by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News October 22, 2026

L. Louise Lucas, a Democrat whose tenure in the Virginia state Senate spans 34 years, has been charged with drug trafficking and money laundering, according to a federal indictment unsealed on Thursday.

Lucas is a major power broker in Virginia politics as state Senate president pro tempore and chair of the Finance & Appropriations Committee. She is also a top ally of leftist Gov. Abigail Spanberger.

The FBI said the 82-year-old lawmaker played a leading role in a criminal enterprise that traffics marijuana and launders the proceeds.

The indictment charges Lucas and six other defendants, including several of her relatives, the Justice Department said in a statement. Lucas has surrendered to authorities.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the "close-knit group of family members and associates" allegedly orchestrated a scheme over years to enrich their own criminal marijuana enterprise, and Lucas used her position as chairwoman of the state's Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee to insulate the enterprise from criminal scrutiny and influence legislation to financially benefit group membvers.

"No one is above the law, and this FBI will continue

by WorldTribune Staff, October 22, 2026 — Real World News

Minnesota's Democrat administration led by Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov Peggy Flanagan steered millions of dollars in taxpayer funds and state contracts to an organization that supplies "booty bumping" kits to drug users to help them ingest drugs through "the butthole," a report said.

The controversial funding was part of a $100 million grant announced by Flanagan and Walz for "Minnesotans facing homelessness," including so-called harm reduction for drug users, The Washington Free Beacon reported on Wednesday.

In the announcement, Flanagan, now running for U.S. Senate, said: "These grants will ensure that everyone can access the supports they need to find and secure safe, stable housing."

Since 2023, nearly $8 million in taxpayer funds were sent to Southside Harm Reduction Services, a nonprofit that "promotes the health and wellbeing of drug users" through "harm reduction" supplies like syringes, sterile water, and drug cookers to help junkies get high "safely."

The Free Beacon noted:

A key "harm reduction" offering from Southside is free lube and other supplies to help users in the "booty bumping" scene to ingest all kinds of drugs—including heroin,

World Tribune

by WorldTribune Staff, October 22, 2026 — Real World News

The commander of U.S. forces in South Korea and the leftist government in Seoul don't agree on the critical issue of who would command joint forces if North Korea were to again invade the South as it did at the outset of the Korean War.

South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung is pushing for the rapid return/transition of wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington back to a South Korean four-star general.

Gen. Xavier T. Brunson, who leads three major bodies: U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), the U.N. Command, and the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, doubts if "conditions" are right for transferring OPCON to Seoul in wartime.

Brunson and other U.S. military officials have expressed caution and skepticism about shifting or delaying/changing conditions too quickly, arguing that the alliance is not yet ready for a South Korean general to lead the combined framework or guarantee immediate U.S. mainland reinforcements under a hastily transferred command.

Recent remarks by Brunson regarding the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and his reservations over the wartime command transfer have sparked political friction and pushback from South Korea's leadership, who view the

by WorldTribune Staff, October 22, 2026 — Real World News

A New York Times hit piece on a new Health and Human Services (HHS) clinic dedicated to the study of vaccine injuries failed to mention that the individual who leaked criticism of the clinic to the media outlet is closely tied to Big Pharma, a report said.

HHS said that its new Vaccinology and Immunology Center (VIC) at the NIH Clinical Center in Maryland will focus on researching and treating vaccine injuries. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced its launch earlier this month.

Last week, the Times reported that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) hospital board unanimously approved a statement criticizing the new center and Kennedy, accusing him of undermining public trust in the hospital's work.

The information was leaked to the Times by Jack Leslie, a senior adviser and former chairman of Weber Shandwick, the world's second-largest public relations firm, The Defender reported on Oct. 20. Leslie chairs the NIH Clinical Center Research Hospital Board. Weber Shandwick represents several major pharmaceutical companies.

According to The Disinformation Chronicle, Leslie leaked the statement to Times health policy correspondent Sheryl

Special to WorldTribune, October 22, 2026 Real World News

Geostrategy-Direct, October 20, 2026

By Richard Fisher

In the Middle East, China, Russia and Iran are working to extend the ongoing war to end Iran's nuclear weapons capability to weaken President Donald Trump going into the Nov. 3 mid-term elections, while China is arming and cheering the Houthi's war against Saudi Arabia.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin suggested to President Donald Trump that there be a three-way summit with China's leader Xi Jinping and himself at the upcoming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on Nov. 18-19 in Shenzhen, China, according to an Oct. 19 report in the Wall Street Journal.

Responding to this report, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio commented, "There's been talks of a meeting. I don't know whether it's been finalized, but the president has been clear. He'd like the war in Ukraine and Russia to end." according to an Oct. 20 Reuters report.

However, while Trump deserves credit for already having expended great effort to convince Russia to end its nearly 5-year Ukraine War and is likely predisposed to agreeing to

by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News August 16, 2026

New York state Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher, a self-proclaimed "democratic socialist," contends that shoplifters who steal for "biological need" should not be charged with a crime.

In comments on Thursday outside Manhattan Criminal Court, Gallagher said:

"Most of what we saw were crimes of poverty-people who are stealing things like toothpaste, people who were stealing things like, you know, soap. And that means if you're stealing those things, you need them. And we are choosing to protect billion-dollar companies, like CVS and Walgreens, over the people who are struggling to get by. So I would say that the true crime is that there is such incredible wealth disparity in this city that there are people who can be thrown in jail simply for having a biological need."

Gallagher said her plan is to "pass things like treatment not jail and that we hold the line on the incredible criminal justice reforms that we have done over the last 10 and 20 years that are constantly being threatened by right-wing media who