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Luis Benítez Alcántara, a Mexican judge accused of accepting a bribe to release a transnational cocaine smuggler, was arrested in Colombia on Sunday after the U.S. charged him with nine counts of being an accessory after the fact.Benítez, according to a Thursday announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice, accepted a $2 million bribe from Canadian national Ryan Clark, who the DOJ alleges was second-in-command to former Olympic snowboarder Ryan J. Wedding in the latter’s international drug dealing empire.”Benítez Alcántara was a district judge in Mexico City who allegedly accepted $2 million in exchange for granting bond to and ordering the release of Wedding’s second in command, while Wedding was orchestrating a billion-dollar transnational criminal organization and the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada with connections in Colombia, Mexico, and the U.S.,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.US CHARGES MEXICAN GOVERNOR, TOP OFFICIALS IN CARTEL CONSPIRACY AS MEXICO FIRES BACK OVER PROOFClark was initially arrested in Guadalajara, Mexico on Oct. 8, 2024, according to a superseding indictment. He appeared in front of Benítez for extradition proceedings on Oct. 9 after the U.S. requested his extradition.Beginning in Nov. 2024, Clark sent approximately $2.75 million to intermediaries over the course of four months, according to the indictment. On Feb. 24, 2025, Benítez received $2 million in payments from those intermediaries and granted Clark bond and release that same day, per the indictment.Among the nine counts, Benítez is charged with being an accessory after the fact to aid and abet Clark.Clark and Wedding are also charged with murder, conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine and continuing a criminal enterprise, according to the indictment.If convicted, Benítez faces up to 15 years in federal prison.”Crooked public officials, no matter where they are, who assist drug traffickers operating here at home will face justice in the United States,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.”Thanks to the work of the Homeland Security Task Force and our international law enforcement partners, Mr. Benítez will be held accountable. The Department of Justice will continue identifying and dismantling transnational criminal organizations that threaten the safety of the American people,” Blanche concluded.HIGHEST-RANKING TREN DE ARAGUA MEMBER EVER EXTRADITED TO US SET TO APPEAR IN HOUSTON COURTROOM: DOJDespite Benítez’s role in granting Clark bond and release, Mexican law enforcement officers arrested Clark again days later and handed him over to U.S. authorities on Feb. 27, 2025.Following Clark’s arrest, he cooperated with FBI and U.S. officials in supplying information about his and Wedding’s roles in their criminal enterprise, according to a DOJ indictment against Wedding.KASH PATEL DEFENDS FBI’S ‘MOST WANTED’ BUSTS AMID MANIPULATION ACCUSATIONS, HIGHLIGHTS ‘SUMMER HEAT’ SUCCESSWedding, a former member of the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted List, was arrested in Mexico in January 2026.In addition to running a cocaine distribution empire that the indictment alleges imported the majority of illicit cocaine into Canada, Wedding is also accused of orchestrating the murders of numerous informants and other affiliates of his illicit activities.5 MEXICAN CARTEL BOSSES CHARGED IN WEAPONS, DRUG TRAFFICKING, TIMESHARE FRAUD SCHEMES, DOJ SAYSIn January, he pleaded not guilty to federal charges of running a criminal enterprise, murder, conspiring to distribute cocaine and other crimes.His empire allegedly worked in concert with the powerful Mexican Sinaloa Cartel to move and distribute cocaine through Colombia, Mexico and the rest of North America, according to the indictment.”This individual and his organization and the Sinaloa cartel poured narcotics into the streets of North America and killed too many of our youth and corrupted too many of our citizens. And that ends today,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in January after Wedding’s arrest.

