US News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion and Video Post.
US News:
EXCLUSIVE: Hunter’s ties that bind: Chinese business partner of president’s son is pictured raising a glass with Vladimir Putin in 2017 – as texts reveal he was given the green light by President Xi Jinping – ‘#1’ – to cement oil deal with the Bidens
Newly unearthed photos show the Biden family’s Chinese business partner meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Zang Jianjun was executive director of Chinese oil giant CEFC, which partnered with Joe Biden‘s brother Jim and son Hunter on a deal that earned the First Family millions of dollars.
Text messages obtained by DailyMail.com reveal Zang was in close contact with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and that the Chinese leader gave the green light for his partnership with the Bidens.
Zang even traveled to Moscow with Xi and met with Putin while brokering a massive $9.1billion deal to buy a share of the Russian state-owned oil firm Rosneft in 2017.
Hunter knew about his Chinese business partner’s direct involvement with both the Russian and Chinese leaders – arguably the US’s greatest foes.
HHS taxpayer-funded transgender surgery policies under scrutiny
(The Center Square) – U.S. Health and Human Services’ transgender policies toward children are under scrutiny, the latest federal agency to face Congressional questions over how taxpayer dollars may be pushing the issue and even funding surgeries.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., ranking member on the Subcommittee on Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra raising concerns about the agency’s work to “promote life altering changes to young children.”
“I write to conduct oversight of the federal government’s use of taxpayer funds to promote radical gender ideology and the medical transition of children using pharmaceutical or surgical interventions,” the letter said. “The Biden Administration appears to be encouraging any child, who does not conform to perceptions of masculine or feminine stereotypes, to alter his or her body through potentially irreversible medical or surgical intervention. Instead of funding these life-altering drugs and procedures, our government should be promoting policies to protect vulnerable children – who cannot consent.”
HHS is the latest but not the only federal agency to come under scrutiny for its transgender policies toward children. As The Center Square previously reported,
Will Their Minds Change On Abortion | Myrtle Beach Part 3
Can a mind change in just minutes? Watch this young woman shift from pro-choice to pro-life: “It’s actually a human being.
A child that can’t even protect itself or even say anything, scream, or ask for help.”
When people learn how abortions are committed against a living child, their minds change.
Pentagon extends National Guard deployment at southern border through next year, report
The Pentagon is reportedly planning to continue deploying National Guard troops along the U.S.–Mexico border through next summer amid record numbers of migrant encounters.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved a request last month from the Department of Homeland Security to extend the federal mission through fiscal 2023, a Pentagon spokesman told the Military Times on Friday.
The spokesman, who is not authorized to speak on the record, said Austin capped the number of troops at 2,500, but more than 2,700 National Guard members are currently deployed at the border as personnel are swapping out with the new fiscal year in October.
Austin’s reported decision comes after Customs and Border Protection agents report encountering a record of nearly 2.4 million migrants in fiscal 2022.
US Senate, lab origin most likely
Senate report on COVID coronavirus origins:
the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 that resulted in the COVID-19 pandemic was most likely the result of a research-related incident.
[PREVIEW] Dr. Meryl Nass: Federal Agencies Were Aware of Chloroquine Effectiveness Before COVID
“The 2014 paper by Fauci’s group listed over 60 different drugs that killed MERS or SARS, which included Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine…
So the federal agencies were aware, before COVID ever appeared, that the Chloroquine drugs were very likely to be effective.” – Dr. Meryl Nass
California father, daughter killed in broad-daylight Kohl’s stabbing
Deputies in Los Angeles County have arrested a suspect accused of stabbing a father and his daughter to death in a Kohl’s parking lot in broad daylight.
The victims, identified as Ken Evans, 54, and his 22-year-old daughter McKenna, were attacked Thursday outside a shopping center in Palmdale, California, according to police and media reports.
“Investigators learned all parties involved were parked in the parking lot of the location and appeared to live in their vehicles.
