L3Harris Teams Up With Joby To Develop Next-Gen Military Vertical Lift Aircraft
L3Harris Technologies has emerged as a standout in our “hemispheric defense” theme in recent months – and Wall Street has taken notice.
Goldman analysts rate the stock a “Buy.” Now, the defense contractor is moving deeper into next-gen warfare, announcing a strategic partnership with air taxi startup Joby Aviation to co-develop the “next generation of vertical lift technology” for military applications.
L3Harris and Joby are developing a jet-powered turbine hybrid vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft for low-altitude missions that can be optionally piloted or flown fully autonomously.
The new VTOL military aircraft is expected to begin operational demonstrations during U.S. military exercises in 2026. The program reflects a broader push by the Department of Defense to accelerate vertical lift aircraft development and deployment after regulatory delays, including challenges related to Federal Aviation Administration oversight during the Biden-Harris regime years.
“The next generation of vertical lift technology enables long-range, crewed-uncrewed teaming for a range of missions,” said Jon Rambeau, President, Integrated Mission Systems, L3Harris. “We share a vision with Joby to deliver urgently-required innovation by missionizing VTOL aircraft for defense applications.“
Joby CEO JoeBen Bevirt stated, “We have worked closely with the Department of Defense over the past decade to give them a front row seat to the development of our dual-purpose technology, and we’re now ready to demonstrate and deploy it. Our country depends on companies like ours moving at pace, and we have the team, the technology and the platform to do just that.”
Since early March, we first pointed out the emergence of the Hemispheric Defense investment theme. This thesis centers on the DoD’s evolving strategy to shore up U.S. military dominance heading into the dangerous 2030s of world fracturing deeper into a bi-polar state, with a renewed focus on securing the Western Hemisphere with regional force projection:
Poisonings and deaths linked to the common local anesthetic lidocaine have nearly tripled in the United States over the past decade, with fatal overdoses increasingly occurring outside hospitals, where untrained staff administer the supposedly “safe” anesthetic, a new analysis shows.
Over-the-counter topical lidocaine products, which typically contain up to 4 percent to 5 percent lidocaine, are primarily used for temporary relief of pain, itching, and burning sensations. The pain reliever is available in various forms, including creams, ointments, gels, sprays, patches, and foaming soaps. However, in medical settings, it can pose risks that many people may not be aware of.
“Lidocaine is not as safe as we think,” Dr. Michael Fettiplace, study author and assistant professor at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine, told The Epoch Times.
Increase Seen from 2011 to 2022
A recent study, published in Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine, reveals a trend hidden within America’s medical system. While overall poisonings from local anesthetics dropped 23 percent after 2010—when medical organizations issued new safety guidelines—lidocaine cases bucked the trend.
Among the risks associated with the drug, lidocaine can cause systemic toxicity when introduced into the bloodstream at high levels. This condition, known as local anesthetic systemic toxicity, primarily affects the central nervous system and cardiovascular system, potentially leading to seizures, arrhythmias, and even cardiac arrest.
Fettiplace’s team had documented increasing toxicity cases in medical literature, but underestimated how often those cases proved fatal. “We identified a rise in mortality events associated with lidocaine, which was unexpected,” he said. “In retrospect, it is not surprising.”
The study analyzed more than 200,000 poisoning cases reported to U.S. poison control centers between 1983 and 2022, including 74 deaths from local anesthetics.
While deaths from other anesthetics declined, the proportion of fatalities linked to lidocaine rose from 67 percent in 2010 to 82 percent in recent years. Overall, 0.1 percent of lidocaine poisoning cases resulted in death, compared with 0.01 percent for other local anesthetics.
In absolute numbers, reports of lidocaine poisoning jumped more than 50 percent, from 1,600 cases in 2016 to 2,500 in 2021.
Many of the deaths occurred after the patient overdosed on lidocaine themselves or received an overdose in outpatient settings.
One case described a 70-year-old man going into cardiac arrest and dying after being administered a 2 percent lidocaine solution. He had undergone an outpatient cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, and instead of having the MRI dye flushed with normal saline, he was given lidocaine instead.
While poisonings occurred across all age and gender demographics, cases occurred most frequently at home, Fettiplace noted.
