US News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion and Video Post.
US News:
FBI Spied on 3.3 Million Americans Without a Warrant, Report Reveals
As The Epoch Times reported:
In accordance with these new requirements, ODNI’s recently-released Annual Statistical Transparency Report included data on how often the FBI gathered information on American citizens using section 702 in 2021.
In total, queries against U.S. citizens came out to a jaw-dropping 3,394,053 searches. By comparison, only 1,324,057 such questions were made in 2020, representing around a 250 percent increase during President Joe Biden’s first year in office.
According to ODNI, more than half of these queries—approximately 1.9 million—were part of the larger investigation of alleged Russian attempts to target or weaken U.S. critical infrastructure.
The ODNI report also admitted that on at least four occasions, the FBI failed to get FISC approval before accessing the contents of information collected under section 702.
“None of these queries was related to national security, and they returned numerous Section 702-acquired products in response,” the FISC noted.
“Rigorous Congressional oversight of the FBI’s Section 702-related activities is essential given FBI’s track record utilizing its FISA authorities,” Jordan and Turner ruled in view of the FBI’s past overreach.
In their letter to Wray, Jordan and Turner laid out a laundry list of questions about the report, demanding further transparency and explanations on the revelation that the FBI has often overstepped its legal authority to spy on American citizens.
19 Indicted in International Drug Money Laundering Scheme
The charges brought in Massachusetts federal court are the result of a five-year investigation into the money laundering organization based in Colombia. Authorities say they laundered at least $6 million through the U.S. banking system.
Two people were arrested on Tuesday in Jamaica and three others were arrested in Florida, authorities said. Last month, another person was arrested in Florida and 12 others were arrested in Colombia. Prosecutors are seeking the extradition of the Colombian and Jamaican defendants to the U.S., officials said. One person remains at large.
Those charged played a variety of roles in the conspiracy, including drug suppliers and dollar purchasers, Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins told reporters.
The scheme involved the use of so-called “peso brokers,” who agreed to give pesos to drug traffickers in exchange for the profits of U.S. drug sales, Rollins said. Criminal associates would be handed drug money in suitcases or bags on the street and then peso brokers deposited the funds into U.S. banks, Rollins
Facebook’s first big ‘angel’ investor, billionaire Peter Thiel, is ‘stepping down from Meta’s board effective immediately’ to pursue Trump agenda
Thiel is leaving the board after 17 years to focus on backing Republican candidates JD Vance and Blake Masters for Senate in the upcoming midterm elections.
Meanwhile, Jack Dorsey will reportedly leave Twitter’s board of directors today 16 years after co-founding the firm. He is expected to stand down ahead of the $44billion takeover by Tesla magnate Elon Musk. It comes after the entrepreneur stepped down as CEO last fall.
Meta has struggled to recover after a difficult last year for the company, which was battered by whistleblower allegations, a major global service outage, and protests and controversy over its policies. This year’s first quarter earnings report was devastating and was followed by a huge drop in stock price.
Thiel, who co-founded Paypal in 1998, will turn his attention to candidates supporting the agenda of former President Donald Trump in the 2022 midterm elections.
Last year, he donated $10 million each to two separate super PACs supporting Republican Senate candidates J.D. Vance in Ohio and Blake Masters in Arizona, according to Politico. Both of them have worked for Thiel in the past.
Beto O’Rourke Removed From Texas Governor’s News Conference About School Shooting
Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke was escorted out of Gov. Greg Abbott’s news conference on a school shooting that left 19 children dead.
O’Rourke, a Democrat, started yelling at Abbott during the press conference on Wednesday about gun control laws. He was immediately branded an “embarrassment” by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Don McLaughlin, the mayor of Uvalde, where the shooting occurred, told him: “He needs to get his [expletive] out of here. Sir, you are out of line. Please leave this auditorium.”
