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US NEWS

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The Military’s Phantom ‘Extremists’
An independent study puts to rest another false media narrative

Good news: The U.S. military isn’t packed with violent extremists. That’s the gist of a new report commissioned by the Pentagon in 2021 and released quietly with little notice in December. The result won’t surprise Americans who have spent time in uniform, but it should calm the media frenzy about right-wing radicals in the armed forces.

After reports that some service members participated in the Jan. 6 riot, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered an independent study to get “greater fidelity” on extremism in the ranks. The think tank tasked with the report, the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), “found no evidence that the number of violent extremists in the military is disproportionate” to U.S. society. A review of Pentagon data suggested “fewer than 100 substantiated cases per year of extremist activity by members of the military in recent years,” the report says.

Since you'd need a subscription to WSJ, here's what Military Times reported on this issue:

Service members don’t participate in violent extremism at higher rates than the rest of the U.S. population, but former troops do — and their involvement is growing, according to research published at the end of December.

According to the report, which was commissioned by the Defense Department, anecdotal accounts of service members being involved in violent extremism create a false impression that it’s an outsized problem. Those accounts often fail to differentiate between current service members and former troops, a demographic found to participate in violent extremism at higher rates, the research states.

“[The] review found no evidence that the number of violent extremists in the military is disproportionate to the number of violent extremists in the United States as a whole,” the research says. “Extremism in the veterans’ community has peaks and valleys over recent decades, and currently appears to be on the increase.”

While the study found there were not more violent extremists in the military than in the overall population, researchers did highlight racism and sexism as ongoing problems in the Armed Forces. Moreover, researchers said that even a single incident of violent extremism carried out by a service member can lead to “significant negative repercussions” for the nation as a whole.

Because of the effect that even a small number of incidents can create, researchers urged the Pentagon to hold a zero-tolerance policy on troops’ advocacy of violent extremism and take steps to ensure “core military values prevail over fringe beliefs.”

Other Disturbing Or Strange News

Sen. Roger Wicker Calls for a Briefing from the Pentagon After It Hid Austin’s Hospitalization

The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker, slammed the Pentagon for its “shocking defiance of the law” after it failed to disclose Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization to the president, the National Security Council, and Congress for several days, and called for a briefing from the administration “immediately.”

“I am glad to hear Secretary Austin is in improved condition and I wish him a speedy recovery. However, the fact remains that the Department of Defense deliberately withheld the Secretary of Defense’s medical condition for days. That is unacceptable. We are learning more every hour about the Department’s shocking defiance of the law,”Wicker said in a statement on Saturday.

“When one of the country’s two National Command Authorities is unable to perform their duties, military families, Members of Congress, and the American public deserve to know the full extent of the circumstances,” he added. “Members must be briefed on a full accounting of the facts immediately.”

Austin was admitted to the hospital on January 1, following complications after an “elective medical procedure,” but reportedly did not tell National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan until Thursday, January 4. Sullivan then reportedly told President Joe Biden.

The Pentagon then released a statement to the press on Friday evening, January 5, disclosing that Austin was admitted to the hospital. The initial statement did not say what the elective procedure was, what the complications were, or acknowledge that Austin was still in the hospital as of that day.

Mayorkas’ DHS Claims 2.3 Million Illegal Migrants, but Hides Millions More

A report by the Department of Homeland Security says the agency has released 2.3 million migrants into the United States up to September 2023.

However, the report hides the entry or stay of at least three million additional illegal migrants via various other routes during President Joe Biden’s three years.

Overall, the multiple routes delivered an increase of at least five million illegal migrants — or roughly one migrant for every two American infants born during Biden’s presidency.

The report was leaked and then posted late Saturday by the Washington Post, whose editors picked a stark headline, “U.S. released more than 2.3 million migrants at border since 2021, data show.”

That headline — although understated — is an extraordinarily dramatic description of the huge migrant numbers admitted by Biden’s pro-migration border chief, Alejandro Mayorkas.

It is also shocking because the true numbers have been successfully hidden by the established media from ordinary Americans for many years.

The report says the 2023 inflow includes 370,191 people allowed in via the “parole” loophole, 909,450 people allowed while officials begin multi-year deportation proceedings, and 118,100 child migrants who are sheltered by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Judicial Watch Files $30M Lawsuit Against U.S. Government in Ashli Babbitt Shooting Death

Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit Thursday against the United States government regarding the shooting death of January 6 protester Ashli Babbitt.

The nonprofit said the wrongful death lawsuit was on behalf of the U.S. Air Force veteran’s family who grieved her loss after she was shot and killed that day in 2021 inside the U.S. Capitol building by former Police Lt. Michael Byrd.
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The Judicial Watch announcement noted that Byrd was never charged, punished, or disciplined for the killing, noting the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are seeking $30,000,000.

Once Byrd was identified in August 2021 as Babbitt’s shooter, an attorney for the victim’s family suggested Byrd’s name had been hidden by officials, according to Breitbart News.

