John Barnett not seeming ‘depressed’ on night before alleged suicide

 Boeing whistleblower John Barnett “didn’t seem depressed” at dinner on the evening before he was mysteriously found dead in his car with a gunshot wound to his head, sources told The Post.

Lawyers, family friends and witnesses all say the 62-year-old was upbeat about finishing off giving testimony against his former employer in Charleston, South Carolina, and raised suspicious as to whether he’d take his own life.

An employee who works at the Holiday Inn where Barnett was found dead in the parking lot told The Post Barnett ate a quesadilla, drank a Coke, scrolled on his phone and seemed fine on the evening of Feb. 8.

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Boeing whistleblower John Barnett didn’t “seem depressed” while having dinner the night before he was found dead.

“I didn’t think of him at all until I heard the news the next day. He didn’t seem upset at all,” the employee told The Post.

Barnett was due to give a third day of closed-door testimony in his bombshell lawsuit against the jetliner giant the next morning but never showed.

His panicked lawyers raised the alarm, requesting the hotel check on him after he didn’t answer his phone.

Police then discovered his body on March 9 slumped over in his orange pickup with a silver gun still in his hand.

The Charleston County coroner initially noted the death as a “self-inflicted” wound, but said more tests are being done before a final determination. Police have made clear they are still actively investigating the death.

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John Barnett (pictured) “had a dry sense of humor, he was very smart”, friend Bob Emery told The Post.NBC-Today

Sources have also told The Post Barnett’s car has been dusted inside and out for prints — an unusual meaure in a suicide case.

Family friend Bob Emery spoke to Barnett around two weeks before he died and said “he seemed too focused on what he was doing,” with the lawsuit and “didn’t seem depressed.”

Emery told The Post they had both lost their wives, himself more recently, and it was Barnett who was making calls and checking up on him to make sure he was OK.

“I lost my wife last year and he checked on me a lot,” Emery told The Post.

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Barnett’s body was found in a car parked outside the Holiday Inn, Charleston, on March 9.Maxwell Vittorio for NY Post

“I told him that I have good days and bad days. He said that’s to be expected, but as time passes, there would be more good days than bad days. He said he was doing well.”

“He had a good life going for him. Even with the problems at Boeing.”

Barnett’s wife, Diane Johnson — also a former Boeing worker, described in her obituary as having “enjoyed working on race cars with her husband” — died in 2022 following an undisclosed illness.

“He took Diane’s loss hard. They had gotten together later and he fully thought they were going to grow old together…but I felt like he had gotten through that,” Emery said.

“He definitely missed her a lot, but I didn’t think he was suicidal over her.”

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Barnett had just finished testifying against his former employer in Charleston.Courtesy of the Barnett Family

Barnett was a quality control engineer who worked for Boeing for more than three decades before he retired in 2017.

Two years later told the BBC that Boeing cut corners by rushing to get its 787 Dreamliner jets off the production line and into service. He gave numerous interviews describing how he had complained internally to the company and they had not taken action, spurring him to go public, out of concern for public safety.

Barnett’s attorneys, Robert Turkewitz and Brian Knowles, expressed skepticism over the idea Barnett died by suicide in a statement released Tuesday.

“John was in the midst of a deposition in his whistleblower retaliation case, which finally was nearing the end.

“He was in very good spirits and really looking forward to putting this phase of his life behind him and moving on. We didn’t see any indication he would take his own life. No one can believe it,” read the written statement.

Emery said he would remember Barnett as a “solid guy” who “really friendly” and “generous”.

“He was always helping people. He had a dry sense of humor, he was very smart. You could tell that he was a thinker,” he said.

“John is someone who really didn’t like the attention. He probably never took a selfie in his life. He saw this as a noble thing he was doing.

“He didn’t do it to make a name for himself. He did interviews because he thought it would help keep people safe.”

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Barnett worked for Boeing until 2010 when he was transferred to Boeing’s 787 plant in Charleston, according to his family.AFP via Getty Images

Barnett loved working for Boeing until 2010 when he was transferred to Boeing’s 787 plant in Charleston, his family said Tuesday.

“Things greatly changed for him when he learned that upper management was pressuring the quality inspectors and managers to cut corners and to not follow processes and procedures which they were required by law to follow,” the family said.

