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Booker rival who ‘shoots from the hip’ hopes viral debate moment can break GOP’s Senate drought

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A New Jersey attorney and former municipal official who made waves during his debate with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N. J., said his unscripted style may be the secret sauce to making history and ending a Republican Senate drought in New Jersey that stretches back more than half a century.

Justin Murphy, a Navy veteran and former deputy mayor of Tabernacle in the state’s Pine Barrens, stunned his incumbent Democratic opponent when, in response to a question about the Iran war strategy, he bluntly said President Donald Trump should forcefully «finish it.»

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«I don’t have a speechwriter. There’s no teleprompter — I shoot from the hip because I want people to see a very sincere, genuine and authentic Justin Murphy,» Murphy told Digital.

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«This came up. And I had no idea it would become as viral or explode as it has on social media. It’s what I felt. I meant what I said. I said what I meant. It wasn’t planned to try to spark the reaction that we got … through social media.»

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Clifford Case, the last Republican to represent the Garden State in the Senate, was last elected in 1972 – the same year Giants Stadium broke ground, years before the Jets joined the Giants in New Jersey and before NJ Transit was created.

Murphy said that in his 60 years, he cannot remember a time when Iran’s support for terrorism, «export» of assassination or killing of its own people was not a feature of the nightly news.

«I think we have a president now that is breaking from the past, and he’s no longer kicking the can down the road. And I think that’s important that our young people know tomorrow that they will not have to worry about what the words ‘Strait of Hormuz’ mean when this is over.»

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TRUMP IS DISMANTLING IRAN’S WAR MACHINE, BUT AMERICA STILL NEEDS AN ENDGAME

Asked how his message on Iran can overcome concerns about the war’s effect on energy prices – including among Republicans and independents in the crucial Philadelphia metro area where he lives – Murphy said it is important to offer a vision focused on long-term national and energy security.

The «long-term» aspect of his message is twofold, he said, noting that he was in first grade in the Philadelphia suburb of Collingdale, Pennsylvania, the last time New Jersey elected a Republican to the Senate.

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«Number one — it’s time for a change. We had a good cordial debate with [Cory Booker] but he’s been a senator for 13 years — he’s been [in Washington] longer than Donald Trump.»

«I don’t think he gets to blame Donald Trump for anything. He’s part of the branch of government that passes our country’s laws and writes our tax codes and passes our budgets. I’m wondering what he’s willing to take responsibility or blame for.»

«So what I tell people is that we need a new generation of Americans to serve in Washington, a new day in New Jersey politics, and our working and middle class New Jersey desperately need a voice in the U.S. Senate, and my campaign represents all three of those.»

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Looking to that «better tomorrow,» Murphy said he understands concerns about the Iran conflict’s effect on gas prices in his area, which he put at $4.20 per gallon as of Wednesday and which have become a major point of criticism of the current administration.

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«If they’re upset at gasoline at $4.20 … you were paying over $5 a gallon with Joe Biden with a 9% interest rate, with a 20% cumulative inflation rate, with an open border, rising crime rates, declining wages and an 8% interest rate that is a full point or two higher than it is now,» he said.

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Murphy said those concerned about prices should also look to domestic energy production and support policies that increase refining capacity to reduce exposure to global oil markets.

He also pointed to legislation introduced moments before the interview by «Squad» member Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., to dismantle the Department of Homeland Security.

«This is madness and insanity, and it’s not the tomorrow that Americans want or can build together,» he said.

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Murphy was also asked about election security in New Jersey, where hundreds of noncitizens have been found to have voted in recent elections as the Sherrill administration pushes back on federal efforts to crack down.

«Election integrity is extremely and critically important, not only to me and my campaign, but to the country. We’re designed as a representative government, a constitutional republic, and we need to know our elections are secure — We know we have contaminated rolls in New Jersey,» he said.

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Murphy stressed that he does not want an election system that benefits Republicans, as critics claim, but one that is fair, accurate and reflects the will of American voters. He also called Trenton’s immigration enforcement posture «utter insanity.»

For Murphy, the debate’s viral «Wow» moment was more than a campaign breakthrough. He sees it as a test of whether an unscripted message on national security can cut through voters’ immediate concerns about gas prices — and give Republicans a path to end their decades-long Senate drought in New Jersey.

Booker’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the exchange.