“I can’t believe you, you sick son of a [expletive], you would come to an event like this to make it a political issue. [Expletive] like you, get out of here,” McLaughlin added.
Candace Owens Drops Hammer on AOC for Blaming School Shootings on Pro-Lifers
“There is no such thing as being ‘pro-life’ while supporting laws that let children be shot in their schools, elders in grocery stores, worshippers in their houses of faith, survivors by abusers, or anyone in a crowded place,” AOC claimed on Twitter.
“It is an idolatry of violence. And it must end.”
“Name the law you are referring to,” Owens fired back.
“What United States law, specifically, ‘lets children be shot in their schools’.”
“You won’t name it because it doesn’t exist,” Owens continued.
“You are shameless, bought-and-paid-for politician, standing on the bodies of dead children to score political points.”
Ocasio-Cortez faced widespread criticism over her tweet, which was widely condemned online.
“If in each of these cases, even the strictest of laws was BROKEN, what makes you think that more laws will fix the problem?” journalist Kristi Leigh responded.
Alfa-Bank investigator under FBI review over role in Papadopoulos FISA case
One of the FBI agents who led the investigation into debunked Alfa-Bank claims in 2016 remains under review for allegedly concealing exculpatory information from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court during the Trump-Russia investigation.
Curtis Heide, who worked at the Chicago field office in 2016 when it handled the Alfa-Bank investigation, was also doing work at that time on the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, specifically related to Trump campaign associate George Papadopoulos.
He admitted while giving testimony Tuesday at the Michael Sussmann trial that the FBI is reviewing whether he intentionally withheld potentially exculpatory information related to the investigation.
Heide, an FBI veteran of 16 years, testified that he began temporary duty assignments in the nation’s capital in January 2016, working on a number of election-related matters.
Specifically, Heide said he did work to support the Midyear Exam investigation — what he described as “the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email matters.”
Sussmann billed the purchase of flash drives to Clinton campaign days before giving them to FBI
The revelation Wednesday about the flash drives was presented by prosecution team paralegal Kori Arsenault, who has examined billing and phone records in the case.
Her testimony came on the final day of the prosecution’s case in a federal court in Washington, D.C. The trial started May 17 and is set to conclude Friday.
In a Perkins Coie expense report that Arsenault discussed in court, Sussmann billed the Clinton campaign for two thumb drives he bought at a Staples store on Sept. 13, 2016, six days before his meeting with Baker.
A disbursement form to the Clinton campaign from Perkins Coie, at which Sussman was a partner, states the drives were for the secure storage of files.
The defense team also called witnesses Wednesday, including former FBI agent Tom Grasso, who worked with Joffe and said he considered Joffee a friend.
NYC subway shooting suspect arrested 19 times
Eric Shawn reports the latest on suspect Andrew Abdullah’s alleged attack after he shot and killed Daniel Enriquez over the weekend.
Former Reality TV Star Josh Duggar Gets 12 Years in Child Porn Case
Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks to give the maximum term of 20 years to Duggar, whose large family was the focus of TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting.” They argued in a pre-sentencing court filing that Duggar has a “deep-seated, pervasive, and violent sexual interest in children.”
Duggar was arrested in April 2021 after a Little Rock police detective found child porn files were being shared by a computer traced to Duggar.
Investigators testified that images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers, were downloaded in 2019 onto a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned.
Americans sound off on gas prices after Biden says they’re part of ‘an incredible transition’
“I don’t believe a word he says,” one woman, Theresa, told Fox News. “He’s been in the business for 40-something years and hasn’t done too much.”
“Start drilling again. Do something,” she continued. “We can’t be the only ones trying to save the world. If we’re getting our oil from somewhere let it be right here at home.”
Gas prices repeatedly reached record highs in the last few months, including on Tuesday, when the national average was $4.60 per gallon, according to AAA.
“I’m out here walking around ’cause I can’t afford the gas,” Wayne, who walked to the gas station for groceries, said.