The suspect had asked the male adult victim for assistance regarding his vehicle, during which an argument ensued,” the department said.
“The argument led to a physical fight and ultimately the stabbing of both victims.”
Cyber Wars | Full Measure
If you think you’re worried about your passwords, online scams, or getting hacked, it may pale in comparison to the concerns of America’s businesses.
By one estimate, malicious cyber activity costs the world a staggering $940 billion annually. And two countries in particular are behind the most damaging kind of attacks.
Scott Thuman goes online and inside the world of tech defense.
Protecting Whistleblowers | Full Measure
Last week we brought you the interview with FBI whistleblower Stephen Friend. He claims things are so broken at high levels inside the nation’s premiere law enforcement agency that he had to blow the whistle. It stalled and may have effectively ended his career at the FBI.
Whistleblowers, and their efforts to expose wrongdoing in industry or the government, expose waste and fraud, help change the world in countless ways.
But, behind the headlines, the fate of the whistleblower is too often doomed. Now, there are new efforts in Congress to help.
Supreme Court to Hear Cases Against Harvard, UNC on Affirmative Action
The cases are being heard together, though the one against Harvard involves a private university, and the one against the University of North Carolina involves a public one.
The Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause only applies to private institutions when they take federal money. The case against Harvard focuses on civil rights laws; the case against the University of North Carolina is a broader constitutional case.
Harvard has won in both the district and appellate courts, though the case has exposed its affirmative action policies to scrutiny, revealing that the actual percentage of Asian American students who are admitted is about half of what it would be based on test scores and grades alone.
Harvard was found to use a “personality” test that ranked Asian American groups lower than others. The University of North Carolina won in district court, and the case was appealed directly to the Supreme Court to join the Harvard case.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has recused herself from the Harvard case, because she is a member of Harvard’s Board of Overseers.
Gorsuch: ‘Holistic’ Admissions Policy Once Used Against Jews
The point arose in oral argument in two cases that are testing the Court’s precedent in Bakke (1978) and subsequent cases that allow race to be used in admissions to promote diversity, as long as race is not used in a quota system or a points system resembling quotas.
Justice Gorsuch raised the point with Patrick Strawbridge, the attorney for the plaintiff, Students for Fair Admissions, a non-profit organization that is suing the universities on behalf of Asian American students who argue they are victims of discrimination.
Justice Clarence Thomas — who is known to be skeptical of the use of race in university admissions — raised a similar issue with North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park.
Florida man gets death penalty for beating 2 boys with hammer, slitting their throats ‘without mercy’
Mark Wilson was found guilty of first-degree murder earlier this month for killing 14-year-old Tayten and 12-year-old Robert Baker in August 2020, according to local ABC affiliate First Coast News.
Wilson, who was living with his wife, the boys’ aunt, in a shed on the family’s Melrose property at the time, beat the boys in the head with a hammer before slitting their throats.
Their mother, Sarah Baker, was sleeping in the house during the murders, but a homicide detective testified that she would have been unable to hear them in the living room from her bedroom because of insulation.
The Putnam County sheriff claimed the murder scene at the property was one of the worst he had ever seen.
Pay Up Blue Checks: Elon Musk Plans to Charge $20 a Month for Twitter Verification
The Verge reports that Elon Musk has given employees at Twitter their first assignment — introducing a $20 per month subscription fee for users to gain a blue check verification badge by November 7 or join the unemployment line.
Musk wants developers to alter Twitter Blue, the company’s $4.99 per month subscription program that unlocks certain features, into a more expensive subscription that verifies users.
Twitter is currently planning to charge $19.99 for the new Twitter Blue subscription. Currently verified users will reportedly have 90 days to subscribe to the program or lose their checkmark. Employees have been told that they need to meet a deadline of November 7 to launch the feature or they will be fired.
Musk has previously stated his plans to revamp how Twitter verifies accounts and handles bot accounts on the platform. Musk tweeted on Sunday: “The whole verification process is being revamped right now.”