The study described one case in which a man inhaled imported lidocaine powder from China to treat his gastroesophageal reflux disease and became unconscious.
“Undoubtedly, there is underreporting,” Fettiplace said. “I cannot predict an upper limit of the increase.”
He noted that adverse events involving lidocaine are often attributed to other causes, even when lidocaine contributed to the death—a pattern also seen when lidocaine was used as an antiarrhythmic agent in the 1970s and 1980s.
Fettiplace added that, given how frequently lidocaine is used both as an inpatient pain medication and in outpatient settings—as creams and patches—it’s possible there are a “profound number” of adverse events going unreported.
Why Lidocaine Became More Dangerous
Lidocaine is a widely used and versatile drug. It has had a consistent safety profile and has long been considered a gold standard local anesthetic. Fettiplace noted that while health care practitioners have a “healthy fear” of other potent local anesthetics like bupivacaine—which is longer-lasting and has a higher potential for toxicity, most consider lidocaine safe.
As an anesthetic, it can be used both topically, injected in the mouth for dental procedures, used to alleviate sore throats, and used for nerve blocks like epidurals.
Its ubiquity has led to an underappreciation of its potency.
In medical settings, lidocaine has been distributed for multiple or prolonged uses, such as 2,000 milligrams in a bottle or IV bag, though 300 milligrams is typically the recommended upper limit for a single adult dose, Fettiplace said.
Drivers of Deaths
The study showed that several deaths occurred after the patient was prescribed or purchased lidocaine and accidentally overdosed.
Fettiplace said that over-the-counter formulations containing 20 grams or more of lidocaine are readily available to the public—and, in some cases, have been used for self-harm.
Dr. Evan Peskin, a dual board-certified anesthesiologist and interventional pain medicine physician who was not involved in the study, told The Epoch Times that one “major issue” is the growing number of outpatient surgeries, where procedures are done outside hospitals—in clinics or office settings.
“Many of these procedures are being performed by providers who may not have formal anesthesia training,” he warned.
Peskin noted that in some cases, large amounts of lidocaine are used—such as in cosmetic procedures like liposuction—and the administering providers may not fully understand how the drug is absorbed over time or that the toxicity may not present immediately.
Treatment for Lidocaine Poisoning
When lidocaine poisoning occurs, quick action can mean the difference between life and death.
Lipid emulsion therapy—also called lipid resuscitation or intravenous lipid emulsion therapy—is a treatment that involves administering a fat emulsion intravenously to counteract the toxic effects of certain overdoses and poisonings.
When it comes to treating lidocaine poisoning, Peskin said how quickly lipid emulsion therapy is given can make a “big difference” in the outcome. “The problem is that in many outpatient settings, the people giving the lidocaine may not recognize the signs of toxicity, or they may not have lipid emulsion available,” he added.
Peskin emphasized that delays in treatment can lead to worse outcomes, including death. “That’s why it’s essential for all locations where lidocaine is used, especially outside the hospital, to have the correct supplies and trained staff who can respond quickly if an issue arises.”
FDA Mandates Major Labeling Changes On Opioid Pain Medication
The Food and Drug Administration is requiring pharma companies selling opioid pain medications to “better emphasize and explain the risks associated with their long-term use” on medication labels, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a July 31 statement.
“These changes follow a public advisory committee meeting in May that reviewed data showing serious risks—such as misuse, addiction, and both fatal and non-fatal overdoses—for patients who use opioids over long periods,” the department said.
Drug labels must now show clearer risk information, describing a summary of study results showing estimated risks of addiction, overdose, and misuse of the medication over the long term.
The labels must have stronger dosage warnings that higher doses come with greater risks to users and that such risks remain over time.
Pharma companies are required to remove any language on the labels that could be misinterpreted as being supportive of long-term opioid use.
For users physically dependent on opioids, the labels must emphasize not to abruptly stop their usage, warning that such a move can cause serious harm
“Labels will reinforce that long-acting or extended-release opioids should only be considered when other treatments, including shorter-acting opioids, are inadequate,” HHS said.
The companies must also warn about drug interactions, effects on digestive health, and new risks associated with overdosing, such as toxic leukoencephalopathy—a serious brain condition that could occur following an overdose.
“I know firsthand how devastating addiction is—not just for individuals, but for entire families and communities,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr said.
