Important Takeaways:
- President Joe Biden and other elements of his administration have managed to evade the legal consequences meted out to Americans of other political stripes. Biden apparently figures his son should be afforded the same luxury.
- After repeatedly vowing he would not do so, and just months after declaring without qualification, “No one is above the law,” Biden issued a “full and unconditional” pardon for son Hunter Biden.
- The pardon gives Hunter Biden a pass on any crimes committed between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 1, 2024. This 10-year window of clemency not only lets him off the hook for his felony conviction on gun charges and for his felony tax offenses, but also conveniently overlaps with the Bidens’ scandalous dealings with the Ukrainian company Burisma, where Hunter was appointed director in 2014, as well as with the communist state-linked organization CEFC China Energy and other questionable foreign entities.
- The brazenness and breadth of the pardon has stunned critics and fellow travelers alike, prompting even CNN and Politico to admit its “extraordinary” and “unprecedented” nature.
- “I am satisfied that I’m not going to do anything,” Biden told reporters in June, following Hunter’s conviction on federal gun charges. “I said I’d abide by the jury decision. I will do that. And I will not pardon him.”
- The pardon clears Hunter Biden for all offenses against the U.S. that he has committed or may have committed, “including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions),” in the 10-year period.
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Important Takeaways:
- Facebook appears to have banned the accounts of multiple journalists just a few weeks ahead of Election Day.
- These are just the latest in a recent streak of prominent account bans, particularly of conservatives and conservative-leaning organizations, that have taken place on Facebook just before the 2024 election, an incredibly tight race.
- IJR Managing Editor Madison Summers was locked out of her account roughly three weeks ago without explanation or warning.
- Summers has tried everything — contacting Facebook support, changing her password, etc. — to get her Facebook account back, but nothing has worked.
- Eventually, she attempted to make a new account with the same email and received the following notification from the social media site:
- “Your account was disabled … If you think your account was disabled by mistake you can submit more information via the Help Center for up to 30 days after your account was disabled. After that, your account will be permanently disabled and you will no longer be able to request a review.”
- That is the very same message The Western Journal owner Patrick Brown and retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn received when their accounts were also disabled without warning in recent days (though Brown’s account was later restored the same day).
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Important Takeaways:
- Among the snow-capped volcanoes of the Pacific Northwest, Mount Adams gets relatively little love.
- There are more glamorous volcanoes to climb (Mount Rainier) or to ski (Mount Hood) or that have exploded in epically dramatic fashion in living memory (Mount St. Helens).
- Seismically, Mount Adams, located in southern Washington state, is relatively calm. The U.S. Geological Survey considers it a “high threat” volcano, but that’s a step below its “very high threat” neighbors, including all of those above.
- Earthquakes are normally detected around Mount Adams once every couple of years, while Mount Rainier could have some 10 to 20 earthquakes per month, said Jon Major, scientist-in-charge at the Cascades Volcano Observatory.
- So the alert earlier this month by the USGS that there has been a flurry of earthquakes around Adams got some attention from volcano watchers. There have been 10 earthquakes recorded there so far this year, including six in September and one this month, Major said, something he described as “a little out of character for this volcano.”
- Does this mean it’s going to blow?
- “Right now, there’s no cause for concern,” Major said in an interview.
- The recent earthquakes have been small — ranging from magnitudes of 0.9 to 2.0 — but the federal government has only one seismometer in the vicinity of Mount Adams, the second-tallest volcano in Washington state, so it is difficult to get precise information about their locations and depths. The agency is using the recent rumblings as an opportunity to learn more about this sometimes-overlooked volcano.
- USGS personnel have installed three new temporary seismic stations on Mount Adams, Major said.
- “If they start to pick up more earthquakes, or if earthquakes start to get larger — if they start to be shallow and more frequent — then we would probably start to take a closer look,” he said.
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Important Takeaways:
- ISIS calls for ‘lone wolves’ to carry out Ramadan massacre of Christians and Jews across Europe, US and Israel
- A top ISIS spokesman has called on ‘lone wolves’ worldwide to slaughter Christians and Jews en-masse in a chilling new declaration of terror.
- In a 41-minute-long recording to mark the 10-year anniversary of ISIS declaration of a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, Abu Hudhayfah al-Ansari declared Ramadan as the ‘month of jihad’ and urged extremists to launch attacks in the United States, Europe and Israel.
- He went on to urge Muslims to leave their homes and migrate to join up with jihadists and strengthen their ranks.
- Al-Ansari’s deplorable message comes after he launched a campaign in January entitled ‘Kill Them Wherever You Find Them’, in which he called for renewed focus on terror attacks and reminded Muslims that the Israel-Palestine conflict is a war on Jews, not just Israel.
- ‘It is a religious ideological war that will continue until we kill their antichrist under the banner of the Prophet of Allah… tighten the plans and diversify operations: Blow them up with explosives, burn them with incendiary bombs, shoot them with bullets, slaughter their necks with knives, and run them over with buses,’ he said.
- In the days after his announcement on January 4, ISIS affiliates claimed a flurry of fresh terror attacks, including the bombing of Kerman in Iran which killed over 100 people.
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Important Takeaways:
- Religious-themed designs banned from White House Easter egg art contest
- Children of the National Guard are prohibited from submitting religious Easter egg designs for the 2024 “Celebrating National Guard Families” art event at the White House.
- The art contest is part of the White House’s Easter traditions, which include the annual Easter Egg Roll. The flyer for the contest states that an Easter egg design submission “must not include any questionable content, religious symbols, overtly religious themes, or partisan political statements.”