Elon Musk Strikes Gold: ‘Twitter Board Deliberately Hid This Evidence from the Court’
Musk shared what are purportedly internal Twitter communications originating from Yoel Roth, the head of Safety and Integrity at the company.
In a Sunday Twitter post, the Tesla mega billionaire points to the communication as proof that Twitter’s former executives and the company’s lawyers hid evidence before the court that dealt with Musk’s attempt to void his acquisition of Twitter.
Musk identified the corporate law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which represented the social media company in legal proceedings with the South African-born entrepreneur, according to Bloomberg.
In the messages, Roth suggests he could accuse an apparent Twitter employee identified as “Amir” of having falsified his “Objectives and Key Results,” or “OKRs,” a metric used by technology companies such as Twitter to outline goals and assess outcomes.
Politics:
Politics: Tradition and Vision | Newt Gingrich | #301
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson and Newt Gingrich discuss the state of conservative politics, why the young generation is drawn to it now more than ever, and how across demographics, big changes are in store following the midterm elections.
Milton Friedman: The Problem With Big Government
Economist Milton Friedman discusses the myth of the Great Depression by discussing the Federal Reserve and inflation.
Opportunity to put a ‘giant handbrake’ on ‘idiocy’ of Joe Biden
Sky News host Paul Murray says there is one week until the people of the United States can put a “giant handbrake on the idiocy of Joe Biden”.
“The midterm elections are almost here and you can feel accountability in the air,” he said.
The DEI Disaster
Twenty years ago, if you asked someone which of the world’s countries was the most diverse, most equitable and most inclusive, they would have answered “the United States.” Not anymore.
What changed?
Christian Watson, host of Pensive Politics, has the surprising answer.
Congressional Republicans deploy election observers to tight races, investigate irregularities
Determined to use their oversight authority to ensure election integrity, House Republicans are deploying dozens of trained observers to key races around the country while dispatching letters putting federal and state officials on notice to look for any shenanigans in the midterms.
The effort led by Rep. Rodney Davis, the top Republican on the House Administration Committee, includes investigating how federal agencies are implementing President Joe Biden’s executive order instructing the U.S. government to expand voter registration, along with the training and deployment of House staff as observers under the authority of Congress.
Davis wrote at least one state election chief that the effort preserves the right for a candidate who feels his or her race was wrongly counted to contest it in Congress.
Radicals on the Ballot
What is this midterm election really about?
Watch as Mark literally tears through the radical left’s agenda and why their policies and ideologies are tearing the country apart.
Political Riser | Full Measure
When the election comes in less than two weeks, there’s an interesting candidate to watch in Maine: Deqa Dhalac.
She’s running for state office, and, if she wins, it will be the first time a Somali-born person has been elected to Maine’s legislature.
She’s already made history in America as the first Somali-born mayor to serve in the U.S.
TULSI GOES TO WAR WITH LIZ CHENEY: Tulsi Gabbard calls out Cheney-backed Dem, endorses GOP opponent
“I’m here and really proud to support fellow veteran Tom Barrett, who’s stepping up to serve and lead our country in a time of need in Congress. Having served in Congress for eight years on the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, I know firsthand that a vote for Slotkin is a vote for more war,” Gabbard said in a video exclusively provided to Fox News Digital by the Barrett campaign.
Standing alongside Barrett, Gabbard announced her support for the GOP nominee, who is competing in a toss-up race to represent Michigan’s 7th Congressional District against Cheney-backed Democrat Rep. Elissa Slotkin.
“[Slotkin] represents all that is wrong with permanent Washington and the warmongers who are in control. Tom Barrett knows what service means. He knows what sacrifice means and appreciates freedom. He will be a loud voice for the people of Michigan in this district and a voice for peace, prosperity and freedom,” the former Hawaii congresswoman said.