How Two Corrupt Pharma Companies Are Cashing in on Monkeypox Scare
For some, fears have centered around monkeypox being the potential “next pandemic” after COVID-19.
For others, the fear is that monkeypox will be used as the latest excuse to further advance draconian biosecurity policies and global power grabs.
Regardless of how the monkeypox situation plays out, two companies are already cashing in. As concern over monkeypox has risen, so too have the shares of Emergent BioSolutions and SIGA Technologies.
That billionaire, “corporate raider” Ron Perelman, has deep and controversial ties to the Clinton family and the Democratic party as well as troubling ties to Jeffery Epstein. Aside from his controlling stake in SIGA, Perelman has recently made headlines for rapidly liquidating many of his assets in a desperate bid for cash.
Similarly, Emergent BioSolutions has also been in hot water. The company, which has troubling ties to the 2001 Anthrax attacks, came under fire just under two weeks ago for engaging in a “cover-up” over quality control issues relating to their production of COVID-19 vaccines.
‘Pools Of Blood’: Authorities Shut Down Abortion Clinic For Endangering Patients
The AHCA shut down the American Family Planning Abortion Clinic (AFPAC) following an investigation triggered by complaints from anti-abortion watchdog group Reprotection, the group’s CEO, Missy Martinez-Stone, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
The agency’s emergency order revealed further complaints about the clinic: women with cervical lacerations and excessive blood loss, clinic workers failing to meet requirements about monitoring patients’ vital signs such as blood pressure, including during medical emergencies, and a doctor who admitted to not knowing what emergency protocols were in place.
Local pro-life group Emerald Coast Coalition for Life alerted Reprotection to alleged discrepancies in the American Family Planning Abortion Clinic’s (AFPAC) abortion facility application with the state, Martinez-Stone told TheDCNF. AFPAC claimed to have a transfer agreement with Baptist Health, a local hospital, but Baptist Health denied having this relationship, according to emails and a written statement by the hospital obtained by TheDCNF.
In one instance, the clinic allegedly had to discontinue an abortion performed on a woman who was 19 weeks and six days pregnant due to cervical lacerations and possible uterine rupture, according to the emergency order. She lost either 250 or 750 milliliters of blood – it is unknown because the medical record is illegible – and she needed a laparoscopy and a possible C-section.
Border Patrol Agents Ended Mass Shooting at Texas Elementary School
As the horrific scene unfolded at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, Border Patrol agents moved in and came under immediate gunfire from the 18-year-old shooter, according to a tweet from U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz.
“Risking their own lives, these Agents and other officers put themselves between the shooter and children, to draw the shooter’s attention away from potential victims and save lives,” Chief Ortiz said in a subsequent tweet. “At least one Agent was wounded by the shooter during the exchange of gunfire.”
Border Patrol agents, both on and off-duty, many of whom live in Uvalde, came to the scene of the shooting and assisted with moving students safely to their waiting parents. The agents also utilized their training to provide emergency medical support.
What do we know about the Uvalde, Texas school shooter?
Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Chris Olivarez joins ‘Fox & Friends’ following the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
EXCLUSIVE: Andrew Pollack–We Send Billions Around the World But Leave Our Kids Unprotected
Pollack told Breitbart News, “There is no reason why every school doesn’t have a single point [of entry] with an armed resource officer and teachers who are trained/armed to protect students.”
He added, “It’s 2022 — why would you send your kids to a school that doesn’t have a single point of entry and armed guard?”
Pollack then reflected on the horrible day on which he lost his daughter. “Everyone in the country thinks it can’t happen to them, but if your school isn’t secure, it can.”
Urging parents to get involved, he said, “Parents who do not insist on safety precautions are rolling the dice every day when they drop their kids off at the school.”
Pollack worked with President Trump on school safety and has since launched a campaign to help schools achieve and maintain a safe environment for students. His school safety protocols can be found here.
