Pope Francis Brings Heterodox Cardinal Into His Inner Circle

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Pope Francis has named progressive Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich to his inner cabinet of advisors despite the cardinal’s rejection of key elements of Catholic moral teaching.

Vatican News noted Tuesday that Pope Francis has rebooted his Council of Cardinals, or “C9” as it is known, which was created to assist the pope in the governance of the universal Church. The new Council retains four of its previous members and adds an additional five, including Cardinal Hollerich, a Jesuit like the pope.

In February 2022, Hollerich, who is also president of the European Bishops’ Commission (COMECE), said that Catholic teaching on the sinfulness of homosexual relations is mistaken and needs to be updated.

“I believe that the sociological-scientific foundation of this teaching is no longer correct,” Hollerich said, while calling for a fundamental revision of the Church’s position.

For its part, the Catholic Church teaches that same-sex attraction is “is objectively disordered.” (Read more from “Pope Francis Brings Heterodox Cardinal Into His Inner Circle” HERE)

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Karine Jean-Pierre Doubles Down on Claim That Capital Riots ‘Cost Police Officers Their Lives’ (VIDEO)

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre attacked Fox News host Tucker Carlson again Wednesday after Carlson further discussed new footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol building.

“We agree with the chief of Capitol Police and the wide range of bipartisan lawmakers, you heard them all yesterday, you guys reported on it, who have condemned the false depiction of the unprecedented violent attack on our Constitution and the rule of law which cost police officers their lives,” Jean-Pierre said.

Jean-Pierre referred to the criticism of Carlson in a letter from Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger, who criticized Carlson’s use of footage showing Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick walking during Jan. 6 during his show Monday. Sicknick died of natural causes after suffering two strokes on Jan. 6, the D.C. medical examiner ruled, contradicting reports from The New York Times and other media outlets that Sicknick’s death resulted from injuries sustained during the riot. (Read more from “Karine Jean-Pierre Doubles Down on Claim That Capital Riots ‘Cost Police Officers Their Lives’ (VIDEO)” HERE)

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Marine in Kabul Airport Blast Says He Was Told Not to Shoot ISIS Bomber

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A Marine who survived the deadly bombing at Kabul’s airport during the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan told lawmakers Wednesday he was told not to kill a suspected ISIS terrorist who he believes was responsible for later killing 13 of his fellow service members and countless Afghans.

Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews recounted to the House Foreign Affairs Committee how his team deployed to Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26, 2021, and were tracking a man who intelligence officers believed was a suicide bomber “throughout the entirety” of the day leading up to the explosion.

“Intel guys confirmed the suicide bomber … described as clean-shaven, brown-dressed, black vest and traveling with an older companion,” he said. “I asked intel guys why he wasn’t apprehended sooner since we had a full description. I was told the asset could not be compromised.”

Vargas-Andrews recounted his experience during his opening remarks at the committee’s hearing examining the Biden administration’s handling of the final weeks of the 20-year US war in Afghanistan. The chaotic effort brought massive crowds to the airport with fewer than 6,000 US troops deployed to assist.

Vargas-Andrews told the committee that his team continually updated intelligence teams that day on the suspect’s actions, noting the men were an “anomaly in the crowd” and “both had obvious mannerisms that go along with who we believed him to be.” (Read more from “Marine in Kabul Airport Blast Says He Was Told Not to Shoot ISIS Bomber” HERE)

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Remnants of Russian Platoon Refuse to Fight After ‘Bulls–t’ Mobilization to Donbas

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A Russian officer fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine released a defiant video saying that he and whatever was left of his decimated platoon were refusing to follow orders after being forced to attack settlements without any training.

The recording, which spread on Telegram channels this week, shed light on the purported chaos within the ranks of Vladimir Putin’s draftees mobilized in Ukraine.

In the brief video, a man in a baseball cap who introduces himself as a senior lieutenant stands in front of a group of about 10 soldiers assembled in a bare room with a single light bulb hanging overhead and reads a statement from a sheet of paper.

“We were herded to attack villages absolutely without any training,” he says, adding that conscripts in their 40s were forced to fight “without reconnaissance, without communications, without scouting, without anything.”

The Post could not independently verify the video’s authenticity, and it’s unclear when or where it was recorded. (Read more from “Remnants of Russian Platoon Refuse to Fight After ‘Bulls–t’ Mobilization to Donbas” HERE)

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Florida Introduces ‘Heartbeat Bill’ to Ban Abortions at 6 Weeks

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Republicans in the Florida House and Senate filed a bill that would virtually ban all abortions across the state.

Filed by Fort Pierce Republican Sen. Erin Grall, SB 300 would ban doctors from knowingly performing or inducing a termination of pregnancy after the sixth week of gestation.

The “Heartbeat bill” would prohibit a woman from receiving an abortion right around the time the baby’s heartbeat can first be detected, with the exception of saving the life of the mother, fatal fetal abnormality in a pregnancy that has not progressed to the third trimester, and in the case of rape or incest before 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Florida already has a 15-week abortion ban that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla) signed last year. However, he signaled that he would support a six-week limit on the procedure. (Read more from “Florida Introduces ‘Heartbeat Bill’ to Ban Abortions at 6 Weeks” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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FBI, Pentagon Researched Facial Recognition Tech to Handle ‘Millions of Subjects,’ Documents Say

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The FBI and Pentagon worked closely with experts on facial recognition technology that could be used to identify people on footage captured from street cameras or drones.

