WTF Just Happened Today

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

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1/ A Texas sheriff opened a criminal investigation into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to fly 48 Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said the migrants appeared to have been “lured under false pretenses” into staying at a hotel before they were flown to Florida and later Martha’s Vineyard, where they were “left to fend for themselves.” DeSantis, meanwhile, defended his decision, saying outrage over the flights was misplaced because everyone had “signed consent forms.” (CNN / Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)

2/ The U.S. arrested more than 2 million undocumented immigrants along the southwestern border in the past 11 months. It’s the first time that immigration arrests have topped 2 million, exceeding last year’s record of more than 1.7 million. In August, the number of undocumented immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras dropped 43% from last August, while the number of Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans rose 175%. Many of the migrants are seeking asylum, which was significantly restricted during the Trump administration. (New York Times / Washington Post)

3/ The Justice Department charged 47 defendants with stealing $240 million from a federal program that provided food for needy children during the pandemic – the largest Covid-19-related fraud to date. “This was a brazen scheme of staggering proportions,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said in a statement. Federal prosecutors said a network of individuals and organizations tied to Feeding Our Future, a Minnesota-based nonprofit, “exploited a program” designed to provide meals for underserved children and that the defendants “prioritized their own greed” by purchasing “luxury cars, houses, jewelry, and coastal resort property abroad.” More than 125 million fake meals are at issue. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)

4/ Newly obtained surveillance video shows Trump allies and contractors working on his behalf copying sensitive software and data from voting equipment in a Georgia county elections office on Jan. 7, 2021. The group of forensics experts from SullivanStrickler spent eight hours inside the Coffee County elections office examining electronic “poll pads,” which contain voter data and are used to check in voters at polling locations. SullivanStrickler was hired by Sidney Powell, a conspiracy theorist and Trump’s former lawyer. Among those seen in the footage is former Georgia Republican Party official Cathy Latham, who is under criminal investigation for posing as a fa...

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