They claimed Boeing pressured workers to look past defects to avoid slowing down the assembly line and those who refused “were labeled as trouble makers, retaliated against, and subjected to a hostile work environment.”

Boeing said in a statement to Ther Post: “We are saddened by Mr. Barnett’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family and friends.”

The Charleston Police Department did not return a request for comment.

https://nypost.com/2024/03/14/us-news/boeing-whistleblower-john-barnett-didnt-seem-depressed-on-night-before-alleged-suicide-sources/

US Imposes 2nd Sanctions Round On Israeli Settlers, Same Day Schumer Attacks "Pariah" Netanyahu

 The United States slapped a second round of sanctions targeting Israeli settlers and 'illegal outposts' in the occupied West Bank on Thursday. The sanctions mark somewhat of an unprecedented escalation of tensions between Washington and Tel Aviv, given this newest round focuses not just on individual settlers, but entire settlements too.

The Dept. of Treasury's new action sanctions Moshe's farm and Zvi's farm, both described as being used as outposts from which settlers routinely launch attacks on Palestinian civilians.

The two leaders of the settlements - Moshe Sharvit and Zvi Bar Yosef - are also targeted in the new Treasury action. Axios writes that "The sanctions freeze assets the three settlers and two outposts might have in the U.S., ban them from getting a visa to enter the U.S. and block them from using the U.S. financial system."

Likely the Biden administration took into consideration a recent report by the UN humanitarian office (OCHA), which documented nearly 500 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians between Oct. 7 and Jan. 31 of this year.

A prior initial round of rare sanctions targeting Israelis only dealt with individuals accused of committing acts of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, and not whole communities.

Some of the same settlers were already under sanctions by the United Kingdom, as The Associated Press details:

Moshe Sharvit, a settler also already sanctioned in the U.K., allegedly attacked Palestinians and Israeli human rights activists in the vicinity of his outpost, which is also now sanctioned by the U.S.

British officials in February stated that Sharvit and another settler threatened Palestinian families at gunpoint and destroyed property as part of a “ targeted and calculated effort to displace Palestinian communities.”

Additionally, sanctions were imposed on Neriya Ben Pazi, who attacked and expelled Palestinian shepherds from hundreds of acres of land as recently as August 2023.

Israeli government officials have been angered by these US sanctions, which are small and targeted enough to perhaps be merely symbolic. Yet it adds to the growing distance between the Biden and Netanyahu governments over Gaza and West Bank policy. 

And Thursday's scathing attack on Prime Minister Netanyahu ratchets tensions further, at a moment President Biden has still refused to attach any conditions to Israel's use of American weaponry:

Schumer delivered what he deemed a “major address” on the escalating situation in the region, headlined by his comments directed at Netanyahu, the polarizing Israeli leader. He pressed that Netanyahu has “lost his way,” pointing to the political and legal battles he has faced recently while also allowing that the off-and-on prime minister’s “highest priority is the security of Israel.”

The Senate majority leader further blasted Netanyahu's "far-right extremists" and has been "too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows."

"As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me: The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7," Schumer underscored. "The world has changed — radically — since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past."

Schumer went so far as to call Netanyahu a "pariah"--but still critics have pointed out that even those US politicians leading the charge against Bibi are by and large unwilling to cut off the arms supplies and billions in funding to Israel...

A big question that remains is whether Israel will launch a full ground invasion of Rafah, despite Biden warnings not to. Israel is pledging to facilitate the safe exit of civilians before the operation, but there's been little sign of this happening on a large scale.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-issues-new-sanctions-israeli-settlers-same-day-schumer-attacks-pariah-netanyahu

'Secret Service Agent Blocked Trump From Going To Capitol On Jan. 6: Driver'

 by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

When then-President Donald Trump finished his speech on Jan. 6, 2021, he wanted to go to the U.S. Capitol.

But a Secret Service agent blocked him from going, according to a newly disclosed account.

“The president wanted to go to the Capitol,” the Secret Service agent who was driving the vehicle, told a U.S. House of Representatives panel.

President Trump and Robert Engel, his lead Secret Service agent, entered the SUV around 1:10 p.m. after President Trump concluded his speech, which was delivered on the Ellipse.

“He asked Bob Engel if we could go to the Capitol and why couldn’t we go to the Capitol and was insistent on going to the Capitol,” the driver testified, adding later that the president “was pushing pretty hard to go.”

