Inside Mike Johnson’s Policy Shift: Lobbyist Influence and Controversial Staffing Raise Questions on Ukraine Aid

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House Speaker Mike Johnson’s stance on Ukraine aid has come under scrutiny with revelations about his top policy adviser, Dan Ziegler, and the interests of his former lobbying clients. Ziegler, who transitioned from lobbying to serving as Johnson’s policy director, previously worked with the firm Williams & Jensen, where his client roster included companies with significant stakes in issues related to the Ukraine conflict, Breitbart News has revealed.

Among Ziegler’s former clients are major corporations that have publicly addressed the implications of the war in Ukraine on their business operations. This connection raises questions about the influence of corporate interests on Johnson’s policy decisions, particularly regarding foreign aid packages related to Ukraine.

One notable client of Ziegler’s former firm is the News Media Alliance, which advocated for legislative proposals that some critics argue could harm conservative media outlets. This association underscores concerns about the potential influence of special interest groups on Johnson’s agenda.

The composition of Johnson’s inner circle has raised additional concerns, with reports indicating troubling backgrounds among several of his staffers.

The timing of Johnson’s pivot on Ukraine aid further highlights the significance of his staffing decisions. Despite previous opposition to substantial funding for Ukraine, Johnson’s support for a multi-billion-dollar aid package aligns with the recommendations of his top advisers, including Ziegler and National Security Adviser Josh Hodges.

Johnson’s shift in position reflects a departure from his previous commitments to conservative principles, particularly regarding fiscal responsibility and national security. Johnson is prioritizing foreign interests over domestic concerns, pointing to his advocacy for aid packages that they argue neglect crucial issues such as border security.

Johnson’s approach to Ukraine aid has sparked backlash from within his own party, with prominent Republicans condemning his alignment with President Joe Biden’s agenda. Calls for Johnson’s resignation underscore broader divisions within the GOP, as conservatives express frustration with what they perceive as a departure from core conservative values.

‘Lied With Impunity’: National Guard Whistleblowers Accuse Army Leaders of Covering up Jan. 6 Deployment Delay

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Four D.C. National Guard officials involved in responding to the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021, alleged on Wednesday that top Army leaders lied to Congress about why they did not order the guard to deploy for hours after the need became clear.

Several high-ranking Pentagon leaders at the time, including former Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy, then-acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller and former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley have claimed the National Guard was sent to the Capitol as soon as they were needed, according to Politico. But National Guard “whistleblowers” accused the officials of seeking to cover up the Army’s reputation and shift the blame elsewhere in testimony before a panel of the House Administration Committee at a hearing Wednesday.

“I have no idea why we never received that order,” retired D.C. National Guard Command Sergeant Major Michael Brooks, told lawmakers. “All I know is that they were more concerned with what it would look like with soldiers with the Capitol in the background than protecting the Capitol of the United States.”

He attributed the roughly three-hour span between when the D.C. police chief pleaded for National Guard assistance and when troops received the order to deploy to “misunderstandings of the capabilities of the D.C. National Guard and the seriousness of the situation.”

McCarthy and senior leaders of the Army staff delayed dispatching the National Guard, Brooks added. (Read more from “‘Lied With Impunity’: National Guard Whistleblowers Accuse Army Leaders of Covering up Jan. 6 Deployment Delay” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Mom Discovers AirTag Tracker in Son’s Shoe: Mix-up Leads to ‘Mother’s Worst Nightmare

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A Florida mother was thrust into a state of panic when she discovered an Apple AirTag tracker hidden inside her 7-year-old son’s shoe, sparking fears of potential surveillance. Jackie Giurleo recounted her harrowing experience to WOFL-TV, detailing the unsettling series of events that unfolded after her family attended a Christmas parade in Satellite Beach.

Upon returning home, Giurleo began receiving notifications on her phone indicating the presence of an AirTag tracker in her vicinity. What made the situation even more distressing was the realization that the tracker seemed to be following her son, Aidan. “It was every mother’s worst nightmare,” she expressed, reflecting on the initial shock of the discovery.

Determined to unravel the mystery, Giurleo embarked on a thorough search of her son’s belongings, eventually finding the tracker concealed within a small cavity cut into the foam of his shoe. Overwhelmed with concern, she promptly reported the incident to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, triggering an investigation into the matter.

Law enforcement authorities swiftly intervened, issuing a subpoena to Apple in an effort to trace the ownership of the AirTag. Their inquiries ultimately led to a surprising revelation: Aidan had inadvertently swapped shoes with another child while enjoying the festivities at the Christmas parade. The real owner of the shoes, a family from Oklahoma, had innocently placed the tracker to monitor their own child’s whereabouts.

Reflecting on the ordeal, Giurleo expressed her astonishment at the unintended consequences of the shoe swap. “We were really lucky that we had a happy ending,” she remarked, relieved that the bizarre incident was the result of a harmless mix-up rather than a sinister act of surveillance.

The incident serves as a cautionary tale about the potential implications of technology in everyday life, highlighting the need for vigilance and awareness, particularly when it comes to devices like AirTags. While designed with practical purposes in mind, such as tracking personal belongings, their unintended use for monitoring individuals underscores the importance of understanding the capabilities and limitations of modern technology.

Edward Snowden Believes Speaker Johnson Is Showing Textbook Signs of “Congressional Capture”

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Speaker Johnson might as well go by “Flip Flop,” given his recent track record. He’s been switching his positions on major issues, directly going against what his base stands for. First, it was the funding for Ukraine; now, he’s in the thick of the FISA 702 battle and taking the wrong side yet again. What gives? Johnson’s speakership is becoming a series of flip-flops that’s leaving everyone wondering if he’s been bribed, blackmailed, or both.

So, why is Speaker Johnson flipping his position on the FISA 702 authorization, which allows warrantless surveillance? This very tool was used to spy on President Trump. Representative Bob Good recently discussed this on Steve Bannon’s WarRoom, pointing out that there’s a strong push influencing Johnson’s change of heart—and it appears to be working. . .

Speaker Johnson now believes that halting warrantless spying against innocent Americans would somehow spell disaster for the country. He recently shifted his stance, stating the change is from all the classified briefings he’s been getting.

Well, Speaker Johnson is probably telling the truth about all those briefings, and Edward Snowden thinks he’s figured out what’s really going on with Speaker Johnson. It’s a “textbook case” of “Congressional capture.”

(Read more from “Edward Snowden Believes Speaker Johnson Is Showing Textbook Signs of “Congressional Capture” HERE)

Governor Vetoes Bill Barring Sex-Change Surgeries for Minors

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Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas vetoed a bill on Friday that banned doctors from performing sex-change surgeries on minors.

The bill was approved by the state Senate on March 27, with 27 voting in favor and 13 against, and would have prohibited state funding from being used to “promote or advocate” for puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or sex-change surgeries for minors. The bill also barred doctors from performing sex-change procedures on minors, but Kelly argued the legislation gets in the way of “parental rights,” according to a press release.

“This divisive legislation targets a small group of Kansans by placing government mandates on them and dictating to parents how to best raise and care for their children,” Kelly said in the press release. “I do not believe that is a conservative value, and it’s certainly not a Kansas value. To be clear, this legislation tramples parental rights.”

The bill would have also prohibited any individual or institutions that receives state funding from encouraging a child to “social” transition, meaning “acts other than medical or surgical interventions that are undertaken for the purpose of presenting as a member of the opposite sex, including the changing of an individual’s preferred pronouns or manner of dress.” (Read more from “Governor Vetoes Bill Barring Sex-Change Surgeries for Minors” HERE)

Country Star Doubles Down on Choice to Take Toddler to Drag Performance

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Maren Morris recently voiced her support for drag shows as wholesome family entertainment during her Saturday appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”

The country music star addressed the Tennessee legislation prohibiting drag performances in areas accessible to children. She recalled her experience at a benefit drag show event held at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena with her son in tow.

“We were doing a benefit at Bridgestone last year when they were doing the drag ban in Tennessee,” Morris told Kelly Clarkson. “There were drag queens like throughout, entertaining as well, and one actually danced with me when I was singing my song, ‘The Middle.’ And it was just amazing and fun.”

“My son loves watching me, like sit in the makeup chair and just is like fascinated with the colors … it was just like completely harmless,” she added.

(Read more from “Country Star Doubles Down on Choice to Take Toddler to Drag Performance” HERE)

Hamas Just Made a Major announcement…and the Media Is Nowhere to Be Found

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It’s wild when you think about it: news organizations were taking Hamas propaganda as if it were verified and accurate information. No one learned from the Gaza hospital fiasco, the first wall the media crashed into when they erroneously said that an Israeli airstrike hit this facility. The reality was it was the terrorists’ own rocket salvo, fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The New York Times had to print a retraction, but the damage was done. Now, Hamas has openly admitted they inflated the death toll in Gaza, and the media is AWOL (via Foundation for the Defense of Democracies):

The Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said on April 6 that it had “incomplete data” for 11,371 of the 33,091 Palestinian fatalities it claims to have documented. In a statistical report, the ministry notes that it considers an individual record to be incomplete if it is missing any of the following key data points: identity number, full name, date of birth, or date of death. The health ministry also released a report on April 3 that acknowledged the presence of incomplete data but did not define what it meant by “incomplete.” In that earlier report, the ministry acknowledged the incompleteness of 12,263 records. It is unclear why, after just three more days, the number fell to 11,371 — a decrease of more than 900 records.

Prior to its admissions of incomplete data, the health ministry, asserted that the information in more than 15,000 fatality records had stemmed from “reliable media sources.” However, the ministry never identified the sources in question and Gaza has no independent media.

[…]

On October 16, the health ministry told global media that an Israeli airstrike was responsible for an explosion that killed 500 Palestinians at the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in northern Gaza. U.S. media quickly reported the story even though it became clear within hours there was no evidence to support claims of an airstrike or a death toll close to 500. Soon, evidence emerged showing that a rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists was nearly certain to have caused a blast in the hospital’s parking lot. An unclassified U.S. intelligence report on October 18 said the blast likely caused between 100 to 300 deaths, and it leaned towards casualty estimates at “the low end of the 100-to-300 spectrum.”

Nevertheless, the health ministry does not identify the individuals who died as a result of errant Palestinian fire, even though the Israel Defense Forces reported that 12 percent of rockets fired during the first month of the war fell inside Gaza — more than 1,000 total misfires.

(Read more from “Hamas Just Made a Major announcement…and the Media Is Nowhere to Be Found” HERE)

‘Blatant State Hostility’: Legal Battle Erupts When Town Tears Down Cross

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A pitched battle has erupted in California over the decision by one city to take an easement away from the Lions Club and remove a Christian cross the organization had illuminated at holidays for years.

The situation has been profiled by CBN, which noted the effort to restore the cross continues.

The cross has been on the site since several owners sold the city 1.1 acres of land in the 1970s, but the Lions retained an easement for the cross, the report said.

Atheists in recent years had complained they didn’t like it, so the city’s solution was to take over the easement and remove the monument.

Now a coalition of Christians is renewing their campaign to have the 28-foot-tall cross restored. (Read more from “‘Blatant State Hostility’: Legal Battle Erupts When Town Tears Down Cross” HERE)

The U.S. Is Basically Facing World War III — But Biden & Co. Aren’t Acting Like It

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Gen. Omar Bradley is often credited with the saying, “Amateurs talk strategy. Professionals talk logistics.” The Biden administration does neither.

In September 2022, we argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “Arsenals of Evil” — North Korea and Iran — couldn’t help the Kremlin retrieve its faltering position in Ukraine. . .

The two rogue states, each as anti-American as it gets, are providing Putin with drones, artillery and cruise missiles to defeat the United States and our NATO allies in Ukraine, all while pursuing their nuclear weapons programs unabated.

To underscore the extent to which America has fallen behind, Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, head of US Central Command, testified before Congress that “the Russians are firing five times as many artillery shells as the Ukrainians.” . . .

Russia is outproducing the US and NATO — churning out 250,000 artillery munitions per month, while NATO’s artillery coalition, led by France and the Czech Republic, is forced to scrounge on the open market to secure a one-time purchase of 800,000 rounds. (Read more from “The U.S. Is Basically Facing World War III — But Biden & Co. Aren’t Acting Like It” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Gordon Ramsay’s Pub Taken Over by Squatters: ‘Absolute Nightmare Scenario’

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Gordon Ramsay once said he doesn’t “run restaurants that are out of control” — but that’s apparently not the case at one of his London eateries.

A swarm of squatters have shacked up inside the celebrity chef’s $16.1 million pub — using Ramsay’s own kitchen appliances to barricade themselves inside, according to a report.

Shocking photographs taken by The Sun show the “professional squatters” holed up inside York & Albany pub, which the “Hell’s Kitchen” host was about to sign over to new partners in a multi-million dollar deal.

One person was seen barefoot and sprawled across on a black leather sofa inside the restaurant, with their personal belongings and debris, including empty wine bottles, strewn across the floor.

What appears to be a filthy plush dog toy is seen tossed on the floor near the swanky front bar that months earlier had been adorned with fresh flowers and pricey cocktails. (Read more from “Gordon Ramsay’s Pub Taken Over by Squatters: ‘Absolute Nightmare Scenario’” HERE)