META To Pay Texas $1.4B; Abbot Keeps Border Barrier; Hamas Leaders Taken Out; House to Remove TikTok

Hello all you freedom loving people. Welcome to another episode of Front Page. I'm your host, Scott Cameron Goulet. The situation in the Middle East changed rapidly as a result of two unexpected events, but it's not yet known in what direction things will go. The conflict between the Venezuelan people and the government continues to intensify. With support for the people from the gangs in Venezuela, it is still unclear whether Maduro will be able to take control of the election this time. House Speaker Mike Johnson thinks that it's a shame the White House is remaining silent regarding the deviant performance during the Olympic opening ceremony. Facebook and the state of Texas have reached an agreement and both parties were pleased with the outcome. The state of Texas received a substantial payout and Facebook is pleased that they are no longer facing legal action. And in other news regarding Texas, the appeals court overturned a lower court order for the removal of the barrier from the Texas Rio Grande. Congress took further steps to force TikTok related products to be uninstalled from internal devices at the House of Representatives. Okay, let's get into it. Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed early on Wednesday in Iran after the presidential inauguration. This alarming development may reshape the landscape of the nine-month war in Gaza. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard confirmed Haniyeh's death just after he was sworn in as Iran's new president. But Iran has not disclosed details of Haniyeh's assassination. To date, no video footage or documentation of the incident has emerged and many questions about the situation remain unanswered. Hamas says that it was an Israeli attack that killed its leader Ismail Haniyeh. They blamed Zionists for attacking Haniyeh's residence in Tehran. Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuri told Reuters, the assassination of the Haniyeh brothers by the Israeli occupying forces is a serious escalation and aimed at destroying the will of Hamas. The Israeli authorities have not commented directly on the matter or claim responsibility for it. In 2017, Haniyeh was appointed as the leader of Hamas. In 2019, Haniyeh left the Gaza Strip and went into exile in Qatar where he had been primarily responsible for the organization's diplomatic affairs. Since the outbreak of the Gaza War, Haniyeh had been traveling between Turkey and Qatar's capital Doha as a negotiator in ceasefire talks and with Hamas's ally Iran. In May of this year, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court sought an arrest warrant for Haniyeh for war crimes and crimes against humanity for actions taken during the Israeli-Hamas war. Less than 24 hours before the incident, Israel announced that its forces had succeeded in killing Fuad Shakur, a senior Hezbollah commander, in an attack in retaliation for a cross-border rocket attack that killed 12 teenagers three days earlier. Israel believes that the commander was behind the deadly attack on the Golan Heights. Around 7.40 p.m. local time on Tuesday, a loud explosion was heard on the southern outskirts of Beirut, followed by a plume of smoke that could be seen rising. This area is a Hezbollah stronghold. Hezbollah is an Iranian-backed political and military organization. It was founded with the aim of destroying Israel and driving Western powers out of Lebanon and the greater Middle East. Hezbollah has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States Department of State. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said in a statement on social media platforms that the attack killed Fuad Shakur. Galant wrote, tonight the IDF conducted a precise and professional operation to eliminate Hamas's most senior military commander. He said Shakur's hands were stained with the blood of many Israelis. The statement reads, we have shown that the blood of our people has a price and that there is no place out of reach for our forces to this end. There was no immediate response from Hezbollah. Hezbollah denied any involvement in Saturday's rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. They said that they fired rockets at a military target in the Golan Heights. The Israeli military said that Shakur was the most important aid to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and he was responsible for Saturday's attack. The statement said he was also responsible for the killing of numerous Israelis and foreign nationals over the years. The Israeli military also said Shakur was also responsible for the design of most of Hezbollah's most advanced weapons. This includes precision guided missiles, cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, long-range rockets and drones. Amid rising tensions on Tuesday, UN Special Coordinator Janine Henness-Plaster called on all sides to remain calm and she urged Israel and Lebanon to try to utilize all diplomatic avenues to end the hostilities. The Israeli military also stated that it has not issued new Israeli civil defense directives. One official said that Israel did not want a full-scale war. Hours before the attack, U.S. Defense Secretary Austin said that he didn't think a fight between Hezbollah and Israel was inevitable but he remains concerned about the possibility of escalation. Demonstrations against election fraud broke out across Venezuela after Maduro was declared the winner on Monday of the controversial election. At least 16 people were killed and more than 700 arrested in the clashes. The Venezuelan conflict observatory said that as of Monday evening it had registered 187 protests in 20 states with a great deal of repression and violence committed by paramilitary organizations and security forces. Maduro ordered military and police patrols across the country starting on Wednesday. Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino condemned the protests by announcing the military support for Maduro. On Wednesday, Venezuelan authorities arrested the person in charge of security for opposition leader Maria Makado. Makado said that at least eight people linked to opposition activities have been detained in recent days in four states across the country. This included the owner of a sound truck that was hired by Makado and Gonzalez during a recent rally in the central city of Valencia. It's interesting to note that several armed criminal groups in Venezuela have declared their solidarity with the people. One of them is the leader of the criminal group Trendolano. He sent a video asking the military police to refrain from repressing the situation or they would start assassinating the officials involved. The alleged gang leader said in his video message, we are making this video to call on the armed forces and the state's public forces. We do not want to generate more violence. My advice is that by listening to the people you should entrench yourselves in your commands and let the people decide who should be put in and who should be removed. I have nothing more to say. This is a warning call. The Trendolano is a criminal organization based in Venezuela, specifically in the Llanos region. They encompass several central and southwestern states. The name Trendolano translates to train of the planes. The gang emerged around 2008 and it has been described as one of the first mega gangs in the country. Initially earning a living by stealing cars, the gang rapidly expanded its criminal activities to include extortion, kidnapping, contract killing and drug trafficking. The president of Chile publicly declared his country's refusal to recognize the opaque results of the Venezuelan election. He also called out Maduro saying the Maduro regime must understand that the results it has published are unbelievable. Costa Rican president Rodrigo Chavez has refused to accept the results of the election that declared Maduro the winner, calling it fraudulent. Costa Rica's foreign minister Arnaldo Andre said on Tuesday that the Central American government is prepared to grant political asylum or refugee status to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Makado and presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez. Six members of the opposition campaign have sought refuge at the Argentine embassy after Venezuelan authorities issued arrest warrants. On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson slammed the White House for failing to address the controversial Olympic opening ceremony skit. The Olympic opening ceremony featured drag queens who are supposedly re-enacting the Last Supper with Jesus and his disciples. Johnson wrote in a post on X, the White House has had every opportunity to condemn the Olympics shameful mockery of the Last Supper but they refuse to do it. Their silence should be taken as an endorsement. The more than 200 million Christians in America should take note. Cri Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary refused to answer questions about President Biden's take on the performance during Tuesday's briefing. Jean-Pierre said, I don't have anything. I appreciate the question. I just don't have anything to share. In response to comments from reporters that Christians were offended by the opening act, Cri Jean-Pierre giggled and dodged answering Biden's stance on the performance. Jean-Pierre said, I just answered your question. I don't have anything else to add. President Biden, who had often spoken about his alleged Catholic faith, has yet to comment on the event. First Lady Jill Biden praised the opening ceremony as spectacular in remarks from Paris, but she did not specifically comment on the drag queen skit. This is while other Christian U.S. leaders called the scene insulting and part of a war on our faith. Governor Ron DeSantis among them wrote, the mockery of Christians during the Olympics opening ceremony is a symbol of cultural decline. On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned a lower court's decision. The appeals court ruled that a floating barrier that is installed to prevent illegal border crossings in the Rio Grande can temporarily remain until a trial is held. The appeals court found that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas abused its discretion when it ordered Texas to remove the buoys from the river last summer. Back in July of 2023, Texas installed a 1,000-foot floating barrier made of interconnecting rotating buoys at a crossing hotspot near Eagle Pass. However, both the Mexican government and