(NewsNation) — Immigration advocates have described a scene of tension and confusion ahead of President Joe Biden’s scheduled first visit to the southern border in El Paso, Texas, Sunday afternoon.

El Paso has swiftly become the busiest of the Border Patrol’s nine sectors along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Large numbers of Venezuelans began showing up in September, drawn to the relative ease of crossing, robust shelter networks and bus service on both sides of the border, and a major airport to destinations across the United States.

U.S. authorities stopped migrants 53,247 times in November in the El Paso sector.

Around 300 migrants have taken refuge on the city’s sidewalks outside Sacred Heart Church, some of them afraid to seek more formal shelters, advocates say, amid new restrictions meant to crack down on illegal border crossings.

Biden signaled a tougher stance on migrants coming from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua, saying it would immediately start turning away people from those countries who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, as it has done with Venezuelans.

Dylan Corbett, who runs the nonprofit Hope Border Institute, said the city is experiencing an increasing “climate of fear.”

Corbett said immigration enforcement agencies have already started ratcheting up deportations to Mexico, and he senses a rising level of tension and confusion.

The president’s new policy expands on an existing effort to stop Venezuelans from attempting to enter the U.S., which began in October.

Corbett said many Venezuelans have since been left in limbo, putting a strain on local resources. He said expanding those policies to other migrants will only worsen the circumstances for them on the ground.

“It’s a very difficult situation because they can’t go forward and they can’t go back,” he said. People who aren’t processed can’t leave El Paso because of U.S. law enforcement checkpoints; most have traveled thousands of miles from their homelands and refuse to give up and turn around.

“There will be people in need of protection who will be left behind,” Corbett said.

Following El Paso, Biden will be traveling on to Mexico City to meet with North American leaders on Monday and Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

(NewsNation) — Tens of thousands of mothers are suing the makers of Tylenol in a class-action lawsuit that claims its use during pregnancy led babies to be born with autism.

A study from the NIH found that pregnancy exposure to acetaminophen, the main ingredient in Tylenol, may increase a child’s risk for autism and ADHD.

Karleen DeGroodt is among the mothers in the lawsuit and discussed her use of Tylenol during pregnancy and her son’s autism during an appearance on NewsNation’s “Prime.”

DeGroodt first started noticing that something was wrong with her son Devin when he was an infant.

“He never had really good eye contact,” she said. “So that was one of the first clues. From there it was developmental milestones that he just didn’t meet, including things like talking in general and just understanding. He was definitely trapped in his own bubble.”

DeGroodt said genetic testing did not show a family history or cause of her son’s condition.

“We’ve developed a good team to try to figure out not only why, but what can we do to help him,” she said. “Everything has come back with no potential cause.”

Looking at recent research, DeGroodt said her use of Tylenol could have potentially been the link to her son’s autism.

“As of right now,” she said, “it’s the only possible thing that we have that it could account for his having autism.

A growing body of research suggests heavy use of acetaminophen during pregnancy may cause autism and ADHD, according to reports.

One big supporter of this movement has been consumer advocate Erin Brockovich, who was on NewsNation recently discussing this issue.

“My work and working with these women is getting the voices of them and their concerns for their children heard when we have science, and it feels like it’s being suppressed or concealed once again,” Brockovich said.

DeGroodt said the lawsuit is “going to bring education to people so they can make the best choice for themselves.”

As a parent with a child with autism, DeGroodt said she went through a variety of emotions, “just like probably any parent who has a child who is disabled. There’s guilt there.”

“There was guilt there years ago before we even thought Tylenol or acetaminophen products could be a potential reason,” she said. “Yeah, looking back, I wish I knew. … Maybe I would have done things differently.”

DeGroodt said their fight is so important for many other families.

“At the end of the day, that’s all that this is about is potentially preventing this,” she said. “Educating people and seeing what we could do to make things better for these families.”

Days after Prince Harry’s memoir accidentally went on sale early with new allegations of discord and conflict within the British royal family, a series of TV interviews with him will start airing on Sunday with the prospect of yet more damaging attacks on the monarchy.

Harry’s book “Spare”, which went on sale in Spain on Thursday five days before its official release, chronicles not only hugely personal details, such as how he lost his virginity and took drugs, but also discloses more intimate private instances of family disharmony.

His elder brother, heir to the throne Prince William, knocked him over in a brawl, and both siblings begged their father King Charles not to marry his second wife, Camilla, now the Queen Consort, the book says.

