Biden Tries to Contain Classified Documents Leak Fallout: ‘Stakes Just Got Higher’

A Massachusetts Air National Guardsman has been arrested after the leak of classified information that has already had consequences for the Ukraine war and the United States’s relationship with critical allies, including Egypt, Israel, and South Korea.

But while the suspected source of the leak, 21-year-old intelligence information technology officer and gamer Jack Teixeira, has been identified, the national security and political implications of his actions for President Joe Biden are only now being understood.

Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Mick Mulroy excoriated Teixeira’s alleged leak for threatening national security by undermining the country’s collection of intelligence.

“It is bad enough that our adversaries know what we know, or at least in part,” Mulroy told the Washington Examiner. “It is really bad if our adversaries know how we know it. That goes to our sources and methods. They will review what documents are out there and use that to launch their own counterintelligence operations.”

Teixeira reportedly started sharing photos of classified information in a pandemic-era online chatroom he led on the Discord social media website that is popular with gamers months ago before they were found on other platforms and located by the Biden administration last week. And his leak has caused “substantive damage” to Ukraine by disclosing secret U.S. assessments of Ukraine’s capabilities and how the U.S. has compromised Russia’s communication channels, according to American Enterprise Institute foreign policy senior fellow Dalibor Rohac. (Read more from “Biden Tries to Contain Classified Documents Leak Fallout: ‘Stakes Just Got Higher’” HERE)

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Russia Is Equipping Simple Bombs With Guidance Systems, Turning Them Into Cheap Substitutes for Expensive Cruise Missiles

Russia is modifying simple bombs to equip them with guidance systems, turning them into cheap and effective substitutes for expensive guided missiles.

The regular bombs appear to be being converted to smart ones using UMPK (unified module for gliding and guidance) systems, according to Illia Ponomarenko of the Kyiv Independent.

Ponomarenko wrote that the upgraded guided or gliding bombs pose “an especially serious threat to Ukraine” that can “deliver devastating hits upon Ukrainian lines and the rear front.”

This system can be used to equip old Soviet FAB-500М-62 gravity bombs, which Russia has an abundant supply of, with a simple satellite guidance system and “wings,” according to the outlet.

In March, Russia effectively used the modified bombs to bombard Ukrainian defenses of Avdiivka in Donetsk. (Read more from “Russia Is Equipping Simple Bombs With Guidance Systems, Turning Them Into Cheap Substitutes for Expensive Cruise Missiles” HERE)

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Washington Bill Would Bar Parents From Intervening on Child Gender Transitions

A bill in Washington state would prevent parents from intervening in their child’s decision to receive gender transition treatments.

Senate Bill 5599 would essentially allow host homes for runaway youth to house minors “without parental permission.” The host homes would also not be required to notify parents of their child’s whereabouts or tell them if they are undergoing gender transition procedures “if there is a compelling reason not to, which includes a youth seeking protected health services.” Per Fox News:

The “protected health care services” included “gender-affirming care,” which for minors arbitrarily included anything prescribed by a doctor to treat dysphoria, the bill said.

“Gender affirming treatment can be prescribed to two-spirit, transgender, nonbinary, and other gender diverse individuals,” the bill stated.

For minors, “affirming care” typically included puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries. It was unclear which services would be approved under the bill.

(Read more from “Washington Bill Would Bar Parents From Intervening on Child Gender Transitions” HERE)

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Trump Basks in Frontrunner Status: ‘I’m Honored’ by Polling Leads, ‘Party Is Very Unified’ Behind 2024 Campaign

Former President Donald Trump told Breitbart News exclusively on Friday night that he is “honored” to be the frontrunner for the White House in the 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump, just off his arraignment post-indictment in New York City, has seen a massive surge of support both in the GOP primary and in general election numbers in recent weeks.