By Wayne Allyn Root
So, let’s ask a few simple questions.
If the bluest states in America- California, NY, NJ, CT, Rhode Island, Mass., Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, Washington- suddenly ALL turned RED…would this seem realistic to Democrats? Would they question the results?
If every county in Oregon went red, would anyone believe it?
If Massachusetts voted red by one million votes, would the media accept that result? Would they ask questions?
If NYC went red, would anyone just chalk it up to “poor candidates, a bad president, the wrong war, or high prices?” Really? You want me to believe that?
How about Washington DC turning red because a Democrat president was unpopular? Funny how that has never happened…and never will. Not in the next 1,000 years.
What if LA, San Francisco, Palo Alto and Napa all went red? How about Santa Monica and Malibu? Would Democrats question that?
What if Muslim communities went all red? Dearborn? Detroit? Would Muslim leaders question the results?
How about if inner-city Baltimore went Republican red? Would Democrats believe it wasn’t rigged? Would the media cast doubts on those results?
What about Michigan- did white Republicans vote for Abdul El Sayed? White Republicans voting for communists & radical Muslims to punish Trump is like a sudden shift by every black voter in NYC, Newark, Camden, Detroit, Baltimore & Chicago voting straight-ticket Republican. Would anyone believe that?
But I’ll save the best for last.
 
Texas. There is absolutely something rotten in Texas. The vote totals aren’t “off.” They’re literally impossible. They’re a Marxist fantasy. They’re a little child’s fairy tale.
Red rural Texas districts turned Democrat blue? For Talafreako? You’re telling me white male Christian hunters, and fishermen, and gun owners decided to vote Democrat for the first time in their lives because they all now hate President Trump? Two years after electing him in a Texas landslide? After he secured the border? After he cut their taxes?
And wait for it.
They didn’t decide to suddenly switch for some cool, swaggering, gun-toting, 4 star General who claimed to be one of them. They switched for the first time in their lives for an effeminate, vegetarian, Marxist weirdo who said “God is non-binary.” Really? It gets better.
They switched for Talarico even though he was AWOL from the campaign trail for two full weeks…in October…with reports warning he was in a mental institution in Ohio suffering from a nervous breakdown.
He missed two full weeks on the campaign trail and then got the most votes ever for a Texas Democrat Senate candidate? He got more 600,000 more votes in an “off year” election than Kamala, the Democrat Presidential candidate, in a presidential election year?
Folks, this is starting to get real good!
This sounds like a repeat of 2020- when Joe Biden hid in his Delaware basement for the entire campaign…wearing a mask…and a diaper…and somehow got the most votes of any President in the history of America. Including vote totals blowing by the “popular” President Barack Obama.
All while hiding in a basement.
Talarico’s win is as weird and impossible to believe as Biden’s win.
And as rancid as this Talarico result appears, it’s actually worse in the Texas Governor’s race.
Be honest now. Before Tuesday night had anyone ever heard of Gina Hinojosa? I hadn’t. I’d never heard her name in my life. I had no idea she was running for dog catcher, let alone Governor of Texas. She was put up to run against Texas Governor Greg Abbott as a sacrificial lamb. Her chances were between 0 and 0. It was a no-win suicide run.
Now she’s the Governor of Texas. Because she got two million votes more than any previous Democrat Governor candidate. TWO MILLION. No one goes up two million in one state. For a nobody. For a Hispanic female civil rights lawyer and union lawyer. In Texas?
She got more votes than Kamala as the Democrat Presidential candidate in 2024. In an “off year” election. Gina something beat out Kamala? In an off year. Does this sound possible to anyone with a brain and common sense?
 
Sorry, what happened Tuesday night is not possible. 
Texas? Kansas? Mississippi? Ohio? All of them changed everything only two years after a Trump landslide, because of a war with 21 US service member deaths?
More Americans are shot every Saturday in Chicago! 
Trump secured the border and deported or forced self-deportation of over three million illegals. Result? The lowest murder & crime rates in 100 years.
High Prices? High gas prices? We had much higher inflation and prices under Biden. No deep blue Democrat states flipped to red. By the way, we had higher gas prices under Biden- without a war, or tariffs. The media never said a thing. Democrats never said a thing.
Bad economy? Obama produced the worst economy since the Great Depression. Businesses closed by the millions; half of Las Vegas (where I live) was boarded up; America had all-time record Americans on welfare, food stamps & disability. But after all of that, Obama won re-election.
Something smells rotten. This is like “The Twilight Zone.” These results are just not possible. Someone thinks we’re all idiots.
I may have been born yesterday, but I wasn’t born in the past five minutes!
 
