Church Leaders Forced Slaves To Work In A Crowded Mansion For A Decade

To finance their extravagant lifestyle, the leaders of a Florida church are accused of running a multi-state money laundering scheme and enslaving dozens of victims within a packed home.

David Taylor, 53, the head of the Kingdom of God Global Church, and co-conspirator Michelle Brannon, 56, were arrested for allegedly running a forced labour scheme that raised more than $50 million since 2014.

Prosecutors said these unpaid labourers were manipulated through physical and emotional abuse to operate call centres across five states and work as Taylor’s servants.

 

Disturbing new documents have revealed that 57 victims were crammed inside a Tampa mansion – cut off from the outside world as they endured harsh conditions.

Pricey, human-sized stone statues kept in containers and luxury vehicles topped with gift-wrapping were also found at the mansion.

 

Inside the unsuspecting castle-like home, the vulnerable staff – including minors – slept on floors, were kept in the garage and had limited bathroom access, investigators said. 

Taylor, 53, and Brannon, 56, allegedly withheld food and sleep from their labourers and threatened them with violence if they failed to do as they were told. 

The bone-chilling plot began to unravel when they were both arrested in August. 

Brannon, who resided at the massive Tampa house of horrors, was detained in Florida. Taylor was arrested in North Carolina, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). 

At the time, the church’s headquarters in Houston, Texas, was raided by the FBI and SWAT teams, with officers walking out 17 people, some of them handcuffed. Authorities also swarmed other centres. 

Before the blitzes, Taylor allegedly told his workers: ‘They gonna be in here with their FBI jackets on… You don’t scare me. God’s gonna to get you.’ 

In an August press release, the department claimed the pair had been running their money laundering operation and forcing people to work across Michigan, Florida, Texas, North Carolina and Missouri.

It is unknown how many more victims were drawn into the scheme while looking for religious contentment outside of the Tampa area.

The indictment alleged Taylor declared himself an ‘Apostle’ and Brannon his executive director. Prosecutors said they had been romantically involved. 

They had allegedly been operating various call centres where workers were forced to work 24-hour shifts. Others had to serve as ‘armour bearers’ for Taylor.

These ‘armour bearers’ were allegedly Taylor’s personal servants. They were at his beck and call – even delivering him women who had to take Plan B after their encounters, according to the indictment.

Taylor set unreasonable quotas for the labourers and punished them with public humiliation, abuse and forced repentance when those goals went unmet, the indictment claimed.

In one text message allegedly sent by Taylor to one of his call centre workers, he said, ‘If you don’t work, you can’t eat.’

‘POUR WATER ON EVERYONE’S FACES THAT’S HALFWAY SLEEPING AND NOT WORKING WAKE THEM UP NOW!!’ he allegedly wrote. 

The money was raised under the disguise of donations to charitable causes, but investigators claimed that it had actually been used to fund Taylor and Brannon’s extravagant lifestyles. 

Prosecutors said the donations went toward buying four Mercedes-Benzes, three Bentleys and a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, a luxury SUV that can retail for nearly $630,000.

Five ATVs, two trailers, and four jet skis were also purportedly purchased with the money.

‘Money laundering is tax evasion in progress,’ Special Agent in Charge Karen Wingerd of IRS Criminal Investigation of the Detroit Field Office said.  

‘The proceeds funded an alleged human trafficking ring and supported a luxury lifestyle under the guise of a religious ministry.’

Despite Taylor and Brannon remaining in federal custody, the Kingdom of God Global Church is still operating its 24/7 miracle prayer line.

The church’s website, which is also still active, claims the lord has given Taylor ‘a special teaching ministry’ to bring people closer to God.

If your church leader lives in such a grand home, then he’s undoubtedly glorifying the wrong God, and so is anybody who frequents this institution.

This story’s lesson is to never put your trust in a wealthy pastor.

The practice of making false claims that something is kosher while acting in the name of or within a religion is known as religious fraud.

Using falsehoods or deceit to persuade people that one’s own religion or certain religious claims are true is known as pious fraud.

Throughout history, there have been numerous cases of religious organisations engaging in fraud. The Roman Church offered indulgences to lessen the penalty that a person would get for their transgressions.

A Florida church’s leaders were found guilty of investment fraud, and more recently, the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, the worst religious financial institution failure in US history, collapsed.

It’s hard to understand why people follow these lowlives – blatant scam artists, but people do get duped because they so badly want to believe.

To believe in God or to pray, you don’t need a church. True Christians also don’t need a church; they live out what the Bible says without having to declare their faith to others.

Nobody wakes up one day and decides to join a cult, and that is what the church is, but millions join every year, presumably because they don’t know any better.

They’re enticed with promises of all manner of spiritual transcendence, world peace, or whatever the church is ranting at the time. Save your cash and pray in the comfort of your own home.

Sadly, A Mother Died Of A Blood Clot Due To The Ambulance Service’s Actions

A mother died of a blood clot in her brain after an ambulance service mistook her fatal symptoms for an ear infection.