“Today’s FDA action is a long-overdue step toward restoring honesty, accountability, and transparency to a system that betrayed the American people.”
As Naveen Athrappully reports for The Epoch Times, HHS gave the example of OxyContin, an opioid whose initial drug application was approved without proper data supporting the medication’s long-term use among people to treat pain, it said.
OxyContin is a brand name for oxycodone, an opioid used to manage moderate to severe pain, according to data from the DrugBank, an online medication database. It is also sold under brand names Endocet, Targin, Roxybond, Roxicodone, Xolox, and Nalocet.
According to HHS, two large FDA observational studies recently provided new data on the serious side effects that can result from long-term opioid use. This information will be reflected in the updated labeling for OxyContin and other opioids.
One of the studies was discussed during the FDA’s May public advisory committee meeting, according to a May 5 briefing document.
The study looked at 1,212 patients who suffered from arthritis, neck pain, back pain, and neuropathy. Participants were taking extended-release/long-acting opioids or immediate-release/short-acting opioids. Oxycodone was one of the most commonly used opioids.
According to the study, “the overall prevalence of past-three-month opioid misuse was 14.6 percent, past-three-month opioid abuse was 6.0 percent,” said the document.
In addition, 2.7 percent of the study population were found to have past-year moderate-to-severe pain-adjusted opioid use disorder, it said.
After reviewing results from the two FDA observational studies as well as “public comments, medical research, and recognizing the absence of adequate and well-controlled studies on long-term opioid effectiveness, the FDA decided to require safety labeling changes,” HHS said.
Tackling the Opioid Crisis
According to HHS, the FDA has sent letters to pharma companies outlining the new label changes. The companies must submit their labeling updates for review by the FDA within 30 days.
“The death of almost one million Americans during the opioid epidemic has been one of the cardinal failures of the public health establishment,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said.
“This long-overdue labeling change is only part of what needs to be done—we also need to modernize our approval processes and post-market monitoring so that nothing like this ever happens again.”
In a June 9 post, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said roughly 806,000 people died from an opioid overdose between 1999 and 2023, including from illegal opioids.
Since 2013, there has been a “substantial” increase in overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, specifically illegally made fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, it said.
Vice President JD Vance has weighed in on the left’s demented response to American Eagle’s Sydney Sweeney ads and their unhinged claims that the “good jeans” pun is really Nazi eugenics propaganda.
“My political advice to the Democrats is continue to tell everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive is a Nazi,” Vance joked in an appearance on the “Ruthless” podcast Friday.
“That appears to be their actual strategy,” Vance further highlighted, adding “It actually reveals something pretty interesting about the Dems, though.”
“They have managed to so unhinge themselves over this thing.”
“Which is that you have like a normal, all-American beautiful girl doing like a normal jeans ad, right?” The Vice President continued, “To try to sell, you know, sell jeans to kids in America, and they have managed to so unhinge themselves over this thing.”
“You guys, did you learn nothing from the November 2024 election?” An exasperated Vance asked.
“Like, I actually thought that one of the lessons they might take is we’re going to be less crazy,” he continued.
“The lesson they have apparently taken is we’re going to attack people as Nazis for thinking Sydney Sweeney is beautiful,” Vance urged.
“Great strategy, guys. That’s how you’re going to win the midterms. Especially young American men,” he further emphasised.
“Their course correction lasted about 30 seconds,” Ruthless co-host Josh Holmes chimed in.
“That’s right, [it] lasted 30 seconds, somehow has gotten even crazier,” Vance responded, adding “it’s just so much of the Democrats is oriented around hostility to basic American life.”
“So you have a pretty girl doing a jeans ad, and they can’t help but freak out. It reveals a lot more about them than it does us,” Vance concluded.
The full episode of the podcast is here:
Sydney Sweeney wore jeans. The regime had a seizure
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Trump Issues Further Explanation On Moving 2 Nuclear Submarines ‘Closer To Russia’
President Trump has in a newly published interview with Newsmax explained more about his decision to send a pair of nuclear submarines “closer to Russia” after the “fresh mouth” of former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev – who currently serves deputy chair of the country’s Security Council – made reference to atomic apocalypse in written remarks about the Ukraine war and standoff with Washington.
