DOJ: Afghans Paid Bribes to Navy Commander to Secure U.S. Visas

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A number of Afghans allegedly paid bribes to a Commander in the United States Navy Reserves in the hopes of securing Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) to the U.S. as part of President Joe Biden’s ongoing resettlement operation out of Afghanistan, federal prosecutors allege.

Late last week, the Justice Department announced bribery and visa fraud charges against 53-year-old Navy Reserves Commander Jeromy Pittmann of Pensacola, Florida.

According to the charges, Pittmann — who now resides in Naples, Italy — was paid by Afghans to write up and submit fake recommendation letters for SIVs to the U.S. The more than 20 letters falsely claimed that the Afghans had worked as translators for the U.S. Armed Forces in Afghanistan.

Pittmann, in the letters, prosecutors allege, claimed that he oversaw and worked with the Afghans he wrote the fraudulent letters for, that their lives were in jeopardy because they would be targets for the Taliban, and that they were not national security risks.

In reality, the Afghans seeking the SIVs had not worked for the U.S. Armed Forces. (Read more from “DOJ: Afghans Paid Bribes to Navy Commander to Secure U.S. Visas” HERE)

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The Biden Administration Is Negotiating With Venezuelan Terrorists for Oil

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What to make of a high-level U.S. delegation that traveled to Venezuela to meet with the government of President Nicolás Maduro? The visit was initially posited as an opportunity to reset U.S.-Venezuela relations. The United States could assist in the recovery of Venezuela’s decimated petroleum industry, which possesses some of the largest reserves in the world, in exchange for reorienting their petroleum tap towards the United States.

It appears the Biden administration would rather engage the rogue regime in Caracas than consider increasing U.S. domestic production. This decision further damages the international credibility of the United States and can only be viewed as the latest example of foreign policy malpractice from an erratic, unserious Biden administration.

Let’s review: for more than a dozen years, the United States has imposed sanctions on Venezuela. Sanctions have spanned several U.S. administrations and were instigated by the regime’s lack of cooperation on narco-trafficking and counterterrorism, human rights abuses, corruption, and other anti-democratic behaviors.

Diplomatic relations were severed and the U.S. embassy shuttered in 2019 when the United States recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s lawful president. The Trump administration imposed heavy sanctions on Venezuela’s oil exports, virtually unplugging them from global financial markets, and brought charges against government officials to pressure Maduro to abdicate. He did not.

In 2019, Guaidó was recognized as the legitimate president by some 50 countries. While that recognition has diminished over time, the United States still “maintains diplomatic relations” with Guaidó, but the Biden administration did not meet with him during the visit. (Read more from “The Biden Administration Is Negotiating With Venezuelan Terrorists for Oil” HERE)

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Third Wave Coming? China’s New COVID Lockdown Could Determine Fed’s Interest Rate Hike

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China’s COVID lockdown of Shenzhen, the southern financial and manufacturing hub that neighbors Hong Kong, came as a shock.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index plunged five percent to its lowest level since 2016. The Hang Seng tech index crashed 11 percent. Chinese stocks that trade in New York fell sharply, with videogame maker NetEase, e-commerce giant JD.com, search and AI giant Baidu.com, farm-tech firm Pinduoduo among the worst performing stocks in the Nasdaq composite.

No market is an island, especially when China is involved, so the closing of Shenzhen sent a shockwave rippling through U.S. stocks. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 262.59 points, or 2 percent, to its lowest level since December 2020. Shares of Apple fell 2.7 percent, Amazon declined 2.5 percent, and Google shares tumbled three percent. Nothing calamitous, however. The S&P 500 was down just seven-tenths of a point, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average actually rose on the day. (Read more from “Third Wave Coming? China’s New COVID Lockdown Could Determine Fed’s Interest Rate Hike” HERE)

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White House Transcript Steps in With Adjustment After Kamala Harris Makes Rather Curious Comments About NATO (VIDEO)

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On Saturday afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the DNC Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., after returning from Poland, in the midst of Eastern Europe and the world being rocked by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. As Landon covered earlier, the vice president made some eyebrow-raising remarks about how voters “got what they ordered.” Her comments about NATO also raised some suspicion, including with the White House, considering that the transcript includes an edit.

“So I will say what I know we all say, and I will say over and over again: The United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people [and] in defense of the NATO Alliance,” Harris said to applause, according to the official White House transcript. The “and” was added after the fact, as indicated by brackets.

Our friends at Twitchy highlighted a clip as well as reactions to Harris’ comments, which shows her remarks as delivered being “So I will say what I know we all say, and I will say over and over again: The United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people, in defense of the NATO Alliance.”

While Harris’ commitment to standing with the people of Ukraine may be admirable, screwing up the facts about the NATO alliance is not something one ought to communicate she will say, and thinks others will say, “over and over again.”

Ukraine had attempted to get into NATO, especially as the Russian invasion loomed closer, but before it happened, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February calling for a “clear” timeline on when he could join. However, earlier this month, Zelensky indicated he is no longer pressing to join. (Read more from “White House Transcript Steps in With Adjustment After Kamala Harris Makes Rather Curious Comments About NATO” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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Airline Made up a Federal Regulation to Boot a Passenger for Wearing an Anti-Joe Biden Hoodie

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We’re back to this game again, huh? We have airline crews booting people from flights or asking them to cover up attire they deem offensive. Of course, it’s masks, hoodies, and sweaters that all rip Joe Biden. One man was asked to wear a mask over his ‘Let’s go Brandon’ mask. Another passenger was booted from an Allegiant flight for the same mask. On JetBlue, it happened to another passenger. Now, Delta has joined this game, taking a black man off the flight for wearing a “f*ck Joe Biden” hoodie.