Natasha Hewitt, 35, died three days after bungling NHS call-handlers did not urgently refer her to hospital for potentially life-saving treatment.

The mother-of-one contacted the NHS 111 non-urgent helpline for guidance after suffering migraine-like symptoms for several days. 

She had previously visited a walk-in centre where she was given antibiotics and painkillers for a suspected ear infection.

During the call, she complained she had been unable to get rid of her headache, which came on unexpectedly and felt like ‘someone had hit her with a brick’.

Natasha, of Sheffield, was also suffering from dizziness and difficulty standing – but the call handler failed to refer her to the hospital.

She should have been instructed to get to a hospital within an hour, or an ambulance should have been sent if she couldn’t make it.

She was instructed to speak with her doctor that morning for additional guidance instead, and after doing so, she was given more prescription drugs.

But about 24 hours later, her husband Nick called 999 and Natasha was rushed to the hospital.

She was diagnosed with a cerebral venous sinus thrombosis – a large blood clot on the brain – and moved to a specialist brain unit for surgery.

She tragically died two days later, leaving behind Nick, 44, and her then 16-month-old son Harry, just a week before Christmas 2022.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service, which ran the 111 helpline, has now admitted a breach of duty in Natasha’s care.

The service agreed that if her condition had been diagnosed and successfully treated, on the balance of probabilities, she would have survived.

An inquest also previously ruled there was a ‘missed opportunity’ to refer Natasha to the hospital earlier, and negligence had contributed to her demise.

Heartbroken, Nick said: ‘Natasha was the most loving and devoted wife I could have ever hoped for. She was warm, funny, and incredibly bright.

‘More than anything, she was my closest friend.

‘We’d been through some tough times, but when Harry was born and home, it felt like a new chapter in our lives.

‘We’d do everything as the three of us, and life seemed perfect.

‘Watching her suffer during those final days was awful. I could see her condition getting worse, but felt powerless to help.

‘We had no reason not to believe what Natasha had been told when she called 111. However, by the next day, I knew I had to call 999.

‘I can’t thank the doctors and everyone else at the hospital for everything they did to try and help Natasha, but by that point it was too late.

‘Losing Natasha is something I’ll carry with me forever. We had so many plans and dreams for our future, which have been left shattered.

‘What’s most painful is knowing that Harry has lost his wonderful mum.

‘I tell him about her and how proud she would be of him, but it breaks my heart that Harry can’t get to feel Natasha’s love first-hand.

‘Natasha didn’t deserve to go through what she did. I just hope that by sharing her story, other families don’t experience what we have.’

Natasha, who was studying for a business management with accounting degree through the Open University, began complaining of back pain on December 8, 2022.

She began taking powerful pills for a headache three days later.

She managed to go Christmas shopping with Nick and Harry, where the pair purchased Harry his first pair of shoes.

On December 14, Nick drove her to a walk-in medical centre where Natasha was prescribed antibiotics and painkillers for a suspected left ear infection.

The next day, Natasha began vomiting. Following the call with NHS 111, a GP prescribed her more antibiotics.

However, her condition continued to decline, and Nick called for an ambulance on December 16.

Following brain surgery, Natasha died at 1 am on December 18, 2022.

Natasha and Nick had suffered 11 miscarriages and two failed rounds of IVF before they found out they were expecting Harry.

When Natasha was 25 weeks pregnant, she was diagnosed with a blood clot in her placenta, and doctors decided to deliver Harry 14 weeks premature in July 2021.

The following month, Natasha also received hospital treatment for a blood clot in her lung.

Harry, now aged four, spent 18 weeks in neonatal intensive care before he was allowed home to his parents.

Rosie Charlton, the medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing Nick, said: ‘This is a truly tragic case.

‘Nick and the rest of Natasha’s family are traumatised by her avoidable death and the circumstances surrounding it.

‘Worrying issues have been admitted regarding Natasha’s 111 call, and they vividly highlight the importance of patients being fully listened to so the best decisions are made regarding care.

‘As we work with the Ambulance Service towards a settlement which will secure the future of Natasha and Nick’s son, we urge it to learn lessons from Natasha’s death so others don’t have to endure what they have.’

According to the NHS, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis is a blood clot in the cavernous sinuses, which are located under the brain behind the eyes.

When an infection in the face or skull spreads to the cavernous sinuses, a blood clot may form. Clots can occasionally form without infection.

Symptoms include: a sharp and severe headache, swelling and bulging of the eyes, double vision and a high temperature.

Peter Reading, the chief executive at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: ‘First and foremost, our thoughts remain with Natasha Hewitt’s family following her death in December 2022.

‘On behalf of the Trust, I would like to reiterate our sincere and unreserved apologies for the NHS 111 service failing to meet the high standard of care that all of our patients are entitled to expect.

‘The incident was fully investigated, and learning from this has been used to make improvements to the care and services we provide.’

This is a terrible loss of life because this poor woman trusted the system.

I truly do hope that the family get some justice.

