Connect with us
[the_ad id="89560"]

International

Trump declared president-elect

Published

6 minute read

From The Center Square

By  and Dan McCaleb

Trump to become 47th U.S. president after being 45th

Former President Donald Trump addressed a raucous crowd of his supporters in Palm Beach, Florida, early Wednesday to declare victory in both the Electoral College and the popular vote in the 2024 presidential race.

It became official later in the morning with several media outlets declaring Trump the president-elect after calling races in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin for the former president.

At 5:30 a.m., NBC News joined Fox News in calling Wisconsin for Trump, pushing his electoral vote total to 277, above the 270 needed to win the presidency. Trump joins Grover Cleveland as the only U.S. presidents to serve two non-consecutive terms.

Nearly two hours earlier, however, Trump had declared victory.

“Frankly, I believe this was the greatest political movement of all time, and maybe beyond,” Trump said to begin his remarks before going on to promise to “help our country heal.”

“I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honor of being reelected your 47th president, and your 45th president,” Trump said.

“This will truly be the golden age of America,” he continued.

In a stunning comeback, the former president won after surviving two assassination attempts and as he faced four separate criminal prosecutions that were launched after he left the White House in 2021.

The 78-year-old Trump led the popular vote by about 5 million votes when he gave his victory speech and held that lead by 6 a.m. He becomes the first Republican to win the popular vote since George W. Bush in 2004.

Several media outlets named Trump the winner of the swing states of North Carolina, Georgia  and Pennsylvania, key states that propelled him toward victory.

As results continued to trickle in early Wednesday, Trump maintained leads in the other swing states of Michigan, Arizona and Nevada.

Fox News called the race in Wisconsin and declared Trump the winner of the race before his speech, while other outlets kept Trump just a few electoral votes short of the needed 270.

Trump also continues to hold leads in swing states Michigan, 52.5% to 45.8% with 73% of returns reported; in Arizona, 50.4% to 48.8% with 52% of votes counted; and in Nevada, 51.6% to 46.7% with 81% in.

During his victory speech, Trump called up his vice presidential pick, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and thanked him.

“I think that we just witnessed the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America,” Vance told the crowd.

Cedric Richmond, co-chairman of the Harris campaign, addressed supporters earlier Wednesday, saying there were still plenty of votes to be counted. He also said Harris would not be making a statement until later in the day Wednesday.

Real Clear Politics’ polling average going into Election Day showed very narrow leads for Trump in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. However, the polling average showed Trump behind by half a point in Michigan and Wisconsin. All the swing states appeared to be going for Trump as the sun began to rise on the east coast Wednesday.

Results began to trickle in after 6 p.m. EST, picking up steam throughout the night.

Trump quickly took a lead, ahead of Harris roughly 105 to 72 votes just after 8 p.m. Eastern time.

The lead continued to grow until after 1 a.m., when media outlets began calling Pennsylvania for Trump, ending Harris’ only remaining path to the White House.

Multiple media outlets also reported Republicans won control of the U.S. Senate, but control of the House remains to be determined as the votes are counted.

“It also looks like we’ll be keeping the House of Representatives,” Trump said, referring to the latest data trending in Republicans’ favor.

Former President Barack Obama warned Americans on Tuesday the results of the election may take several days to come in, but Trump’s win was swifter than most predicted.

“Many have told me that God spared my life for a reason,” Trump said, referencing his surviving two assassination attempts, the first when he was grazed in his ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., the second when a would-be assassin built a sniper’s nest near one of his West Palm Beach golf course as he was playing. “And that reason was to save our country and restore our country together, and we are going to fulfill that mission.”

Several media outlets called Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming for Trump.

And several media outlets called California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington and Washington D.C. for Harris.

Before Post

After 15 years as a TV reporter with Global and CBC and as news director of RDTV in Red Deer, Duane set out on his own 2008 as a visual storyteller. During this period, he became fascinated with a burgeoning online world and how it could better serve local communities. This fascination led to Todayville, launched in 2016.