We need veterans protecting schools: Lt. Col. West
Lt. Col. Allen West discusses the mass shooting of 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Politics:
‘Are You For Eliminating Cash Bail — Yes Or No?’: Marsha Blackburn Grills Biden Judicial Nominee
At today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) questioned nominees put forth by President Biden.
‘What Is An Assault Weapon?’: Tom Cotton Grills ATF Director Nominee
At today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) questioned Steven Dettelbach, nominee to be ATF Director.
‘Did Crime Go Down During Those Years?’: Josh Hawley Grills ATF Director Nominee
At today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) questioned Steven Dettelbach, nominee to be ATF Director.
‘For The Record, Who Is Michael Sussman?’: John Kennedy Presses Christopher Wray
At today’s Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Taking Down the “Fact Checks” on “2000 Mules”
I continue my takedown of the bogus “fact checks” on “2000 Mules”, revealing their shallowness, stupidity and naked bias.
Biden Announces New Indo-Pacific Trade Bloc—But Will it Matter?
During President Biden’s recent trip to Asia, he announced the formation of a new economic bloc consisting of thirteen nations that he dubbed the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). Despite the catchy name, IPEF doesn’t present anything new or earth-shattering about American economic aims in the region. In fact, it is a downscaled and less ambitious redo of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) from the end of the Obama Administration.
The announcement comes on the heels of a rough batch of quarters for the U.S. economy with forty-year highs in inflation, disruptive supply chain woes, and looming crises in both the energy and agriculture sectors.
However, IPEF is not designed to address those immediate issues; instead, it may be better interpreted as a geopolitical chess move regarding the chief adversary in the region—China.
Yet, here too, the Biden Administration is struggling to play catch up.
To put this is in more stark terms, Biden is offering a deal smaller than what the United States initially proposed, and is doing it months after China put forward its regional plan. And Biden’s proposal does little, if anything, to tackle the economic problems facing Americans at home.
Millions from Biden’s COVID relief bill went to museum, university programs pushing social, climate justice
The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, which the Democrats passed in March 2021 without any Republican support, was billed by the Democratic Party as an economic necessity for getting the country through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), which received $135 million from the plan, announced last October that it had allocated $87.8 million in ARP funds to “nearly 300 cultural and educational institutions to help them recover from the economic impact of the pandemic, retain and rehire workers, and reopen sites, facilities, and programs.”
However, many of the institutions were awarded grants for projects that had little to do with addressing recovery efforts from the pandemic, according to research from American Crossroads shared with and verified by Fox News Digital.
For instance, $499,023 went to the University of Montana for multiple programs on racial justice, including a public lecture series on “racial justice, death and Indigenous knowledge.”
Another $50,000 in ARP funds went to a nonprofit organization in the Northern Mariana Islands called 500 Sails for “reopening programs that teach Indigenous canoe-building and explore pre-colonial sea life.” The same nonprofit had already received more than $14,000 from two Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans established by the CARES Act in May 2020 and February 2021.
The Technology Used in the 2000 Mules Documentary | Guests: Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips
Geraldo and Bongino spar over response to Uvalde school shooting
‘The Five’ host Geraldo Rivera and ‘Unfiltered’ host Dan Bongino sound off on the Uvalde, Texas elementary school shooting on ‘Hannity.’
Biden almost immediately politicizes response to Texas shooting
Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald joins ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ to react.
Tucker: Biden divided the country in a moment of deep pain
Tucker Carlson and Will Cain react to President Biden’s response to the Texas elementary school shooting on ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight.’
World News:
Date Set For Trial Of RFE/RL Freelance Correspondent In Belarus
MINSK — A trial date has been set for RFE/RL freelance correspondent Andrey Kuznechyk, whose relatives and colleagues have not been informed about charges he faces since his arrest last year in Belarus.
The Belarusian Association of Journalists said on May 25 that Kuznechyk’s trial will be held behind closed doors in the eastern city of Mahilyou on June 8.