New information about the government’s research was revealed in a trove of thousands of documents released as part of an open records lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against the FBI, according to The Washington Post. The facial recognition technology sought would significantly boost the government’s surveillance capabilities.

The program was underwritten by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA), part of the U.S. Intelligence Community. An IARPA program manager described the goal of the project in 2019 as to “dramatically improve” U.S. facial recognition tools with “scaling to support millions of subjects.”

The FBI is “committed to responsible use of facial recognition technology ensuring it appropriately respects individuals’ privacy and civil liberties,” the bureau told the Post in a statement. The Department of Defense did not immediately return The Daily Wire’s request for comment.

The research into facial recognition technology has alarmed some on Capitol Hill. Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts introduced legislation on Tuesday that would prohibit the government from using facial recognition technology and other biotech tools, according to Nextgov. (Read more from “FBI, Pentagon Researched Facial Recognition Tech to Handle ‘Millions of Subjects,’ Documents Say” HERE)

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Tucker Carlson Said He Hates Trump in Private Text Messages: ‘I Can’t Handle Much More of This’

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Fox News host Tucker Carlson sent a series of private text messages to his colleague regarding his relationship with former President Trump, which was released by Dominion Voting Systems as part of its defamation suit against the network.

According to a January 4, 2021, text message, Carlson revealed he has a strong dislike toward Trump.

“I hate him passionately,” a text sent by Carlson to a colleague read. “What he’s good at is destroying things. He’s the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong.”

Two days before the January 6 Capitol Hill protests, Carlson wrote that he was very close to being done having to talk about the former president on-air.

“We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait,” Carlson wrote. (Read more from “Tucker Carlson Said He Hates Trump in Private Text Messages: ‘I Can’t Handle Much More of This'” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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TikTok Whistleblower Says Chinese Communist Party Can Access American User Data

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A former employee of the company that controls TikTok told Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) that members of the Chinese Communist Party can access data from American users of the social media platform.

The allegations occur as TikTok, which is owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance, faces scrutiny for national security concerns and reported data privacy breaches. Hawley said in a letter sent to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday that employees, including members of the Chinese Communist Party who are on the company’s payroll, can allegedly switch between Chinese and American data with “nothing more than the click of a button.”

Workers allegedly use several proprietary software tools created in China that reduce foreign scrutiny and allow engineers to “insert software backdoors,” Hawley described on the basis of the unnamed whistleblower’s account. One such tool allegedly permits employees to access American data with the approval of a manager and a dataset owner.

“I have seen first-hand China-based engineers flipping over to non-China datasets and creating scheduled tasks to backup, aggregate, and analyze data,” the whistleblower told Hawley. “TikTok and ByteDance are functionally the same company. They use the same data analysis tools and chat apps, and managers are in constant contact.”

Hawley noted that TikTok has repeatedly claimed that members of the Chinese Communist Party cannot access American user data but said “it seems more and more likely that they do” with the new accusations about the company’s activities. The lawmaker cited an earlier report from Forbes which said ByteDance planned to track the location of specific American citizens. (Read more from “TikTok Whistleblower Says Chinese Communist Party Can Access American User Data” HERE)

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Powerful ‘Atmospheric River Event’ Set to Hit State, 16 Million Residents Under Flood Watch

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An estimated 16 million people in California are under flood watch ahead of an incoming storm that could dump five to six inches of rain over central and northern parts of the state, including the San Francisco Bay Area.

The impending system is expected to carry with it an atmospheric river (a long, narrow band of moisture carrying warm air and water vapor from tropical climates) into the heart of the state, compounding the already-increased threat of flooding due to recent snowstorms, according to CNN.

“Our reservoirs are all full from storms earlier this year. With reservoirs full, we expect our creeks will rise more rapidly with most of the rain becoming runoff,” Marin County Fire Chief Jason Weber told the outlet.

Emergency response teams across the state were already busy after several severe snowstorms impacted communities across California throughout 2023. (Read more from “Powerful ‘Atmospheric River Event’ Set to Hit State, 16 Million Residents Under Flood Watch” HERE)

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Hillary Clinton: Women Are ‘Primary Victims’ of Climate Change; Ukraine Prime Example (VIDEO)

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Women are the “primary victims” of “climate change,” twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said during a discussion Wednesday at the 30/50 Summit in Abu Dhabi, pointing to Ukraine as the prime example.

“Women and children are the primary victims of conflict and of climate change and there is no place that unfortunately, tragically, shows us that more dramatically than Ukraine today,” Clinton despaired to MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski.

“But there are a lot of other conflicts, a lot of other challenges that we have to take into account as we look at gender apartheid and Afghanistan. The persecution and oppression of girls and women exercising their freedom of choice in Iran and so many other places,” she continued.

It remains unclear how, exactly, the conflict in Ukraine demonstrates how women are “primary victims” of climate change, as the current conflict has virtually nothing to do with the planet’s cooling or warming patterns. It also remains unclear how fluctuations in the earth’s temperature — a phenomenon that has occurred throughout the history of the world — disproportionally impacts women:

(Read more from “Hillary Clinton: Women Are ‘Primary Victims’ of Climate Change; Ukraine Prime Example (VIDEO)” HERE)

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