Commentators say it has plunged the monarchy into its biggest crisis since the days of the royal soap opera in the 1990s around the break-up of Charles’ marriage to his late first wife Princess Diana, William and Harry’s mother.

All this comes just four months after Queen Elizabeth died and Charles acceded to the throne.

“So here’s Charles trying to establish himself as the new king and now Harry’s thrown this hand grenade and it’s all coming kind of crashing around him,” royal biographer Tina Brown said.

Since Harry and Meghan left royal duties and moved to California in 2020, they have railed at their treatment by the royals and the palace institution.

From their interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 to their six-part Netflix documentary series last month and now Harry’s book, the couple’s message has been the same: that the royals and their aides not only failed to protect them from a hostile and sometimes racist press, but actively leaked negative stories about them.

So far, there has been no comment from Buckingham Palace or anyone who speaks for the royal family, a stance that has been lauded by much of the British media as a dignified silence.

On Sunday, Harry’s public thoughts will keep coming, with three more TV interviews due to air. They had been timed for broadcast ahead of the official launch of Harry’s book on Tuesday, and excerpts released ahead of time have shown Harry saying he wanted to give his side of the story.

“I don’t know how staying silent is ever going to make things better,” Harry says in his interview with Britain’s ITV, which will be the first to be shown.

Polls suggest many Britons are becoming bored of the whole royal melodrama, and further revelations are unlikely to shake their views, whether sympathy for Harry and Meghan, or for those they criticise. However Harry’s book was No. 1 on Amazon UK’s bestselling books list on Saturday, available for pre-order ahead of its release.

Royal commentator Emily Andrews said that given Britain’s current cost of living crisis, there could be limited support for the complaints of a privileged prince residing in a mansion in California.

“They are polarising, Harry and Megan, and I think that this new book by Harry probably won’t change many people’s opinions,” Andrews told Reuters.

“I think this is overkill, it becomes saturation point and people think ‘I don’t want to hear anymore: shut up, go away’.”

My how times have changed in this country! Change is always present it seems, in ways both good and bad. One of the changes that is not so good is the rise of the “me” culture. It seems for some, the culture of me has appeared to take over their lives.

What do I mean by the “me” culture? Well, let’s look at Kari Lake as an example. There was a time when political candidates conceded — always. They would usually call the winner and congratulate them. Those were the good old days.

The Democrats still do this. However, for some in the GOP the me culture has reared its ugly head. The me culture with a healthy dose of insanity thrown in is what prevails among the GOP these days. Governor Hobbs has been sworn in. She is the rightful governor of Arizona. We are so happy for her.

Kari Lake, however, refuses to let this go. And now she’s started to refer to herself as the rightfully elected governor. “The real governor, the duly elected governor,” is what Lake calls herself. In the old days, before the me culture became so invasive, people would have laughed at Lake — and perhaps recommended she give the funny farm a call.

And to an extent, people still do that. But there are thousands of Lake fans that stand behind her. These people are genuinely deranged. Many ask, does Lake REALLY believe her own insane words? I doubt it personally (although one never knows.)

All of this makes me think of children — of playground fights. It also makes me think of delusions. Imagine pointing at a house that’s not yours and saying, “that house is mine. I live there.”

Imagine walking into a CEO’s office and saying, “this office is mine. get out.” what would happen? Well — the police would undoubtedly be called. And you’d likely be labeled insane. And that’s what’s changed. The insane has become mainstream. Insanity and bizarre behavior have become the norm — for the republican party. And that is why we must not EVER let them obtain real power again.

The post Kari Lake crashes and burns appeared first on Palmer Report.

(Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Energy has rejected the first batch of bids from oil companies to resupply a small amount of oil to the nation’s emergency crude oil stockpile in February, according to a DOE spokesperson.

The DOE last month had said it would purchase up to 3 million barrels for delivery to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in February, the first buy since last year’s record 180-million-barrel release to tame U.S. pump prices.

“Following review of the initial submission, DOE will not be making any award selections for the February delivery window,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

“DOE will only select bids that meet the required crude specifications and that are at a price that is a good deal for taxpayers,” the spokesperson said.

Details about the submissions were not available.

President Joe Biden had announced the 180 million barrel sale in late March to combat surging gasoline prices after the February invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the world’s largest exporter of fossil fuel.

That sale shrunk levels in the SPR to the lowest since 1984.

The administration has said it wants to repurchase the oil at around $70 a barrel.

Earlier this week it was reported that Special Counsel Jack Smith was mere weeks away from making “critical” charging decisions. At the time, Palmer Report pointed out that Smith obviously didn’t take the job just to decide not to carry out any key prosecutions. Now Smith’s own moves are underscoring that.