It appears that our once-loved NHS is now not fit for purpose, and people are dying because of their mistakes, and there have been many.

However, this will keep happening again and again because we now have cheap replacement healthcare.

This is what ‘skill mix’ looks like, and it’s swirling about like alphabet soup.

Sadly, the damage has been done, and anything that is inflicted on the people will be covered up, and the media propaganda machine will be in full force.

We are using cheap labour for all types of industries because money matters and so does control, but even if that were not the case, anyone harmed under these circumstances is nothing short of a sacrificial lamb.

This was a monumental failure in care, and numerous services like this one don’t have access to the patients’ care records, but in this day and age of technology, all healthcare professionals should be able to access the same damn records.

Reeves Wants Unemployed Young People To Lose Their Benefits If They Refuse To Take A Job

Rachel Reeves is set to announce that tens of thousands of out-of-work young people could be stripped of their benefits if they refuse to take a job.

The Chancellor will pledge to ‘abolish’ long-term youth unemployment by securing paid employment for those aged 18 to 21 who have been on Universal Credit for 18 months without earning or learning.

Those eligible will be given support to take advantage of available opportunities. Still, those who refuse to take an offer without a good reason could face a sanction – including losing their benefits.

The government will subsidise the jobs available under the ‘Youth Guarantee’, meaning the scheme is likely to cost the Treasury. It is thought that big retailers will be appealed to for help.

Rachel Reeves is set to outline the plan in her keynote address to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool today.

People don’t want to work, and it’s not just the young! So, we Brits work our behinds off, and migrants come to this country and get everything they want, and they don’t have to work for it. Where is the justice in that?

Come to that, why should taxpayers finance MPs’ second houses and utilities?

Imagine if an MP had to get a job outside of government, cleaning dishes and scrubbing toilets. No, I can’t either; they would be useless!

Let’s put it another way, should MPs lose their seats if they fail to adhere to their party’s manifesto, of course they should, but they won’t because it’s one rule for us and another rule for them because they are egotistical, greedy taskmasters.

And perhaps with all the ongoing job losses, Rachel from accounting could tell us where all the magic jobs are?

Can Starmer Save The NHS With Online Appointments?

The Prime Minister will announce plans for a new virtual hospital to create millions of new appointments and help shorten waiting lists, as he will declare that a ‘new world is coming’.

Keir Starmer will unveil plans for a new ‘online hospital’ in a bid to crack down on long waiting lists.

Will the Prime Minister be able to save the NHS with this digital service?

At the Labour conference in Liverpool, Starmer will set out plans for NHS Online, which will link patients with specialist doctors through the NHS App.

The reshaped system, which will be introduced in 2027, will reportedly deliver 8.5 million appointments in the first three years, cutting waiting lists for treatment.

According to NHS sources, these could include digestive conditions, ophthalmology and gynaecology. Starmer will declare a “new world is coming” during Tuesday’s speech, adding: “In decades to come, I want people to look back on this moment as the moment we renewed the NHS for a new world.”

The digital service will see patients get referred for scans and tests, receive clinical advice, and access prescriptions without stepping outside.

High-priority treatments with long waiting lists will be targeted first, with the scheme extended to more conditions over time.

Patients will still be able to see a doctor at their local hospital if they prefer, but the new service is designed to shorten waits for in-person appointments by diverting those who want to use the app from the queue.

The PM will tell Labour’s annual conference: “The responsibility of this party is not just to celebrate the NHS, it’s to make it better.

“A new chapter in the story of our NHS, harnessing the future, patients in control. Waiting times cut for every single person in this country. That’s national renewal, that’s a Britain built for all.”

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Health Secretary Wes Streeting voiced his excitement for the new online hospital, hailing that it has “been proven to work” in some hospitals. He said: “It’s basically about modernising the NHS, helping it to move with the times.”

NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey said the scheme would “deliver millions more appointments by the end of the decade, offering a real alternative for patients and more control over their own care”. It will build on innovations, such as a virtual triage system in Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, which sped up referrals for specialist care as well as discharges from hospital.

It comes after Labour highlighted digital innovation as one of the fundamental themes in the 10-year NHS plan, which was published in July.

The plans were described as an “interesting experiment” by Dr Becks Fisher from the Nuffield Trust think tank, but she added: “At this stage, detail is largely lacking.

“And there are some difficult questions looming about implementation. Where will the doctors and nurses for this service be taken from? And how will they pass patients who need care from digital to physical services?”

So the shady spider, Starmer, is spinning his evil web once more!

There will be inadequate treatment for many patients as a result of the numerous flaws in this system, resulting in many people falling through the cracks.

There is a plan here, and it’s not for the good of your health.

It’s all about control. Our government want to keep us indoors, so that they can keep us all in one place – to control us!

I’m all for innovation and technology, but not to the point where it will make our NHS worse or our lives worse.

