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As of Monday, it is no longer illegal in Hawaii to carry a dangerous weapon in public, and switchblade and butterfly knives are no longer banned. HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -- As of Monday, it is no longer illegal in Hawaii to carry a dangerous weapon in public -- and switchblade and butterfly knives are no longer banned. That change led to an alarming sight in Waikiki at sunset Tuesday. The governor signed HB 2342 into law Monday without fanfare, making it immediately legal to openly carry weapons that were banned in public until now. Gun rights activist Andrew Namiki Roberts, leader...

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra admitted during a congressional hearing on Wednesday that hospitals with religious objections to transgender mutilation will lose federal funding. “Can you commit here today that your department will not withhold federal funding from hospitals or doctors who refuse to provide the gender-affirming care that you are, you know, mandating, if it violates their religious beliefs?” Republican Rep. Mary Miller, chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, asked Becerra. Becerra ignored the question and scolded Miller for asking it. “You’re going somewhere completely different. First, you started talking about how a doctor should...

The Biden administration on Thursday submitted a proposal seeking to begin the formal process of reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug.

On Thursday’s “MTP Now,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) said that he doesn’t know the particulars about President Joe Biden asserting executive privilege over audio recordings from Special Counsel Robert Hur but also criticized Republicans for considering a contempt resolution for Attorney General Merrick Garland over his refusal to hand over the recordings. Meeks said, “I don’t know the circumstances of that particular situation. I’ve not had that conversation. The fact of the matter is, the statement that you’re telling me is new to me. So, I would defer on that.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has found loaded rocket launchers during its operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, now in its second week. Rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, which was nearly constant in the days following the October 7 terror attack, has largely subsided. However, in recent weeks, Hamas terrorists have fired rockets at the Keren Shalom crossing, where humanitarian aid enters Gaza near Rafah, and at the city of Sderot, near northern Gaza.

The Biden White House is defending President Biden’s decision to assert executive privilege over his interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur — preventing Congress from obtaining his audio recordings — asserting that Biden made the decision “at the request of the attorney general.” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed a question regarding Biden’s decision to block the release of the audio of his interview with the Special Counsel.

At long last, National Institutes of Health (NIH) principal deputy director Lawrence Tabak admitted to Congress Thursday that US taxpayers funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China in the months and years before the COVID-19 pandemic. “Dr. Tabak,” asked Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, “did NIH fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology through [Manhattan-based nonprofit] EcoHealth [Alliance]?” “It depends on your definition of gain-of-function research,” Tabak answered. “If you’re speaking about the generic term, yes, we did.”

"Republican National Committee (RNC) co-Chair Lara Trump said Wednesday evening, without evidence, that debates are always “rigged so heavily” in President Biden’s favor."

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Pro-Palestinian protesters blocked traffic in Queens, New York City, New York, for what they called “Nakba Day,” which charges that Israel destabilized Palestinian culture and society in 1948 after achieving statehood. The protesters were seen waving Palestinian flags while igniting red, black, and green smoke bombs (the Palestinian flag colors), chanting phrases like “Our Street” and “Free Palestine.”

Switzerland agreed to buy F-35 jet fighters to park on a remote runway. Then the U.S. zeroed in on the Wangs, who owned the rustic hotel next door. UNTERBACH, — The Hotel Rössli, a century-old lodge in this Alpine valley village, enjoys a spectacular view . ... But it is the view from the back that caught the attention of American intelligence agencies. About 100 yards from the rear of the rustic, wood-paneled inn .. cuts the runway where the Swiss military had agreed to base several F-35s, the world’s most advanced jet fighter. The airstrip, only partly fenced, is...

Political commentator Alyssa Farah Griffin said Thursday on CNN’s coverage of former President Donald Trump’s business record trial that witness Michael Cohen after the defense lawyer Todd Blanche’s cross-examination. Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Michael Cohen says he never sought a job at the white house. Bryan Lanza here who worked on the 2016 campaign, says, that’s not true. He recalls Michael Cohen wanting to be White House council. We have some journalists on our panel here saying that’s not true. They were recalling Michael Cohen saying he was going to join the White House. He was very excited to do...

Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a full pardon and restoration of rights for Daniel Perry, the former Army sergeant who was found guilty of murder for the fatal shooting of Garrett Foster during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest while Perry was an Uber driver. "The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles conducted an exhaustive review of U.S. Army Sergeant Daniel Perry’s personal history and the facts surrounding the July 2020 incident and recommended a Full Pardon and Restoration of Full Civil Rights of Citizenship," said Abbott in a statement. "Among the voluminous files reviewed by the Board, they considered...

Eighty-seven members voted for, and 56 against the Digital ID Bill 2024. Australia’s House of Representatives has passed the national digital ID bill, which will embed the new online identification program into law.The digital ID is supposed to replace the need for physical IDs, and is linked with government services such as MyGov, Centrelink, Medicare, and the Australian Tax Office (ATO).The government has allocated $288.1 million (US$197 million) from the federal budget to roll out the program.Story continues below advertisementOn May 16, the Digital ID Bill 2024 received support from the Labor government, the left-wing Greens, and “Teals,” but was...

Almost a dozen Republican lawmakers trekked up to New York City on Thursday to support former President Donald Trump as he faces charges of falsifying business records years ago, brought by a Democrat district attorney in the midst of the 2024 presidential election. The lawmakers included Reps. Andy Biggs (AZ), Lauren Boebert (CO), Michael Cloud (TX), Eli Crane (AZ), Matt Gaetz (FL), Bob Good (VA), Diana Harshbarger (TN), Anna Paulina Luna (FL), Ralph Norman (SC), Andy Ogles (TN), and Mike Waltz (FL). pic.twitter.com/cbb123Vk49 — Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) May 16, 2024 “The cavalry has arrived to the courthouse,” a Gaetz aide...

The Upper East Side, once known as the Silk Stocking District, has embraced cotton scrubs — but not everyone’s thrilled about it. CBRE cited growing demand for healthcare services, especially for those over age 75, for the tony area becoming the “central node” in the Tristate region’s health sector, according to a new report by the company. Five major new hospital and medical projects are rising amid the upper-crust neighborhood’s fancy homes and shops — and three more enormous, highly controversial ones are proposed. New leases and expansions for health facilities in Manhattan totaled nearly 5.4 million square feet since...

The “floating pier” built by the U.S. Navy off the coast of Gaza was completed on Thursday, and connected to the shore by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops. President Joe Biden announced the port project in his State of the Union address in March to augment land routes to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. He promised that there would be no American “boots on the ground”; the U.S. is relying on the IDF to provide onshore security for the port. Today at approximately 7:40 a.m. (Gaza time) United States Central Command personnel supporting the humanitarian mission to deliver additional humanitarian...

The House Judiciary Committee passed a resolution on Thursday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for failing to disclose audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur. The full House must approve the resolution, which is largely symbolic, to officially hold Garland in contempt. Republicans maintain a narrow majority in the House to pass the resolution. Garland would follow Eric Holder, Obama’s attorney general, and Bill Bar, Trump’s attorney general, to be held in contempt if the House passes the resolution. Garland defied a final warning in April to comply with a...

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday removed Cuba’s communist regime from the State Department’s list of countries “not cooperating fully” against terrorism. In a statement reportedly sent to members of the U.S. Congress and media, Secretary Blinken said that Cuban and U.S. law enforcement officials were once again working together on counterterrorism and other related efforts — and as such its inclusion on the list was deemed “no longer appropriate.” “The department determined that the circumstances for Cuba’s certification as a ‘not fully cooperating country’ have changed from 2022 to 2023,” a U.S. Department of State official reportedly...

Legal experts believe Donald Trump could have flouted his court-imposed gag order by apparently manufacturing a scenario where his supporters communicated on his behalf. According to Newsweek, Trump has been penning notes for his political sympathizers to read outside the courthouse during his New York criminal trial, a move which could contravene the gag order. The purpose of the order is to prevent Trump from talking about the jury or any witnesses in the hush money case. "Those notes are not privileged documents, and if their contents mirrored some of what Trump's GOP cronies said to the press, the notes...