“Well, I’m honored,” Trump said when asked why he thinks he is seeing the surge to frontrunner status. “Sadly, I have to say part of it is because the country is doing so poorly. I wish it were for other reasons. They saw how we did, and now they see the country doing so poorly and so pathetically. We’re not respected by anybody. You have wars all over. Ukraine and Russia never would have happened if I were president — zero chance. It looks like China is going to happen with Taiwan. That never would have happened. And inflation never would have happened. It was caused by energy prices more than anything else. So many of these things were just self-imposed foolish mistakes — stupid mistakes beyond anything anyone has ever seen before. So, yeah, I’m leading a lot in the polls — by 35 or 40 points in almost every poll. Texas just came in and we’re almost 50 points in Texas. Now, Massachusetts is almost 50 points.”

It seems like the indictment from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and the intense national focus on his arraignment, has only fueled Trump’s surge.

In general election numbers, two post-indictment YouGov surveys nationally put Trump ahead of Democrat President Joe Biden, and a Rasmussen Reports survey showed Trump expanding his lead to seven percent over the incumbent president.

(Read more from “Trump Basks in Frontrunner Status: ‘I’m Honored’ by Polling Leads, ‘Party Is Very Unified’ Behind 2024 Campaign” HERE)

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For $80 Billion (And Counting) US Taxpayers Have Bought a Bloody Stalemate in Ukraine

The trove of recently leaked intelligence documents related to the Ukraine war should prompt Americans to start asking tough questions about our involvement in that conflict, which one of the documents, a Feb. 23 overview of fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas region, describes as a “grinding campaign of attrition” that has reached a “stalemate.”

U.S. taxpayers have poured nearly $80 billion into this war over the past 14 months. At what point are we allowed to ask whether a “stalemate” in a “grinding campaign of attrition” is a good deal for Americans?

Above all, Americans should demand the bipartisan Washington consensus that supports indefinitely funding the war explain what our strategy is, define what the American interest is in it, and detail how they plan to achieve something beyond an interminable war of attrition that risks pulling us into direct conflict with nuclear-armed Russia. At the very least, the American people deserve more than inane platitudes from Antony Blinken about “Ukrainian victory” and “standing united with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” as if total Russian defeat and withdrawal is a realistic outcome.

The classified documents lend some urgency to these questions because they reveal, among other things, a severe shortage of air defense weapons in Ukraine — so severe it could mean the difference between an ongoing stalemate or a Russian victory in the coming weeks or months. Without adequate air defenses, Russian warplanes will be able to bomb Ukrainian positions at will, which in turn might make Ukraine’s planned spring offensive impossible. No wonder, then, that earlier this month the Biden administration pledged $2.6 billion to rush air defense systems to Ukraine.

What the documents also suggest, as if it hasn’t become obvious by now, is that the war has not been an unbroken chain of brilliant underdog battlefield victories for Ukraine and crushing defeats for Russia, as the corporate media and the Washington political establishment have led us to believe. It rather seems like chaotic and indecisive butchery on both sides, with weapons and cash pouring in not just from the U.S. but from all over the world sustaining a large-scale war of attrition with no end in sight. Behind the scenes, according to the leaked documents, U.S. officials are predicting only “modest territorial gains” from Ukraine’s big spring counteroffensive, the recent surge of U.S. weapons and air defense systems notwithstanding. (Read more from “For $80 Billion (And Counting) US Taxpayers Have Bought a Bloody Stalemate in Ukraine” HERE)

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Donald Trump Pledges Tax Credit for Teachers Who Train to Be Armed

During his speech at the NRA’s Annual Meeting 2023, former president Donald Trump, a candidate for president in 2024, pledged a tax credit for teachers who take the time to be trained in firearms proficiency for classroom defense.

According to excerpts of prepared remarks provided to Breitbart News by Trump’s team, Trump spoke at the NRA Annual Meeting leadership forum, where he told attendees, “I will also create a new tax credit to reimburse any teacher for the full cost of a concealed-carry firearm and training from highly qualified experts.”

He added, “If even 5 percent of teachers were voluntarily armed and trained to stop active shooters, we would achieve effective deterrence and the problem would cease to exist.” (Read more from “Donald Trump Pledges Tax Credit for Teachers Who Train to Be Armed” HERE)

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A Triumphant Trump Asks for NRA Convention’s Help in Returning to White House

Former President Donald Trump had a hero’s return to the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Indianapolis as he hit the stage to chants of “USA! USA!”