Any federal criminal probe has an investigative stage and a prosecutorial stage. Up to now the various DOJ criminal cases into Donald Trump and his co-conspirators have obviously been the investigative stage. But now, per Bloomberg, Jack Smith has hired two prosecutors with backgrounds in prosecuting public corruption cases. By definition, these kinds of cases are brought against public officials.

When you start hiring prosecutors, it means you’re ready to start prosecuting people, which means you’re bringing criminal charges. And when you hire prosecutors with a specialty in public corruption, it means you’re bringing criminal charges against public officials. This is what we’ve been waiting for. Here we go.

The post Special Counsel Jack Smith bulks up his team with public corruption prosecutors ahead of indictments appeared first on Palmer Report.

American fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A informed its customers of having launched an investigation into “suspicious activity.”

Chick-fil-A is an American fast food restaurant chain, it is the country’s largest which specializes in chicken sandwiches.

The company informed its customers of having launched an investigation into “suspicious activity on some customer accounts.”

“We are investigating suspicious activity on some customer accounts,” reads a statement from the company. “While we are still investigating how certain customers became subject to this fraudulent activity, we have already taken precautions to further secure the affected member accounts and are continuing to review the situation and enhance our security protocols where appropriate.”

Chick-Fil-A has suspended the creation of new accounts and is prohibiting the use of disposable email addresses.

Customers are recommended to Immediately reset their Chick-fil-A One account password. The company also recommends using a unique, complex password that is not associated with any of the users’ other online accounts. This password should be one that is unique to your Chick-fil-A One account. 

The company also recommends users of removing any stored payment methods (e.g. credit or debit cards) from their Chick-fil-A One account.

According to BleepingComputer, threat actors are selling some of the stolen accounts for $2 to $200, depending on the account balance, linked payment method, or Chick-fil-A One points (rewards points) balance.

Some customers reported on social media that their accounts have been hacked.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, food)

The post Chick-fil-A launched an investigation into “suspicious activity” appeared first on Security Affairs.

John Bolton has announced he will challenge Trump for the Republican nomination in 2024. Now Bolton will not win. But neither will Trump, who will likely be indicted by then. This is political drama at its best. But it’s worth a story because I have a theory I would like to share. Before I do so — here are some more details about what Bolton said.

Bolton, while speaking to Good Morning America, said his focus would be foreign policy. He wants to be tougher on Russia and china. He also sees Trump’s influence as waning. He also, I suspect, wants another book deal. And perhaps he wants to see Donald trump — his old nemesis squirm a bit.

But this brings me to something that many have been whispering about lately. And, of course, we’re seeing it play out with the Kevin McCarthy vote. There really are not two political parties in America anymore. There are three. There are the Democrats.

There are the moderate Republicans. And there are the anarchists. The anarchists consist of people like Trump, Greene, Gaetz, Biggs, and many others. And they will undoubtedly want their 2024 presidential candidate to be an insurrectionist and election denier.

Only the moderates will likely want someone normal—some Republican moderates are moving away from trump in subtle ways. And that is what I am talking about. I am talking about the no-win situation for the GOP. The two parts of the GOP have already collided, and if you think this is something, you ain’t seen anything yet!

Wait till the GOP has to nominate a presidential candidate. Wait for the crazy because the two different factions will eat each other alive while, once again, we Democrats remain, as always, the party of unity.

The post John Bolton looks to get ahead at Donald Trump’s expense appeared first on Palmer Report.

Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images

• Rep. Katie Porter of California is eyeing a potential 2024 Senate bid, according to Politico.
• Dianne Feinstein is up for reelection in 2024, but has not yet announced her intentions.
• Porter’s potential entry into the race would likely offer a huge burst of momentum for progressives.

Rep. Katie Porter of California — one of the most prominent progressive Democrats in the country — is eyeing a 2024 Senate campaign, according to a Politico report.

Porter, a third-term lawmaker who was reelected last November in her Orange County-anchored district, would boast strong name identification and ties to leading progressive groups if she chose to enter the race.

But at the moment, veteran Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein — a former San Francisco mayor who has served in the upper chamber since 1992 — could very well seek reelection.

Feinstein, now in her fifth term, is widely expected to retire after the upcoming 2024 cycle, but neither she nor her campaign have commented on her intentions.

Candidates who might compete against Porter in a potential open seat include Rep. Barbara Lee, a liberal icon who represents a district in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Rep. Adam Schiff, the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who represents a Los Angeles-area district.