The airline claimed it was over an FAA regulation, but it doesn’t exist.

(Read more from “Airline Made up a Federal Regulation to Boot a Passenger for Wearing an Anti-Joe Biden Hoodie” HERE)

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Biden Repeats Massive Lie About COVID Vaccines…Again

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In a tweet sent late last week, President Joe Biden again repeated the claim that infrastructure or plans to distribute Wuhan coronavirus vaccines were not in place when he came into office on January 20, 2021.

This claim is not true and yet, Biden keeps repeating it.

On May 16, 2020, President Donald Trump announced the launch of Operation Warp Speed. The main objectives of the program were to repeal federal government bureaucracy in order to streamline vaccine and treatment development for the disease. The program included development of logistics to distribute vaccines once they became available. The Trump administration worked with UPS, FedEx and a number of pharmacies to get the job done. (Read more from “Biden Repeats Massive Lie About COVID Vaccines…Again” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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Biden Spokesman Clashes With Reporters After Refusing to Condemn Mass Execution by Saudi Arabia

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A reporter asked Price if the U.S. condemns the mass execution. He did not condemn it, instead saying that the Biden administration continues to raise its concerns about the Saudi judicial system with Riyadh.

“We continue to raise with Saudi Arabia the need to ensure fair trial guarantees, freedom from arbitrary and extrajudicial detention, transparency, the rule of law, and freedom of religion of belief,” Price said.

At that point, The Associated Press’ Matt Lee interjected, “So that’s it? You don’t have anything else to say about 81 people just being summarily executed?”

“We have been clear about our concerns about the lack of respect for fair trial guarantees in Saudi Arabia, we’ve documented this in our human rights reports, we’ve raised these concerns with the Saudi government, we’ll continue to do so,” Price answered. “What we want to see, and we’ve made this very clear to our counterparts in Riyadh, is for all governments, including our Saudi partners, to respect and protect human rights and to ensure a fair and transparent judicial process.” (Read more from “Biden Spokesman Clashes With Reporters After Refusing to Condemn Mass Execution by Saudi Arabia” HERE)

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U.K. Supreme Court Rejects Julian Assange’s Request to Appeal U.S. Extradition

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The U.K.’s Supreme Court on Monday denied Wikileaks founder Julian Assange the opportunity to appeal his extradition to the U.S., where he could face 175 years in prison on espionage charges for publishing classified documents exposing alleged U.S. war crimes.

The court rejected the request to appeal on the basis that the application “does not raise an arguable point of law.”

The case will now go to Home Secretary Priti Patel, who will then decide whether or not to authorize Assange’s extradition to the U.S.

Assange’s U.S.-based lawyer, Barry Pollack, said in a statement that it is “extremely disappointing” that Britain’s High Court is refused to hear the appeal.

“Mr. Assange will continue the legal process fighting his extradition to the United States to face criminal charges for publishing truthful and newsworthy information,” he said. (Read more from “U.K. Supreme Court Rejects Julian Assange’s Request to Appeal U.S. Extradition” HERE)

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Obese Russian Man Chains Himself to McDonald’s to Prevent Closure

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A Russian man chained himself to a McDonald’s restaurant in Moscow in an attempt to keep it open amid nationwide closures related to the country’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the Mirror.

“Closing down is an act of hostility against me and my fellow citizens!” the man yelled before being dragged away by police, the Mirror reported.

The man gave a speech while standing with his hand tied to the entrance as customers ignored him while entering the restaurant in a video shared by the Mirror. (Read more from “Obese Russian Man Chains Himself to McDonald’s to Prevent Closure” HERE)

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Russia Is Requesting That China Provide Support for the Ongoing Invasion of Ukraine; US: China Faces Consequences if It Helps Russia

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By New York Post. Russia asked China for assistance in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, U.S. officials warn.

The New York Times reported that Russian officials sought military equipment and support from their Chinese counterparts as the invasion of Ukraine — launched last month by Russian President Vladimir Putin — continues.

Russian leaders also sought economic assistance from China to help lessen the burden of sanctions issued by Western nations that have devastated the Russian economy.

American officials declined to describe the specific hardware requested by the Russian government.

Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, said that China will “absolutely” face consequences if it chooses to support the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Fox News reported. (Read more from “Russia Is Requesting That China Provide Support for the Ongoing Invasion of Ukraine” HERE)

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US: China Faces Consequences if It Helps Russia

By BBC News. The US says China will face harsh “consequences” if it aids Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, according to US media reports.

Unnamed officials reportedly told multiple US news outlets that Russia asked China to provide military assistance after it began the invasion.

The Chinese embassy in Washington said it was not aware of this request.

The warning comes ahead of a meeting in Rome on Monday between top US and China officials.

Since the start of the crisis Beijing has expressed strong rhetorical support for long-time ally Moscow, but is not publicly known to have provided any military or economic support. (Read more from “US: China Faces Consequences if It Helps Russia” HERE)

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