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Quién es Leonardo Bertulazzi, el integrante de las Brigadas Rojas italianas que se fugó en San Telmo

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Leonardo Bertulazzi tiene 74 años, es italiano y formó parte de las Brigadas Rojas, una organización armada de extrema izquierda que protagonizó una serie de secuestros, atentados y asesinatos durante las décadas de 1970 y 1980. Este martes, su nombre volvió a quedar en el centro de la escena después de que escapara del arresto domiciliario que cumplía en un departamento del barrio porteño de San Telmo, mientras esperaba ser extraditado a su país.

El exintegrante de la organización tenía una condena de 27 años de prisión dictada por la Justicia italiana. Uno de los principales hechos por los que fue sentenciado fue el secuestro del ingeniero naval Pietro Costa, ocurrido en enero de 1977.

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Además, las investigaciones lo vincularon con tareas logísticas relacionadas con el secuestro del ex primer ministro italiano Aldo Moro, uno de los episodios más resonantes de la historia política de Italia.

Su participación en las Brigadas Rojas

Bertulazzi integró la columna de Génova de las Brigadas Rojas, una de las estructuras territoriales de la organización. El grupo armado desarrolló buena parte de su actividad durante los llamados años de plomo, un período marcado por la violencia política, los atentados y los enfrentamientos entre organizaciones extremistas en Italia.

El 12 de enero de 1977, el ingeniero naval Pietro Costa fue secuestrado por integrantes de la organización. Costa pertenecía a una familia vinculada con la industria de los astilleros y permaneció cautivo hasta fines de marzo de ese año, cuando fue liberado después del pago de un rescate.

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Leonardo Bertulazzi en una imagen de archivo (Foto: Dyn)

Por ese episodio y su pertenencia a la organización armada, Bertulazzi recibió una condena de 27 años de prisión. La sentencia quedó firme en Italia. Su nombre también apareció relacionado con el secuestro de Aldo Moro, quien había sido primer ministro italiano y era una de las figuras más importantes de la Democracia Cristiana.

El secuestro y asesinato de Aldo Moro

El 16 de marzo de 1978, un comando de las Brigadas Rojas interceptó el vehículo en el que viajaba Moro, asesinó a sus cinco custodios y secuestró al dirigente político en Roma.

El ex primer ministro permaneció cautivo durante 55 días. Finalmente, el 9 de mayo de ese año, su cuerpo fue encontrado dentro de un automóvil abandonado en el centro de la capital italiana.

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Bertulazzi fue señalado por su participación en tareas logísticas de la organización durante ese período. Si bien su condena de 27 años estuvo vinculada principalmente con el secuestro de Pietro Costa, su trayectoria dentro de las Brigadas Rojas también quedó asociada a uno de los crímenes más impactantes de la historia contemporánea italiana.

Sus primeros años prófugo y su llegada a la Argentina

Bertulazzi permaneció prófugo durante décadas. Llegó a la Argentina en 2002 y ese mismo año fue detenido por primera vez, aunque recuperó la libertad meses después.

En 2004 obtuvo el reconocimiento como refugiado político, una condición que impidió que avanzara su extradición a Italia. De esa manera, pudo permanecer en el país durante años pese a los requerimientos de la Justicia italiana.

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La situación cambió en agosto de 2024, cuando el Gobierno argentino le retiró esa condición y volvió a detenerlo en Buenos Aires, después de un operativo de inteligencia en el que participaron distintas áreas del Estado.

Leonardo Bertulazzi al ser detenido en 2003 en la Argentina (Foto de archivo: AP)
Leonardo Bertulazzi al ser detenido en 2003 en la Argentina (Foto de archivo: AP)

Desde entonces, permanecía bajo arresto domiciliario mientras se resolvía el proceso de extradición. La Corte Suprema de Justicia había declarado procedente el pedido de Italia, aunque todavía quedaban cuestiones judiciales pendientes vinculadas con su anterior condición de refugiado.

Tras la fuga, el Gobierno nacional oficializó una recompensa de $20 millones para quienes aporten información que permita localizar y detener a Bertulazzi.

La medida quedó establecida mediante la Resolución 1168/2026, publicada en el Boletín Oficial, en el marco del Programa Nacional de Recompensas. Quienes tengan información sobre su paradero pueden comunicarse de manera gratuita con la línea 134.

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Dakota Meyer survived a battle he thought would kill him. 15 years after leaving the Marines, he went back

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Fifteen years after Dakota Meyer left the Marine Corps, the Medal of Honor recipient decided to put the uniform back on — becoming the first with the award to ever reenlist.

Meyer was 36. He had fought in Afghanistan, struggled with the transition home from war and spent years building a life outside the military. But he said the desire to serve never went away.

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«Every day after I took that uniform off, that desire to serve didn’t just end because my commitment to the country did,» Meyer told Digital in an interview ahead of Veterans Day.