Trump told “Finnerty” show host Rob Finnerty at the White House that his “eyes light up” when nuclear weapons are mentioned, particularly by a Russian official like Medvedev.
“Well, a former president of Russia who’s now in charge of one of the most important councils, Medvedev, said some things that were very bad, talking about nuclear.”
Trump continued, “And when you mention the word ‘nuclear,’ you know, my eyes light up and I say, ‘We better be careful,’ because it’s the ultimate threat.”
Medvedev had on Thursday posted on Telegram that Trump should recall “his favorite films about the ‘walking dead'” and while referencing Soviet Union nuclear strike doctrine.
Trump explained in the new interview, “He shouldn’t have said it. He’s got a fresh mouth. He’s said things in the past, too. And so we always want to be ready. And so I have sent to the region two nuclear submarines. I just want to make sure that his words are only words and nothing more than that.”
When asked by the interviewer whether the submarines are in fact now closer to Russia, the US Commander-in-Chief responded:
“They’re closer to Russia. Yeah, they’re closer to Russia.”
The question remains whether these submarines are merely nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed. Certainly the latter scenario would mark a huge and dangerous escalation, and yet the US has always exercised strategic ambiguity in this regard.
It has been longstanding US national security policy to not disclose if a particular sub is deployed with nuclear warheads on board or not. And the reality is that these submarines are in all kinds of locations, and probably pass Russia’s shores not infrequently – but their locations are never really known. Trump had told reporters previously at the White House:
“Well, you just have to read what he said. He was talking about nuclear. When you talk about nuclear, we have to be prepared. And we’re totally prepared.”
Still, the Trump online statement caught the world’s – and certainly Moscow’s – attention, driving world headlines all day Friday…
Trump in the Newsmax interview continued by giving his assessment of the current status of the war and negotiations:
“This is [former President Joe] Biden’s war. This is not my war. This war would have never happened. It didn’t happen for four years. It was never even talked about other than anything I had conversations with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Trump said. “It was the apple of his eye, but he wasn’t going to go into Ukraine. And I will say this, that’s a war that should end. That’s a terrible war.”
On the new Aug. 8 deadline for peace, he reiterated that if a deal is not in place, “we’ll put sanctions on, and he’s pretty good with sanctions. He knows how to avoid sanctions.”
“I talked to Putin a lot, and I think we had a great conversation. Then I go home and I see that a bomb was dropped in Kyiv and some of the various cities, killing people. I say, you know, I just had this great conversation with him, and it looked like we were going to — I thought we had it worked out three different times, and maybe he wants to try and take the whole thing. I think it’s going to be very hard for him,” he said. But clearly Trump is seeking to manage expectations, and seems to be admitting his planned punitive action is unlikely to have huge impact.
Further on Putin, the US President said, “He’s obviously a tough cookie, so it hasn’t changed in that way. But I’m surprised. We had numerous good conversations where we could have ended this thing, and all of a sudden bombs start flying.”
WASHINGTON—Over and over, Amy Neville forces herself to tell people what happened to her 14-year-old son.
“I relive it. … I’m out there sharing the hardest thing that’s ever happened in my life,” she said. “It’s worth it, because I know we’re saving lives.”
Neville, 52, wiped away tears as she spoke those words during an interview with The Epoch Times on June 23. That day marked five years since her son, Alexander Neville, unknowingly ingested fentanyl and died—a tragedy that could easily befall any family, she said.
Through the nonprofit Alexander Neville Foundation, the grieving mother shares her personal pain with other parents. By her estimation, Amy Neville has given a couple hundred presentations in person and online; about 300,000 people have heard her warnings about the dangers that lurk on social media, leading to deaths such as Alex’s.
Neville also serves as the lead plaintiff in a groundbreaking court case that could affect the way Big Tech operates in the United States.
She believes that changes are needed to prevent many deaths among young people who, like Alex, flock to Snapchat and other online platforms.
Neville and her husband are among 63 fentanyl victims’ families suing Snapchat. They allege that the platform is a defective product and a public nuisance and that it should be held responsible for fentanyl overdose deaths, poisonings, and injuries.
Snap Inc., parent company of Snapchat, “vehemently denies” the allegations, a judge noted.