They are going to create a digital service, but they haven’t demonstrated how it will work, and they said that we will be able to access prescriptions without stepping outside. We all know that you physically have to get your prescriptions from the chemist – what is somebody going to bring us our medication, or are we going to now have virtual medication instead? Perhaps they will dispatch it by carrier pigeon.

People need to see a doctor face-to-face; it’s the only answer. Mark my words, in about 30 years or less, it will all be done by AI – there will be no doctors that are actually human.

Telephone consultation may help with a migraine or headache, but not with a tumour!

How can they possibly diagnose people over the internet? It’s bonkers, and what about the elderly, homeless, and those who are unable to use technology?

Starmer saving the NHS with online appointments! The only thing he’s saving is his own bacon. Um, tasty, not so tasty if it ended up on your plate. And it won’t be so tasty when people start ending up in the morgue because online consultation got it all wrong.

Taliban Commander’s Nephew Granted Asylum In The UK

A Taliban commander’s nephew who has been granted refugee status in Britain can ​be joined by seven family members currently living in Turkey, an immigration judge has ruled.

None of them speak English, and a tribunal accepted they would place ‘a significant burden upon the public purse’ if they were permitted to move to the UK.

But the relatives – the man’s parents, three sisters, and a niece and nephew – have ‘no options’ and are unable to return to Afghanistan, a judgment said.

It is the latest controversial ruling by Britain’s asylum courts and comes as ministers pledge to limit the freedoms of refugees to be joined by relatives.

The nephew, referred to only as ‘S’ in the ruling, arrived in Britain in 2016. He claimed to be 15 years old but was later assessed as being 18 years old.

His uncle was said to be a Taliban commander who had been pressuring his father to allow ‘S’ to ‘join the jihad’.

‘S’ was sent to Kabul by his father to get away from his uncle.

But ‘S’ was stabbed by two cousins because of the family dispute and he eventually fled Afghanistan, the tribunal heard.

In 2018, an immigration judge allowed him indefinite leave to stay in the UK after a psychotherapist said he had post-traumatic stress.

Meanwhile, ‘S’s’ parents and sisters had all fled through Iran to Turkey, where they feared being arrested and sent back to Afghanistan.

In 2023, his relatives applied to enter the UK, citing the ‘right to private and family life’ under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, but were refused.

However, Upper Tribunal judge Gaenor Bruce has now decided the refusal of entry clearance to Britain was ‘unjustifiably harsh’ and allowed the appeals on human rights grounds.

A lawyer for the family had argued that the sisters were all being threatened with forced marriage if they had remained in Afghanistan, while ‘S’s’ father ‘faced retribution from his brother’.

One sister had married an Afghan man in Turkey – father to her two children – but they split up after he beat her with an iron bar and was later deported.

She and another sister have been working illegally in Turkey, washing dishes to support their housebound parents, both of whom are diabetic, with the father suffering undiagnosed seizures.

An expert claimed ‘S’ was constantly ‘re-triggered’ by his worry for his family, although he’d been able to visit Turkey twice to see them.

He wanted to train as an electrician but was unable to do so due to his mental distress.

In addition, the tribunal was told that Afghans in Turkey are not recognised as refugees and are at risk of ‘violent summary returns’, ‘torture’ and ‘ill-treatment’.

Backing their appeal, the judge said, ‘The relationship between S’s mental health and his contact with his family is at the heart of this claim.

‘Only by being reunited with them will he be able to recover and live a meaningful existence.’

In addition, it was unlikely that, as asylum seekers, the family would be able to look to any other European country to facilitate family reunion, she added.

The judge praised the relatives’ case as being ‘conspicuously well-prepared’ and said ‘S’s’ medical expert had been ‘impressive’.

She accepted that allowing the family members to settle in the UK ‘would place a significant burden upon the public purse’.

‘S is presently unable to work and is reliant on public funds.

‘It is not only likely, but inevitable, that this too will be the position of his family members once they arrive.’

But she concluded that was overshadowed by ‘S’s’ wish to be reunited with his relatives and the ‘precarious’ situation of the other family members.

Earlier this month the government announced it was temporarily suspending new applications for a scheme allowing refugees to bring their family members to the UK in a bid to address concerns over Channel migrants.

It is believed that the Home Office is requesting authorisation to file an appeal against the ruling.

A spokesman said: ‘We have recently moved to suspend the refugee family reunion route, acknowledging the pressures it is putting on local authorities and public services.’

It’s not the UK’s responsibility to take them in. There are other places they can go to; I’m sure they will welcome them with a red carpet – or a prayer mat.

It appears that immigration judges never say no and are not concerned as to the cost to the British taxpayer, and we have some of our British servicemen who fought in Afghanistan living on the streets, while our government gives the enemy houses, benefits and free NHS to boot. The UK has gone quite insane.

Why are the British even paying for this? Why even bother going to work when migrants who have never paid anything into the system can come to our country and get everything they want?

Now that there are more rapists, killers, drug lords, and terrorists residing in the UK, our nation is more dangerous than it has ever been. This is a serious issue that our government is ignoring and has no intention of resolving.