Follow Author

Crime

Europol takes out one of the largest pedophile networks in the world with almost 2 million users

Published on

From LifeSiteNews

By Andreas Wailzer

An international group of police agencies has taken down one of the largest pedophile networks in the world with almost two million users.

Investigators from Bavaria, Germany, announced yesterday that they dismantled an online pedophile platform called “Kidflix” used to distribute child pornography that had around 1.8 million users worldwide. Police carried out raids in 31 countries and arrested 79 people in total.

The European police unit Europol coordinated the operation led by the Bavarian criminal police. Europol announced that around 1,400 suspects have been identified worldwide in “one of the biggest blows against child pornography in recent years, if not ever.”

According to Europol, the platform “Kidflix” was one of the largest pedophile networks in the world. Guido Limmer, deputy head of the Bavarian criminal police, said it was the “largest operation ever” organized by Europol. The platform’s server, with over 70,000 videos at the time, was reportedly shut down by German and Dutch authorities in early March.

The 79 people arrested were not only suspected of having watched or downloaded videos of child sexual abuse but some were also suspected of personally harming children. The police units carried out the raids from March 10 to 23 and reportedly confiscated thousands of electronic devices. In Germany alone, 96 locations were raided. Among the suspects was a 36-year-old man who not only viewed illegal material but also reportedly offered up his young son for sexual abuse. The child was given to child protection services after the man was arrested, the Bavarian police spokesman said.

Limmer also noted that one of the arrested suspects was a “serial” abuser from the United States.

According to Europol, “Kidflix” was set up by cybercriminals in 2021 and became one of the most popular platforms for pedophiles. The international police agency said that the investigation into the network began in 2022.

In October 2024, German police dismantled another large online pedophile network with hundreds of thousands of users, arresting six men associated with the platform.

Last year, Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office revealed that the cases of sexual abuse against children and adolescents had more than tripled in the past five years.

Continue Reading

Courageous Discourse

Europe Had 127,350 Cases of Measles in 2024

Published on

By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH

US Mainstream Media Maintains Myopic Focus on Less than 1000 Cases

As the measles story in the US continues to unfold with reporting of a few cases here and there come in through mainstream media, I wondered about measles in Europe.

The WHO casually reported that the Europe Region had 127,350 cases in 2024.

According to an analysis by WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 127 350 measles cases were reported in the European Region for 2024, double the number of cases reported for 2023 and the highest number since 1997.

Children under 5 accounted for more than 40% of reported cases in the Region – comprising 53 countries in Europe and central Asia. More than half of the reported cases required hospitalization. A total of 38 deaths have been reported, based on preliminary data received as of 6 March 2025.

Measles cases in the Region have generally been declining since 1997, when some 216 000 were reported, reaching a low of 4440 cases in 2016. However, a resurgence was seen in 2018 and 2019 – with 89 000 and 106 000 cases reported for the 2 years respectively. Following a backsliding in immunization coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, cases rose significantly again in 2023 and 2024. Vaccination rates in many countries are yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, increasing the risk of outbreaks.

Many regions in Europe have lower rates of measles vaccination than the goal of 95%.

 

Less than 80% of eligible children in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania were vaccinated with MCV1 in 2023 – far below the 95% coverage rate required to retain herd immunity. In both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro the coverage rate for MCV1 has remained below 70% and 50% respectively for the past 5 or more years. Romania reported the highest number of cases in the Region for 2024, with 30 692 cases, followed by Kazakhstan with 28 147 cases.

The WHO Report does not mention adjudication of hospitalizations or deaths. Presumably hospitalization of healthy kids is routine for contagion control. So if measles is so common and presumably well-handled by Europe, why is it such a big deal in the United States? Don’t look for Sanjay Gupta or Anderson Cooper to tell you that a similar size region and population handles >100K cases per year without much fanfare.

Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH

President, McCullough Foundation

www.mcculloughfnd.org

 

FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse) is a reader-supported publication.

To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Please subscribe to FOCAL POINTS as a paying ($5 monthly) or founder member so we can continue to bring you the truth.

Subscribe to FOCAL POINTS (Courageous Discourse).

For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.

Continue Reading

Trending

X