News of the World

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Biden aides find another batch of classified documents at different location

A second haul of classified documents belonging to President Biden have been located, a new report revealed Wednesday — two days after the White House admitted secret papers were kept at an office the commander-in-chief used after leaving the Obama administration.

NBC News reported the new documents were found at a separate location from the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, where an initial tranche of 10 sensitive files — some of them marked “top secret” — were retrieved on Nov. 2, 2022.
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The first batch of 10 documents included intelligence memos and other materials concerning Iran, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, CNN reported Tuesday. The papers were dated between 2013 and 2016 and mixed in with Biden family documents, including details on the funeral arrangements for the president’s late son, Beau.

Biden made his first public comments about the matter Tuesday during a news conference in Mexico City, saying he was “surprised” to learn that records from the Obama White House had been found at his office in the Penn Biden Center — which he used for almost two full years after leaving the vice presidency.
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Chicago US Attorney John Lausch, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, reportedly has submitted a preliminary report on the documents to Attorney General Merrick Garland. It is not clear whether Lausch only reviewed the documents recovered from the Penn Biden Center or whether he had access to any other documents that may have been found.
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While Democrats and Biden allies have tried to absolve the 80-year-old president of wrongdoing by claiming that the documents were immediately turned over to the National Archives upon their discovery, that does not explain why the papers were allowed to leave the White House and be kept out of federal custody for almost six full years.
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“If you believe a special counsel’s necessary to assure the public about the handling of classified documents by Donald Trump, you should apply a special counsel to the mishandling of classified documents by President Biden when he was vice president,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Fox News.
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“Did the @FBI raid the Biden Center?” asked the House Judiciary Committee, a reference to the Aug. 8 sweep that removed dozens of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago.

The mystery of the location of that new batch of classified documents have been revealed! 

Classified Documents Found in Biden’s Home: President’s Lawyer

After the discovery of materials with classified markings at the Penn Biden Center in Washington—Biden worked out of the center from 2017 to 2019—lawyers for the president searched Biden’s residences in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Richard Sauber, one of the lawyers, said in a statement released by the White House.

Those two homes in Delaware are “the other locations where files from his Vice Presidential office might have been shipped in the course of the 2017 transition,” or the transition of Biden from vice president to a private citizen, according to Sauber.

During the search, the lawyers discovered documents with classified markings in a storage space inside the garage at the Wilmington residence. Additionally, a document marked classified was found in an adjacent room.

No classified materials were found at the Rehoboth Beach home, according to Sauber.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) was immediately notified and the lawyers arranged for the department to take possession of the documents, Sauber said.

 And Biden had criticized Trump for keeping documents at Mar-a-Lago while he still kept his own batch at Wilmington.

New York City Nurses End Strike as Deals Struck With Hospitals

Thousands of striking New York City nurses have reached tentative deals with hospitals and will return to work after a three-day walkout over demands to increase nurse-to-patient ratios they said had led to overstretched staff and undercut patient safety.

Negotiations ran into the late hours of the night Wednesday before tentative deals were struck with Mount Sinai Health System and Montefiore Health System, the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) said in a statement.
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The nurses association said both hospitals agreed to “enforceable safe staffing ratios” and, as a consequence, “there will always be enough nurses at the bedside to provide safe patient care, not just on paper.”

Widespread staffing shortages led to overburdened employees and burnout, negatively impacting the quality and safety of patient care, the nurses argued.
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The striking nurses will be back on the job Thursday morning, with both hospitals agreeing to immediate return-to-work agreements.
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Montefiore Medical Center said it had sought to find a quick resolution to the issues raised by the striking nurses.
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Montefiore said all surgeries and procedures and outpatient appointments for Jan. 12 and after would proceed according to schedule.

The new staffing ratios take effect immediately at Mount Sinai, where nurses said they had won “wall-to-wall safe staffing ratios for all inpatient units.”

At Montefiore, nurses won new staffing ratios in the Emergency Department and enforcement of safe staffing levels in all units by way of financial penalties for non-compliance.

Terms of the new agreement with Montefiore, as cited by Fox News, include a 19.1 percent wage increase, an increase in over 170 nursing positions, and adding more registered nurses and nurse practitioners in the emergency departments.

Mount Sinai said in a thread it had offered nurses a 19.1 percent pay hike, a new paid holiday, better health care benefits, and higher nurse-to-patient staffing ratios.

Russian Forces Claim Victory in Soledar, Set Sights on Bakhmut

Russian forces are reportedly advancing on the flashpoint town of Bakhmut having claimed victory in the nearby town of Soledar—assertions denied by officials in Kyiv.

“We have made clear progress,” Igor Kimakovsky, a spokesman for the Moscow-backed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), claimed on Jan. 12.
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He went on to claim that Russian forces had also made gains in the vicinity of Bakhmut and the nearby town of Avdiivka.
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Russian forces deployed in the area include DPR militiamen and the Wagner Group, a paramilitary organization directed by the Kremlin.

On Jan. 11, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, declared that Russian forces were now in possession of Soledar.
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Officials in Kyiv, meanwhile, have dismissed Russian claims of victory in Soledar as “propaganda,” saying the town’s fate remains undecided.
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Known for its expansive salt mines, Soledar sits roughly five miles northeast of Bakhmut, a transport hub that Kyiv relies on to resupply its forces on the eastern front.

Military analysts say the fall of Bakhmut (Artyomovsk in Russian), where fighting has raged for the past several months, would severely disrupt Ukrainian supply lines.

It would also pave the way for a Russian advance on the towns of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, key Ukrainian strongholds to the northwest.
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On Jan. 11, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced sweeping changes to the command structure of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its 11th month.

According to a ministry statement, General Valery Gerasimov has been appointed supreme commander of operations, replacing General Sergey Surovikin.

Under the new command structure, Surovikin—who assumed the top post last October—will return to his previous role as commander of Russian aerospace forces.

Navy Secretary Warns Arming Both US and Ukraine May Become ‘Challenging’ in Next 6 Months

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro warned on Jan. 11 that arming both Ukraine and the United States may become challenging in the coming months amid a shortage of weapons.
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While the secretary noted that the Navy is not “quite there yet,” he added that if the conflict goes on for another six months or a year, “it certainly continues to stress the supply chain in ways that are challenging.”

The majority of U.S. weapons given to Ukraine are land and not naval weapons.

Del Toro told reporters that Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks has been working “very closely with [the defense] industry, to motivate them to find out what their challenges or obstacles are to be able to increase their own production rates.”
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Del Toro’s remarks came shortly after Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, also addressed the conference and accused defense companies of using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse for delaying weapons deliveries.
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The funding—the biggest U.S. assistance package to date for Kyiv—includes $225 million in foreign military financing and directs the Department of Defense to draw down from its stockpiles $2.85 billion in military equipment.

It also includes $682 million in foreign military financing to allies in Europe to help incentivize and backfill donations of military equipment they’ve made to Ukraine.

 So now the US has to pay the Europeans to make donations to Ukraine!? Does that make any sense?

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Lisa Marie Presley, Only Child of Elvis, Dead at 54

Lisa Marie Presley, the 54-year-old daughter of Elvis Presley, died on Thursday after being admitted to the hospital earlier that day, according to her mother.

Just hours after Priscilla Presley confirmed on Instagram that her daughter was rushed to the hospital, it was announced that Presley had passed away.
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According to Craig Little, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County fire department, paramedics arrived at the scene six minutes later. They performed CPR and determined that the patient had signs of life before taking her to a nearby hospital in West Hills for further treatment.

Calabasas is a city located approximately 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
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Presley attended the Golden Globes on Tuesday, where she praised Austin Butler’s portrayal of her father in the movie “Elvis” as “mind-blowing” in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
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Days before she died, Presley visited Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, to mark her rock legend father’s birthday on Jan. 8.
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She is also the mother of actor Riley Keough and has twin daughters.

US and Japan Sign Historic Defense Agreements, Extend Mutual Aid to Space

The meeting follows a flurry of activity between the two nations this week at numerous levels of government, including an overhaul in the U.S.-Japan defense posture and strategy, which will see an expansion of Japanese forces and a restructuring of U.S. Marine Corps forces stationed on and around Okinawa.
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The move will also start talks on developing a long-range missile capability for Japanese defense forces, which have not wielded such a weapon since World War II.

Such was necessary, the leaders agreed, due to the shifting security environment and emergent threats emanating from communist China, North Korea, and Russia.
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Notably, the agreement clarifies that attacks to, from, and within outer space could invoke Article 5 of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. This means that, should either nations’ assets or people be attacked by a foreign entity in space, the other would come to its defense.
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The documents commit Japan and the United States to work together on emerging defense capabilities, including autonomous systems, microwave weapons, and systems designed to counter hypersonic missiles.

Attorney General Appoints Special Counsel to Investigate Documents
Found at Biden’s Home, Former Office

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel on Jan. 12 to investigate whether any person or group broke the law in the handling of classified materials found in an office President Joe Biden had used, as well as in one of Biden’s homes.
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Garland appointed Robert Hur, a former federal prosecutor, as special counsel.

The attorney general said the “extraordinary circumstances” at play required the appointment.
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“We are confident that a thorough review will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced and the president and his lawyers acted promptly upon discovery of this mistake,” Richard Sauber, a lawyer for Biden, said in a statement after Garland’s announcement.
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The White House stated that the initial discovery took place on Nov. 2, 2022, and that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which is charged with taking possession of presidential records after an administration leaves office, was immediately notified. NARA was said to have received the materials the next day. Representatives for NARA declined to comment on the matter.

According to Garland, the DOJ wasn’t notified of the matter until Nov. 4, 2022. The notification was made by the NARA Inspector General’s Office.

The public wasn’t informed of any of the discoveries until Jan. 9.
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Lausch was informed by lawyers for Biden on two additional occasions—on Dec. 20, 2022, and Jan. 5—that they had found more classified materials, Garland said.

Lausch advised Garland that further investigation of the matter by a special counsel was warranted and Garland agreed.

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Navy’s Task Force 59 To Keep Tabs On Iran With Armada Of Drones

The U.S. Naval Forces Central Command’s Task Force 59 began as an idea in a two-page white paper published 17 months ago, The War Zone learned in an interview with Commander Timothy Hawkins, force public affairs officer for U.S. 5th Fleet located in Bahrain. The command recognized the vast and dynamic nature of the Middle East’s maritime environment, and with that, the ways unmanned systems and artificial intelligence-enabled tech could be leveraged to more persistently monitor the tumultuous region. Then, in September 2021, Naval Forces Central Command officially stood up Task Force 59 to do just that.
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The team of roughly 20 is led by their commodore, Capt. Michael D. Brasseur, who himself has a history in maritime robotics. Task Force 59 has now been operating with Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) and U.S. 5th Fleet for well over a year, and they have several military exercises under their belts to show for it.

“The bottom line on why we’re doing this is so that we can develop and integrate unmanned systems and AI as a means to do two things,” said Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of NAVCENT, U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces in September 2021. “One, enhance our maritime domain awareness, and two, increase deterrence.”

The NAVCENT and 5th Fleet command, which falls under the larger Central Command (CENTCOM) umbrella, is expansive. Its area of responsibility (AOR) broadly encompasses nearly 2.5 million square miles of water including the Arabian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, the Red Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean, along with being comprised of 21 countries. With these areas being hotspots for adversarial activities, ensuring that the Navy can maintain vigilance over these regional waters at all times is an overarching goal of NAVCENT/5th Fleet that Task Force 59 is being called upon to address.
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As a matter of fact, just yesterday, Admiral Cooper publicly declared Task Force 59 as having achieved full operational capability.

South Korea Now Openly Discussing Arming Itself With Nuclear Weapons

South Korea's president has said that his country might build nuclear weapons in response to the continuing buildup of similar weapons in North Korea. This is the most explicit announcement so far from Seoul that it’s actively considering nuclear weapons, although the disclosure is also very likely calculated to pressure the United States into giving Seoul a role in nuclear war planning on the peninsula, and perhaps also to redeploy U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea, the last of these having being withdrawn in 1991.
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Pointing explicitly to North Korea’s rapid developments in nuclear warheads and delivery systems, Yoon noted:

“It’s possible that the problem gets worse, and our country will introduce tactical nuclear weapons or build them on our own. If that’s the case, we can have our own nuclear weapons pretty quickly, given our scientific and technological capabilities.”

Yoon also made it clear that Pyongyang’s expanding nuclear arsenal is a threat not only to the South but also to the United States and other allies.
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Another option that Yoon outlined would be to request that the United States redeploy tactical nuclear weapons to the South.
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At this stage, there is no formal policy regarding building nuclear weapons in South Korea. Instead, the immediate concern, Yoon said, is to strengthen the country’s military alliance with the United States.
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As a signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, or NPT, South Korea is currently prohibited from developing nuclear weapons. Under a separate joint declaration with North Korea dating from 1991, Seoul and Pyongyang agreed not to “test, manufacture, produce, receive, possess, store, deploy or use nuclear weapons.”

Hunter Biden lived at Delaware home where classified docs were kept

Hunter Biden lived off and on at the Delaware home where classified documents from Joe Biden’s time as vice president were found last month...hammering out shady foreign business deals and under federal investigation.
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Hunter also listed the home as the billing address for his personal credit card and Apple account in 2018 and 2019, respectively, Fox News Digital reported Friday after reviewing emails from his abandoned laptop.
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Hunter also frequented prostitutes during this time, dropping more than $30,000 on sex workers between November 2018 and March 2019 alone — making him a possible target for blackmail.

On Thursday, President Biden confirmed that sensitive papers had been found in the locked garage of the home, where he also keeps his vintage 1967 Corvette Stingray.
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On May 13, 2017, weeks after Hunter’s divorce was finalized, the now-first son was looped in on an email from business partner James Gilliar about a venture with Chinese state-backed energy firm CEFC China Energy. Gilliar’s email said that he, Hunter, and two other business partners would get 20% shares in the new business, with 10% going to Hunter’s uncle James Biden and the remaining 10% “held by H for the big guy.”

Another former Hunter business partner, Tony Bobulinski, alleges that he met with Joe Biden to discuss the CEFC venture on May 2, 2017, and that the president was the “big guy” referenced in Gilliar’s email. Gilliar himself also identified Joe Biden as the “big guy” in a communication retrieved from the laptop.

The following year, federal investigators began looking into whether Hunter and his business associates violated tax and money laundering laws during their dealings in China and other countries. Emails and other records related to the deals were found on the laptop, which Hunter dropped off at a Delaware repair shop in 2019 and never reclaimed.

Text messages recovered from the device indicated that Hunter frequently covered his family’s expenses — and gave as much as 50% of his earnings to his father.
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The laptop doesn’t contain any direct evidence of such money transfers but shows Hunter was routinely on the hook for household expenses — including repairs to the Wilmington home.

In December 2020, weeks after his father was elected president, Hunter Biden announced that his “tax affairs” were being investigated by federal authorities in Delaware, and said he was “confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately.”
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Photos and emails uncovered by The Post indicate Joe Biden attended a 2015 dinner with a group of his son’s associates, including Vadym Pozharskyi — an executive at Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma, where Hunter Biden was hired to serve on the board despite having no experience in the energy industry.

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NSA director urges Congress to renew controversial intelligence authority

NSA Director and head of U.S. Cyber Command Gen. Paul Nakasone said in remarks on Thursday that intelligence authorities up for renewal later this year have played a key role in protecting the United States against cyberattacks.

Nakasone’s remarks at a virtual meeting of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board offered a preview of what is expected to be an intense political fight later this year to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — a law that provides U.S. intelligence agencies wide-ranging authorities to conduct surveillance of foreign persons located abroad and which civil liberties advocates argue is in desperate need of greater transparency.

Section 702 will expire at the end of the year unless Congress acts, and on Thursday Nakasone made the case that “the authority plays an outsized role in protecting our nation.”
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NSA General Counsel April Doss and Mike Herrington, the FBI’s senior operations advisor for FISA Section 702 reauthorization, said in remarks at the Thursday event that the law is a key tool in combatting growing cyber threats but were vague on details regarding operations the law has enabled, instead offering to brief PCLOB members in a classified setting.

A law that's vague on details on how some obscure entity should operate...
 That should make you think quite a lot, don't you think?  

Biden’s Home Where Documents Were Discovered Has Had Many Visitors

On Sunday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) sent a letter to the Biden White House, requesting that he release the visitors logs for his residence from the start of Biden’s presidency onward. The Biden White House soon replied that it does not keep visitor logs for the personal residence.

Even without full visitor logs, publicly available information has indicated that a number of visitors have been to the Delaware property in recent years. For example, an October 2021 White House press release stated Biden hosted Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) at the property to discuss Biden’s political agenda.

In his letter to the White House, Comer also said his committee is in possession of evidence that the president’s son, Hunter Biden, listed his father’s Wilmington address on his driver’s license as recently as 2018.
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In their 2021 book “Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency,” journalists Amie Parnes and Jonathan Allen described how the 2020 Biden campaign held several campaign meetings in Biden’s home. One excerpt from the book described a meeting in January 2019, in which Biden met at his home with his political advisers, including long-time confidante Steve Ricchetti, campaign manager Greg Shultz, and “heavyweight money bundler” Mark Gilbert.

Another excerpt describes a March 12, 2020, meeting in which Biden gathered at his house with his debate prep team, a group that included his sister, Valerie Owens Biden, and his press aide Elizabeth Alexander. Also present at that meeting was the current White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, current Deputy White House Chief of Staff Jen O’Malley Dillon, 2020 deputy campaign adviser Kate Bedingfield, 2020 campaign adviser Symone Sanders, and “a handful of other advisers.”

Bob Bauer, the former White House counsel for the Obama administration, also participated in debate prep with Biden in the basement of his Wilmington home, preparing him for the final three debates before the 2020 general election, according to the book.

In “The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House,” author Chris Whipple also described how Biden was in the library of his Wilmington home on Jan. 6, 2021, with current White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed when they saw the news that demonstrators had breached the U.S. Capitol.

Biden Says Americans Would ‘Need Some F-15s’ to Fight Government

Biden made the comments during the National Action Network’s (NAN) annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast in Washington, where he vowed to ban what he called “assault weapons,” referring to semiautomatic sporting rifles in the style of an AR-15.

“I love my right-wing friends who talk about ‘the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots,'” he said. “If you need to worry about taking on the federal government, you need some F-15s. You don’t need an AR-15.”

Biden’s comment was a reference to a Thomas Jefferson quote.

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants,” Jefferson wrote in a 1787 letter to William Stephens Smith, the son-in-law of John Adams.
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“If you wanted or if you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons,” he said during a June 2021 speech outlining his plan to tackle gun violence.

Is a sitting US president asking people to depose him by force?  

Turkish Bank Urges US Supreme Court to Halt Prosecution Over Dodging Iran Sanctions

A bank controlled by Turkey told the Supreme Court Jan. 17 that it should not be criminally prosecuted in U.S. courts for allegedly helping Iran defy U.S. economic sanctions because it enjoys legal immunity as an arm of the Turkish government.

The petitioner in the case of Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. United States, court file 21-1450, also known as Halkbank, is 75 percent owned by the Turkish Wealth Fund, which in turn is owned by the Republic of Turkey.

Istanbul-based Halkbank is accused of participating in a criminal conspiracy involving money laundering, bank fraud, and assisting terrorism-sponsoring Iran in evading U.S. economic sanctions.

The case has made U.S. relations with Turkey, a NATO ally, difficult at times. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the U.S. government’s decision to prosecute the bank was “ugly” and “unlawful” and has urged that the case be withdrawn.

A trial against Halkbank has been put on hold pending the Supreme Court’s ruling in the appeal.

US Defense Chief to Hold Talks With ‘Critical Allies’ Amid China, North Korea Threats

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will visit South Korea and the Philippines to bolster ties with “critical allies” in the face of growing threats posed by the communist Chinese and North Korean regimes, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
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The visit follows Austin’s recent meeting with Japan’s Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada at the Pentagon on Jan. 12, at which they agreed to start “intensive discussions” on the roles of the U.S.-Japan alliance after Japan acquired counterstrike capability.
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North Korea fired an unprecedented number of missiles last year, one of which involved a Hwasong-17, which experts dubbed a “monster missile” capable of striking anywhere in the United States and beyond.
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However, Austin cast doubt on claims that the CCP was planning an imminent invasion of Taiwan despite the regime’s recent provocative actions toward the self-ruled island.
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Japan is concerned about its own vulnerability as the CCP boosts its military drills near Taiwan and the East China Sea, where the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands are situated.

Any attack on Taiwan could also threaten Philippine security because of its proximity to Taiwan, which sits on the north side of the Luzon Strait.

Philippine President Marcos Jr. said Monday that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is facing “strong pressure” from major powers to choose sides amid geopolitical rivalry in the Indo-Pacific region.
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Marcos said that ASEAN nations would forge alliances and pursue their own goals without being influenced by any countries. He signed 14 bilateral agreements with CCP leader Xi Jinping on Jan. 4, including a maritime security deal.

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Russia Has Built Its First Production Batch Of Poseidon Nuclear Torpedoes

A report in the Russian media claims that the first production examples of the country’s Poseidon nuclear-powered, nuclear-tipped, ultra-long-endurance torpedoes have been built. These will initially be provided to the Russian Navy’s shadowy Project 09852 Belgorod, the world’s longest submarine — but, at this stage, it’s unclear if the torpedoes actually have their nuclear warheads fitted.

According to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, “the first batch of Poseidon ammunition has been manufactured” for the Belgorod and will be delivered “soon.” Citing “a source close to the Russian military and defense industry,” the same report says that trials have already been completed of various components related to the Poseidon torpedo, including its nuclear powerplant. Previous examples of Poseidon were produced for developmental and test use, including the one seen in the video below, published by the Russian Ministry of Defense, but the latest announcement suggests that series production of the torpedoes, or at the very least a larger pre-production batch, has commenced.
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Indeed, the first version of the report on the subject from the Reuters agency stated that “Russia has produced the first nuclear warheads for the self-powered Poseidon super torpedoes,” and attributed that same claim to the TASS story. This is a clear misreading of the original report, although that’s not to say it’s not possible that the warheads have been completed too. In the meantime, the Reuters story has been updated to better reflect the TASS claims.

The War Zone spoke to Dmitry Stefanovich, a Research Fellow at the Center for International Security, IMEMO RAS, for his observations about the apparent initial batch of Poseidon weapons. His assumption is that this first batch comprises a larger series of test torpedoes. These would be necessary to explore how the Belgorod actually behaves with a full set of six of the enormous torpedoes onboard, as opposed to the single test rounds that have likely been carried so far.
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In July last year, we reported how the Belgorod — also known as K-329 — had entered service with the Russian Navy.

Although the Belgorod has been described by the Russians as a “research” vessel able to conduct “diverse scientific expeditions and rescue operations in the most remote areas of the world ocean,” the truth is that the submarine is the first of a new type of underwater weapons system designed as a ‘mother ship’ that can deploy a variety of deep-sea drones, a deep-diving nuclear-powered minisub, a submersible nuclear powerplant to power an undersea sensor network — and the now-infamous Poseidon torpedo.

The Belgorod started life as an Oscar II class nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine and, as part of its modifications, it now has the capacity to carry six Poseidon torpedoes, also known as the 2M39 Status-6.

McConnell Calls on DOJ to Treat Trump and Biden Documents ‘Exactly the Same Way’

“I think the important thing with regard to documents is that both these guys ought to be treated exactly the same way—exactly the same way,” McConnell said on NewsRadio 840 WHAS in Kentucky.

The Senate Republican leader said he thinks the attorney general “probably did the right thing” by appointing separate special counsels in investigating the two classified document cases.
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“When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?” Trump wrote on his social media platform after news broke of the first batch of Biden-linked document stash. “These documents were definitely not declassified.”

Trump, who said he declassified documents before leaving office, is being investigated by the DOJ. Garland appointed Jack Smith as special counsel in November to oversee Trump’s case.
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The House Judiciary Committee has already opened an investigation into Biden’s possession of classified materials.
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“House Republicans have no credibility,” White House spokesman Ian Sams said in a statement to media outlets on Monday. “Their demands should be met with skepticism and they should face questions themselves about why they are politicizing this issue and admitting they actually do not care about the underlying classified material.”
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Asked about the White House’s comment Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) defended Republicans’ investigation, saying the treatment of Trump and Biden regarding classified documents “just does not seem fair.”

Referring to the classified document linked to Biden, McCarthy said “prior to an election, they kept it secret. At no time did he get raided by the FBI.”

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Resigning

New Zealand (NZ) Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has revealed she will be resigning after six years in the position as the nation heads into an election year.

Ardern, who was elected as the prime minister in 2017, will step down sometime between Jan. 19 and Feb. 7 after the NZ Labour party decides on her replacement.

Speaking about her decision, Ardern said that she had realised that after leading the country for nearly six years, she did not “have enough left in the tank” for another four-year term.
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Ardern noted that her decision was supported by her family, many of whom had not wanted her to resign. But did take time to note to her daughter in her speech that she would be there for her first day of school this year.
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She leaves behind a mixed legacy, with many praising her for her empathy as prime minister when responding to events like the March 2019 Christchurch massacre.
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Ardern’s legacy was marred by the her government’s COVID-19 pandemic response, which saw New Zealanders rally in their thousands multiple times during 2021-2022 over government-mandated lockdowns, strict vaccine mandates, and quarantine measures.
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Separately, her government’s environmental protection laws were met with mass protests from farmers across the country.

Hollywood Lost Over $500 Billion in Market Value in 2022

Hollywood studios lost over $500 billion in market value in 2022, with $120 billion of losses coming from Disney alone.
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Last month, the Dow Jones Media Titans index, which tracks the performance of the world’s top 30 media companies, showed a 40 percent loss in 2022, with its total market value tumbling from $1.35 trillion to $808 billion, the Financial Times reported.

Entertainment losses last year surpassed those in other sectors, such as banking, which saw a 14.5 percent drop, and telecommunications, which witnessed an 11.2 percent decline in revenue.

Major studios, streaming services, cable providers, broadcasters, and other media groups, lost a combined $542 billion in market value in 2022.
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Many investors have pulled out of the once booming streaming service market, as increasing competition and rising costs, combined with inflation taking a toll on consumer spending, have led to a slowdown in advertising and increasing subscriber cancellations.

Microsoft Is Cutting 10,000 Jobs in Latest of Big Tech Layoffs

The announcement comes after tens of thousands of job cuts across the technology sector. The layoffs are a response to decreased spending in cloud computing after the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft said: “First, as we saw customers accelerate their digital spend during the pandemic, we’re now seeing them optimize their digital spend to do more with less.”

The same holds true for organizations that are fearing or impacted by recession, according to the note. Palantir Technologies Inc., a software company, said this week that reducing cloud spending was a top-ten priority of its customers.

The 10,000 jobs cut amounts to around 5 percent of Microsoft’s total workforce. The company is cutting far fewer jobs than it had added during the COVID-19 pandemic; it expanded by about 36 percent in the two fiscal years following the start of the pandemic, growing from 163,000 workers at the end of June 2020 to 221,000 in June 2022.

The tech giant will also hire in some areas and focus on artificial intelligence (AI) for its future development plans.
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The company will spend $1.2 billion for employee severance costs and changing its hardware portfolio.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said, “This is a rip the band-aid off moment to preserve margins and cut costs in a softer macro, a strategy the Street will continue to applaud.”

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Search Continuing in Southern California For Missing Actor Julian Sands

Actor Julian Sands has been missing for five days after he failed to return from a hiking trip in the Southern California mountains, according to authorities on Jan. 18.

The “A Room With a View” actor was due to return on Jan. 13 from a trail on Mount Baldy, according to San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Gloria Huerta.

Search and rescue workers looked for the 65-year-old British actor in the San Gabriel Mountains, roughly 40 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, but were forced to cease the operation due to trail conditions and avalanche threats, and have not been allowed to resume since, according to Huerta.

Authorities said they are searching for Sands using helicopters and drones as the weather permits and will resume the ground search when it is safe.
...
He acted in James Ivory’s 1985 British romantic comedy “A Room With a View” where he played Helena Bonham Carter’s love interest. He also took on pivotal roles in the films “Warlock,” “Arachnophobia,” “Naked Lunch,” “Boxing Helena,” and “Leaving Las Vegas,” from 1989 to 1995.

Since then, Sands has continuously performed in smaller roles in movies and television shows.

Foreign Control Over US Water Resources Increasing Amid Security Concerns

New research suggests that increased privatization in water utilities also leads to higher prices at the tap for residents.
...
Information gaps, inaccuracies, and ownership data are missing from 14 publically traded water companies serving 33 states, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report.

Then there are water futures to consider. In 2020, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange launched its first water futures market, allowing investors to buy shares like any other commodity.

Some analysts claim big investments in U.S. water futures can drive up the cost for residents, saying inflated market prices may result in hoarding among water rights owners.

The United States is grappling with drought in 44 percent of the lower 48 states as of January 2023. Western states have endured prolonged arid conditions for years, impacting multiple farming regions and domestic food supply.

And outside investors are placing their biggest bets on land acquisition.

Foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land represents nearly 38 million acres. For perspective, that’s roughly the size of Illinois or Iowa. Between 2009 and 2019, foreign land holdings doubled.

With that comes the potential for turning water into money.

A senior official within California’s resource management—who asked to have their name omitted—told The Epoch Times, “The topic is a very serious one. Wealthy non-farming Americans and foreign interests are buying up U.S. farms and water rights.”

The source added that foreign investors are “manipulating domestic politics” in ways that prioritize the commodification of farmland over things like sustainable use, clean food, and water quality.

South Africa to Host China and Russia for Military Exercises

The South African Department of Defense announced the drills, dubbed “Operation Mosi,” on Jan. 19. The exercises are planned to take place from Feb. 17 to 27, and will coincide with the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Operation Mosi is intended to “strengthen the already flourishing relations between South Africa, Russia, and China,” according to a statement shared by the South Africa National Defense Force on social media.

The exercises have been in the planning stages since December, and will include 350 South African personnel working with Russian and Chinese forces in Durban and Richards Bay “with the aim of sharing operational skills and knowledge,” according to the statement.

Russian state-owned media outlet TASS reported that Russia would send two ships to the exercises, which the nation believes will “strengthen multilateral ties between the three countries.”

It is unclear what type of units the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will send.
...
South Africa has been growing apart from its Western partners since Cyril Ramaphosa became president in 2018. Shortly thereafter, in 2019, the nation engaged in its first trilateral military exercises with Russia and China.

Ramaphosa’s administration has refused to condemn Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. However, a survey shows nearly three-quarters of all South Africans believe the invasion to be “an act of aggression that must be condemned.”

US Coast Guard Monitoring Alleged Russian Spy Ship Off Hawaii

“In recent weeks, the U.S. Coast Guard has continued to monitor a Russian vessel, believed to be an intelligence gathering ship, off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands,” the USCG said in a news release.

It noted that foreign military ships can move “freely through the U.S. economic zone” under international law but said that “foreign-flagged military vessels have often been observed operating and loitering within Coast Guard District Fourteen’s area of response.” The Coast Guard added that it is monitoring the situation.

The Coast Guard on Wednesday posted a video of the alleged Russian military vessel’s movements near Hawaii. In the clip, it showed crew members manning a ship that appeared to be refueling.
...
Some speculated that the ship identified in the Coast Guard video is the Russian intelligence vessel SSV-535 Kareliya, a Vishnya-class intelligence ship that was built for the Soviet navy in the 1980s. The Russian Navy currently operates seven such ships, which are used for intelligence-gathering, according to DefenceBlog.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command confirmed last May that it was monitoring a Russian vessel near Hawaii’s coast. At the time, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel told KHON-TV that the Soviet Union used to send ships to Hawaii during the Cold War.
...
A Russian naval vessel was spotted near Alaska in September of last year, while a month earlier, U.S. military officials detected Russian surveillance planes flying in Alaska’s air-defense zone.

In 2019, a Russian spy ship was seen operating off the coast of the southeastern U.S. in what officials said was an “unsafe manner.” The Viktor Leonov vessel was operating near Georgia and South Carolina, prompting reports to the U.S. Coast Guard at the time, according to a notice.

President Joe Biden in April banned Russian-flagged ships from entering any U.S. port following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine months before.

[kyonides]

Millions Respond to Poll Asking If World Economic Forum Should ‘Control the World’

The results are in of a poll initiated by Elon Musk, who asked Twitter users to vote on whether they think the global elite gathering World Economic Forum (WEF) should “control the world.”

Musk ran the poll as the WEF’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland—which features a host of international leaders, central bankers, Wall Street executives, and celebrities—kicked off earlier this week.

With over 2.4 million Twitter users voting, the poll shows that a whopping 86 percent don’t think that the globalist elites should “control the world.”
...
Critics of the WEF often claim that the organization is working to control the world through its influence on global politics and economy. They typically argue that WEF’s focus on globalization and its promotion of neoliberal economic policies are evidence of this goal.

Additionally, some critics of the WEF view with disdain its exclusive, invitation-only membership and its annual meeting in Davos, which reinforces the organization’s elitist veneer.
...
In one of his posts on Twitter, Musk commented on an article that references the infamous WEF-associated slogan “You’ll own nothing. And you’ll be happy.”
...
Monck penned an opinion piece in the Canadian outlet The Globe and Mail last August, calling the backlash a “misinformation campaign that targeted the World Economic Forum.”

Only if you would ever love to be controlled by global Communists.
 Of course, the elite would still have right to claim large extensions of territory and luxury cars and mansions as their own.

Abbott Labs Being Investigated Over Baby Formula, Company Says

“DOJ has informed us of its investigation and we’re cooperating fully,” the spokesperson said.
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Abbott, one of the largest baby formula manufacturers in the country, issued a voluntary recall in February 2022 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned Americans not to use some products made at one of the company’s plants in Sturgis, Michigan. An investigation uncovered unsanitary conditions there following a whistleblower complaint.

Dr. Robert Califf, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner, said during a congressional hearing that the investigation results “were shocking,” describing conditions he said were “egregiously unsanitary.”

Regulators discovered the presence of Cronobacter sakazakii, a bacteria that can contaminate dry products like infant formula powder, at the facility. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention opened a probe into multiple cases, including several deaths, potentially linked to the contamination. Authorities said they were unable to find a definitive connection between the illnesses and Abbott’s products. Abbott has said that none of the formula it distributed tested positive for Cronobacter.

More Documents With Classified Markings Found at Biden’s Delaware Home

A search by Department of Justice authorities has yielded six more documents with classified markings at President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.

The announcement was made late Saturday by Biden’s personal attorney, Bob Bauer.

The new findings come as a result of a search by the DOJ on Friday, after Biden’s counsel offered “full access” to the property. The DOJ had access to Biden’s “personally handwritten notes, files, papers, binders, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules, and reminders going back decades,” according to Bauer.

“DOJ also took for further review personally handwritten notes from the vice-presidential years,” he said.

These join other classified government records from Biden’s time as vice president that had been previously uncovered. The first batch of materials was found on Nov. 2, 2022, at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., where Biden previously had a private office after his term as vice president under the Obama administration.

The find prompted a follow-up search, which led to the discovery of more documents on Dec. 20 in Biden’s Wilmington home, in his garage. More documents were later found in Biden’s home library on Jan. 11 and Jan. 12.

The latest documents appear to be from Biden’s time as vice president and tenure in the U.S. Senate, Bauer said.

 Can people still trust a guy that has some serious memory issues?

Election Integrity Watchdog Finds 10.9 Million 2022 Midterm Mail-In Ballots ‘Unaccounted For’ in California

“Mail voting practices have an insurmountable information gap,” the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) said on Monday. “The public cannot know how many ballots were disregarded, delivered to wrong mailboxes, or even withheld from the proper recipient by someone at the same address.”

The watchdog released the two-page report detailing what it called “the failures” of California’s first mass-mail balloting election following the passage of Assembly Bill 37 (AB 37), which requires that ballots automatically be mailed to all active registered voters statewide. The bill, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2021, makes vote-by-mail ballots, a practice implemented in the 2020 general election in conjunction with the COVID-19 pandemic, permanent for all elections.

California has more registered voters than any other state. Yet its vote-by-mail policies—among the nation’s most expansive—have resulted in large numbers of ballots “disappearing at poll closing time,” PILF’s data show.

Rep. Boebert Introduces Bill to Defund Planned Parenthood

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) has proposed a new draft bill that aims to defund Planned Parenthood by placing a one-year moratorium on federal funding to the organization, in line with the longstanding goal of many Republicans who oppose the organization’s provision of abortions.

The bill is Boebert’s first in the 118th Congress, which Republicans took control of in the midterm elections and are now pressing ahead with their “Commitment to America” agenda.

“The nation’s largest abortion provider has no business receiving taxpayer dollars,” Boebert said in a Jan. 20 press release. “Planned Parenthood claims these funds go to healthcare for women, but last year, Planned Parenthood performed a record number of abortions while also reducing the number of well-woman exams and breast cancer screenings it performed.”

The bill, named “Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2023”, aims to prohibit federal funds from being made available to the organization, or any of its affiliates or clinics, unless they certify that they will not perform abortions. Exceptions are made for abortions in cases of rape, incest, or when the woman’s life is in danger.

I totally disagree with killing any  baby.They're not guilty of anything.
Catch the  criminal, but let the  baby live.

[kyonides]

I'm not against Taiwan sovereign existence at all, but this would certainly become a declaration of war against China...

Rep. Tiffany Introduces Resolution Calling for US to Recognize Taiwan Independence

A group of Congressional lawmakers has introduced a measure urging the U.S. administration to end its “One China Policy” and formally recognize Taiwan’s status as an independent nation.

Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) led 18 other members of Congress in introducing the resolution on Jan. 15, which calls for the United States to resume formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

The resolution also directs the Biden administration to support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations and to negotiate a bilateral U.S.-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement.
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The idea is not new to Tiffany, who brought forward similar resolutions in 2020 and 2021. What is new, he said, is the support that the resolution is receiving.

“A couple years ago, it was me alone,” Tiffany said. “This year we’re going to have 18 original co-sponsors.”
...
A 2020 Pew poll found that 66 percent of Taiwanese considered themselves to be a distinct people from the Chinese, with 28 percent considering themselves both Taiwanese and Chinese, and only 4 percent viewing themselves as just Chinese.

That trend is sharply higher among the younger generation, with 83 percent of Taiwanese people under 30 saying that they did not consider themselves to be Chinese.

IRS Alerts Taxpayers They Must Answer a New Question on Tax Forms or Face Consequences

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued an alert to taxpayers on Tuesday, reminding them that they must report all digital asset-related income and answer a new digital asset question on their 2022 federal income tax return or face consequences such as delayed refunds or even penalties.

The IRS said in a Jan. 24 release that a key change on 1040 forms this year is that the agency has replaced the term “virtual currency” with “digital assets,” in addition to some other modifications to the wording.

The “Yes” or “No” question, which was expanded and revised this year to update terminology, reads as follows:

“At any time during 2022, did you: (a) receive (as a reward, award or payment for property or services); or (b) sell, exchange, gift or otherwise dispose of a digital asset (or a financial interest in a digital asset)?”

The question appears at the top of tax forms 1040, Individual Income Tax Return; 1040-SR, U.S. Tax Return for Seniors; and 1040-NR, U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return.

“All taxpayers must answer the question regardless of whether they engaged in any transactions involving digital assets,” the agency cautioned.

More Documents With Classified Markings Found at Biden’s Delaware Home

The announcement, made late Saturday by Biden’s personal attorney, Bob Bauer, did not specify the exact number of documents with the classification markings.

“DOJ took possession of materials it deemed within the scope of its inquiry, including six items consisting of documents with classification markings and surrounding materials, some of which were from the President’s service in the Senate and some of which were from his tenure as Vice President,” Bauer said. “DOJ also took for further review personally handwritten notes from the vice-presidential years.”

The new findings come after the DOJ searched Biden’s home on Friday. The DOJ had “full access” to the property, including to “personally handwritten notes, files, papers, binders, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules, and reminders going back decades,” according to Bauer.

These join other classified government records from Biden’s time as vice president that had been previously uncovered.
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Biden and first lady Jill Biden were not present during the search, White House lawyer Richard Sauber said in a separate statement on Saturday.

Schiff, Swalwell, Omar Vow to ‘Stick Together’ As McCarthy Blocks Them From Committees

Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) vowed to “stick together” on Jan. 25 in response to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) refusal to allow them assignments on House committees.

On Jan. 24, McCarthy formally rejected House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ (D-N.Y.) nominations of Schiff and Swalwell for the House Intelligence Committee, of which both congressmen were members in the last Congress and Schiff chaired.

McCarthy has also promised to keep Omar off the Foreign Affairs Committee, where she previously served.
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Adding that he and his two colleagues had received death threats, Swalwell alleged McCarthy had intended that to be the case.
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Describing McCarthy’s move as a “political stunt,” Omar said she felt it threatened national security and “the integrity of our Democratic institution.”

Schiff, meanwhile, alleged that McCarthy was not acting of his own accord but on the orders of former President Donald Trump.

By "democratic institution" she actually means "controlled by Democrats" instead of caring about Americans or her fellow Africans.

Biden Announces US Will Send M1 Abrams Tanks to Ukraine

The president said during a White House announcement that the United States will send 31 tanks to Ukraine, adding that the “U.S. and Europe are fully united.” He reiterated that the tanks are “not an offensive threat to Russia.”

“That’s what we all want: an end to this war,” Biden said. “Our terms … is to preserve Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty.”

Earlier this week, unconfirmed reports that cited anonymous sources said the United States was poised to send dozens of its top battle tank to Ukraine after saying for months that it wouldn’t be deployed in the country. Since the start of the conflict, Ukraine’s government has asked for battle tanks from Western powers amid protracted fighting in the eastern portion of the country.

Previously, U.S. officials have said that the M1 Abrams’ systems are too complex to operate and maintain, while adding that it would take months to get the tanks to Ukraine. It would also take months to train Ukrainians in using them.
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Germany confirmed Wednesday that it would send 14 of its high-tech Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

“Germany will always be at the forefront when it comes to supporting Ukraine,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the German parliament, to applause.

[kyonides]

CIEL Welcomes Mexican Government Announcement on Solar Geoengineering Ban

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) applauds the Mexican government’s announcement that it will not permit solar geoengineering experiments and deployment on its national territory. The announcement follows a private, US-based company’s (‘Make Sunsets’) recent unauthorized experimental solar geoengineering flights in Mexico. CIEL calls on all governments to take steps to ban solar geoengineering outdoor experiments, technology development, and deployment.

“‘Make Sunsets’ launch of unauthorized geoengineering experiments for private profit demonstrates both the urgent threat of rogue geoengineering and the deeper risks of the rising reliance on geoengineering to counter some of the effects of climate change.
...
The Mexican government’s announcement states that the government will take all necessary steps to enforce a moratorium agreed upon by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2010 and to adhere to the ‘precautionary principle’ under international law.

The Mexican government follows scientific advice: The IPCC has warned that these technologies are not a credible solution because of their impacts and huge uncertainties. Masking global heating with sunlight reduction would bring huge shifts in atmospheric circulation and massively affect rainfall patterns, especially in countries already impacted by climate chaos. Models show that solar geoengineering could affect rainfall patterns and hydrological cycles that sustain the livelihoods of millions of people. Hundreds of leading scientists from over 50 countries are calling for an International Non-Use Agreement on Solar Geoengineering. The Non-Use Agreement would prohibit governments from supporting the development of solar geoengineering technologies with taxpayer funds and ban all outdoor experiments, patenting, and deployment.  

Of course, the official announcement they mentioned above was published in Spanish so you'd need to let your browser translate it for you.

Analysts Say Brazil’s Proposed Universal Latin American Currency ‘Not Realistic’

Plans for a single currency in Latin America resurfaced after more than a decade on Jan. 23, when Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced the initiative at a bilateral conference in Buenos Aires.

The Brazilian president—commonly known as Lula—pitched the idea as a means for Argentina and Brazil to end their dependency on the U.S. dollar.

So far, Lula’s proposal has received more criticism than praise.
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During the conference, Lula said the notes would initially be specifically used for trade between Brazil and Argentina. Though the Brazilian president mentioned wanting to extend the reach to other countries within the region eventually.
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“We would not agree. For many reasons, we have to continue maintaining the [U.S.] dollar as a reference,” Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said during a daily press conference on Jan. 24.

Chile’s President Gabriel Boric expressed his thoughts on the topic during an official visit to Colombia last August.

The Chilean head of state said that while he’s “available” to discuss the topic of a single currency in Latin America, he warned “much progress” has to be made first.
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“It’s not a popular measure. It’s specifically [designed] to benefit failed economies in Latin America. How does that help Brazil?” economist and political analyst Paulo Figueiredo told The Epoch Times.

Jay Leno Breaks Multiple Bones in Accident Months After Recovering From Burn Injuries

Comedian Jay Leno revealed in an interview on Thursday that he sustained multiple broken bones in a motorcycle accident that happened earlier this month.

The 72-year-old former host of “The Tonight Show” told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he “got knocked off [his] motorcycle” on Jan. 17 and suffered a broken collarbone, two broken ribs, and two cracked kneecaps.

Leno provided specifics on the accident while responding to a reporter from the Nevada newspaper, who asked the TV personality how he was doing in his recovery from burn injuries he sustained when a vintage car he was working on burst into flames in November 2022.

Against Biden Admin Wishes, House Votes to Limit Strategic Petroleum Reserve Release

After a lengthy debate over numerous amendments, and despite the Biden administration’s promise of a veto, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill on Jan. 27 limiting the Biden administration’s ability to draw from the nation’s oil stockpile.

First introduced on Jan. 26, the Strategic Production Response Act passed 221–201. The measure is unlikely to clear the Democrat-controlled Senate where it will need 60 votes to pass.

The three-page bill (pdf) would mandate a plan for additional oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters to offset drawdowns of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The bill wouldn’t apply in the case of severe disruptions to the energy supply.

Under the Biden administration, the SPR has fallen to its lowest level since the 1980s. While Democrats argue the drawdowns were a necessary and effective response to the dramatic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the oil market, Republicans contend the actions add up to little more than a political stunt, designed to win over voters at the expense of national security.

Republicans Introduce Bill to Strip China of Permanent Trade Status

A group of Republican lawmakers is introducing legislation that would strip communist China of its special permanent trade status with the United States.

The “China Trade Relations Act” was introduced on Jan. 27 by GOP Sens. Tom Cotton (Ark.), Rick Scott (Fla.), Ted Budd (N.C.), and J.D. Vance (Ohio).

The legislation would end China’s permanent status as a “most favored nation” (MFN). Instead, China would be required to seek presidential approval on an annual basis in order to maintain its MFN status.
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“It’s time to protect American jobs and hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for their forced labor camps and egregious human rights violations.”

MFN status, also known as normal trade relations (NTR), confers select nations with free trade benefits and acknowledges that the recipient nation will receive all the same trade benefits as any other nation with the designation.

China’s communist regime has maintained MFN status since 1980, though there have been numerous efforts over the decades to revoke it, particularly after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The regime’s MFN/NTR status was made permanent by the Clinton administration in 2000.

[kyonides]

WHO Updates Medicines List for Nuclear Emergencies

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday released recommendations on how to acquire and manage medical supplies for the treatment of exposure to radioactive materials in emergencies.

The report sets out for countries and governments how to develop and maintain a national stockpile of specific medical supplies that can lower risks and treat injuries caused by radiation.

Maria Neira, the head of the WHO’s Public Health and Environment department, emphasized the importance of having “ready supplies” of crucial drugs developed over the last decade.

“In radiation emergencies, people may be exposed to radiation at doses ranging from negligible to life-threatening. Governments need to make treatments available for those in need—fast,” Neira said in a statement.

It’s the first time the publication has been updated since 2007.

Paul Pelosi Attacker Makes Chilling Call from Jail, Reveals Plans to ‘Get’ More People

David DePape, the suspect accused of attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer, made a chilling jailhouse phone call to a news station, revealing disturbing plans to “get” people he believes were behind the suppression of individual liberties.

DePape called KTVU on Friday, the same day that police body camera footage was released to the public showing DePape confronted by officers while wielding a hammer and, moments later, appearing to swing it at Pelosi’s head.
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DePape then said that “freedom and liberty isn’t dying, it’s being killed systematically and deliberately,” and that the “people killing it have names and addresses,” which he obtained so that he could “pay them a little visit” in order to have a “heart to heart chat about their bad behavior.”

He then offered an apology—but not for the attack.
...
DePape said he spent all his time exposing what he described as government corruption but that he was silenced by Big Tech at the behest of the government, which he claimed “outsources” the repression of free speech to the private industry.

“It’s called fascism,” he said.

New York Should Pay Cuomo’s Legal Fees in Suit, Judge Rules

Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, filed a lawsuit against Attorney General Letitia James in August arguing she violated state law by denying him public assistance for his defense. Cuomo said the trooper’s allegations stem from a time when “he was acting within the scope of his employment or duties.”

The unidentified trooper filed a lawsuit last year, asking a federal court to find that Cuomo and others violated her civil rights. She was on Cuomo’s security detail and had told investigators he allegedly subjected her to sexual remarks and on occasion sexual harassment. The lawsuit seeks damages for “severe mental anguish and emotional distress.”

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shlomo Hagler said it is for a judge or jury to determine if Cuomo sexually harassed the state trooper, and that his state-funded defense can’t be denied, according to the New York Post.

He's no longer the governor, how can he get a lawyer for free? He's not a homeless guy that has no other choice but to get an attorney appointed by a court.

Protests Erupt in US Cities After Memphis Releases Tyre Nichols Video

Protesters have organized in several U.S. cities on Friday night following the release of body camera footage of the killing of Tyre Nichols by five Memphis police officers.

The five former officers allegedly involved in the killing of Nichols were arrested and charged with second-degree murder on Thursday.

After footage showing a violent struggle between Nichols and the officers was released on Friday night, demonstrators took to the streets in different cities with various messages, some demanding justice and an end to so-called “police terror,” others with generic leftist messages about “class struggle” and “revolution.”

In some locations, protests were being led by the far-left group known as Antifa, known for being confrontational and violent during protests, according to videos circulating on social media.

Some of the protesters have blocked traffic and caused damage to property.

Biden Administration Releases Over 1,300 Criminal Illegal Immigrants in 1 Month

Immigration officials released 521 convicted criminal aliens and 795 with pending criminal charges in December 2022, per data released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The number of convicted criminal aliens and those with pending charges released was up from 58 percent from the month prior and 48 percent from October 2022.

Convicted criminals are defined as people who violate immigration law and have a criminal conviction at the time they’re taken into custody by ICE. The exact convictions are not detailed.
...
Most of the releases stemmed from orders of recognizance, or an interim determination that the alien in question is “not a detention priority.”

Others were under orders of supervision, were released due to a field office being “unable to obtain a travel document,” or put on parole. The latter is a case-by-case determination for “urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit” enabled by federal law.