So far, our Republican politicians are all accepting these results as “normal.” No one is questioning them, but me.
 
So far, to my knowledge, I’m the only conservative TV and radio host in America questioning this narrative, and asking these questions.
That doesn’t mean I’m wrong. What it means is I have the balls to admit something is rancid. And I have the balls to ask questions others are too scared to ask out loud.
Everyone else is afraid to be called a “conspiracy theorist.”
Everyone else is scared of how the mainstream media would respond to doubts about the election results.
Everyone else is scared of what might happen if Republicans started to question these election results- nationwide riots, looting and burning that would turn America into France.
Everyone else is afraid of their own shadow. 
But the American people aren’t. Ask around. Look at social media- many, if not most, Republicans don’t believe the results.
My wife just landed in Texas. Everyone she speaks to believes the Texas election was rigged. No one she has spoken to believes these results are possible. They are all saying the election was rigged in Texas.
President Trump, are you listening? Something is wrong. Something is rancid. Something smells rotten in Texas…and everywhere else.
We are being played. We are being gaslighted. Someone needs to investigate.
Wait for my next column. I’m going to tell you exactly how Democrats stole Texas.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Wayne Allyn Root is a CEO, businessman, best-selling author, and national conservative TV and radio host, who has interviewed President Trump 17 times. Watch Wayne’s TV shows on Real Americas Voice TV- “America Speaks” weeknights and “America’s Top Ten Countdown” on weekends- and his daily video podcast “WAR Zone Live presented by The Gateway Pundit” daily at 4:30 PM ET/1:30 PM Pacific at TheGatewayPundit.com. His website is ROOTforAmerica.com. Read Wayne’s latest fun book, “How Illegal Immigrants Have Made America Great.” It’s 100+ blank pages. The joke is on Democrats!

The post WAYNE ROOT: Something Smells Rotten in Texas. And Kansas. And Mississippi. And Everywhere Else Too. Was This a 2020 Rigged Election All Over Again? Here are a Few Simple Questions About This Midterm Election. appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Outcome Of Alaska Senate Race May Not Be Known For Weeks

Authored by Mark Stricherz via The Center Square,The outcome of a tightly contested and controversial U.S. Senate race in Alaska may not be known until the end of the month or later.

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Alaska Dan Sullivan, left, and Democratic candidate Mary Peltola, right. (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff / Flickr / CC BY 2.0) (Sullivan); U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Moises Vasquez / Flickr / Public Domain (Peltola)

U.S. Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, a Republican, is making a bid for a third six-year term. As of 1400ET today, he trails former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, by 637 votes with 74% of ballots counted. He has 102,325 votes to her 102,962. The race has been the focus of controversy after The New York Times reported that Peltola’s campaign helped recruit a candidate with the same name as Sullivan in an apparent attempt to confuse voters. She has denied doing that.Two Senate races are still uncalled, and both could break Democrats’ way.Democrat Scott Colom is all but declaring victory in his challenge to Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), in what would be yet another Senate stunner for Democrats. In Alaska, the count is still dragging on… pic.twitter.com/7PYiu5jGx4— Punchbowl News (@PunchbowlNews) November 4, 2026Twenty-three percent of votes have yet to be tallied. Even when they are, the narrow margin separating the candidates means that the outcome may be decided not at the state’s polling sites but through the mail via absentee and questioned ballots.In the previous midterm congressional election four years ago, Alaska officials said they received 9,143 in-person absentee ballots and 8,009 questioned ballots. Two years ago, in the presidential election, state officials reported receiving 18,158 in-person absentee ballots and 15,138 questioned ballots. Voters can ask for a mail-in ballot and still vote in person, so the number of outstanding votes in the state’s general elections in 2022 and 2024 is unclear.Steve Kirch, public relations manager for the state’s division of elections, did not immediately return an interview request.What is clear is the 49th state’s deadline for counting all votes.By Nov. 13, absentee ballots from the 50 states plus its territories as well as Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa should have arrived and must be postmarked by Nov. 3. By Nov. 18, all ballots from overseas addresses must be received and postmarked by Election Day. By Nov. 19, the State Review Board begins its review of election materials, and by Nov. 25, state officials expect to certify the election results.In addition, Alaska has ranked choice voting. Peltola or Sullivan will need to receive more than 50 percent of the first-choice votes after officials have counted them all. If neither does, the last-place candidate is eliminated. Then, state officials redistribute that candidate’s ballots according to voters’ second and subsequent choices. The process continues until a candidate receives a majority, or 50% plus one vote.Despite the state’s deadlines, federal officials may complicate them.The Justice Department has sent a target letter to prominent Democratic elections attorney Marc Elias asking about his possible involvement in petitioning a retired teacher by the name of Dan J. Sullivan to run for Alaska’s Senate seat, according to the Associated Press.Audrey Cook, a spokesman for the Justice Department, told The Center Square that the agency “cannot discuss ongoing investigations.”
Tyler Durden
Thu, 11/05/2026 – 14:00