Kuznechyk was initially sentenced to 10 days in jail on November 26, 2021, on hooliganism charges that he denies.
On December 6, when his sentence ended, he was not released and was handed another 10-day jail term, also on a hooliganism charge.
After serving that jail term, Kuznechyk was again not released and instead was charged with an unspecified crime.
North Korea’s missile tests gauge ability to hit U.S., Japan, South Korea
North Korea has now tested at least 21 missiles so far in 2022, according to sources including Japan’s Ministry of Defense, putting the country on track to significantly surpass its full-year record of 25 in 2019.
Despite sanctions by the United Nations Security Council, the country has managed to continue funding its weapons program — with each ballistic missile test estimated to cost over $1 million — through illicit ship-to-ship cargo transfers and cryptocurrency theft.
According to releases by the Japanese ministry and the South Korean military, North Korea fired its first missile Wednesday around 6 a.m. It reached a maximum altitude of 550 km, leaving the atmosphere, before falling 300 km east into the Sea of Japan.
The second missile was lost after reaching an altitude of around 20 km. The third reached an altitude of around 50 km and traveled 750 km, appearing to shift trajectory before falling.
Gravitas: China and Russia draw battle lines for Quad
During the Quad summit on Tuesday, China and Russia conducted a joint military drill. The US says the military exercise was planned in advance.
Japan has called the drills a provocation. Palki Sharma tells you how Russia & China are challenging the Quad.
Israel lauds US decision to keep IRGC on FTO-list; Iran boasts sanction evasion TV7Israel News 25.05
1) Turkey and Israel agree to reinvigorate efforts to enhance bilateral economic cooperation.
2) Israel praises the United States for its final decision not to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps from the State Department’s designated-list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
3) The IRGC’s top commander vows to avenge Colonel Hassan Sayad Khodayari who was assassinated earlier this week in the heart of the Iranian capital, Tehran.
China planning to develop weapons to destroy Elon Musk’s Starlink: Report
Elon Musk’s Starlink — a satellite system overseen by SpaceX — is made up of at least 2,400 satellite relays across the globe, according to a report from the Daily Mail. The company has a signed contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to develop instruments that are able to track the deployment of hypersonic weapons.The outlet reported that an April paper from researchers at the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications insisted that the country should develop offensive tactics to destroy the Starlink system if necessary. The South China Morning Post reported that researchers included “several senior scientists in China’s defense industry.””A combination of soft and hard kill methods should be adopted to make some Starlink satellites lose their functions and destroy the constellation’s operating system,” read a portion of the paper, which added that Chinese military operatives need to find a way to “confront not individual satellites, but the whole Starlink system.”
Over 10% of Hongkongers show post-traumatic stress symptoms a year after Covid-19 outbreak began
A research team at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences revealed on Wednesday that 12.4 per cent of the 3,011 people they surveyed between December 2020 and February 2021 had displayed signs of trauma including intrusion, avoidance and hyper-arousal.
The telephone survey targeting Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong residents aged 18 or above indicated that respondents who were unemployed, or had no personal income, and those with a lower educational attainment, were “associated with higher levels of psychological trauma.”
“It is possible that people are becoming ‘numb’ in response to the uncertainty and uncontrollability associated with the continuous and repeated occurrence of local outbreaks,” the research team led by neuropsychology Professor David Shum said.
Exposure to news reports about the Covid-19 pandemic was said to be a factor affecting psychological distress. Greater time spent watching news about the outbreak was associated with more serious PTSD symptoms, the study found, though it also signified a higher rate of compliance with anti-epidemic measures.
Ukraine gathers Russian dead in chilled train for prisoner exchange
![Abandoned dead body of a Russian soldier in Ukraine [Twitter]](https://exampl76602.files.wordpress.com/2022/05/dead-body-of-russian-soldier-800x450-1.jpg?w=300)
Volunteers have helped the military gather 60 bodies in the northeastern region of Kharkiv where Russian forces have retreated in recent weeks, stacking them up in a refrigerated rail carriage.
