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Saturday, May 10, 2025

Tag: American citizens
April 8, 2025
William Upton
Crime
Immigration
World

Trial of American Accused of Fatally Stabbing Migrant Who Assaulted Her Begins.

PULSE POINTS:

❓What Happened: A 20-year-old German-American woman is standing trial in Germany after she stabbed a 64-year-old Eritrean asylum seeker who groped her at a railway station in 2024.

👥 Who’s Involved: A 20-year-old German woman with U.S. citizenship, 64-year-old Eritrean asylum seeker Alem Tekeste, and German prosecutors.

📍 Where & When: A 2024 stabbing incident at a Kaiserslautern, Germany, railway station; a 2025 trial that began this week in Germany.

💬 Key Quote: At the time of the woman’s arrest, Elon Musk asked in a post on X (formerly Twitter): “What’s wrong with Germany?”

⚠️ Impact: If found guilty, the 20-year-old woman could face upwards of 10 years in prison.

IN FULL:

The trial of a 20-year-old German-American dual national accused of fatally stabbing a 64-year-old Eritrean asylum seeker after he groped her buttocks in a Kaiserslautern, Germany, railway station finally began this week. Prosecutors opened the trial alleging that the unnamed woman could have avoided killing the migrant during the incident last summer. The woman faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.

Attorneys representing the U.S. citizen contend that she merely wished to keep Tekeste at a distance and that the fatal stabbing was an act of self-defense. Conversely, German prosecutors claim that Tekeste had retreated after the knife was produced and that the woman proceeded to pursue him, escalating the confrontation before Tekeste reached for the woman’s knife, resulting in her stabbing him.

According to prosecutors, after Tekeste grabbed the woman on the escalator, she produced a knife, causing the 64-year-old Eritrean asylum seeker to retreat. However, they contend the woman then pursued Tekeste, which prompted him to grab hold of her arm that was brandishing the knife. Prosecutors claim that after a brief struggle, the woman was able to free herself and “stabbed once in the same motion,” striking Tekeste and killing him “within seconds.”

The woman is charged with inflicting bodily harm resulting in death, indicating that German authorities believe she merely intended to injure Tekeste and not kill him. In 2024, the woman’s arrest received social media attention when X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk—responding to a post arguing Germany was essentially holding the woman hostage—wrote: “What’s wrong with Germany?”

Image by Nika Poznyak.

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May 9, 2024
NatSec

Biden’s Deputy FBI Director Urges Agents To Spy on Americans.

FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate is pushing agency employees to continue using the FISA Section 702 surveillance program to target American citizens. The controversial program was at the center of a heated Congressional debate earlier this year when the FISA program came up for reauthorization. Despite the objections of conservatives and some progressive lawmakers, the foreign salience program and its controversial Section 702 were eventually reauthorized by Congress.

“To continue to demonstrate why tools like this are essential to our mission, we need to use them, while also holding ourselves accountable for doing so properly and in compliance with legal requirements,” Abbate wrote to FBI employees. He added: “I urge everyone to continue to look for ways to appropriately use US person queries to advance the mission, with the added confidence that this new pre-approval requirement will help ensure that those queries are fully compliant with the law.”

The email has drawn pushback from lawmakers on Capitol Hill over its concerning nature and the appearance that Abbate is pushing FBI agents to spy on American citizens. “The deputy director’s email seems to show that the FBI is actively pushing for more surveillance of Americans, not out of necessity but as a default,” Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) told Wired. She continued: “This directly contradicts earlier assertions from the FBI during the debate over Section 702’s reauthorization.”

Section 702, established by Congress in 2008, was designed to surveil threats from various hostile actors engaged in cybercrime, drug trafficking, terrorism, and arms proliferation. The program allows government agencies to work with American companies to spy on and intercept communications between Americans without a search warrant. The only controlling requirement is that one of the participants in communication must reasonably be believed to be a noncitizen located outside the United States.

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FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate is pushing agency employees to continue using the FISA Section 702 surveillance program to target American citizens. The controversial program was at the center of a heated Congressional debate earlier this year when the FISA program came up for reauthorization. Despite the objections of conservatives and some progressive lawmakers, the foreign salience program and its controversial Section 702 were eventually reauthorized by Congress. show more
Patrice Runner
April 16, 2024
William Upton
Crime
World

‘Psychic’ Canadian Conned 1.3M Americans Out Of $175,000,000.

Patrice Runner, a Canadian fraudster, was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in prison for defrauding over $175 million from an estimated 1.3 million Americans. For two decades, Runner posed as a ‘psychic’ who would promise financial success and personal happiness if his marks sent him money through the mail.

“Patrice Runner’s extravagant lifestyle, borne on the backs of millions of older and vulnerable Americans, has come to an end,”  U.S. postal inspector Chris Nielsen said. Responding to the 10-year sentence handed down in the Eastern District of New York, Nielsen said he believed it to be an “appropriate punishment.”

An American jury convicted Runner last June of 14 counts, including conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. The jury also found the conman guilty of eight additional counts of mail fraud, four counts of wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

In his scheme, the conman would fraudulently pose as famous psychics Maria Duval and Patrick Guerin. Letters sent to his targets would claim they could “achieve great wealth and happiness with the psychic’s assistance, in exchange for payment of a fee.” The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Runner and his co-conspirators sent tens of thousands of such letters weekly.

The DOJ said in a press release announcing the sentencing decision that “some victims made dozens of payments in response to the fraudulent letters, losing thousands of dollars.”

United States government officials had Runner — who possesses both Canadian and French citizenship — extradited after his arrest in Ibiza, Spain, in 2020. Addressing the charges, the Runner claimed he did nothing illegal. “Maybe it’s not moral, maybe it’s bullshit,” he said, adding: “But it doesn’t mean it’s fraud.”

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Patrice Runner, a Canadian fraudster, was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in prison for defrauding over $175 million from an estimated 1.3 million Americans. For two decades, Runner posed as a 'psychic' who would promise financial success and personal happiness if his marks sent him money through the mail. show more
November 24, 2023
William Upton
War
World

No Americans Among Initial Hostages Released By Hamas, Biden Says He Doesn’t Know When U.S. Citizens Held In Gaza Will Be Freed.

President Joe Biden announced there were no Americans were among the initial hostages released by Hamas after over 200 were taken by the terrorist group after a surprise attack on Israel on October 7th. Earlier today, Hamas released 24 hostages as part of a larger deal with Israel to release a total of 50 women and children held in Gaza in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Thirteen of the hostages released were Israeli, with the others being mostly Thai nationals.

When asked when the first American hostages would be released, President Biden gave a muddled response: “We don’t know when that will occur, but we’re gonna expect it to occur.” The President went on to say, “We don’t know what the list of all the hostages are and when they’ll be released, but we know the numbers that are going to be release. It is my hope and expectation that it will be soon.”

The uncertainty and lack of concrete details in Biden’s remarks only added further confusion regarding U.S. efforts to secure the release of American citizens held by Hamas. Biden also claimed he believes Hamas’s barbaric October 7th surprise attack against Israel was motivated by his efforts to strike a peace-deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia – although he admitted he had no evidence proving the connection.

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President Joe Biden announced there were no Americans were among the initial hostages released by Hamas after over 200 were taken by the terrorist group after a surprise attack on Israel on October 7th. Earlier today, Hamas released 24 hostages as part of a larger deal with Israel to release a total of 50 women and children held in Gaza in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Thirteen of the hostages released were Israeli, with the others being mostly Thai nationals. show more