Important Takeaways:
- The outgoing Biden-Harris administration gave Iran $10 billion in sanctions relief just days after Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, despite Iran’s ongoing attacks against Israel and support for terrorist organizations.
- The Washington Free Beacon reported:
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken determined on November 8 that “it is in the national security interest of the United States” to waive mandatory economic sanctions that bar Iraq from transferring upward of $10 billion to Iran in electricity import payments.
- Though the first Trump administration did green-light the same waiver—causing tension with some congressional Republicans—it narrowly tailored the waiver to restrict Iranian access to the cash. The Biden State Department tweaked the waiver last year to allow Tehran to convert the funds from Iraqi dinars to euros, then hold those euros in bank accounts based in Oman. Access to a widely traded currency like the euro enables Iran to more easily spend the cash in international markets. Under the first Trump administration, Iran had to keep the cash in an escrow account in Baghdad, making it more difficult to access.
- The Biden State Department maintains that Iran is only permitted to use the funds for humanitarian needs, including medicines and other supplies. Republican critics argue that money is fungible, meaning that Tehran will have an easier time diverting its dwindling cash reserves to its regional terror proxies, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, should it have access to the sanctioned cash for other purposes.
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Important Takeaways:
- The Biden administration might be in its final days but that doesn’t mean the flow of lethal U.S. weaponry to Ukraine shows any sign of slowing. Far from it.
- That was confirmed Monday when an additional $725 million in military assistance, including counter-drone systems and munitions for its High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), was announced by the White House.
- AP reports it is unclear whether the munitions for the HIMARS are the coveted ATACMS — the Army Tactical Missile System — but Ukraine has been pressing for more of the longer-range missiles to strike additional targets inside Russia.
- The package also includes more of the anti-personnel land mines Ukraine seeks to slow Russian and North Korean ground forces in Russia’s Kursk region and comes on the back of the billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer funds already used to support Kiev in its fight against Russia.
- President Joe Biden has pledged to spend all of the military assistance funds Congress approved this year for Ukraine before the end of his administration on Jan. 20, which before Monday’s announcement included about $7.1 billion in weapons that would be drawn from the Pentagon’s stockpiles.
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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:
- One question is whether the new administration and Europe will provide security guarantees to prevent Russia from taking more territory.
- The one gold-standard security guarantee that Ukraine wants is an invitation to join NATO. But it could not get that under Mr. Biden, and an invitation is unlikely during Mr. Trump’s presidency.
- So, U.S. and European officials are discussing deterrence as a possible security guarantee for Ukraine, such as stockpiling a conventional arsenal sufficient to strike a punishing blow if Russia violates a cease-fire.
- Several officials even suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it after the fall of the Soviet Union. That would be an instant and enormous deterrent. But such a step would be complicated and have serious implications.
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Important Takeaways:
- The United States allowing its long-range tactical missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia for the first time would “inevitably lead to a serious escalation,” Kremlin figures warn after Washington D.C. appears to brief one of President Biden’s final acts in office will be to permit such attacks.
- Russia warned of dire consequences if Ukraine used long-range U.S.-made ATACMS missiles to strike strategic targets deep inside the Federation, but also confidence it would be able to foil the attacks in the first place. The responses came after claims were published in the beltway-interest newspapers favored for leaks by the U.S. intelligence community at the weekend that U.S. President Joe Biden would permit Ukraine to use the American Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles to strike targets within Russia.
- Until now, the system was permitted for Kyiv to strike Russian targets inside Ukraine, but deeper strikes inside Russia had been prohibited over fears using American weapons to directly attack the Russian Federation would lead to Russia treating the U.S. as a direct combatant in the conflict. Ukraine sees hitting Russia inside Russia as essential as it would theoretically allow them to destroy Russian weapons before they have a chance to join battle.
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Important Takeaways:
- Internal communications of executives from Big Tech companies reveal “damning discoveries” of the Biden administration’s attempt to muzzle the platforms, a new House committee report published this week revealed.
- Following House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) subpoena last year, tech giants like Google-parent Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft were investigated regarding their communications with the federal government. Jordan said at the time that he wanted to “understand how and to what extent the Executive Branch coerced and colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor speech.”
- The House Judiciary Committee’s 800-page report, titled “The Censorship-industrial Complex: How Top Biden White House Officials Coerced Big Tech to Censor Americans, True Information, and Critics of the Biden Administration,” included several instances where the platforms censored information relating to COVID-19 due to top-down pressure.
- The Biden White House’s censorship campaign also targeted true information, satire and other content not violating platform policies, according to the report.
- The report comes as big tech companies have been under fire by both Republicans and Democrats in recent months. The Supreme Court heard arguments in March challenging the Biden administration’s alleged coordination with Big Tech to censor certain political messages.
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Important Takeaways:
- Youth sex trafficking and its myriad cruelties tripled under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a report in TheFreePress.com.
- com described some of the harms inflicted on youth migrants under the lax policies set by Biden’s border chief, Alejandro Mayorkas’ tenure:
- Sex-trafficking victims often suffer horrific abuse, as I discovered when I spoke to Landon Dickeson, the 36-year-old executive director for Bob’s House of Hope in Denton, Texas, the only shelter for male sex-trafficking victims ages 18 and up in the country. Dickeson says they’ve seen teens from Central and South America who have been so tortured by their traffickers they can barely function.