“Mr. Engel’s response was essentially to tell him that we didn’t have any people at the Capitol, we didn’t have a plan in place, and that we needed to essentially go back to the White House and assess what our options were and wait till we can get a plan in place before we went down there,” the driver added.

President Trump responded by saying he felt it would be fine because he was not concerned about the people at the Capitol, describing them as being his supporters, according to the driver, although the driver could not recall specifically what words the president used.

“Mr. Engel consistently had the same response, that we didn’t have a plan in place, we didn’t have people at the Capitol, and that we needed to go back to the White House and reassess,” the driver said, adding later that whether the crowd at the Capitol was comprised of supporters of President Trump “was immaterial.”

President Trump did not say anything like, “I’m the president, I'll decide where I get to go or where I’m going,” the driver said, responding to a question from the panel.

The driver took President Trump and Mr. Engel to the White House, which is 1.2 miles from the Ellipse. By 1:25 p.m., President Trump was told about violence at the Capitol, according to a White House employee.

After arriving at the White House, the driver communicated what transpired to other agents and said they should stand by as a decision was made as to whether the president would at some point be taken to the Capitol.

The agents remained with the presidential vehicles until they were told they would not be going to the Capitol, according to the driver. The communication came within 15 minutes after Mr. Engel met with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows or Meadows’s deputy, the driver said. “My understanding was that ... a decision came out of that meeting,” he said.

The driver was speaking on Nov. 7, 2022, to a House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021. The transcript was obtained and reviewed by The Epoch Times. The transcript was not released by the committee when it published online a final report and accompanying materials, including many transcripts, as it disbanded in late 2022.

The select committee also interviewed Mr. Engel, who could not be reached, but did not release a transcript of that interview. Portions of the interview, which have still not been disclosed, were quoted in the panel’s report.

The report says that President Trump entered the SUV after the Ellipse speech ended and “forcefully expressed his intention that Bobby Engel, the head of his Secret Service detail, direct the motorcade to the Capitol.” It does not mention who made the decision not to adhere to the request.

“I said ... ‘let’s go down to the Capitol and the Secret Service very nicely said, ’Sir, really better for you to go back to the White House, it really is, you know, we’re not prepared to go down there,'” President Trump said on a Just the News podcast this week. “And I understood that and it was no big argument.”

Former White House official Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified in public to the select committee, has claimed that President Trump grew irate after not being taken to the Capitol and lunged at the wheel of the vehicle. Both Mr. Engel, according to the select committee, and the driver, according to the transcript, refuted that claim.

Ms. Hutchinson, whose lawyer has not returned an inquiry, changed her testimony dramatically after testifying to the panel three times, according to a new House Republican report. She did not mention the alleged grabbing incident until her fourth interview. Mr. Engel and Mr. Meadows could not be reached. The Secret Service did not respond to a request for comment.

Word of Possible Trip

President Trump was not scheduled to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but some officials received word that he might go there, according to testimony.

Anthony Ornato, a Secret Service agent not on the scene, said in a recently released transcript that he was asked by officials if President Trump could walk to the Capitol after the speech on the Ellipse. He thought the idea was “ridiculous” and referred the officials to Mr. Engel.

An email from an agent to the driver and others on Jan. 5 said that President Trump planned to go to the Ellipse the following day. “There are also unconfirmed rumors of a move to the Capitol following the event on the Ellipse, but that will be an OTR if it happens,” the email stated, according to the select committee.

OTR stands for off-the-record movement, meaning the move would not be placed on the presidential schedule, according to the driver.

He said his superior did not inform him on Jan. 6 of any plans to take President Trump to the Capitol.

According to summaries released by House Republicans of testimony given by four White House employees to the select committee, several White House employees became aware of President Trump possibly going to the Capitol, although one said that both the Secret Service and Mr. Meadows told him such a trip was not happening. The White House employee transcripts were not released by the select committee and have not otherwise been disclosed.

“The committee’s principal concern was that the President actually intended to participate personally in the January 6th efforts at the Capitol, leading the attempt to overturn the election either from inside the House Chamber, from a stage outside the Capitol, or otherwise. The committee regarded those facts as important because they are relevant to President Trump’s intent on January 6th. There is no question from all the evidence assembled that President Trump did have that intent,” according to the summary.