In the suit, the Social Media Victims Law Center represents dozens of families whose children “died of fentanyl poisoning from contaminated drugs purchased on Snapchat,” Matthew Bergman, the Seattle-based center’s founding attorney, told The Epoch Times.
Snap did not respond to a request for comment.
Life Changed ‘Like a Light Switch’
Five years ago, the Nevilles were living in Aliso Viejo, California, a tree-lined suburb of Irvine that ranks among the state’s safest communities.
Neville was running her own yoga studio; her husband, Aaron, was working as a website developer. They were both in their 40s, parenting their daughter Eden—a “brainiac” who loved school—and their son Alex, a “super smart” boy who hated homework but loved history, skateboarding, and gaming, according to Neville.
They were an “ordinary” middle-class family, she said.
The mother of two said she remembered thinking that the biggest threat to her asthmatic son was probably the COVID-19 respiratory virus that was then spreading.
But that was life during the period Neville calls “the Before”—the era before the day that changed everything instantly, “like a light switch” being flipped, she said.
On the morning of June 23, 2020, Neville went to awaken Alex for a dentist appointment. Her knock on his bedroom door yielded no response.
So she entered the room. She confronted a horrifying sight: Her son, reclining in his favorite red beanbag chair—seemingly asleep, except his skin had turned cyanotic blue.
Clearly, he was dead. But as a mother, Neville could not let go of hope. Maybe her firstborn could be revived, she thought.
Neville blocked Eden, then 12, from seeing her older brother in that condition. Then she called for her husband, who performed CPR while she spoke to a 911 operator via cellphone.
When medics arrived, they took over CPR, strapped Alex to a gurney, and took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Nevilles were gobsmacked. But a clue soon surfaced.
“There’s a pill left behind in the room,” an investigator told Neville. She had not noticed it.
The unidentified pill was turned over to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
“That’s when we learned about the fentanyl,” she said. “The pill tested positive for fentanyl.”
About Fentanyl—and Snapchat
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that can be prescribed for managing severe pain or for anesthesia. But it can also be risky because it is far more powerful than morphine, is highly addictive, can interfere with breathing, and can cause confusion, nausea, and drowsiness. Abusers may be drawn to it because it can create a sense of euphoria.
While doctors can currently continue prescribing fentanyl, a Schedule II Controlled Substance, under tight controls, Congress recently passed a bill that permanently classified “fentanyl-related substances” as Schedule I drugs with “no currently accepted medical value.” Offenses involving those substances carry strong criminal, civil, and administrative penalties.
After President Donald Trump signed the bill on July 16, the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act became law.
Because fentanyl is cheap to produce, illicit drug dealers add it to other substances. They also substitute fentanyl for buyers’ requested drugs, despite how deadly it can be.
Even a pencil-tip-sized amount can prove fatal, as emphasized in the national “One Pill Can Kill” public awareness campaign. The DEA launched that program four years ago to combat dramatic increases in deaths related to counterfeit prescription painkillers; agents have been seizing millions of these fake pills each year. So far, that number exceeds 45.7 million, according to the agency’s website.
Fentanyl has been blamed for more deaths among teens and young adults than “COVID, car accidents, or even suicide,” according to the Snapchat lawsuit that Bergman filed along with C.A. Goldberg, a law firm in the New York City borough of Brooklyn that focuses on cases against tech companies.
The Neville suit argues that Snap contributed to an “epidemic” of fentanyl deaths.
“Social media platforms and Snapchat in particular … allow drug dealers to ply their deadly trade at scale with relative anonymity, with relative legal immunity,” Bergman said.
He said stemming the fentanyl crisis at the national level requires not only cutting off the drug pipeline from foreign countries, but also “holding social media companies accountable, because they’re the primary vehicle” for the distribution of fentanyl-contaminated pills.
In 2023, more than 107,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, according to data from the DEA. Nearly 70 percent of those deaths were attributed to opioids such as fentanyl.
Fentanyl deaths of children aged 18 and younger surged more than 30-fold between 2013 and 2021, according to data published in JAMA Pediatrics in 2023.
More than 100 million Americans use Snapchat, including more than 20 million teenagers, Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel told Congress in 2024.
Looking Back
Alex’s death “blindsided us,” Neville said, even though his tragic end, in hindsight, fit with a revelation the teen had made on Father’s Day, two days before he died.