Newt Gingrich Rips Joe Biden for Supporting Transgender ‘Barbie Pocket’ Man as Inflation, Crime Soars
In an op-ed for FOX News, the former Republican congressman said the upcoming midterm elections have been “doomed” for the Democrats by Biden’s focus on “gender-affirming care” for juveniles as a host of other pressing issues demanded attention.
Gingrich’s criticism came one week after Biden met transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney, 25, in a panel of six progressive activists for NowThis News, as Breitbart News reported.
The president professed to embracing “gender-affirming care” at the meeting, saying he does not believe any state should have the right to pass laws limiting access to transgender treatments, before asking Mulvaney for support.
“As a moral question and as a legal question, I just think it’s wrong,” Biden lamented, continuing a theme of addressing transgenderism that has been a defining principle of his presidency almost from day one.
World News:
People like Trevor Noah ‘invent hate crimes’ where there are none
Author and columnist Douglas Murray says people like The Daily Show host Trevor Noah are forced to “invent hate crimes” where there are none and “invent backlashes where there have been none”.
During his show, presenter and comedian Trevor Noah alleged there were people saying “now the Indians are going to take over Great Britain” after Rishi Sunak was appointed prime minister.
“That’s why there is now a backlash against Trevor Noah – this time a real one,” Mr Murray told Sky News Australia.
Russia Resumes Blockade of Ukraine’s Grain Exports, Reigniting Concerns Over Food Crisis
Russia resumed its military blockade of Ukrainian ports on October 30, halting the supply of grain supplies largely headed to low-income nations and reigniting fears of a spiral in global food prices.
The United States immediately criticized Russia’s actions, accusing it of “weaponizing food” to gain leverage in its failing invasion of Ukraine.
Russia announced a day earlier it would suspend its participation in a UN-brokered deal that allowed Ukraine, one of the world’s breadbaskets, to export grain after accusing Kyiv of staging a drone attack against its Black Sea Fleet. Ukraine has rejected the accusations.
Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry reported on October 30 that 218 ships involved in grain exports are currently blocked — 22 loaded and stuck at ports, 95 loaded and departed from ports, and 101 awaiting inspections.
Ukraine war: Two cargo ships leave ports despite Moscow’s grain exports deal pullout
Two cargo ships loaded with grain left Ukrainian ports on Monday and took the humanitarian maritime corridor to Turkey, despite Russia’s pullout, according to the Marine Traffic website.
A total of twelve cargo ships are due to leave the Black Sea ports controlled by Ukraine on Monday, and four others are heading for them.
One of those, under a Turkish flag, has already set sail, said the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC), which oversees the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea.
The transport of Ukrainian grain was blocked in the Black Sea on Sunday after Russia suspended the export agreement vital for global food supplies, a decision blasted by Kyiv, Washington and the EU.
Kyrgyz Government Freezes Bank Account Of RFE/RL’s Radio Azattyk Without Warning
Kyrgyz authorities have frozen the bank account of RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, known locally as Radio Azattyk, soon after they blocked its website for two months when the broadcaster refused to take down a video of one of its news programs that reported on clashes at the border with Tajikistan.
Representatives of Demirbank confirmed to Radio Azattyk on October 31 that they had received a notification from the State Committee on National Security (SCNS) to freeze the account. Radio Azattyk has yet to be given an official statement on the move.
The Kyrgyz government made the decision to block the Radio Azattyk website on October 26 after RFE/RL refused to take down the video, produced by Current Time, a Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. Officials claimed the segment “predominantly” took the position of the Tajik side.
The decision was based on the Law on Protection from False Information, a piece of legislation that drew widespread criticism when adopted in August last year.
RFE/RL has rejected the accusation, with President and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Fly saying the company “takes [its] commitment to balanced reporting seriously” and that after a review of the content in question, “no violation of our standards” was found. RFE is appealing the decision.
Activists Take Over $3.5 Million Amsterdam Home Of Russian Technology Tycoon
Activists have broken into the five-story Amsterdam home of sanctioned Russian technology tycoon Arkady Volozh and say they plan to use it as a temporary shelter for students and other young individuals.