AMERICAN WAR HERO DETAILS DIRE LIVING CONDITIONS US TROOPS FACE AS HEGSETH TAPS HIM TO ‘FIX’ IT

Meyer rejects the idea that receiving the Medal of Honor meant he had already done enough.

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«I think sometimes it’s looked at as you’ve done your part, and I am wholeheartedly against that,» he said. «I believe that the only time you’ve done your part is when you’ve done all that you can.»

For Meyer, Veterans Day is a reminder that service does not necessarily end when someone leaves the military.

«Sometimes we look at the veteran title as it is something that represents something we’ve done,» Meyer said. «And it’s not. It’s something that we are doing, and it is something that we can continue to do.»

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Meyer re-enlisted in 2025 and later entered the training pipeline to become a reconnaissance Marine, completing the grueling course in his late 30s.

«To be able to do that at 38, it was definitely one of the — hands down — probably the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to do,» Meyer said.

His first stint in the Marines had taken him to Afghanistan, where at 21 he fought in the 2009 Battle of Ganjgal in Kunar Province.

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Meyer had been assigned to remain with the vehicles at a rally point while other members of his team accompanied Afghan troops toward the village roughly a mile away. The patrol was ambushed by more than 50 insurgents firing from fortified positions on the surrounding slopes.

MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT JAMES CAPERS JR. SAYS RECOGNITION IS BITTERSWEET AFTER LOSING ‘SO MUCH’

Meyer and Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez could hear the battle unfolding over the radio. Four members of Meyer’s team were trapped inside the ambush.

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After repeatedly asking for permission to go in, Meyer and Rodriguez-Chavez drove toward the fighting, with Meyer manning the gun turret.

«I think often we try to make these decisions as if it’s some heroic decision, and it’s really not,» Meyer said. «It’s just about following through on what my promise that I had made to them.»

The pair made repeated trips into the ambush, helping evacuate wounded troops as Meyer continued searching for his teammates.

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«I think it was at that point that I did realize that I just accepted that I was going to die,» Meyer recalled. «But I was gonna make sure that I would do everything I could up until that last breath.»

His four teammates were ultimately found dead. Meyer would receive the Medal of Honor for his actions that day.

Leaving the Marines the following year brought a different battle.

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«I struggled. I mean, I struggled,» Meyer said. «The horrors of war definitely haunted me when I got out.»

Meyer said one of the hardest parts of returning to civilian life was figuring out what could replace the sense of purpose he had found in the military.

«The hardest part was finding purpose,» he said. «It wasn’t about being successful in anything.»

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Eventually, he said, he realized that neither money nor professional success was what he was looking for. He wanted to feel that his work had an impact.

Years later, while speaking to a group of Marines at Camp Pendleton, that question of purpose came back to him in a different way.

A Marine attending a leadership course told Meyer he was deciding whether to reenlist. He had a family and could make more money outside the military, but he loved serving.

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«Do you think it’s still worth serving?» he asked.

Meyer said yes, but the answer bothered him.

«I felt it was one of the most unbecoming things that I had ever said back to that crowd,» Meyer said, explaining that he was telling someone else to accept the sacrifices of continued service while he was free to return to civilian life.

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«I told them that I would walk out of there and I would go about reenlisting or I would never say that to anybody again.»

It ultimately took Meyer about two years to return to the Marines.

Once back, he pursued a goal he had held since first seeing a Recon Marine poster in a recruiting office as a young man.

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«They were the people that we were all trying to be inside of the Marine Corps,» Meyer said.

At 37 and 38, keeping up physically wasn’t necessarily the problem, but recovering felt different.

«What got me was the cumulative fatigue at my age,» Meyer said. «These kids can recover like nothing else.»

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The experience also gave Meyer a close look at a generation of Marines nearly two decades younger than the one he had served alongside in Afghanistan.

He came away impressed.

«When we talk about service members or this next generation being weaker, it’s absolutely not the case,» Meyer said. «These kids are hands down, they will rise to the level of expectation that is set for them.»

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Meyer said the Marine Corps itself has changed since he left in 2010, but he viewed much of that change as necessary. He recalled younger Marines giving him an hour-long lesson on their «new language» during a break in training and said he often found himself learning from them.

«They do things a lot smarter,» Meyer said. «I found myself learning a lot more from them than I did them probably learning from me.»

He said today’s young service members don’t have a «generational problem,» and said they still want the challenge, purpose and sense of belonging that drew those to serve before them.