The nephew lied about his age when he came to the UK illegally, so what other lies has he told to justify this judge’s decision, who clearly couldn’t see through his lies or just didn’t want to?

Three Children Injured In London Flat Block Fire

When firemen arrived at Maybury Close in Enfield early, three youngsters were taken to the hospital.

Terrifying images seem to show people ensnared by their windows as flames tear through the roof of the block.

A London Fire Brigade (LFB) spokesperson said the victims were taken to hospital with smoke inhalation. Their conditions have since been described as non-life-threatening.

A ‘hero’ neighbour described how he fought through smoke-filled corridors to help evacuate families at 5.30 am.

Yunus Mert, 45, ran from his ground-floor apartment after he made sure his wife and daughter, 9, were safe.

He told Metro: ‘There was smoke everywhere. I was choking, but I battled my way up the stairs to make sure everyone got out.

‘I was banging on doors. There were children and families; I made sure they got out. The fire started in a flat near the top.

‘There were kids I needed to get out – the smoke was thick, I knew we didn’t have much time.’

Yunus, a courier, has been evacuated to a community centre nearby.

He added: ‘It was my birthday yesterday; just thanks everyone is alive.’

Shortly after the fire began, Councillor Rick Jewell, who is spearheading efforts to assist the evacuees, arrived on the site.

He said, ‘There was a crack and then huge flames and a mushroom of smoke. The air was filled with smoke.

‘Every time the firefighters put water on one bit of the roof, another flared up.’

The cabinet member on Enfield council added, ‘We are helping residents and taking them to a community centre so at least they can have a cuppa. ‘It’s terrible.’

Witnesses described how flames shot from the roof of the flat block, leaving scenes of ‘carnage’ like a ‘war zone’.

James Higginson, 45, said he and his family were awoken by shouting followed by a fleet of fire engines racing down the road.

He told Metro: ‘It was proper carnage. I looked out the window after hearing shouting, and then there were fire engines and people coming out of their houses, looking panicked.

‘I opened my door and there was smoke across the street; the heat was incredible. The flames were big. I’m just praying everyone is ok.’

Firefighters were on the scene, trawling through the charred wreckage of the flats as an inquiry into the cause of the fire was established.

The alarm was first sounded at 5.19 am, with brigades from seven stations speeding to the location.

Steven Hinson, 32, said, ‘I saw the fire engines arrive; it was like a war zone or something. It’s very sad to see.

‘It was a huge fire and we are all hoping nobody was badly hurt.’

The fire completely damaged the building’s roof.

Peri, who lives opposite the scene, said, ‘The flames were very big and there was a lot of smoke. ‘It was horrible to see.’

Images show flames raging from the top of the building, which has been largely obliterated. One image seems to show a resident in the window waiting to be saved.

Plumes of grey smoke are seen rising in the sky as firefighters continue to pump water into the core of the fire.

A Met Police spokesperson confirmed no arrests have been made so far in their investigation.

They said, ‘Three children were treated at the scene by paramedics and taken to hospital where their conditions were deemed not life-threatening or life-changing.

‘Police are working alongside the London Fire Brigade to investigate the cause of the fire.

These kinds of fires appear to be on the rise.

These kinds of fires are dreadful, but this is what happens when you create flats—they are not safe. I hope that everyone involved was accounted for and taken care of since it looked horrific.

Trump Demands Amelia Earhart’s Fate Be Revealed

Donald Trump has demanded the release of any classified government files on the missing aviator Amelia Earhart.

Earhart vanished over the Pacific Ocean while endeavouring to become the first female aviator to successfully circumnavigate the world in 1937.

Continued investigations into a possible crash site have continued to keep the narrative alive in the public imagination, but no trace of Earhart has ever been found.

Trump said it’s an ‘interesting story’ that has ‘captivated millions’. He said people have asked him whether he’d consider declassifying and making public everything the government has on her. 

‘She was an aviation pioneer, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and achieved numerous other aviation firsts,’ he wrote on his social media site. 

‘She disappeared in the South Pacific while trying to become the first woman to fly around the world.

‘Amelia made it almost three quarters around the world before she suddenly, and without notice, vanished, never to be seen again,’ he continued. 

‘Her disappearance, almost 90 years ago, has captivated millions. I am ordering my Administration to declassify and release all Government Records related to Amelia Earhart, her final trip, and everything else about her.’

While attempting to become the first female pilot to circle the world, Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, vanished while flying from New Guinea to Howland Island.

She had radioed that she was running low on fuel. The Navy searched but found no trace.

The general view is that Earhart, 39, and Noonan, 44, ran out of fuel and ditched their twin-engine Lockheed Electra in the Pacific near Howland Island while on one of the last legs of their epic voyage. 

The official stance of the United States government has been that Earhart and Noonan perished along with their aircraft.

Since then, speculations have strayed into the ludicrous, such as Earhart residing in New Jersey under a false identity or being kidnapped by aliens.

Others theorise that she and Noonan perished as castaways on an island or were executed by the Japanese.