“I was proud to be the most pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment president you’ve ever had in the White House,” Trump said. “I think that’s been acknowledged, and with your support, in 2024, I will be your loyal friend and fearless champion once again as the 47th president of the United States.”

Trump bragged about his poll numbers and briefly referenced several 2024 presidential rivals, including former Vice President Mike Pence, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, as he spoke before gun rights activists at the event.

Pence and Trump have been at odds since the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The NRA convention is the first time the two men are speaking at the same place. Yet Pence has not announced whether he will run.

Nevertheless, Trump had a few positive words for his former running mate. “I hope you gave Pence a good warm approval,” Trump said as some of the NRA crowd booed Pence. “Because he is a nice man if you want to really know the truth. … He’s a good man.” (Read more from “A Triumphant Trump Asks for NRA Convention’s Help in Returning to White House” HERE)

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‘That Is a Fraud’: DeSantis Blasts Trans Swimmer Lia Thomas

Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis took a swipe at male athletes who claim to be transgender “women” by slamming them as “frauds” on Friday.

Speaking at Liberty University, DeSantis took specific aim at transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas. Though he did not use the swimmer’s name, there was no doubt about who DeSantis meant to reference.

“It is wrong to have a swimmer compete for three years on the men’s swim team, switch to the women’s team, and then win the women’s national championship,” DeSantis told his audience, Fox News reported. “That is a fraud. That is wrong.”

The comments perfectly line up with the sudden championship swimming year experienced by Thomas. Born as William Thomas, the athlete was an entirely mediocre swimmer on the UPenn men’s swimming team for three years. But after taking a year off to “transition” to a female, Thomas rejoined the UPenn swimming program on the women’s team and was suddenly the school’s top woman swimmer. Thomas won the 2022 500 freestyle national championship after a season of multiple top times in the sport. (Read more from “‘That Is a Fraud’: DeSantis Blasts Trans Swimmer Lia Thomas” HERE)

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Montana Lawmakers Pass Statewide Ban on TikTok, First in Nation

Montana lawmakers voted to pass the first state ban on TikTok, sending the bill to Gov. Greg Gianforte to be signed into law.

Montana’s House of Representatives voted 54-43 on Friday in favor of SB 419, more than a month after the Montana state Senate voted in favor of the bill. SB 419’s passage will make it the most extreme measure lawmakers in the United States have imposed on the China-operated social media app. Gianforte, a Republican, is expected to sign the bill.

The bill would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, prohibiting TikTok from operating within Montana’s borders. It will also fine companies providing the app $10,000 per violation for allowing users access to the app.

TikTok will “continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach,” a spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal. (Read more from “Montana Lawmakers Pass Statewide Ban on TikTok, First in Nation” HERE)

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Ivy League Pledges to Recommit Itself to Free Speech After Students Shouted Conservative Pundit off Stage

Cornell University pledged Friday to make freedom of expression a theme of the 2023-2024 academic year, months after students shouted a conservative pundit out of the room, according to a recent announcement.

Ann Coulter, a conservative personality, cut her speech at Cornell short in November 2022 after students repeatedly interrupted the event by shouting, playing circus music and making fart noises, student newspaper the Cornell Review reported. Cornell will host a variety of “scholarly and creative events and activities” to challenge the faculty, staff and student body to “engage” with the concepts of “free expression and academic freedom” throughout the current academic year, the announcement reads.

“It is critical to our mission as a university to think deeply about freedom of expression and the challenges that result from assaults on it, which today come from both ends of the political spectrum,” Pollack said in the announcement. “Learning from difference, learning to engage with difference and learning to communicate across difference are key parts of a Cornell education. Free expression and academic freedom are the bedrock not just of the university, but of democracy.”

Activities will include reading groups, debates and exhibitions focused on free expression, according to the announcement. The university will launch a website outlining the different events as well as its goals before the start of the Fall 2023 semester. (Read more from “Ivy League Pledges to Recommit Itself to Free Speech After Students Shouted Conservative Pundit off Stage” HERE)

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