the Biden administration have criticized the installation. The Biden administration sued Texas. It claimed that the barrier illegally disrupted navigation and it was placed without authorization from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The DOJ also claimed that Governor Abbott installed the barrier without obtaining federal authorization. So, the DOJ sued Texas alleging that the barrier was unlawful. The district court had previously granted a preliminary injunction directing Texas to move the barrier to the riverbank. The ruling was appealed by Governor Greg Abbott, but he was initially unsuccessful. However, ultimately, the full court overturned the decision and blocked the injunction pending an appeal. And now, on July 30th, the circuit judge Don R. Willett, who was joined by eight other judges, found that the district court abused its discretion in issuing the preliminary injunction. Willett wrote, we hold that the district court clearly erred in finding that the United States will likely prove that the barrier is in a navigable stretch of the Rio Grande. We cannot square the district court's findings and conclusions with over a century's worth of precedent which, on a fair and faithful reading, renders inapplicable or unpersuasive the evidence on which the district court relies. According to the appeals court, a preliminary injunction must meet all four criteria before it can be issued. The criteria include the likelihood of success on the merits, the likelihood of irreparable harm, the balance of equity in its favor, and alignment with the public interest. However, the appeals court said that the federal government bears the heavy burden of proving a likelihood of success. Abbott hailed the new ruling in a post on X. He wrote, Biden tried to remove them. I fought to keep them in the water. That is exactly where they will stay. Justice. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also welcomed the ruling and he pledged to continue to defend Texas's right to protect its border from illegal immigration. In 2022, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Facebook's parent company for the unlawful capture of biometrics from more than 20 million Texans without their permission. Texas's 2009 Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act makes it unlawful to use facial recognition software to capture and store data without lawful consent. The law provides damages of up to $25,000 for each violation. Ken Paxton's office announced on Tuesday that Meta Platforms has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle the lawsuit over its unauthorized capture and use of the personal biometric data of Facebook users. The settlement is the largest obtained in a lawsuit brought by a single state. Ken Paxton said, after vigorously pursuing justice for our citizens whose private rights were violated by Meta's use of facial recognition software, I'm proud to announce that we have reached the largest settlement ever obtained from an action brought by a single state. Any abuse of Texans' sensitive data will be met with the full force of the law. Meta is also glad to resolve the issue with the state of Texas. A Meta spokesperson said in an emailed statement, we are pleased to resolve this matter and look forward to exploring future opportunities to deepen our business investment in Texas, including potentially developing data centers. The House Chief Administrative Officer announced on Tuesday that TikTok, as well as all products owned by TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance, will be removed and disabled from all electronic devices in the House of Representatives. Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Spindor wrote in a memo to House staffers, starting August 15, 2024, the CAO Office of Cybersecurity will initiate the block and removal of all ByteDance products from all house-managed devices and app stores. ByteDance applications are not allowed on any house device. This was the latest move by the House of Representatives after the DOJ on Friday gave the strongest evidence that TikTok poses a threat to U.S. national security. In December of 2022, the office directed all lawmakers and staffers to remove the app from their official house phones. They deemed the platform a high risk to users due to a number of security risks. Tuesday's news, however, goes a step further warning staff that the app will be removed from their devices. And that's a wrap for this episode. Thank you all for your support of FrontPage. Please remember that every like, comment, and share helps more people to see the truth. If you haven't already, please subscribe. And if you have already subscribed, we thank you, but please double check to make sure that you're still subscribed because some of our audience have reported that they're somehow unsubscribed without their knowledge. We've also heard that many of you don't get notifications of our videos anymore on YouTube. So when you do subscribe on YouTube, please make sure to tap the notification bell as well. Okay, this is our show for today. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you like what you heard today, please don't forget to like this video and share it with your friends and family because everybody deserves to know the truth.