Former Acting US Attorney Found Dead; New Rules for Mail-In Ballots

Next, let's do a bit of a roundup of three separate stories that did not get enough coverage by the press. Firstly, you had a former acting U.S. attorney who was found dead inside of an office in a federal building over in California. We'll discuss these details. Secondly, the USPS has just issued a new rule regarding mail-in ballots. We'll tell you what that rule is, what the implications of it are, as well as what the immediate implications are for the upcoming midterm elections. And then lastly, the U.S. State Department has just issued a travel alert regarding three countries, and it's likely not the ones you would imagine. And so let's go through it all together right after you smash those like and subscribe buttons. Thank you so much for doing that. It helps the video get picked up by the algorithm and shout out to ever more people. To begin with, this man here up on your screen is Mr. Andrew Hayden. Andrew twice served as the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California in San Diego, once from August of 2023 up until October of 2023, and then again in February of 2025 up until April of 2025. And that most recent period of his tenure, it started when President Trump fired the Biden-appointed U.S. attorney, Ms. Tara McGrath. After she was let go, Mr. Andrew Hayden ran the office for a while until you had then U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appoint Mr. Adam Gordon as the actual U.S. attorney for the region. Then Mr. Andrew Hayden, he naturally stepped down when that happened, and he continued working in the background of the office away from the leadership position as a prosecutor in the district. He was also a Navy veteran with two overseas deployments. And on the side, he was an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, where he taught, among other things, human trafficking law. Unfortunately, though, last week, a missing persons report was filed for Mr. Hayden when he suddenly went missing until he was unfortunately found dead in an office building within the federal building housing the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego. Quote, Andrew Hayden was found dead in a federal building in downtown San Diego Wednesday night. Police said they received a call Wednesday night regarding a man who was potentially missing. A short time later, officers found Hayden in an office inside the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building. Now, while not explicitly giving any more details, the police did say that they suspected no foul play and that the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office will determine the official cause of death and release that information to the public at a later time. Mr. Hayden was 48 years old at the time of death, and when the news was made public, the U.S. attorney, the current U.S. attorney, Mr. Adam Gordon, the man who basically replaced Mr. Hayden when he stepped down, released a statement saying the following. Quote, this is one of the darkest days in our office's history, but there was nothing dark about Andrew Hayden's life. He was a beacon of light, full of laughter, friendship, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to serving our community. We will honor his life and legacy by carrying his light forward today and always. Thus far, nothing else is known, again, other than the fact that the police said that they do not suspect any foul play. However, I will mention, if you want to check back in, once an official cause of death is provided by the local officials, I'll update the description box below this video with what they said. And so if you're watching this later in August or September, you can just right now check that description box, and it'll probably have an update. Or if you're watching this video as it's premiering, you can just circle back a little while later and see if anything will be down there. I will also throw just additional details about Andrew Hayden's life and career also down in the description box if you want to read that as well. Now, moving along to something a bit more national and quite timely, given the fact that we are only now two and a half months out from the midterms, the USPS has just issued a new set of rules regarding mail-in ballots. Now, for a bit of context, back in March of this year, President Trump issued an executive order which, among other things, directed the USPS to develop new rules governing mail-in and absentee ballots that are used in federal elections. You then fast forward to August, August 21st, and the USPS did publish this new rule up on the Federal Register. You can see it up on your screen for yourself. And among other things, this new rule, it applies to states that allow for mail-in voting in federal elections. The Postal Service, they are now requiring those states to first submit a list of all eligible voters in the state who will be receiving mail-in ballots before those ballots can enter the stream of mail. Here is directly from the new rule, which again you can find on the Federal Register, quote, any state that intends to receive mail-in or absentee ballots from individual voters through the Postal Service must ensure that such individuals have been enrolled with the Postal Service for inclusion on the state's mail-in and absentee participation list. Now, in order to enroll an individual, the local state officials will have to submit the voter's name and their address through a new online portal that was created for this purpose. Furthermore, every individual will be assigned a unique intelligent mail barcode for both their outbound mail envelope, the one that actually comes to their mailbox, as well as the return ballot envelope that they send their ballot back in. Quote, under the rule, the USPS would review outbound federal ballot mailings before accepting them to determine whether they meet the new envelope standards and are being sent to voters enrolled through the Postal Service's system. Non-compliant outbound mailings would not be accepted and would instead be returned to the authorized ballot mailer for correction. The rule also requires outbound federal ballot envelopes to display the official election mail logo, be compatible with postal automation equipment, and carry a unique barcode. Included among the justifications for this rule change, the Postal Service added that postal employees would not be authorized to open this type of mail for inspection and that the agency would not collect or record people's party affiliations. Instead, all the needed info for them to send the letters back and forth will be maintained in those barcodes generated on the front of both the envelopes going out as well as the envelopes coming back. There was also a 90-day election window that was thrown around, but eventually in the final rule it was rejected. Quote, the Postal Service contemplated requiring states to notify the USPS at least 90 days before an election if they plan to use the Postal Service for mail-in voting. Any notifying state would also need to indicate whether it intended to submit voter information at least 60 days before the election. However, the final USPS rule makes the 90-day notification optional. It also calls for states to submit voter information at least 30 days before a federal election to the extent practicable or by the date on which mail-in or absentee ballots may begin to be mailed under state law. States would be able to continue adding or modifying entries afterward. And then in terms of why this new change of rules was necessary overall from a higher level perspective, you have the current Postmaster General say the following after the rule change was made public. Quote, the Post Office is simply matching the ballots that a state believes they're sending out to what actually gets sent out. To me, it's not a political question. It's a question of how do we most efficiently and securely move ballots. We've been recommending this for many years. All this does is make it a requirement. However, it is really really worth highlighting that at the moment there are two separate federal court injunctions in place to block the specific implementation of this rule for the upcoming midterm election. Quote, the USPS stated that it will not take steps to implement the rule for the November 3rd midterm elections unless the court injunctions blocking the relevant provisions of Trump's executive order are lifted. The legal blockade stems from two cases before US District Judge Indira Talwani of Massachusetts. On June 25th, Talwani sided with 23 states and the District of Columbia in their challenge to the executive order. She blocked the USPS mail ballot provisions from taking effect in those states for federal elections through November 3rd. Then on August 11th, Talwani issued a separate preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and other advocacy groups. That order blocks the USPS from enforcing the mail ballot provisions nationwide for the November 3rd election and any earlier federal election. It also prevents the USPS from refusing to handle mail-in or absentee ballots based on those provisions. Essentially, at first the injunction was limited to the 23 states and the District of Columbia, but then eventually it was expanded to a nationwide injunction, meaning that unless these injunctions get cleared up, the midterms will not be using this new postal barcode system. The USPS actually published this new rule ahead of the midterms though to basically, I guess you can say, hedge their bets. They stated that they published a new rule despite the injunctions just in case there is some type of legal relief for the Trump administration prior to the upcoming midterm elections. Essentially, if the injunction gets reversed before then, the rule can automatically go into effect. And so that is where we're currently at. If there's going to be an update on this case before the midterms, I'll definitely bring that to you. But in the meantime, if you want to read the entirety of the new rule for yourself, I'll throw the link to the PDF over on the Federal Registrar's website. You can see it down in the description box below. Moving along though, the US State Department, they've just issued travel alerts for three South American countries, for Chile, for Paraguay, as well as for Ecuador, largely over their issues with crime. Starting with Ecuador, quote, the State Department updated the travel advisory for Ecuador, warning about the risk of terrorism, kidnapping, crime, and unrest. Crime is widespread in Ecuador, with violent crime connected to drug trafficking such as murder, assault, and kidnapping being common. The Department noted that there have been reports of US citizens and lawful permanent residents becoming victims of kidnapping and extortion. For your general reference, according to data that was released by the World Bank Group, among the three South American nations that we're discussing, Ecuador had the highest intentional homicide rate in 2023. It was 46 homicides per 100,000 people. By comparison, Paraguay had seven and Chile had six. Also worth noting, while the country of Ecuador as a whole was given the State Department's level two safety designation, meaning to exercise increased caution when going there, some of the areas within the country have higher alert levels due to issues of crime and terrorism. I'll put those specific regions up on screen for your reference. Moving along though to Chile, it's now also designated as a level two travel country with the State Department, with crime, unrest, and risks to health being the three key risks facing US travelers. Quote, petty crime is common in Chile. Common crimes include mugging, pickpocketing, and theft. Violent crimes also occur, including assaults, homicides, carjackings, and residential break-ins. And so be careful there. Lastly, the country of Paraguay is classified under the level one travel advisory, with the State Department mentioning that places such as the ones up on your screen, especially the ones along the northeastern border with Brazil, being more susceptible to crime. US government employees in Paraguay now require special authorization to travel to those areas due to safety concerns, and they're also prohibited from driving between the regions at night, and they're banned from using the municipal buses in those areas because of the risk of assault and robbery. And so there you have it. Be careful if you're traveling to South America, although realistically just be careful all the time everywhere. If you'd like to read the specific details of the travel advisors coming out of the State Department, those will be down in the description box below, which is again right below those like and subscribe buttons, both of which I hope you smash, and then also don't forget to check out the movie Final Hours. Phenomenal film, really left me thinking for several days afterwards just about life and purpose and all that stuff. But again, the reason it's so impactful in my opinion is that it's really just people's first-hand experiences of what they saw after they died. The worlds they visited, the music they heard, the portals they went down, the beings they interacted with, and also it's like several different people who experienced it, and they didn't know each other. They didn't, I believe, talk at all prior to the interviews because the interviews weren't even held at the same place. It's not like they're talking in the back room or something, but their stories are so remarkably similar, right? So it does begin to paint this picture, and it's a new growing scientific field of NDEs, near-death experiences, and it's a phenomenal field of study. I'm really excited to see how it develops, and yep, if you want to check out the film Final Hours, the link will be there in the description box below. I could not recommend it enough. Technically I was dead, but I felt that this was more real than real, and I felt more alive than life itself. Thousands have glimpsed something vast and loving waiting on the other side. I was surrounded by beings, some of them I recognize from this life. It's more just like a light, the light of God. I was so happy. I just felt like more and more of the pain of this world was just floating away. What do these human experiences mean for our collective soul? The more we can come into harmony, love, and kindness, the more we're aligned with the essence of the universe. Until next time, I'm your host Roman from The Epic Times. Stay informed, and most importantly, stay free.