Neville said she remembers her son confessing during a kitchen-table discussion: “I have got to tell you guys something. I wanted to experiment with Oxy. I got it from a dealer on Snapchat. It has a hold on me, and I don’t know why.”
Alex was referring to OxyContin—an addictive opioid. He admitted to using the street version of that drug on-and-off for a little more than a week.
Right away, Alex’s parents thanked him for disclosing his problem. They contacted a treatment center where they intended to enroll him.
The next day, Neville took her son to get a haircut.
It would be his last.
Neville remembers admonishing her son that day.
“Please don’t take any pills tonight,” she said.
He promised that he would not.
By the next morning, he was dead—after apparently taking what he thought was OxyContin.
Neville said that back then, it never occurred to her that the pills could be laced with—or replaced with—a deadly drug.
“We didn’t know about fentanyl,” she said. “Nobody was talking about it at the time, and no one was talking about the depth of social media harms.”
Neville had “spot-checked” her son’s social media accounts for any hint of sexual predators or bullies. But she was unaware of the emojis that teens and drug dealers use to trade coded messages about drugs.
Now Neville includes that information in her messages to parents as she traverses the nation.
On Snapchat, users exchange “Snaps”—texts, videos, and photos—that can vanish after a specified time.
That disappearing-message feature is intended to maintain privacy and allow people to “express whatever’s on [their] mind at the time—without automatically keeping a permanent record of everything [they have] ever said,” Snapchat’s website states.
That is a big reason Snapchat appeals to users, according to the company. That feature also distinguishes Snapchat from other platforms. Snapchat’s logo—a stylized ghost—represents the ephemeral nature of its messaging system.
This disappearing act allows drug dealers and other predators to evade law enforcement—while widely promoting illicit drugs, critics say.
“It’s like you put your drug ad up on a billboard at Times Square … but the evidence disappears,” Bergman said.
The company’s website reads, “We work with law enforcement and governmental agencies to promote safety on our platform.”
The company also advises users that “some information may be retrieved by law enforcement through proper legal process.”
Snapchat has other features that are cause for concern, critics say.
Bergman alleged that Snapchat routinely connects “predatory drug dealers with vulnerable teenagers who are not seeking to purchase drugs.”
In its court filing, the company countered that it works hard to detect and intercept drug traffickers and responds rapidly to reported illegal activity.
In 2024, the company changed its Snap Map feature to improve safety. Now users’ locations are hidden by default—and parents can “see which friends their teen shares their location with,” the company stated.
Another point of contention is the allegedly addictive nature of social media platforms.
Some of the most brilliant U.S. minds formulate computer algorithms that analyze users’ actions and reactions. Then the system “feeds” people more content of the type that is likely to keep them mesmerized. The platforms also set up features designed to prolong usage. The longer a user stays on a platform, the more money-making advertising he or she is likely to see—boosting the company’s profits.
Snapchat, for example, rewards users with “Streaks,” scores based on repeat usage.
When parents take away teens’ phones, some have admitted to “literally crying on the floor … because their ‘Streaks’ will be interrupted,” Bergman said.
Harvard University said on July 29 that it will hand over employment forms for thousands of university staff members as requested by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) but will not share records for those employed in student-only roles.
In an email to employees, viewed by The Epoch Times, the Ivy League school’s human resources office said it received a notice of inspection (NOI) and related subpoena from the DHS on July 8 seeking to inspect federal I-9 forms and supporting documentation for Harvard employees.
The I-9, or Employment Eligibility Verification, is used to verify the identity and employment authorization of an individual hired to work in the United States. The I-9 process is managed by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is a component of the DHS.
Harvard said that when it received the notice of inspection, it “appeared to seek information about a few dozen employees in Massachusetts Hall.”
“Although Harvard produced the information for those employees (with the exception of student-employees), DHS notified us that the NOI received on July 8 applies to all current Harvard employees and any individual employed by the University in the last 12 months,” the email stated.
“This NOI is separate and apart from the three Department of Homeland Security administrative subpoenas issued to Harvard on July 8, 2025, which were posted to the Harvard International Office website.”
Harvard said it will comply with the request from the Department of Homeland Security but will not produce information on students who are currently or were previously employed in roles open only to students, as the university is evaluating whether the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal law governing access to education records, permits their disclosure.
