wednesday night's thefts, later posted videos showing the aftermath of some looting that occurred at a sneaker warehouse in the city.

Video posted on X by Keely showed piles of boxes that had been torn into. A source told Keely: 'It may be a Snipes warehouse. It appears they took all they could and left a lot behind.'

It comes a day after young thieves brawled with cops on the streets after mass looting at Footlocker, Lululemon and Apple.

US Rebukes Close Ally Egypt For Using Child Soldiers

A report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday says that **the US has added Egypt to its list of countries believed to be using child soldiers**.

According to the report, the designation by the State Department comes after a number of independent investigations, which found that Egypt's military has been conducting joint operations with allied militia groups in northern Sinai that recruit children.

These operations often included combat against groups such as the Islamic State-affiliated Wilayat Sinai. Some of those recruited to fight were as young as 16, and were used for various tasks, including logistics and combat operations.

Previous reports and investigations have revealed that the **child soldiers were wounded or killed in the fighting**. HRW also cited a number of videos shared on social media platforms, such as Facebook and TikTok, which have depicted child soldiers engaging in military operations.

Last month, the UK-based Sinai Foundation for Human Rights (SFHR) said that between 2013 and 2022, **children as young as 12 were enlisted** , with some under 18 directly participating in hostilities.

Others were tasked with spying, delivering food to military checkpoints and disassembling explosives, the group found. HRW's findings, released on Tuesday, come after a months-long investigation by SFHR, partly based on testimonies from the children's relatives, pro-government militia members and a child allegedly enlisted by armed forces.

WHO Will Become Unelected Single World Government, Expert Warns

Governments around the world are preparing to surrender their sovereign powers to the WHO to establish an unelected single global government, a leading expert has warned.

Meryl Nass, a biowarfare and epidemics expert, has warned about the globalist agenda to impose a “global dominion by the few and total control of the masses.”

The agenda is disguised as an international pandemic treaty under the _**World Health Organization** _(WHO).

According to Nass, whose medical license was suspended in January 2022 by the Maine medical board for allegedly spreading “COVID misinformation” and prescribing ivermectin, the current draft of the treaty and the proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) would require the public to have mRNA-based vaccination.

However, these vaccines are only produced in 100 days by skipping human trials and reducing safety and efficacy testing to the bare minimum.

Smoking Gun: House Republicans Release Jim Bidens Text Message to Hunter a Few Months Before Joe Biden Announces He Is Running For President

On Wednesday, the House Ways and Means Committee voted to release new documents from IRS whistleblower testimony confirming that Hunter Biden sold access to his father Joe Biden via the “family brand.”

The explosive documents revealed Hunter Biden was selling the ‘Biden family brand’ in 23 countries.

“The Biden Family foreign influence peddling operation suggests an effort to sway US policy decisions,” House Ways and Means chairman Jason Smith said.

The Committee released a June 6, 2017, WhatsApp message from Hunter Biden to a business associate that he was not willing to “sign over my family’s brand,” or give the individual “the keys to my family’s only asset.”

Chairman Smith added, “That asset could only be one person: Joe Biden.”

Among the documents released was a text message from Jim Biden to Hunter Biden talking about working with Joe Biden.

Real estate insiders bewildered by judges $18M valuation of Trumps Mar-a-Lago: Would list at $300M 

A New York judge’s Tuesday ruling valuing Donald Trump’s sprawling, headline-making Florida estate at $18 million has left industry experts perplexed.

In his verdict, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron delivered a bombshell ruling that the former president committed fraud by inflating the value of his wealth, with details including the monetary value associated with Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach.

This decision, which came down without a jury, has sent shockwaves through political — and real estate — circles, especially that $18 million base value for the property.  
  
One prominent Palm Beach real estate broker, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Post, “It’s utterly delusional to think that property is only worth $18 million.”

The insider added, “If that property were on the market today, I would list it at around $300 million, minimum … at least. He also has the separate golf course minutes away.”