After President Trump arrived back at the White House, the president said “he wanted to physically walk and be a part of the march” to the Capitol, former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told the select committee. Mr. Meadows, according to Ms. Hutchinson, said President Trump was upset Mr. Engel did not arrange a Capitol trip, and that Mr. Meadows did not make plans for a trip official.

President Trump remained at the White House, where he watched events at the Capitol unfold on television. He later released a video showing him standing outside the White House and telling people to “go home.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/secret-service-agent-blocked-trump-going-capitol-jan-6-driver

Venezuela opposition candidate pressured by allies to choose a substitute, sources say

 Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is facing increasing pressure from her allies to choose a substitute to potentially run in her place in the July presidential election, five sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Machado, a 56-year-old industrial engineer, won the opposition's nominating contest in October by a landslide, but Venezuela's top court has since upheld a ban on her candidacy that was imposed over her support of U.S. sanctions, among other things.

Machado has so far refused to consider a substitute, saying her ban is an effort by President Nicolas Maduro to protect himself from a viable opposition challenger.

But the clock is ticking on a decision - candidates have between March 21 and March 25 to register formally, though substitutes can be admitted until April 20. The election itself has been set for July 28.

Leaders of opposition parties this week asked Machado to define a strategy, and though they have expressed their support for her candidacy, they want her to decide on an alternative candidate, the opposition sources said.

"There are pressures on her to not leave (the substitution) too late," one of the sources said.

Machado did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for her party told journalists this week it was weighing different scenarios, without giving further details.

"One day at a time," she said in the central state of Carabobo on Wednesday, when asked about what would happen were her registration rejected.

"I think Maduro needs to think really hard about how he will look to the country," she added.

The U.S. has insisted the Maduro government lift the ban on Machado and said recently he has not complied with an election guarantee deal signed last year.

"The United States is key in this process," another source said.

Some of the sources said Washington could urge Machado to make a decision on a substitute, though State Department official Brian Nichols said last week the U.S. would take its cues from the opposition.

"The United States will continue to support the will and the right of Venezuelans and Venezuelan political parties to select their presidential candidates," a White House National Security Council spokesperson said when asked about pressure on Machado and whether or not the U.S. wants her to step aside.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. has already said a relaxation in oil sanctions will expire in mid-April unless Machado can run.

Before the October primary several candidates urged the creation of a substitution plan, but no mechanism was ever agreed. Any substitute could also face a ban.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/venezuela-opposition-candidate-pressured-allies-202113559.html

Brazil eyes exports via China-controlled Chancay port, Peruvian minister says

 Brazil is interested in exporting soy, corn and other products through Peru's China-controlled Chancay port, Peruvian Economy Minister Jose Arista said on Thursday, according to state news agency Andina.

Brazilian Planning Minister Simone Tebet visited the port, still under construction, earlier this week and spoke with Arista about the possibility of using it as an export route, Andina reported.

It would offer Brazilian exporters the opportunity to send goods by truck to the Peruvian port for shipping to Asia via the Pacific Ocean, cutting the transit time by about two weeks.

Shipping from the port provides an alternative to the Panama Canal, where ships have encountered delays and logjams due to the impact of dry weather conditions on the canal's water levels.

The Peruvian terminal, the first under Beijing's control in South America, will also serve as a crucial gateway for China to the region.

Arista said Tebet plans to speak with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva about the port's potential for Brazil and hopes to arrange a visit by Lula to meet with Peruvian President Dina Boluarte about enabling integration between the two countries through the port.

Brazil's agriculture and planning ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Brazil's planning ministry said on Monday in a statement before Tebet's visit that the Chancay port is part of a program its government has been developing to improve logistics integration with countries from South America.

The port terminal, costing an initial $1.3 billion, is 70% completed, Andina reported. Majority owner Cosco Shipping Ports has said the port is set to open at the end of this year.

The port will open with four docks but could expand to up to 15, Andina said.

Arista on Thursday confirmed the government in Lima is looking to create a special economic zone in the north of the capital to develop Chancay, in addition to creating a customs headquarters at the port.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/brazil-eyes-exports-via-china-230838713.html

US imposes sanctions on Israeli settlers, two West Bank outposts

 The Biden administration imposed sanctions on two Israeli outposts and three settlers it accused of undermining stability in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, and appealed to Israel to do more to prevent settler violence that Washington says is an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace.