Terry Roberts said, “The U.S. Congress wants to protect this man. He’s got friends in high places and they want to protect him. And they’ve done a pretty good job of it. … I don’t think it’s a proud moment for the U.S. Capitol Police or the U.S. Congress.”

The outlet noted that Babbitt was unarmed when the shooting occurred on January 6 and she was the only person killed by gunfire during the incident.

Hunter Biden’s Lawyer Producing Documentary About First Son amid Federal Charges

Hunter Biden’s lawyer and so-called “sugar brother,” Kevin Morris, has a film crew following the first son around for a documentary glamorizing his scandal-scarred client, including his press conference in December upon defying a subpoenaed congressional testimony.

Cameras and spotlights for the film were reportedly on Hunter during the “press conference”, amid Morris’ ongoing initiative to produce a documentary about Hunter, as Breitbart News previously reported.
Media members previously spotted the film crew trailing Hunter at several key public appearances at Soho’s Georges Berges gallery, where he tried to sell art to “anonymous” buyers.
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With a documentary, Biden, and to some extent Morris, could possibly get the last word.
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Hunter Biden’s legal challenges consist of two indictments on numerous charges, but do not include any indictments related to violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA):

Nine charges: Tax indictment in California
Three charges: Gun indictment in Delaware
Hunter also faces a congressional probe related to the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

CANADIAN NEWS

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Toronto Police Working Now as Some Sort of Uber Eats Drivers?

Police Bring Coffee to Anti-Israel Protesters ‘Blockading’ Toronto Jewish Suburb

Police in Toronto, Canada, were filmed Saturday bringing coffee to anti-Israel protesters who blocked a road in a predominantly Jewish residential neighborhood.

The protest took place on the Avenue Road Bridge of Highway 401, closing a major access point to Armour Heights. Police shut down the junction.

The supportive attitude of police shocked critics who noted that the demonstrators appeared to be trying to intimidate Canadian Jews on the Jewish Sabbath.

It was also sharp contrast to the behavior of police during truckers’ protests two years ago, when protesters were arrested and their supporters’ bank accounts were often frozen.
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On Saturday, for example, a group of protesters in Seattle, Washington, shut down Interstate 5 — a major coastal highway — in the center of the city.

There, too, police decided against taking action.

LATIN AMERICAN NEWS

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2 Articles

Ecuador Announces Plan to Build Two ‘Bukele-Style’ Mega Prisons

The announcement is part of the “Phoenix Plan,” a broader list of security-related measures that [President] Noboa, a 36-year-old outsider who took office in November, is seeking to enact to curb Ecuador’s rampant crime, gang violence, and drug trafficking.

In an interview given to Radio Sucre, Noboa explained that the two “Bukele-style” prisons will be ready within ten to 11 months and construction work is slated to begin on January 11.

“They are going to be the same, because it is the same company, under the same design, that made the maximum security prisons in Mexico and that made them in El Salvador,” Noboa said. “So, for all the Bukele lovers,’ it is the same prison. If they want to go, walk around, get to know it, stay one night — go commit a crime.”

Noboa explained that one of the prisons will be located in the eastern Pastaza province and the other in southeastern Santa Elena, as these two “are the areas of least influence of the narco-terrorist groups.”
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Ecuador has experienced a steady increase in violent crime for years, culminating in a crime wave that turned the country into the tenth most violent in the region in 2022. Authorities registered 4,603 violent deaths that year and over 3,500 during the first half of 2023. The crime in Ecuador has also claimed the lives of several politicians last year and resulted in death threats from local gangs against several others.

Argentina’s Javier Milei Greenlights Major Military Leadership Overhaul

The decree, published on January 2, proposed the most significant changes to the armed forces’ leadership since 2003. Milei proposed in the decree the designation of new leadership positions across all branches of the Argentine Armed Forces and appointed Brigadier-General Xavier Julián Isaac to be head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Commanders tied to the previous socialist government of Alberto Fernández were reportedly removed from the Army’s leadership structure, and the ascent of Milei’s preferred leaders prompted others to vacate their posts. In the Army, the designation of Brigadier-General Alberto Presti as the new top official triggered the automatic retirement of 22 senior generals.

The number of retired generals increased to 23, including the resignation of Juan Martín Paleo, who served as chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Fernández’s presidency (2019-2023). The total retiring represents two-thirds of Argentina’s current pool of 55 generals.

Milei’s restructuring is the second largest of its kind in the nation’s history, surpassed only by the one carried out by late President Raúl Alfonsín at the time of Argentina’s return to democracy in 1983. The new restructuring is larger than the one carried out by late socialist President Néstor Kirchner in 2003, which prompted the retirement of 19 generals.

Argentine political scientist Fabián Calle told the Spanish newspaper El País that the major restructuring of the leadership of Argentina’s Armed Forces “has no ideological or political significance,” unlike the one signed off by Kirchner in 2003.