“We have asked DHS to confirm that the records produced in response to this notice for any individual will be securely maintained by DHS and not shared outside DHS, that the documents will only be accessed by DHS personnel authorized to inspect such records, and that DHS will only use these records for the purposes authorized by law,” the email stated.
In its notice of inspection, DHS told Harvard it intends to assess the records in order to assess the school’s “compliance with the federal laws and regulations applicable to employment eligibility verification.”
“This inspection will cover all your current employees as of the date of service of this Notice, and employees who were terminated within the twelve months prior to the date of service of this NOI,” the notice stated.
“This inspection is for employees employed by the above captioned during the requested time period at the following location(s): Massachusetts Hall, 11 Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 United States.”
The DHS warned that failure to provide the requested documents may lead to civil or criminal penalties.
Harvard said that although the government “does not ordinarily ask an employer to disclose all of its employees’ Form I-9s and their supporting materials,” it may, in its discretion, “issue an all-employees request.”
The Epoch Times has contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Harvard is embroiled in a legal battle with the Trump administration to have billions of dollars in funding for the school restored.
The government withheld the funds earlier this year after accusing the university of failing to comply with its demands for a series of changes, including ending its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Harvard has sued the administration to unblock the funding.
DHS has also served the university with subpoenas compelling it to hand over disciplinary records for foreign students dating back to Jan. 1, 2020. Those subpoenas came after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanded that it provide information about the alleged “criminality and misconduct of foreign students on its campus.”
In a statement at the time, the university said it was evaluating the subpoenas and would “comply with the laws of the United States and uphold the University’s policies.”
In May, Noem ordered her agency to terminate the school’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification for allegedly failing to create a safe campus environment for Jewish students.
A federal judge in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction in June blocking DHS from terminating that program, after Harvard sued, arguing that the termination was unconstitutional and an “unprecedented and retaliatory attack on academic freedom.”
Ukrainian Long-Range Drones Hit Multiple Russian Refineries, Factories Overnight
At least three people were killed and two others injured overnight in western Russia due to Ukrainian drone strikes, according to regional governors, with one signifcant attack sparking a fire at an oil refinery in central Russia after it was hit.
Ukraine’s military confirmed it Russia’s Ryazan and Novokuibyshevsk oil refineries, triggering large fires. It also said it struck the Annanefteprodukt oil storage site in the Voronezh region, which was likely a long-range drone attack, but few details were disclosed.
In the Penza region, Governor Oleg Melnichenko reported that a woman was killed and two others injured following a drone strike, and in the Samara region, Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said an elderly man died after drone debris ignited a fire in a residential building.
In Rostov, a security guard at an industrial site was killed when a drone attack caused a fire in one of the buildings, per regional authorites. This was amid Russian trying to intercept the large-scale drone assault which went on for many hours into the morning, downing drones across seven districts.
Additionally, Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency said its drones hit the Primorsko-Akhtarsk military airfield, known as a launch site for Russian drone attacks on Ukraine. The SBU also claimed responsibility for striking a Penza factory involved in supplying electronics to Russia’s military-industrial sector.
In total, Russia’s milmitary said it shot down 112 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory, including 34 over the Rostov region. In all, the attack reportedly lasted at least nine hours.
“Last night, SBU drones continued targeting Russian military infrastructure deep in enemy territory. The first target of our long-range UAVs was the military airfield in Primorsko-Akhtarsk (Krasnodar Krai), which stores and launches Shahed drones used to attack Ukraine. A fire broke out in the area following the SBU drone strikes,” the SBU said.
“This facility manufactures equipment for digital networks in military command systems, devices for aviation, armored vehicles, naval vessels, and space systems. SBU drones successfully struck the site, and smoke was observed following the explosions,” the agency said.
💥Russian Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery attacked by drones early this morning. 1000km from the frontline.
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) August 2, 2025
Ukraine’s military said these stepped-up attacks are in response to the heightened deadly Russian attacks on Ukrianian cities, including one this week on Kiev which killed at least 31 people after nine-story apartment building was directly struck.
“In particular, the Ukrainian Defense Forces carried out successful strikes on verified targets in Russia that support the ongoing war of aggression against our country. The attack was in response to Russia’s recent terrorist shelling of Ukrainian cities, which killed and injured civilians,” the General Staff said.