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Caravana de 2 mil migrantes sale del sur de México rumbo a Estados Unidos

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Una nueva caravana integrada por aproximadamente 2,000 migrantes de Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala y Nicaraguasalió este martes de Tapachula, en el estado mexicano de Chiapas, con la intención de avanzar hacia la frontera de Estados Unidos, en medio de las expectativas de un posible cambio en las políticas migratorias de Washington.

La movilización, que comenzó el pasado sábado desde San Pedro Sula, Honduras, continuó su recorrido desde el sur de México, donde los participantes esperan avanzar de manera pacífica y conseguir mejores oportunidades para sus familias.

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El desplazamiento ocurre una semana después de las elecciones de medio mandato en Estados Unidos, cuyos resultados modificaron el escenario político para el presidente Donald Trump, luego de que los demócratas recuperaran el control legislativo, un resultado que despertó expectativas entre los migrantes sobre un posible freno a las políticas migratorias restrictivas.

Sin embargo, aunque los integrantes de la caravana mantienen la esperanza de encontrar oportunidades en territorio estadounidense, organizaciones que acompañan a la población migrante consideran que los resultados electorales no necesariamente provocarán cambios inmediatos en las medidas migratorias.

Hondureños forman parte de la movilización centroamericana que busca llegar a la frontera norte de México para encontrar oportunidades laborales. (Foto: Cortesía)

De acuerdo con información proporcionada a la agencia EFE, uno de los participantes es Álvaro José Vanegas Estrada, migrante de Nicaragua, quien emprendió el recorrido con apenas 20 dólares, dejando atrás sus actividades agrícolas, a su esposa y a sus dos hijos.

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El hombre explicó que decidió salir de su país con la expectativa de encontrar una oportunidad laboral que le permita mejorar las condiciones económicas de su familia.

Vanegas considera que la participación de la comunidad latina en diferentes sectores productivos de Estados Unidos podría representar una oportunidad para quienes buscan ingresar al mercado laboral.

«El gobierno estadounidense sabe que el 19 % de la comunidad latina es la que hace el trabajo pesado, lo que es la construcción y la hotelería. Entonces en este momento ha visto que ha bajado ese punto de trabajo y creo que tal vez, nos dé la oportunidad de entrar», expresó a EFE.

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No obstante, el migrante explicó que su intención inicial no necesariamente es cruzar de inmediato hacia Estados Unidos, sino llegar al norte de México, permanecer allí durante un tiempo y conseguir trabajo para enviar dinero a su familia mientras espera posibles cambios en las decisiones migratorias estadounidenses.

La nueva caravana migrante inició su recorrido desde San Pedro Sula el pasado sábado y continuó este martes desde el estado mexicano de Chiapas. (Foto: Cortesía)

Entre los participantes de la caravana también se encuentra el hondureño Bili Noe Martínez Colindres, quien hizo un llamado al Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM) de México para que permita el desplazamiento de los migrantes sin obstáculos y de manera pacífica.

El compatriota manifestó que las personas que integran la movilización buscan oportunidades para mejorar la vida de sus familiares y pidió respeto durante el recorrido por territorio mexicano.

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«Nosotros solo queremos un sueño para nuestras familias, respeto a nosotros, respetamos a México y Guatemala. Es el llamado que le hacemos como hondureños a usted señora presidenta (Claudia Sheinbaum), que nos apoye con ese permiso», manifestó.

La petición está dirigida a las autoridades mexicanas, particularmente a la presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum, para que los integrantes de la caravana puedan continuar su desplazamiento sin enfrentar dificultades relacionadas con su condición migratoria.

El recorrido hasta la frontera mexicana con Estados Unidos representa un trayecto de aproximadamente 3,000 kilómetros, una distancia que los migrantes deberán cubrir en diferentes etapas y bajo condiciones que pueden complicar su avance.

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Álvaro José Vanegas Estrada, migrante nicaragüense, emprendió el viaje con apenas 20 dólares y dejó a su esposa y sus dos hijos en su país. (Foto: Cortesía)

Entre los migrantes existe la percepción de que el cambio en la composición del Congreso estadounidense podría abrir espacios para revisar algunas de las medidas migratorias impulsadas por el mandatario republicano.

Sin embargo, Luis García Villagrán, representante del Centro de Dignificación Humana A.C., organización que trabaja en la frontera sur de México, consideró que no se esperan modificaciones importantes en la política migratoria estadounidense como consecuencia inmediata de los resultados electorales.

«No creo que vaya a cambiar mucho, pero en ánimo de la gente sí ayudó mucho, para que la gente se anime a salir caminando y tratar de llegar lo más cerca de la frontera norte», señaló el activista.

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