Volozh is a co-founder and former CEO of Yandex, a Moscow-based Internet giant that is sometimes referred to as the Google of Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s wide-ranging crackdown on freedom and dissent over the past two decades has swept up the nation’s Internet companies, including Yandex. Russia pressured the company to hide stories critical of the Kremlin on its popular landing page and cooperate with the nation’s security services (FSB).
The activists hung signs from the windows of Volozh’s $3.5 million home criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Yandex’s ties to the FSB, and capitalism.
Terror leaves Israeli dead, nine wounded; Israel to help Europe’s energy plight TV7Israel News 31.10
1) Terror plagues the West Bank districts of Judea, Samaria and the Jordan valley – leaving one Israeli killed and another nine wounded in its trail.
2) Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz orders a closure of the West Bank territories – ahead of Israel’s national Parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held tomorrow.
3) Lebanese President Michel Aoun accepts the resignation of the Lebanese government before vacating his post – leaving Lebanon leaderless.
Corrupt Socialist Lula Beats Bolsonaro in Brazil’s Closest Presidential Election in Decades
In his first words as president-elect for a third term, Lula vowed to “reconstruct the very soul of this nation” away from the small government, pro-freedom ideals of the Bolsonaro administration.
Little more than a percentage point separated Lula, who served as president previously from 2003 to 2011, from Bolsonaro, as of 10 p.m. ET, representing about 2 million votes in a nation of 214 million people.
National newspaper of record O Globo described the results as the closest election since 1989, when Lula narrowly lost to Fernando Collor de Mello, who was impeached and ousted from office over corruption allegations in 1992.
Collor later supported the impeachment ouster of Lula’s protege, Dilma Rousseff, in 2016, also prompted by corruption allegations – kicking off the series of events that ultimately led to Bolsonaro’s 2018 victory.
Lula’s victory is particularly momentous given that, during 2018 elections, which Bolsonaro won, he was in prison after being found guilty of buying a luxury beachfront property with bribe money.
The case was part of a much larger corruption investigation that came to be known as “Operation Car Wash,” which unveiled a nationwide corruption scheme involving dozens of high-ranking politicians that operated during Lula’s presidential tenure.
India bridge collapse kills at least 132, including mostly teens, women and older people: officials
Authorities said the century-old cable suspension bridge collapsed because it couldn’t handle the weight of the large crowd that had gathered. The bridge had only just reopened four days before the collapse. It had been closed for renovations for nearly six months before that.
The Hindu festival season drew hundreds of people to the recently opened tourist attraction.
Hundreds of people were sent plunging into the water when the bridge gave way. State minister Harsh Sanghvi said those killed and injured were mostly teens, women and older people.
The bridge collapse is Asia’s third major disaster involving large crowds in a month.
India police arrest 9 after bridge collapse kills at least 134
While authorities in Gujarat state continued to investigate the collapse of the pedestrian bridge, Inspector-General Ashok Yadav announced the nine arrests included managerial staff, ticketing clerks and three security guards for failing to regulate crowds before the bridge crumbled.
“We won’t let the guilty get away, we won’t spare anyone,” Yadav said.
Gujarat said authorities opened a case against Oreva Group, the bridge’s operator, for suspected culpable homicide, attempted culpable homicide and other violations.
He said there were likely to be more arrests, according to Reuters.
Commentary/Opinion:
Questions Emerge About The Paul Pelosi Attack (Ep. 1884) – The Dan Bongino Show
In this episode, I address the emerging questions about the attack on Paul Pelosi.
Glenn: What I think happened during the Paul Pelosi attack
Details surrounding the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, are murky.
There’s still a LOT we don’t know about how it happened, why it happened, and who his attacker — David DePape — truly is.
So, in this clip, Glenn details everything we do know so far and the questions that must be answered. Plus, Glenn gives his own theory as to what happened inside that San Francisco home…