FBI Director Christopher Wray's 10-year term does not expire until 2027. President-elect Donald Trump is, however, expected to replace him upon taking office. While Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who Trump said is "a very talented guy," might be in contention, the two men whose names keep popping up in discussions of a potential successor are former National Security Council official Kash Patel and former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers. Establishmentarians have piled on Patel, characterizing him as inexperienced, revenge-driven, and "dangerous." While Rogers, who specialized in organized crime as a special agent at the FBI's Chicago office, has so far avoided similar abuse, Trump loyalists and critics of the American intelligence community have expressed concerns about his past associations with individuals and censorious groups antagonistic to Trump; his historic support for surveillance programs; and the role he apparently played in pushing Russiagate. Former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon asked Mike Benz, the executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, this week why the "MAGA right" would be "particularly upset about a guy like Mike Rogers, who in normal times would be looked at as a fine, center-right candidate put up by a Romney-type Republican administration?" 'You can't really have a compromised candidate.' Benz, keen to see Patel nominated, suggested that Rogers' involvement with the Atlantic Council — "probably the number-one apex predator in the entire censorship industry" — and his help advancing Russiagate were disqualifying. "The relationship between the Justice Department and the FBI is the same relationship that's shared between the U.S. State Department and the CIA. They need to be constantly in sync," said Benz. "You can't really have a compromised candidate where one person supports the president and the other person is looking to put a knife in the president's back. That is simply untenable when you're dealing with the kind of special, compartmentalized operations that happen at the FBI level." The Daily Caller reported that Rogers is not only a member of the Aspen Cybersecurity Institute, a left-leaning think tank, but also served as an adviser to the German Marshall Fund's Alliance for Securing Democracy initiative, spearheaded by a former foreign policy adviser to failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and aimed at tackling supposed Russian interference in the 2016 election. The ASD launched the Hamilton 68 Dashboard in 2017 to monitor hundreds of then-Twitter accounts allegedly linked to Russian influence efforts online — a project likened by investigative reporter Matt Taibbi to "digital McCarthyism that was repeatedly used by establishment media publications as a source to push the Russian influence and interference narratives that Democrats, in turn, exploited during Trump's first term." According to Taibbi, when Twitter executives attempted to recreate the group's list of accounts, they determined that the accounts were "neither strongly Russia nor strongly bots," and indicated that "there is no evidence to support their statements that the dashboard is a finger on the pulse of Russian information ops." When pressed for comment, Rogers' spokesman Chris Gustafon said in a statement to the Caller, "President-elect Trump is once again assembling a fantastic administration to help the American people and Make America Great Again." Wikileaks, which has been highly critical of Rogers as an FBI director aspirant, suggested that the ASD was a "central player in efforts to tie President Donald Trump and his supporters to Russian interference in the 2016 election" and that the Hamilton 68 Dashboard's "true purpose appeared to be casting suspicion on Trump supporters and reinforcing claims that his presidency was illegitimate." Wikileaks also highlighted how in 2018, Rogers advocated for the suppression of a Republican memo critical of the FBI's spying on the Trump campaign. Rogers told NPR at the time the memo should not be released because you're only going to get a small part of the picture. And so what they're purportedly alleging is going to come out in the memo today is that there was some misconduct on behalf of FBI agents and some DOJ officials, lawyers at the Department of Justice, in the application for something called the FISA, which is the secret court that does counterintelligence, espionage cases, terrorism cases, where it needs to be in a classified setting. Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald, responding to a video of Rogers apparently joking with Hunter Biden "intel" letter signatory Michael Hayden about having Edward Snowden assassinated, tweeted, "There's literally no worse appointment possible than choosing Mike Rogers for FBI Director, or for any government position. He's the single most devoted loyalist to the US Security State and all of its multi-faceted abuses. It doesn't get worse than Mike Rogers." While Rogers' past remarks and associations may serve as red flags for the president-elect, Trump endorsed him in March for his unsuccessful bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan — months after the former congressman and defense lobbyist criticized the Biden Justice Department's "war" against Trump. Patel endorsed Rogers for Senate in April, saying he would "hold the FBI and DOJ accountable." "I am a big fan of Mike Rogers, and should there be an opening [for FBI director], he would be my choice," said Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R). Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said, "Mike Rogers is a terrific guy. I don't know Kash Patel." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The Muslim mayor of a Detroit suburb has promised to arrest two high-profile Israeli officials — should they ever make the unlikely decision to visit his city.In 2021, Dearborn, Michigan, an Arab-majority city of over 100,000 residents, elected its first Muslim mayor: Abdullah Hammoud. Hammoud, a 34-year-old Democrat who previously served in the Michigan House of Representatives, has long been a sharp critic of Israel.On Thursday, he stretched that criticism into a full-on threat to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, should they ever venture onto Dearborn soil."Dearborn will arrest Netanyahu & Gallant if they step within Dearborn city limits," Hammoud wrote on X. "Others cities should declare the same."His post came just after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for the alleged "war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts" in Gaza between October 2023 and at least May 2024."This finding is based on the role of Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant in impeding humanitarian aid in violation of international humanitarian law and their failure to facilitate relief by all means at its [sic] disposal," the ICC said.Following these allegations from the ICC, Hammoud claimed in his post that American "city leaders can ensure Netanyahu & other war criminals are not welcome to travel freely across these United States."In his post, Hammoud also lamented that "our president may not take action" on the arrest warrants. However, it is unclear whether Hammoud was referring to the outgoing Biden administration, the upcoming second Trump administration, or both. In 2021, before he was elected mayor, Hammoud called on Biden to demand a ceasefire in the ongoing hostilities in Gaza. Then earlier this month, he contravened other area Muslim leaders and refused to meet with Donald Trump in the days leading up to the 2024 election, though he also declined to endorse Kamala Harris.'Local authorities do not have the legal authority to detain a global leader under such circumstances. Regardless, this scenario is implausible.'On Thursday, the ICC announced it had issued the warrants after denying challenges from Israel regarding the institution's jurisdiction. According to WDIV, the ICC was established in 2002 to prosecute genocide and other war crimes when member countries refuse to or cannot do so themselves.Neither Israel nor the United States is a member of the ICC.Blaze News reached out the Dearborn Police Department to clarify whether its officers would follow through and arrest either Netanyahu or Gallant on the off chance they ever pay the city a visit. We did not receive a response.With such general animosity against Israel in Dearborn, many see Hammoud's post as just an empty threat."Yeah I’m sure he’s coming to Dearborn," joked James Dickson, a Michigan journalist and the host of the "Enjoyer" podcast."Anyone recall when the Michigan Legislature granted mayors in this state police powers?" wrote Chad Livengood, politics editor at the Detroit News.EJ Kimball, senior policy adviser at the U.S. Israel Education Association, made a similar suggestion, telling Blaze News in a statement:The United States is not a party to the International Criminal Court, meaning there is no jurisdiction to enforce an ICC arrest warrant within the U.S.Additionally, local authorities do not have the legal authority to detain a global leader under such circumstances. Regardless, this scenario is implausible, as Prime Minister Netanyahu would not travel to Dearborn or any similar jurisdiction.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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It has widely been accepted that climate (in the form of the Late Little Ice Age or LLIA and the Justinianic Plague were the primary culprits of empirical change, causing a massive dwindling of the population, driving Rome to its knees in the 6th century AD. But a new study has refuted this claim and argues that, in fact, there was likely a spike in population size around the second half of the 6th century AD, and thus the plague and climate change had limited impact. Adapting to Survive: How Byzantium Survived the Arab Invasions Virtually Visit a Byzantine Church Built for a Mysterious Martyr Primary Movers of Change: Not Climate and Disease This new study, published in the journal Klio by researchers Haggai Olshanetsky, from the University of Warsaw, and Lev Cosijns, from the University of Oxford carefully analyses available archaeological evidence, data from settlements, shipwrecks, and trade patterns in the Mediterranean. Read moreSection: NewsHistory & ArchaeologyHistoryImportant EventsRead Later 

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