Halloween is in the books, which means that if your household is anything like mine, you will soon be tasked with hanging Christmas lights on the front porch. However, NBA great Charles Barkley still has one Halloween-related gripe he needs to get off his chest.He’s got some bold kids in his neighborhood who aren’t content with just a fun-sized Snickers bar or a pack of Skittles Gummies (which are actually very good, by the way); they want the Round Mound of Rebound to grab a Sharpie and sign their basketball cards.On a recent edition of “Inside the NBA,” Barkley took a moment to address the youngsters — I think we need to assume they’re youngsters, but who knows? — who were looking to add something with some resale value to their jack-o’-lantern candy buckets.CHARLES BARKLEY CALLS OUT LEBRON JAMES FOR DISRESPECTING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM WITH PRACTICE GOLF SWING”Hey, let me tell you something,” Barkley began. “You damn brats need to stop bringing basketball cards and stuff to my damn house. I’m giving you damn candy; I’m not there to sign autographs all night.”I’m gonna let y’all get away with that this one damn time…”COOPER FLAGG ROOKIE CARD MAKES EYE-POPPING RECORD SALE, BUT IS IT ACTUALLY A GOOD INVESTMENT?I can understand the frustration. This is premeditated. I don’t think many kids are keeping Barkley cards in their wallets at all times on the off chance they run into him while dressed as a pirate, football player, or inflatable Minion.However, weirdly, I respect the boldness. Those kids are go-getters.That said, they may want to leave their binders at home next year.”I love being home and giving the kids candy,” Barkley continued. “But now they’re bringing cards. You can’t be mean to kids. I wanted to punch them in the face, but I couldn’t do it.”CHARLES BARKLEY JOKINGLY WARNS ‘INSIDE THE NBA’ CREW ABOUT SHAQUILLE O’NEAL’S FBI CONNECTIONSo there you have it, trick-or-treaters: quit being greedy.Take your Twizzlers and then move on to the next house where you can just dump the whole bowl of candy into your pillowcase.Leave Chuck alone.

Senate Democrats will soon decide who will lead them with their newly acquired grip on power in the upper chamber, and while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., appears to be the favorite, some in the caucus aren’t eager to back him.Schumer has led Senate Democrats for nearly a decade, helming the caucus as both majority and minority leader since 2017. But many of the fresh crop of Democratic senators-elect, which span the ideological gamut from moderate to progressive, are tepid, at best, in backing him for another term.And some said throughout their campaigns that they wouldn’t support him at all.DEM SENATE HOPEFUL REJECTS SCHUMER BUT BENEFITS FROM MILLIONS IN SPENDING BY HIS ALLIES”I mean no disrespect for Chuck Schumer, but we need new leadership,” Sen.-elect Adam Hamilton told CNN in September. “We need new younger leadership, young blood.”Hamilton is the moderate megachurch pastor who toppled Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., on Election Night, flipping the Sunflower State for the first time in nearly a century. He, like others this cycle, argued that Democrats needed “fresh ideas and fresh leadership.””In Kansas, Chuck Schumer is a liability for Democrats, and we’ve got to have leaders that can unite us, bring us together, not just Democrats, but bring together Democrats and Republicans to solve real problems,” he said. “And I think people are frustrated with the gridlock in the sense that people are not working together to solve problems.”Democrats are expected to hold their leadership elections later this year, and Schumer will have to shore up support within his newly expanded caucus to stay at the top. But he will only need a majority of Senate Democrats to back him.REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: CONGRESS BRACES FOR POST-ELECTION GAME OF MUSICAL CHAIRS AS LEADERSHIP BATTLES LOOMSo far, Democrats’ majority in the upper chamber is at 54 seats and could further expand depending on the results in Mississippi and Alaska, which as of Thursday were leaning in their favor.Schumer believed that he would still be the one to lead Democrats and contended to reporters on Wednesday that issues that incoming senators and their voters may have had with the direction of the Democratic Party in recent years were not about him.”The issue is not me,” Schumer said. “I’ll be re-elected as majority leader, but the issue is focusing on the American people and what they want.”Still, there is a faction of newcomers, including senators-elect Troy Jackson in Maine, Julianna Stratton in Illinois, Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota, who aren’t all in for Schumer.THUNE GOES ALL-IN ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL AS SCHUMER STAYS ON BENCH, FACES REJECTION FROM FELLOW DEMSJackson, speaking to reporters just before Election Day, said his position hadn’t changed on Schumer.”I told Schumer that I’m going to, you know, support somebody else,” Jackson said. “So it’s no different now.”That somebody else could be Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who has been proposed as an alternative by progressives, like El-Sayed, to lead Senate Democrats instead of Schumer. Van Hollen may have his eyes elsewhere — he has said that he’s “kicking the tires” on a 2028 run.A Democratic aide familiar with Van Hollen’s thinking told Fox News Digital that before selecting a new leader, the lawmaker believed “the caucus needs to have an honest and open conversation about how we move an agenda forward that reflects the will of the American people.””He’s made it clear that the new Democratic majorities need to use their power to push a proactive, economic agenda,” they said.

Republicans failed to gain many seats during Tuesday’s elections after plotting major gerrymandering efforts in several states.
President Donald Trump-backed Republican redistricting efforts were intended to win the party as many as a dozen seats in the House, but they only gained two seats, according to Politico. They lost every seat in Florida, Texas, Tennessee and other districts where they hoped to pick up seats.
The new map in Texas gerrymandered five seats to help Republicans. Democrats won four of those seats, while Republicans picked up the seat in Texas’ 32nd district, currently represented by Democratic Texas Rep. Julie Johnson. Republican Texas Rep.-elect Jace Yarbrough defeated Democratic Texas congressional candidate Dan Barrios by a 51.5% to 48.5% margin.
Democratic Tennessee congressional nominee Victoria Broderick declared victory in Tennessee’s fourth district, where she led by a narrow margin. Tennessee eliminated its only district held by Democrats by splitting Memphis along new congressional lines and erasing Democrats’ advantage in the 9th district.
North Carolina redrew its maps to oust Democratic North Carolina Rep. Don Davis, who was four points ahead of his Republican opponent as of Thursday. The party is on track to lose six other seats, including National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson’s district. Democrats came close to winning all 14 seats in North Carolina.
Republican North Carolina Senate nominee Michael Whatley lost to Democratic North Carolina Sen.-elect Roy Cooper by a nearly 20-point margin, 58% to 39%.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a map in April that redrew the state’s Ninth, 14th, 22nd and 25th districts to give Republicans a clear advantage in each of them. Despite the redistricting efforts, Democratic Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz, Democratic Florida Rep.-elect Pia Dandiya and Democratic Florida Rep. Kathy Castor all won their elections, while Democratic Florida Rep. Darren Soto was leading in a heavily-Republican district as of Thursday.
Ohio’s new congressional map was structured to favor 12 Republican seats and three Democratic seats. Democrats flipped three Republican-held districts, meaning Ohio Republicans did not make any gains. Democratic Ohio Gov.-elect Amy Acton and Democratic Ohio Sen.-elect Sherrod Brown also defeated their Republican opponents.
Affordability and corruption were top issues in the 2026 election cycle, which helped Democrats score major victories. Democrats reclaimed majorities in the House and Senate.
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Colombia’ declared restoration of the Antonio Ricaurte gas pipeline connecting the country with Venezuela a project of strategic national interest