A New York resident accused of running a $30 million green card scam and selling access to U.S. politicians pleaded guilty July 30.
Sherry Xue Li, 53, a China-born, naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of Oyster Bay, admitted to defrauding more than 150 people who invested more than $31.5 million in her fake development project, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn said.
The investors, many of whom were Chinese nationals, were promised either green cards through the EB-5 investment visa program or investment returns. None of the investors in Li’s project, the Thompson Education Center (TEC), received a temporary or permanent green card.
Li also made donations to U.S. politicians and political committees, using money from foreign victims while pretending the donations came from herself or other U.S. citizens, and she sold foreign nationals—mostly Chinese—access to events where they could take photos with elected officials, including President Donald Trump.
“In doing so, she attempted to corrupt a fundamental institution in this country—fair and transparent elections free from unlawful foreign influence,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said in a statement.
Li pleaded guilty at the federal courthouse in Central Islip to conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Li’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 5, and she faces up to 20 years in prison, prosecutors said. She has also agreed to forfeit $31.5 million and property at three locations.
One of Li’s accomplices, Long Island resident Lianbo “Mike” Wang, 48, pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 60 months in prison. Wang, also a naturalized U.S. citizen, was the marketing director and general manager of TEC.
Another defendant, Guo Xuefeng, director of TEC’s Beijing office, was a citizen and resident of China, according to the indictment. Guo was accused of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Li first proposed in around 2011 to build a China City of America in the town of Thompson.
She touted the amusement park as a “Chinese Disneyland” that could create 3,000 jobs and attract 1.5 million visitors each year.
Following opposition from locals, the project was whittled down and rebranded as the TEC.
While the project was never approved, a billboard serving as a signpost to the nonexistent education center stayed up on State Route 17 for months, The Epoch Times previously reported.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Li and Wang spent only enough money on the TEC project to maintain the “fiction” that it was viable and “actually under construction.”
They spent funds fraudulently obtained from investors on “personal expenses including clothing, jewelry, housing, vacation travel, upscale dining, and political contributions to prominent politicians,” the statement said.
The prosecutors said Li and Wang used political contributions to gain photo-ops with elected officials, and in turn used the photos as a marketing tool to entice more investors for the TEC project.
In one case, the pair charged 12 foreign nationals—11 Chinese and one Singaporean—$93,000 each for admission to a fundraising event with Trump on June 28, 2017. They then used a photo of Li and the president to solicit more investments.
They donated $600,000 in their own names to the joint committee that hosted the fundraiser, which was unaware that the money actually belonged to foreign nationals. At the time, Li made news headlines for the large donations to Republican organizations.
In 2013 and 2014, Li also made donations to Democrats, including a total of $55,000 to then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and $2,500 to then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, The Epoch Times previously reported.
“Turn Your Vagina Into A Pair Of Balls” – The Berenson-Smith Debate Bloodbath Post-Mortem
Last night’s debate was a feisty one to say the least… born out of a Twitter beef between comedian Dave Smith and writer Alex Berenson, Rav Arora (of the Illusion of Consensus podcast) arranged and hosted it.
Berenson kicked off by playing a 10-year old clip in which Smith makes a joke about the Holocaust as evidence of Dave’s Holocaust denial:
Smith rejected this as dishonest and evasive: “We could talk about issues that I believe in or issues that you believe in… but you want to do this bitch smear job shit.”
In a mocking tone: “Ooh, you spoke to Richard Spencer in 2017 and made a joke with him.Like really scumbag?”
Flipping the guilt-by-association accusation back at Berenson: “You worked at the New York Times while they were selling the war in Iraq. Who was your favorite person to have lunch with… Judith Miller or was it Michael Gordon? Which one of the mouthpieces for war criminals did you enjoy working with the most as they got a million people killed in Iraq?”
Smith ended the introduction with the line of the night: “Put your thumb in your mouth, blow really hard, and try to turn your vagina into a pair of balls”
Aside from this, there was much back and forth about Daryl Cooper (who seems to get brought up in every debate). We include the full debate below but a forewarning: it was a shit show. We aim to host more productive debates in our seriesbut if you want to see a verbal boxing match, here you go:
