Important Takeaways:
- The Biden administration on Tuesday reapproved a sanctions waiver that will allow Iran to access upward of $10 billion in frozen assets, the State Department confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon.
- The sanctions waiver, which was set to expire today after first being authorized for a period of 120 days in July, allows Iraq to transfer payments for multibillion-dollar electricity imports from Iran into accounts outside of the country that can be used by Tehran.
- While Iran can only use the funds related to the sanctions waiver for the purchase of humanitarian goods, critics of the administration’s policy argue that by freeing up this cash, Iran can allocate other financial resources to its global terrorism operation, which has been in overdrive since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. Analysts place the amount of cash accessible by Iran at upward of $10 billion
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Important Takeaways:
- Time for US to counter the bully at 30,000 feet
- To protect the lives of U.S. service personnel and reaffirm their right to operate in international airspace, President Biden must confront President Xi on this issue during their tête-à-tête Wednesday on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in San Francisco.
- These incidents are not isolated high jinks by maverick Chinese pilots. Far from it. The People’s Liberation Army operates under the tight leash of the Chinese Communist Party. This behavior is part of a larger political-military effort to intimidate the United States and its allies from operating in the Western Pacific.
- Late last month, a Chinese jet fighter buzzed within 10 feet of one of our B-52 bombers flying in international airspace over the South China Seas.
- This is not the first time the Pentagon has publicly raised the issue of unsafe Chinese aerial behavior. On June 2, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin gave a major speech in Singapore, noting that China “continues to conduct an alarming number of risky intercepts of U.S. and allied aircraft flying lawfully in international airspace.”
- China’s bad behavior continues, so the secretary’s point evidently fell upon deaf ears. PLA buzzing continues against not only the United States, but its close allies as well. Two weeks ago, Chinese fighters fired flares right in the path of a Canadian helicopter operating in the South China Sea, forcing it to take evasive action.
- Just last week, Chinese Coast Guard ships fired water cannons at Philippine Coast Guard vessels in the Spratley Islands, the latest of many coercive activities aimed at Manila. In fact, all this bullying continues even though China signed a detailed agreement with the U.S., way back in 2014, to avoid unsafe intercepts in the air and at sea.
- If sweet reason and stern words fail to sway, the Biden administration should authorize F-35 fighter escorts of its unarmed reconnaissance planes until China gets the message – and backs off.
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Important Takeaways:
- James Comer: Joe Biden Received $40,000 in China Money Again Disguised as Loan Repayment
- Joe Biden received $40,000 in laundered CEFC China Energy Co. money in 2017 from the account of his brother, James Biden, and sister-in-law, Sara Biden, once again in the form of a personal check labeled as a “loan repayment,” House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) uncovered Wednesday in a newly released bank records memorandum.
- The revelation is the second instance Joe Biden personally accepted a suspicious personal check from his brother James, who was involved in the Biden family’s overseas business ventures. Joe Biden has denied any involvement in Biden family business ventures at least nine times.
- The discovery justifies concerns raised by Republicans that the Biden business compromised Joe Biden. It also lends further credence to the impeachment inquiry into the president.
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Important Takeaways:
- Our Response to China Must Be Overwhelming, Not ‘Proportional’
- Biden meeting Xi at this time would be a mistake…. Anything Beijing wants cannot, by definition, be good for America.
- How, exactly, can Biden “stabilize relations” with a militant regime that has declared America to be its enemy?
- Worse, China’s regime thinks it is already at war with the U.S.
- Now, therefore, is the time to use all the resources of the federal government. The Secretary of the Treasury, for instance, can designate, pursuant to Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act, Chinese banks to be of “primary money laundering concern.” Designated banks can no longer clear dollar transactions through New York, where every dollar transaction clears.
- Such designations would put the large state banks out of business everywhere outside China. If large state banks were to fail, so would China’s state-dominated banking system. The failure of the banking system would undoubtedly mean the end of the Chinese economy and financial system. The end of the political system would soon follow.
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Important Takeaways:
- Border encounters reach nearly 2.5 million for 2023, second straight record-setting year for illegal immigration under Biden
- Official numbers totaled 269,735 encounters for September 2023, a new monthly record, which sets fiscal year 2023 at a record-setting 2,475,669.
- Previous reports that had estimated approximately 260,000 people crossing the border in September 2023 proved to be true. This exceeded the previous monthly record set under Biden in December 2022 at just over 250,000.
- At the time, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed the president had taken “historic action” to control illegal immigration, the Washington Examiner reported.
- Days later, the administration announced its plans to resume building the U.S.-Mexico border wall started under President Trump, despite Biden claiming that walls don’t work.
- According to the Washington Examiner, a total of 3.2 million non-U.S. citizens attempted to enter the country illegally in fiscal year 2023.
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Important Takeaways:
- Crisis, What Crisis? Biden Enjoys Breezy Beach Walk as Middle East Explodes
- President Joe Biden has been seen in pictures and videos enjoying a weekend of walks on Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, as Hamas terrorists pushed their campaign of destruction against Israel and the U.S. placed additional troops on prepare-to-deploy orders to the Middle East.
- One short clip shows the octogenarian and first lady Jill Biden strolling the Atlantic beachfront on Sunday while a reporter off screen asks him about the release of Americans being held hostage by Hamas terrorists.
- Biden cheerily waves towards the reporter but does not stop to answer questions before continuing his jocund seaside perambulation.
- “Americans are still being held hostage by Hamas terrorists—and Joe Biden is at the beach,” the RNC Research group posted on X, formerly Twitter, in recording the exchange.
- Earlier in the day Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin placed additional U.S. troops on prepare-to-deploy orders to the Middle East, as Breitbart News reported.
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Important Takeaways:
- The Biden administration last week placed itself in the position of trying to explain how its decision to fast-track new construction of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border — which officials called an urgent necessity — did not amount to a policy reversal.
- After all, the president pledged during the 2020 campaign that he would not build “another foot” of the barrier.
- One of Biden’s executive orders on his inauguration day brought President Donald Trump’s signature project to a grinding halt, with the new president calling that effort to keep migrants from crossing into the United States a waste of money.
- When reporters asked Biden whether he thought border barriers were effective, the president flatly said “no.” His certainty seemed squarely at odds with the Department of Homeland Security’s notice calling new border wall segments urgently needed “to prevent unlawful entries into the United States.
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Important Takeaways:
- DeSantis calls for policy reversal at southern border — says system ‘spits in the faces of those who respect our laws’
- Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis called for a reversal of policies at the southwest land border that has seen record surges of illegal immigrants, while recent reports showed thousands of migrants had been apprehended from the middle east.
- “I would also ask the president to consider reversing his policies on the southern border. We are vulnerable when you have all these military-age men coming in. Do you think that our enemies have not been looking at that weakness?”
- “We know people from Iran have come, we know people from Russia have come, and we know China and other parts of the Middle East.
- Israel probably has the strongest border security in the world, and yet, this happened to them,” the governor added.
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Important Takeaways:
- Democratic senators break with Biden and call to refreeze $6 billion Iranian ‘ransom’ funds after horrific Hamas terror attack on Israel
- Influential Democratic senators have publicly pressed the Biden Administration to try to find a way to freeze $6 billion in Iranian funds over Tehran’s support for Hamas.
- The pressure from within the president’s own party comes as the White House says there is no confirmation of Iran’s support for the gruesome Hamas attack – even while acknowledging Iran’s longstanding support for the group.
- Jon Tester (D-Mont.), a Democratic centrist who is up for reelection in 2024, is among those calling for the funds to be refrozen.
- ‘As American intelligence officials continue to investigate the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas, we should review our options to hold Iran accountable for any support they may have provided,’ he said.
- ‘At a minimum, we should immediately freeze the $6 billion in Iranian assets and explore other financial tools we have at our disposal,’ he said, the Hill reported.
- Also weighing in was Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who is also facing reelection. ‘I wasn’t supportive of the initial $6 billion transfer. We should absolutely freeze Iranian assets while we also consider additional statements,’ he said.
- The administration negotiated the unfreezing of the funds in a deal last month that bought the release of five Americans held hostage in Iran. The then-frozen funds got transferred from South Korea to Qatar, where they are now being overseen.
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Important Takeaways:
- US Navy moving warships, aircraft closer to Israel amid Hamas war
- The U.S. Navy is moving warships and aircraft closer to Israel in the aftermath of an unprecedented assault on the country from Hamas terrorists, a U.S. military official tells Fox News.
- President Biden has aggressively affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself in the wake of Saturday’s surprise attack, which has so far killed at least 600 Israelis and wounded at least 2,000 more.
- The Pentagon has not clarified whether it would use military force to assist Israel in the conflict. Israel formally declared war on Hamas on Sunday, its first such declaration since 1973.
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