Bodies are sometimes used as part of prisoner exchanges and other times in exchanges for Ukrainian bodies, said Anton Ivannikov, captain of military-civil cooperation branch, Ukrainian Armed Forces, which is coordinating the effort. The bodies of those related to high ranking officials can be especially valuable to an exchange.
“We are gathering all the documents, all the credit cards. Anything which would help us identify the body” including tattoos and DNA, Ivannikov said.
“In the future this will tell us which soldier, which brigade was in this region, for further exchange,” he said.
The bodies will travel on the train to Kyiv where the team negotiating exchanges is based, he said.
Chinese-made subway cars fail in Massachusetts; QUAD vows to stand up for freedom, openness
Has the U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity” toward Taiwan changed? President Joe Biden says no, just one day after he suggested the end of that position. But what are experts saying?
Four leading #IndoPacific nations vow to stand together to keep the region free and open. They say they’re keeping an eye on China.
Subway cars made by a Chinese company are being removed from service in Boston after a series of accidents over the past three years.
Beijing tightens control over its COVID-19 narrative inside the country. One of our team members shares their first-hand experience.
Data research tells us that investing in Chinese stocks may be a bad idea. Return is low—very low—compared to other markets.
Commentary/Opinion:
Uvalde, Texas tragedy: Recognizing the ROT in America’s soul
What happened on Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas was an incomprehensible tragedy.
But that tragedy — along with many others plaguing our nation — was a symptom of America’s overall problem: a rotting in our soul.
And until we live in a nation, Glenn says, that is willing to even recognize that’s something bigger than the self, and that it has nothing to do with government, we’ll never fix this problem…
Will Monkeypox Cause a New Wave of Lockdowns? With Cheryl Chumley
Cheryl Chumley and I discuss her new book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan to Take Away Your Freedom,” and the socialist and Marxist plan to control the American people.
Through fear-mongering and creating a god-like status for public health officials, the American public have lost their fundamental freedom and rights, surrendering them to the government.
With that in mind, could the ongoing scare over monkeypox be the next new “thing”? And could lockdowns return to the country? We discuss these ideas.
Really Big Brother: WHO Pandemic Treaty Readies Global Vaccine Passport System.
“Reportedly aimed at targeting China’s manipulation and obstruction of WHO throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, these amendments in fact empower the same individual most responsible for enabling that nation’s malfeasance: WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,” the Freedom Caucus adds in its letter to Biden.
Shifting decision making power over a nation’s health decisions to unelected bureaucrats —have we learned nothing from the past 3 years? It gets scarier…
According to the Brownstone Institute, “the WHO has contracted German-based Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Systems to develop a global vaccine passport system, with plans to link every person on the planet to a QR code digital ID.”
“Vaccination certificates that are tamper-proof and digitally verifiable build trust. WHO is therefore supporting member states in building national and regional trust networks and verification technology,” explained Garret Mehl, head of the WHO’s Department of Digital Health and Innovation. “The WHO’s gateway service also serves as a bridge between regional systems. It can also be used as part of future vaccination campaigns and home-based records.”
Member of Canadian parliament Leslyn Lewis warns that all of this is incredibly dangerous: “We would end up with a one-size-fits-all approach for the entire world,” she says. The WHO will have the authority to determine what constitutes a pandemic and declare when a pandemic is occurring, Aaron Kheriaty at the Brownstone Institute says.
“Under the proposed WHO plan, pandemics need not be limited to infectious diseases and could include, for example, a declared obesity crisis,” Kheriaty adds.
Is it that far of a jump, after what we just lived through for 3 years, that the WHO might attempt to control where we can go during a particularly bad flu season? Or what restaurants can serve in a counties with more obese residents?
Sounds out there —but maybe it isn’t.