The State Department said the outposts known as Moshe's Farm and Zvi's Farm had been bases for violence against Palestinians.

The administration in February imposed sanctions on four Israeli men it accused of being involved in settler violence in the West Bank, signalling growing U.S. displeasure with the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

While voicing growing frustration with the Palestinian civilian toll from Israel's war against Hamas, Washington has repeatedly asked Israel to hold violent settlers accountable and complained that its actions allowing settlement expansion diminish hopes for a two-state solution.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the United States would go on taking action against those engaging in what he called extremist violence and threatening peace and security in the West Bank.

"It is critical that Israel take additional action to stop settler violence and hold accountable those responsible for it, not just for the sake of the victims of this violence, but for Israel's own security and standing in the world," Miller said in a press briefing.

The sanctions typically freeze any U.S. assets of those targeted and generally bar Americans from dealing with them, but it was not immediately clear how they would affect the outposts.

Israeli banks said in February they were heeding the sanctions, despite Israeli government opposition, and the targeted settlers reported their bank accounts had been frozen.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in a West Bank settlement, said on Thursday the sanctions were part of a "campaign designed to tarnish the entire State of Israel and lead to the dismantling of the settlement enterprise and the establishment of a Palestinian terrorist state."

Washington has also said it will issue visa bans against settlers it deems extremist.

The administration said last month that Israeli settlements in the West Bank were inconsistent with international law, signalling a return to a longstanding U.S. policy that had been reversed by the previous administration of Donald Trump.

Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state. Israel has built Jewish settlements, many of which began as unauthorized outposts.

Israel disputes this and cites historical and biblical ties to the land.

Thursday's sanctions targeted Moshe Sharvit, who has "harassed, threatened, and attacked" Palestinian civilians near the Moshe's Farm outpost, of which he is the founder and owner, the State Department said.

Also targeted were Zvi Bar Yosef, founder of Zvi's Farm, and Neriya Ben Pazi, who has expelled Palestinian shepherds from hundreds of acres of land, it said.

Reuters was unable immediately to reach the three for comment.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-expected-impose-sanctions-against-044112330.html

'US' Harris visits Minnesota abortion clinic in historic first'

 U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday toured a health clinic that offers abortion services while she was in Minnesota, spotlighting growing restrictions on women's rights that Democrats believe will animate voters in November.

The visit, believed to be the first of a sitting president or vice president to such a clinic, comes as U.S. President Joe Biden highlights abortion rights as a key issue ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Harris arrived for a tour at Planned Parenthood's St. Paul Health Center-Vandalia facility as some two dozen anti-abortion protesters stood in the street outside holding signs that read, among other statements, "abortion is not healthcare."

After completing a tour that was closed to the press, Harris said women in the country are undergoing "silent suffering" because of attacks on their health. The clinic in Minnesota's capital provides a range of care, including birth control and preventive wellness services.

"Right now, in our country we are facing a very serious health crisis, and the crisis is affecting many, many people in our country," the vice president told reporters.

"I'm here at this healthcare clinic to uplift the work that is happening in Minnesota as an example of what true leadership looks like."

Democrats think personal freedoms could be a key issue for women, independents and other key voters after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade abortion rights in 2022. Harris has held more than 80 public meetings on the topic since then.

In his State of the Union address last week, Biden pledged to make the right to an abortion the law of the land if reelected.

Biden and Harris have both stepped up campaign travel since former President Donald Trump - whose appointment of three conservative judges to the nation's highest court preceded the abortion decision - dominated the Republican party's primary races.

Last year, Minnesota signed a statute protecting the right to abortion in state law. The Biden administration has warned that a federal law restricting abortions or related medication could undermine that statute.

Sarah Traxler, a chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood in the region, said Harris' visit was a "historic moment."

Traxler said Minnesota had seen a sharp increase in abortions since Roe was overturned and that many of the women were coming from other states that have restricted access to the procedures. The forced journey was putting some of her patients' lives at risk, she said.

The Midwest is home to some of the states expected to be the most heavily contested in November, especially Wisconsin and Michigan.

While nearby Minnesota favors Democrats, it could also be in play, and a protest vote against Biden captured 19% of the primary vote there earlier this month. Democrats worry some of those so-called "uncommitted" voters may sit out November's election.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-vice-president-harris-visit-164011000.html