The newly declassified records, predicted to contain intelligence cables, Navy reconnaissance reports and potential eyewitness accounts, could supply fresh clues and have highlighted continuous steps to unravel the puzzle.

Dr Richard Pettigrew, a seasoned archaeologist, is getting ready to head a high-tech expedition to a Pacific reef where satellite photos seem to reveal a plane wreck that resembles Earhart’s aircraft.

The discovery of Earhart’s Lockheed Electra, if Pettigrew is right, would resolve a question that has baffled experts for the nine decades since she vanished.

But he would also reveal a harsh truth about the tousled-haired heroine’s fate.

He would reveal that Earhart had got lost on her round-the-world flight, ran out of fuel, and landed on a small, desolate island, where she died, hungry and dehydrated, and was eaten by giant crabs.

Whether the US government has any sensitive documents on her disappearance is unknown.

There is no indication Earhart’s activities had any connection to the US security services or federal government in general.

In the past, the president demanded that documents pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein, a paedophile financier, be made public.

When his own Department of Justice later declined to comply, his request backfired.

A tranche of Epstein files released last month contained a crude drawing of a woman’s body. Trump is said to have drawn Epstein as a birthday present.

The president denied sending it and has sued The Wall Street Journal newspaper, which first reported on the picture.

Trump has also declassified documents pertaining to the murders of Robert F. Kennedy, Sr, John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King during his second administration.

Amelia Earhart was neither a spy nor a double agent, so why in the world would the US government keep confidential data on her?

Nobody is curious about Amelia Earhart’s fate. The majority of people aren’t even aware of her identity because it happened so long ago. Although I doubt any of her relatives are still living, I suppose it would have provided them with closure.

Commuters Panic After Fox Jumps On Train

On the final train from Southend Central to London Fenchurch Street, commuters were terrified when a fox boarded the carriage.

Eve Amoateng, 21, was travelling on the late-night c2c service when she witnessed the unexpected hairy passenger in her carriage. 

Unable to call for assistance due to insufficient phone signal, Eve and fellow commuters were trapped as the animal blocked their path to the next carriage. 

It was a fox, not a man-eating tiger, and it would have left them alone if everyone had stayed quiet.

It’s probably one of the safer things to get on a train these days, unlike a knife-wielding nutcase. A fox will usually only attack if it feels threatened. Running about is only going to make it frightened and more likely to attack.

It was a fox, not a wolf, and if not provoked, it will not hurt you. But then a wolf probably would not harm unless it was provoked, but then it’s unlikely a wolf would be foolish enough to catch a train.

I have sympathy for these creatures. They have no other option except to seek nourishment in the filthy metropolises that are replacing their homes.

The purpose of defaming foxes is to allow the so-called nobility to hunt them.

They are lovely animals, and even though it appeared to be very comfortable sitting on the seat, it must have been afraid. It was clearly trying to find a warm place to sleep.

His mates probably told him the trains were running again, and he couldn’t believe it and had to come and look for himself.

Foxes frequently come out and walk in the park behind me, and the cubs follow, and I love it when I see them – nature is stunning.

Undoubtedly, the fox had things to do and places to be but thought it would have a snooze on the way.

The fox was hardly the real concern here. What would have been truly alarming is if Keir Starmer had boarded the train. In terms of cunning, Starmer far surpasses any fox and is far more dangerous.

Will I Get Fined For Not Having A National ID Card, And What If I Don’t Have A Smartphone?

A government-issued digital identity card could be required by every adult in Britain under a ‘dystopian’ plan set to be announced by the Prime Minister.

The ‘BritCard’ could be used to prove a person has the right to work in this country and even to access public services.

The concept of a mandatory identification system has long been supported by Labour as a way to tackle illegal migration.

But the proposal is fiercely opposed by civil rights campaigners, who warn it will erode civil liberties and turn the UK into a ‘papers please’ society.

Meanwhile, polls reveal a preponderance of the public do not trust ministers to keep their personal data safe from cybercriminals.

Detailed proposals for what has been dubbed a ‘BritCard’ could be announced by Sir Keir Starmer as early as tomorrow.

Alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister will give a speech at the Global Progress Action Summit in London.

These plans will then be subject to a consultation and are anticipated to require legislation. The UK is one of the few countries in Europe without an ID system.

How would Sir Keir Starmer’s new ID cards work?

It is likely to be a smartphone app, rather than a physical card.

A previous UK scheme – eventually abandoned – relied on a digital photograph which could be used to verify someone’s identity by calculating the exact distance between their facial features.

It is likely that any new scheme would require holders to also provide other biometric details – such as fingerprints.

Details on the card could be cross-referenced against a central database holding tens of millions of records for the British population.

Since the initiative is probably going to be smartphone-based, it may also make use of the face ID capabilities that are often found on phones, such as in personal banking applications.

However, the government is thought to be some distance away from coming up with clear proposals.

Hasn’t this all been tried before?

Yes. Tony Blair’s Labour government passed legislation for a national ID card scheme in 2006.

Detailed plans were published when Jacqui Smith was home secretary, although by that time, ministers had ditched the idea of making the cards compulsory.

The scheme actually went into operation in 2009, when Alan Johnson was running the Home Office, with credit card-style cards which each held a microchip.

The Passport Service issued the cards at £30 a pop to volunteers from October 2009.

However, Theresa May, the home secretary at the time, abandoned the entire plan following the general election the following year.

By then, £257 million had been spent on the proposals.

Couldn’t Labour’s new cards just be forged like any other document?

The kind of checks that are incorporated into the system would determine how resilient it is.

Theoretically, a digital ID card would be more difficult to counterfeit than a paper one.

For instance, a live cross-referencing with a central computer database of names and photos would be almost impossible to cheat – because the holder of the digital ‘card’ would have to look like the photo held on the database.

Less stringent checks, however, would have the possibility to be hoaxed.

It is really too soon to judge the potential success of Labour’s initiative.

Will I get fined if I refuse to have a national ID card?

Fines for non-registration were not part of the earlier attempt by the Labour administration to implement a mandatory program.

This was mostly due to the roll-out never progressing to a mandatory level.

The program’s underlying legislation did, however, provide a number of sanctions for neglecting to update data that is kept on you, including your home address or any name changes.

The penalties were up to £1,000.

There were comparable penalties for failing to surrender a card.

It’s still unclear how Labour will implement the new plan and how it plans to handle refuseniks.

What is it meant to achieve?

The card might be used to verify that a person is who they claim to be and that they are authorised to be in the United Kingdom.

Labour is interested in the programme in order to crack down on illegal working.

Theoretically, this would make Britain less appealing to illegal immigrants and small boat migrants.

It would also make life more difficult for foreigners who come to Britain legally but then fail to leave and yet carry on working.

Further uses of the card could be in other situations where people have to demonstrate they have the right to be in Britain – such as the ‘right to rent’ a property.

Where the project would become highly controversial is surrounding access to healthcare and social security.

Labour’s last stab at a national identity card was first floated by then Home Secretary David Blunkett in 2001, when he referred to it as an ‘entitlement card’.

At that stage, it was intended to allow people to prove they had the right to access the NHS or welfare benefits.

But there was resistance from doctors, for instance, who said life-saving treatment could not be denied on the grounds of nationality.

The NHS continues to have tremendous difficulty clawing back cash from foreign nationals who have come to Britain as ‘health tourists’.

What if I don’t have a smartphone?

It is far too early to say how Labour’s scheme would deal with people who do not have a smartphone.

This group is likely to include a large number of elderly people.

If they, or others, were penalised under the scheme, it would risk being dubbed discriminatory.

A solution could be providing an alternative way to access the details typically held on a digital ID card – perhaps using a laptop or desktop computer – when required.

How much is it likely to cost the taxpayer?

Billions of pounds.

It would probably be necessary to start from scratch when developing the IT systems.

Depending on the specification of the card, it could require a network of centres across the country where members of the public provide their biometrics.

What are the potential problems?

It would be a huge waste of money if the system fails, like the last one did.

The scheme’s technology is probably unlike anything the British government has tried in the past.

The civil service’s record on managing the roll-out of new IT scheme is abysmal – a slew of schemes have run years late and billions of pounds over budget.

To put it mildly, this enormous new endeavour would be extremely risky.

Then there are the huge civil liberties questions posed by a national ID card scheme.

Unlike numerous other regions of the world, peacetime Britain has never had a ‘papers please’ culture.

Many will believe their privacy has been violated.

Pressure group Big Brother Watch has said the plan suggests Britain is ‘sleepwalking into a dystopian nightmare’.

The issue of data security comes next.

The government has suffered a large number of damaging data leaks and hacks.

It might have disastrous consequences if a new database with all of the information was hacked.

Do other countries have digital ID cards?

Digital IDs are used in numerous nations, such as Estonia, Spain, Portugal, Germany, India, the United Arab Emirates, and France.

France has said time and time again that Channel migrants are drawn to the UK because of the absence of ID cards, which allows them to operate in the illegal economy.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said it won’t ‘make a blind bit of difference to illegal migration’.

There will eventually be riots in the streets everywhere. These monsters have forced millions of illegal immigrants on us and are going to force us to have these ID cards because of them, but it will be fruitless.

Anything can and will be forged, just like currency and passports.

Although proponents contend that cutting-edge security features like encryption and user authentication make digital IDs more difficult to fabricate than physical papers, no system is impervious to malfunction or hacking, and digital IDs may and will be falsified or exploited in various ways.

My first thought was, ‘no way are they going to do this.’ My second thought was that ‘maybe it might help crack down on illegal migrants’, and my third thought was ‘no way are the police going to ask anyone likely to be an illegal just in case the other person might get hurt-y feelings.’ So, in my opinion, it’s a waste of time, but of course, nobody is interested in my opinion, especially the government.

However, is this really about illegals or is it just about control, or maybe it’s both? Whatever it is, it’s an agenda, an agenda to control you, and that eventually we will own nothing and be happy.

There was an abundance of people who were brainwashed into downloading the NHS Track and Trace app, and people were using it quite happily without considering the negative effects it would have on us; it was software to control our every move, hence why it was called Track and Trace.

We are spending money that we do not have on digital ID cards that will not deter immigration, even though the UK already has a £20 billion black hole in its economy. There’s indeed something sinister beneath the facade; there always is.

Even worse, you will eventually be required to provide identification at all times and won’t be allowed to leave your house without one. In fact, you won’t be able to do anything without one.

Actress And Holocaust Survivor, 96, Dies With Husband, 97, At Swiss Suicide Clinic

Tributes have poured in for an actress and Holocaust survivor who ‘died at a Swiss suicide clinic’ alongside her husband.

Devoted couple Ruth Posner, 96, and husband Michael, 97, informed their family and friends they had taken their own lives in an email.

Neither had terminal illnesses, but the couple, from Belsize Park, north London, decided they did not want to be apart after almost 75 years married.

They addressed a message to ‘Dear family and friends’ on Tuesday and wrote, ‘So sorry not to have mentioned it, but when you receive this email, we will have “shuffled off this mortal coil”.

‘The decision was mutual and without any outside pressure. We had lived a long life and together for almost 75 years. There came a point when failing senses of sight and hearing and lack of energy were not living but existing, and that no care would improve.

‘We had an interesting and varied life, and except for the sorrow of losing Jeremy, our son. We enjoyed our time together; we tried not to regret the past, live in the present and not to expect too much from the future.

‘Much love, Ruth & Mike.’

A Campaign Against Antisemitism statement on Thursday said, ‘We are heartbroken to learn of the passing of Ruth Posner BEM, Holocaust survivor and educator, and her husband Michael.

‘Thank you, Ruth. You were an inspiration and a shining example of how to use one’s voice for good in this world. You will be greatly missed. May their memories be a blessing.’

Chief Executive of The Holocaust Educational Trust, Karen Pollock CBE, said, ‘Ruth was an extraordinary woman. She survived the Radom Ghetto, slave labour and life in hiding under a false identity. By the end of the war, Ruth and her aunt were the only surviving members of her family.

‘After a dazzling career in theatre and dance, Ruth decided to begin sharing her testimony as a response to rising levels of antisemitism in the UK. Although then in her eighties, she made it her mission to speak to as many young people as possible about her experiences during the Holocaust.

‘She hoped that the leaders of tomorrow would learn the lessons of the past. Ruth was one of a kind. Full of charisma and warmth, she left an impression on everyone she met. We will miss her.’

Ms Posner used a falsified passport to escape the Warsaw ghetto and posed as a Catholic school student during three years spent on the run with her aunt.

The extermination camp at Treblinka claimed the lives of the remainder of her family.

On her arrival in the UK aged 16, Ms Posner did not speak any English but soon began training as a dancer and enrolled at the London Contemporary Dance Theatre. 

She subsequently started acting school, studying theatre arts at Hunter College in New York before gaining membership at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

The Holocaust survivor went on to become a star of both the film and TV worlds, receiving acclaim for roles in the movies Leon The Pig Farmer and Love Hurts.

She also appeared in a number of popular television series, including The Ruth Rendell Mysteries and Casualty.

Ms Posner acted for 80 years and recently played Polish princess Katya in the BBC comedy series Count Arthur Strong.

She married her British husband, Michael, in 1950, and the couple travelled the world thanks to his work as a chemist for Unilever and Unicef.

They were struck by tragedy in later life when their son Jeremy died aged 37 during his recovery from heroin addiction.

A grandchild is the couple’s surviving child.

Sonja Linden, an artistic director and playwright who was friends with the pair for 30 years, told The Times Ms Posner was ‘frail’ and her husband suffered from macular degeneration and poor hearing.

She insisted the couple remained ‘intellectually very well’ and had no severe illnesses.

Their friend added, ‘We did not know they had actually gone until we received the email, which is sad as we wanted to say goodbye.

‘They had such a lovely flat packed with art and books, and I can’t imagine them not being there.’

Ms Linden revealed Zurich’s Dignitas clinic would not assist the couple’s death because they did not receive a doctor’s note saying they had less than six months to live, as per their policy.

Instead, they ended their lives at the Pegasos clinic near Basel.

Ms Posner and Ms Linden worked together in a 2014 theatre production about her experiences during the Holocaust titled Who Do We Think We Are?

She was awarded a British Empire Medal in 2022 for her services to Holocaust education.

At least they passed away together – the way they wanted.

They took control at the end while they were still able to decide where, when and how. It was a remarkably brave and loving decision.

She was a beautiful lady, the last of the very few who understood the atrocities that man can create, but lived life to the full and with such elegance.

Frank Sinatra would have said, ‘I did it my way,’ and they did.

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