- “As part of the White House Easter traditions, America’s Egg Farmers – for nearly 50 years – have proudly presented an intricately decorated Commemorative Easter Egg to the First Lady of the United States. In 2021, the White House expanded on this longstanding tradition by displaying youth-designed Easter eggs in the White House East Colonnade,” the flyer explains.
- An estimated 40,000 people are expected to take part in Monday’s annual event.
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Important Takeaways:
- A Lebanese migrant who was caught sneaking over the border admitted he’s a member of Hezbollah, he hoped to make a bomb, and his destination was New York
- Basel Bassel Ebbadi, 22, was caught by the US Border Patrol on March 9 near El Paso, Texas
- Ebbadi said in a sworn interview after his arrest that he had trained with Hezbollah for seven years and served as an active member guarding weapons locations for another four years
- Ebbadi’s training focused on “jihad” and killing people “that was not Muslim,” he said.
- Border agents continue to see a surge in migrants whose names appear on the terror watchlist entering the US illegally as crossings continue at record levels.
- Border agents recorded 98 encounters with terror watchlisted individuals at both the northern and southern borders in fiscal year 2022, and almost twice as many, 172, in fiscal year 2023, which ends Sept. 30.
- So far, in the first four months of 2024, 59 people have been apprehended, according to federal data.
- “The federal government has failed to enact border security measures, and the state of Texas, through Gov. [Greg] Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, will continue to take unprecedented action to help secure the border,” DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez said.
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Important Takeaways:
- FBI director warns China’s computer attacks are now at a ‘scale greater than we’d seen before’ as vulnerable critical infrastructure remains at high-risk to be targeted
- China’s cyber-attacks have grown to a ‘scale greater than we’d seen before’, the FBI director has advised amid fears that US infrastructure is under threat.
- Christopher Wray gave the grave warning as intelligence chiefs and politicians met at the Munich annual security conference on Sunday, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- The wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East were the focus of the conference – but Wray urged leaders not to lose sight of a subtler menace.
- He said Beijing’s plan to secretly plant technology inside the US critical infrastructure has become a significant threat to national security.
- Wray cited Volt Typhoon, the moniker given to the Chinese hacking network that infiltrated the US last year, but said it’s only the ‘tip of the iceberg.’
- Under ‘Volt Typhoon’ Beijing’s military have burrowed into more than 20 major suppliers in the last year alone including a water utility in Hawaii, a major West Coast port and at least one oil and gas pipeline, analysts revealed weeks ago.
- They have bypassed elaborate cyber security systems by intercepting passwords and log-ins unguarded by junior employees, leaving China ‘sitting on a stockpile of strategic’ vulnerabilities.
- In May, Microsoft uncovered Chinese attempts to infiltrate dozens of sectors in Guam, the closest US territory to Taiwan.
- Communications, manufacturing, utility, transportation, construction, maritime, government, information technology, and education organizations were targeted by Volt Typhoon.
- But officials believe the strategy has changed from one of gathering intelligence to one of wreaking havoc.
- And no company is too small or seemingly unimportant to escape Chinese attention
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Important Takeaways:
- Europe’s economy risks a recession after output falls in the third quarter
- The euro area economy risks falling into recession later this year after official data Tuesday showed that output shrank slightly in the third quarter.
- Gross domestic product across the 20 countries that use the euro fell 0.1% in the July-to-September quarter compared with the previous three months, according to an initial estimate published by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics office.
- The dip follows a rise of only 0.2% in the April-to-June quarter and highlights the fine line between contraction and growth in the eurozone. GDP was stagnant in the final three months of 2022 and the first quarter of this year.
- “The big picture is that the eurozone is struggling. It has only grown by 0.1% over the past year, and the timeliest business surveys consistently point to activity declining at the start of [the fourth quarter],”
- Recent survey data shows that activity in the eurozone’s manufacturing and services sectors has been on a downward trajectory, with demand for goods and services set to weaken further.
- Even if the region avoids a recession, economists say a meaningful recovery is still some way off.
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Important Takeaways:
- China deploys six warships to Middle East over fears Israel crisis could spark WW3
- China has deployed six warships to the Middle East as the conflict between Israel and Hamas escalates, according to reports.
- The 44th naval escort task force – from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theatre – has been involved in routine operations in the region and spent several days in Oman last week.
- The Chinese warships left Muscat for an unspecified location on Saturday after participating in an exercise with the Omani navy.
- The task force includes the Zibo, a guided missile destroyer, the frigate Jingzhou, and the supply ship Qiandaohu – all of which will be stationed in the Middle East as Israel prepares for a ground invasion of Gaza.
- Chinese leader Xi Jinping said on Thursday that a two-state solution to establish an independent Palestine is the “fundamental way out” of the Israel-Hamas war.
- According to China’s state broadcaster CCTV, Xi said: “The top priority now is a ceasefire as soon as possible, to avoid the conflict from expanding or even spiraling out of control and causing a serious humanitarian crisis.”
- China’s deployment comes after the US sent a powerful arsenal to the Middle East earlier this week.
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Important Takeaways:
- US gas prices climb to highest level in nearly 10 months
- Pump prices are creeping towards $4 a gallon nationally.
- The national average for regular gasoline hit $3.85 a gallon on Monday, according to AAA. That’s the highest level since October 19 and comes just weeks ahead of Labor Day weekend when millions of Americans will hit the roads.
- …gas prices have climbed by 28 cents over the past month and 32 cents since the Fourth of July as a result of higher oil prices caused by Russia and Saudi Arabia cutting supply and extreme heat sidelining some US refineries.
- According to AAA, there are now 11 states averaging $4 or higher, including Arizona, Illinois and Utah. Colorado and Michigan aren’t far away.
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