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Things Get HEATED as Tucker and Pence Clash Over Ukraine; Former Governor Spars With Tucker Carlson Over Child Gender Transitions

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By The Blaze. Although Mike Pence pledges to be a Christian leader, he sure has a strange way of showing it when it comes to the treatment of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine.

Tucker Carlson pointed out that “the Zelenskyy government has raided convents, arrested priests, has effectively banned a denomination — a Christian denomination.”

Pence recently met with Zelenskyy, which begs the question — did he address this issue in their meeting?

“I’m wondering,” Tucker said, “if during that meeting, as a prominent Christian leader … you broached the question of his treatment of Christians within Ukraine.”

“I did raise the issue when we were there … with the leader of the Orthodox Church,” Pence responded. “He assured me that the Zelenskyy government in Ukraine was respecting religious liberty,” he continued.

(Read more from “Things Get Heated as Tucker and Pence Clash Over Ukraine” HERE)

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Frustrated Ex-Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson Spars With Tucker Carlson Over Child Gender Transitions at Iowa Forum

By New York Post. Former Arkansas governor and 2024 presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson got a rough ride at an Iowa forum Friday while trying to defend his veto of a ban on gender procedures for minors, at one point asking forum moderator Tucker Carlson to change the subject.

The former Fox News host questioned Hutchinson during the Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines about his 2021 rejection of a bill that barred hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender reassignment surgeries for minors, which state lawmakers immediately overrode.

“What I believe in is that parents ought to raise their children. I believe that parents ought to be in control. And I also believe in the Constitution,” Hutchinson told Carlson. “I believe that God created two genders, and that there should not be any confusion on your gender. But if there is confusion, then parents ought to be the one that guides the children. That to me is an important fundamental principle.”

“Now obviously, you could take it too far,” the former governor went on. “And if there would have been a bill that said, ‘You should not ever have transgender surgery as a minor,’ I would sign that … because no parent should be able to consent to that permanent change.” . . .

“In the subsequent two years, I think we’ve learned that hormone therapy for prepubescent children is permanent,” Carlson said. “It changes the bone structure. It changes the brain of the child. A lot of people believe, including me, that it destroys the child’s life. But it is permanent. It’s not reversible.” (Read more from “Frustrated Ex-Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson Spars With Tucker Carlson Over Child Gender Transitions at Iowa Forum” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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Why Is the FBI Helping Ukraine Shut Up Americans?

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I’ve had the unpleasant duty to remind people that the rhetoric about the Ukraine war as one between a free people living in a liberal democracy versus an autocracy is not really true. Ukraine has been embarked on an ultranationalist cultural project meant to transform the internal politics of Ukraine. It is doing so for reasons I find perfectly legible and, in some ways, understandable. But it is not a liberal or democratic undertaking. It is more like a combination of civil war and radical reconstruction.

Ukrainian nationalists want to reorient Ukraine to Western Europe, and to do so they are pursuing a project of cutting up the cultural and political ropes that keep them tied to Russia. This was the whole subject of Putin’s essay on Ukraine’s unity with Russia. While it was popularly portrayed as denying a Ukrainian identity at all, the essay argues that Ukraine can’t have an authentic identity that is also anti-Russian, given their shared historic, linguistic, and religious patrimony. . .

Ukraine began banning political parties in 2014, starting with the Communist Party. It then banned the Party of the Regions, the party that typically won most of its support from Ukraine’s eastern region, where Russians settled during the Soviet era. It has banned almost all successor parties to the Party of the Regions. It has passed a series of harsh language laws that require Ukrainian competency to hold office or to be appointed to civic positions. It banned opposition media. It banned Russian-language schooling. More recently it has banned the importation of more than a handful of Russian-language books. . .

But it wouldn’t be my business except for the fact that our assistance to Ukraine goes beyond military aid and includes paying for this kind of illiberal government. And now, I find out that our FBI is assisting Ukraine’s security service in censoring American citizens expressing their political views on American-founded tech platforms. Don’t tell me we’re not at war while treating my morning news reading to a foreign government’s wartime censorship. . .

I’ve long worried that getting deeply enmeshed in this blood-soaked area of the globe would begin to corrupt our politics, that it would tend to make our Congress more and more resemble their Rada. Hunter Biden was just the beginning of it. I would just like for one of these chest-pounding defenders of the liberal world order stand up for liberal institutions and liberal conversation for once. (Read more from “Why Is the FBI Helping Ukraine Shut Up Americans?” HERE)

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Biden Authorizes Pentagon to Deploy 3K Reserve Troops to Europe in Response to Ukraine War

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President Biden on Thursday authorized US military leaders to deploy as many as 3,000 reservists to Europe in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The order is intended to augment US troops already overseas as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, the president said in a statement released by the White House after his five day trip to Europe, during which he attended a two-day NATO summit in Lithuania.

“By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America . . . I hereby determine that it is necessary to augment the active Armed Forces of the United States for the effective conduct of Operation Atlantic Resolve in and around the United States European Command’s area of responsibility,” the 80-year-old president said.

Biden’s order specifies that no more than 3,000 total members can be activated at any one time, of whom no more than 450 may be members of the Individual Ready Reserve, which consists of trained soldiers who have previously served in the Active Army or Selected Reserve.

Operation Atlantic Resolve is an initiative that was launched in the wake of Russia’s 2014 invasion of the Crimean Peninsula, designed to enhance the deterrence posture along the eastern flank of the US’s NATO allies. (Read more from “Biden Authorizes Pentagon to Deploy 3K Reserve Troops to Europe in Response to Ukraine War” HERE)

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Fired Russian General Accuses Defense Minister of Treason

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A senior Russian general in command of forces in occupied southern Ukraine says he was suddenly dismissed from his post after accusing Moscow’s Defense Ministry leadership of betraying his troops by not providing sufficient support.

Gen. Ivan Popov was the commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army, which has been engaged in heavy fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region. He is one of the most senior officers to have taken part in the bloody Russian campaign in Ukraine.

Popov said he had raised questions about “the lack of counter-battery combat, the absence of artillery reconnaissance stations and the mass deaths and injuries of our brothers from enemy artillery,” in a voice note published on Telegram late Wednesday. . .

UA POV: Major General Ivan ‘Spartak’ Popov
by u/1LongRecovery in UkraineRussiaReport

“I also raised a number of other problems and expressed it all at the highest level frankly and extremely harshly,” Popov said in the audio message. “I had no right to lie, therefore, I outlined all the problematic issues that exist today in the army in terms of combat work and support.”

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu “signed the order and got rid of me,” the general also said in the recording, as he accused the top Kremlin official of treason. (Read more from “Fired Russian General Accuses Defense Minister of Treason” HERE)

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Biden Open to Sending Ukraine Limited-Supply Missiles Capable of Striking Russia Within a 190-Mile Range

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President Biden signaled his openness Wednesday to sending Ukraine long-range missiles following the completion of a two-day summit of NATO leaders in the Baltic state of Lithuania.

Biden, 80, was asked before boarding Air Force One in Vilnius whether he was “thinking about” giving the Kyiv government US-made Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS – pronounced “attack-ems” – which are in limited supply.

“Yes, but they — they already have the equivalent of ATACMS now,” the president answered. “What we need most of all is artillery shells, and they’re in short supply. We’re working on that.”

With a range of roughly 190 miles, ATACMS are capable of striking both Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow has occupied since 2014.

On Tuesday, France pledged to send Kyiv SCALP cruise missiles, which have an approximate range of 150 miles. The United Kingdom in May sent Ukraine some of the same weapons, which the Brits call “Storm Shadow” cruise missiles. (Read more from “Biden Open to Sending Ukraine Limited-Supply Missiles Capable of Striking Russia Within a 190-Mile Range” HERE)

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Talk About Weird: Corrupt Zelensky Slams Corrupt Biden for Not Wanting a Nuclear War With Russia

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Editor’s note: Zelensky’s desire for NATO security guarantees in the middle of his war with Russia has only one outcome: direct conflict between the U.S. and Russia along with an astronomically high chance of nuclear war. But the corrupt president of Ukraine seems giddy over the prospect of a nuclear exchange. Is that what his controllers want? Check out a discussion of a few of his controllers here:

Zelensky Goes Off on Biden Over NATO Membership

By Steven Nelson. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tore into NATO leaders including President Biden on Tuesday for not extending membership to his war-torn country — introducing fresh diplomatic drama into the annual gathering of the military alliance’s leaders.

Zelensky slammed the reticence as “weakness” and “absurd” just moments after Biden referred to the development of new language regarding his country’s potential NATO ascension.

“Now, on the way to Vilnius, we received signals that certain wording is being discussed without Ukraine. And I would like to emphasize that this wordxfing is about the invitation to become NATO member, not about Ukraine’s membership,” Zelensky tweeted.

“It’s unprecedented and absurd when a time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership. While at the same time vague wording about ‘conditions’ is added even for inviting Ukraine.” (Read more from “Zelensky Goes Off on Biden Over NATO Membership” HERE)

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‘Strategic Failure for Ukraine’: State Department Spokesman Makes Apparent ‘Gaffe’ Twice in a Row (VIDEO)

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State Department spokesman Matthew Miller called the Ukraine war a “strategic failure” for the nation twice before he was immediately corrected.

Miller was holding a briefing Monday when he made the slip-ups.

“We believe the war has been a strategic failure for Ukraine,” Miller said.

“Don’t you mean ‘a strategic failure for Russia?’” a reporter pressed.

“I’m sorry — excuse me — a strategic failure for Ukraine! Thank you for the correction! (Read more from “‘Strategic Failure for Ukraine’: State Department Spokesman Makes Apparent ‘Gaffe’ Twice in a Row (VIDEO)” HERE)

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White House Trying to Kill Ukraine Inspector General Provision in Defense Authorization Bill

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The White House on Monday told lawmakers it opposes a provision in the House’s annual defense policy bill that would create a special inspector general for Ukraine aid, modelled after the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

The Ukraine inspector general was one of several provisions in the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that the White House, in an Office of Management and Budget statement on the bill, told Congress it wants removed. . .

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., added the language to create the Ukraine inspector general when the Armed Services Committee marked up the NDAA in June and eventually voted 58-1 to advance the $874 billion bill to the House floor. The House’s defense spending bill, which the Appropriations Committee advanced 34-24 in June over Democratic objections, would fund the Ukraine inspector general. . .

The Pentagon said in June a $6.2 billion accounting error inflated the costs of equipment the U.S. has sent to Ukraine, prompting Republicans on the House Oversight Committee to ask Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for a staff-level briefing last week. The error means the Defense Department has more funds available to transfer weapons to Kyiv than it previously thought. (Read more from “White House Trying to Kill Ukraine Inspector General Provision in Defense Authorization Bill” HERE)

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It’s Nuts to Send Cluster Bombs to Ukraine; Biden’s Decision on Ukraine Cluster Munitions Sparks Some Democratic Blowback

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By The Daily Beast. The United States has decided to send cluster munitions to Ukraine. President Biden told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that it was a “very difficult decision” and one that he discussed “with our allies” and “with our friends up on the Hill.”

I wonder if the allies he says he discussed it with included the U.K., France, Germany, or Canada. These close U.S. allies are all on the list of 123 nations—making up a large majority of the nations of the world—that have signed the UN convention forbidding the use of cluster munitions. Most of the planet considers the use of such weapons, which can spread explosive material over an area “up to the size of several football fields,” to be a war crime in itself, regardless of the intended target.

It’s easy to conduct the debate about sending these weapons in glittering generalities—”Ukraine has a right to defend itself,” “we should give them whatever they need,” and so on. The grim reality is that Ukrainian children will be blowing themselves up with U.S.-made explosives for decades to come. . .

Biden spokesperson February 28, 2022: “The use of cluster munitions is a war crime.”A year and a half later, National Security Adviser to US President Biden Jake Sullivan, at a briefing at the White House, announced his intention to transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine.
by u/theRealNihilist911 in N_N_N

Some commentators are treating the fact that Russia used them as a “gotcha” response to anyone who doesn’t want the U.S. to send them to the Ukrainian side. But that makes no sense. Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds. Does that mean it would have been perfectly fine if the United States had used chemical weapons in its invasion of Iraq?

. . .When you read about “Russia” invading “Ukraine,” it’s easy to imagine that the only victims of cluster munitions supplied to Ukraine will be Russians. While I don’t think we should be cavalier about the deaths of Russian civilians—or for that matter Russian conscripts—it’s also important to remember that a great many of even the intended victims of these munitions will be Russian-allied separatists in eastern Ukraine. And when it comes to cluster munitions, which victims are intended is almost beside the point. (Read more from “It’s Nuts to Send Cluster Bombs to Ukraine” HERE)

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Biden’s Decision on Ukraine Cluster Munitions Sparks Some Democratic Blowback

By NBC News. Nearly two dozen congressional Democrats on Friday expressed frustration with the Biden administration over its decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine in a U.S. military aid package.

The lawmakers echoed warnings from human rights groups that the surface-to-surface warheads, which disperse small munitions or bombs over wide areas, can explode after battle and sometimes injure or kill innocent people.

“Cluster munitions are illegal under international law,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said in a statement announcing that she plans to introduce an amendment with Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., to the annual defense policy bill that would ban the sale of cluster munitions.

“We can support the people of Ukraine in their freedom struggle, while also opposing violations of international law,” Omar said, noting that the munitions are banned in more than 100 countries.

Jacobs announced her opposition to the munitions transfer in a statement Thursday, saying she was “disappointed and alarmed” by the forthcoming move. (Read more from “Biden’s Decision on Ukraine Cluster Munitions Sparks Some Democratic Blowback” HERE)

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Ukrainian Heroes Slaughtered Tens of Thousands of Polish Women and Children, but Joint Hatred for Russia Preserves a Tenuous Relationship

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In a rural village with fewer than 500 residents, strangers stand out. Even Anna Osinska, a 93-year-old villager with failing eyesight, noticed when people she did not recognize — refugees from the war in Ukraine — started appearing on the narrow street outside her kitchen window. . .

“Thank God I don’t feel any need for vengeance,” Ms. Osinska said, recalling how, in 1943, she fled her childhood home in former Polish lands in western Ukraine after Ukrainian nationalists attacked her family’s village, slaughtering most of its 160 inhabitants.

The murders in Niemilia, the village where she was born but no longer exists, were part of horrific events that Ukraine calls the Volhynia Tragedy, but that Poland remembers as the Volhynia Genocide. In those ethnic pogroms by Ukrainian nationalists, more than 60,000 Poles, many of them women and children, were murdered. . .

Ms. Osinska, who was resettled as a teenager after World War II in southwestern Poland, along with tens of thousands of other Polish refugees from Ukraine, grew up in a community traumatized by the massacres of 1943 and seething with hatred toward Ukrainians.

She still resents “that they show no remorse” and has not forgotten the frenzied cries of “kill the Polacks, kill the Polacks” that echoed around her home village when she was 13. (Read more from “Ukrainian Heroes Slaughtered Tens of Thousands of Polish Women and Children, but Joint Hatred for Russia Preserves a Tenuous Relationship” HERE)

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