- Dickeson described caring for teens who have brain damage from being so heavily drugged—teens who have had their fingernails pulled out, and lemon juice poured on wounds. When I asked to interview one of their migrant residents, Dickeson said they simply weren’t in any condition to speak to anyone, much less a reporter. “We think the cartels and gangs use torture as a control method for the males,” said Dickeson. “They’re not going to fight back if they chain their victims to a radiator, beat them up frequently, or drug them.”
- The rising number of youth sex-trafficking cases were posted at the Department of Health and Human Services when TheFreePress demanded the data under the Freedom of Information Act. The agency is responsible for checking and issuing Certification and Eligibility Letters to the children and youths who first request aid after escaping sex traffickers.
- The agency issued 1,143 letters in 2021, 2,226 letters in 2022, and 2,148 letters in 2024 under the welcome policies set by border chief Alejandro Mayorkas. The agency has not posted any data since the first week of September 2023.
- The incomplete data adds up to 5,517 letters since October 2020, or an average of 1,8,37 letters per year.
- Under President Donald Trump, the number of letters averaged 562 per year — or just one-third of the record reached under the guidance of pro-migration progressives.
- The number of child cases under Biden and Mayorkas is three times their adult caseload, according to the agency data.
- Federal agencies have done little to stop the sex trafficking, whistleblowers told TheFreePress:
- Deborah White, another whistleblower who worked at the same [government-funded] shelter, testified that migrant children were handed over to improperly vetted sponsors who used fraudulent IDs and different addresses to procure numerous unrelated children. “I had multiple cases that I reported on,” said White, meaning she reported suspicious sponsors to her supervisor. “One in particular where we sent 329 children to one address: two garden apartment [buildings] in Houston, Texas.” The supervisor, White told The Free Press in an interview, took no steps to investigate further, but instead told White that she wasn’t moving migrants out of the facility quickly enough.
- Amid the youths’ sexual torture, prostitution, and trafficking, progressives have happily thrown charges of bigotry and racism at the Americans who want their border laws enforced.
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Important Takeaways:
- The call, under way late Wednesday morning U.S. time, was the leaders’ first known chat since August and coincided with a sharp escalation of Israel’s conflict with both Iran and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah with no sign of an imminent ceasefire to end the conflict with Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.
- The Middle East has been on edge awaiting Israel’s response to a missile attack last week that Tehran carried out in retaliation for Israel’s military escalation in Lebanon.
- The Iranian attack ultimately killed no one in Israel and Washington called it ineffective.
- Netanyahu has promised that arch-foe Iran will pay for its missile attack, while Tehran has said any retaliation would be met with vast destruction, raising fears of a wider war in the oil-producing region which could draw in the United States.
- Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant canceled a Wednesday visit to the Pentagon, the Pentagon said, as Israeli media reported Netanyahu wanted first to speak with Biden.
- Israel has faced calls by the United States and other allies to accept a ceasefire deal in Gaza and Lebanon but has said it will continue its military operations until Israelis are safe.
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Important Takeaways:
- US officials tell Axios that the Biden administration is increasingly distrustful of what Israel is saying about its military and diplomatic plans.
- Two of the officials tell the outlet that White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Friday that the US expects “clarity and transparency” from Israel over its plans for a potential attack on Iran after Tehran fired some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel last week.
- The officials note that any Israel strike would have an impact on US forces in the region.
- An official says that Sullivan’s message was a signal that if the US is not given a heads-up as to Israel’s plans, it won’t necessarily join a coalition to defend Israel against a potential future attack from Iran.
- The report says the US is also concerned about the most recent operation launched by the IDF in north Gaza, despite the fact that Israel has told Washington that the evacuation orders for civilians there will not lead to a permanent displacement of the population.
- “They tell us what we want to hear — the problem is lack of trust,” a US official says.
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Important Takeaways:
- The White House said there are additionally more than 6,100 National Guard members and more than 7,000 federal personnel aiding in the effort.
- “These Guardsmen have been spearheading the response effort across the impacted region in support of their governors and communities, providing critical life-saving and life-sustaining support to the victims of this historic natural disaster,” the Defense Department press release read.
- The announcement, according to the White House and Defense Department, comes in response to requests from North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for additional troops.
- “The Department of Defense will continue to stay fully engaged with FEMA and the whole-of-government relief efforts related to Hurricane Helene, providing capabilities that best support needs on the ground,” the Defense Department press release said.
- The Biden administration pointed to the $137 million in federal assistance that it has directed to help “survivors jumpstart their recoveries” and said there is “more to come.”
- The administration touted its on-the-ground efforts and collaboration with local officials, noting that in the past several days, the Biden administration “has contacted nearly 450 state, city, and county officials in impacted states to ensure they have the support and resources they need.”
- The administration is also encouraging local residents to apply for FEMA assistance, and it has set up a website to combat misinformation surrounding the federal government’s response efforts.
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