Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
February 11, 2022
Good morning
Welcome to today's top news.
Leading the News . . .
CIA has been secretly collecting data on Americans in bulk, senators say . . . The Central Intelligence Agency has conducted a secret, bulk surveillance program without congressional approval for years and two senators have called for new information about the program that includes data on Americans, according to a statement on Thursday. Sens. Ron Wyden and Martin Heinrich, both Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee,
posted an April 13, 2021 letter they sent to Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence, and William J. Burns, the CIA director, in an effort to learn more about that program. Their letter to the top intelligence officials was partially declassified on Thursday. The two accused the CIA of conducting the program "entirely outside the statutory framework that Congress and the public believe govern this collection, and without any of the judicial, congressional or even
executive branch oversight that comes with FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] collection." Wall Street Journal
Corrupt spy agencies are turning USA into USSR 2.0.
As we learned from the Russiagate scandal, even the FISA process is corrupt. Check out this book by Carter Page, a former volunteer foreign policy advisor for ex-POTUS Trump's campaign.
Carter is an American patriot, a former US Navy officer, who risked his life when he met with the Russians, being a businessman and CIA asset, to collect intel on Putin's government. He was spied on by US government, based on 4 fraudulent FISA applications submitted by the FBI. The feds also threw him under the bus by denying, falsely that he was not a CIA asset. You serve your country and the apparatchiks destroy your life and career. Happens more often than you think. I
disclosed my harrowing personal story in my book.
Support Carter and grab a copy of his book. It's on sale for $5.79 on Amazon now! I'll get him one of these days on my podcast to talk about his horrific experience of being, as we used to say back in the USSR, "under the cone," i.e. surveilled by the state.
Biden says he rejects findings of Army report on Afghanistan . . . President Biden on Thursday said he rejected the findings of an Army investigative report in which military officials reportedly criticized Biden administration officials for failing to grasp the situation in Afghanistan as U.S. forces withdrew. Asked about the report during an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt on Thursday, Biden said that it didn’t square with his
impression of the administration's handling of the withdrawal.
“No, that’s not that I was told,” Biden said when asked if the details of the investigation, which was reported by The Washington Post, rang true to him. “There was no good time to get out, but if we had not gotten out, they acknowledged we would have had to put a hell of a lot more troops back in.” Asked if he was rejecting the findings of the report, Biden replied, “Yes, I am.” “I am rejecting them,” he said. The Hill
Jill Biden helped muck up the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal . . . An admiral for the U.S. Navy claimed “high-profile” requests, including one from first lady Jill Biden, caused disruption to overall Afghanistan evacuation efforts last year. Rear Adm. Peter Vasely, who serves as a special assistant to the Director of the Navy Staff, said incessant calls for help during the efforts to get Americans out of the now-Taliban-controlled
country caused a “distraction” and “created competition for already stressed resources.” Vasley’s remarks, stemming from a late September interview, came in a story by the Washington Post, which obtained a 2,000-page report from the probe of the 17-day operation out of Kabul. “That’s accurate,” Vasley said when asked in sworn testimony for the report whether Pope Francis and First Lady Jill Biden intervened in evacuation efforts to request help on behalf of others. White House Dossier
If this were Melania, there would be a full congressional investigation into whom she tried to use her influence to get out of Afghanistan. And then may an effort to impeach her!
AOC says public pressure makes banning stock trades for Congress 'too difficult to ignore' . . . Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said public pressure forced congressional leaders to take up a stock trading ban for lawmakers and credited House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for standing down from her original opposition to new legislation.
"The people at home watching have made it too difficult to ignore," Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday, noting that Congress now just needs to "stick the landing without any funny business" on new legislation. Ocasio-Cortez made the comments during a video news conference Thursday with Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois and Joe Neguse of Colorado. The lawmakers are seeking action on their bill, the Ban Conflicted Trading
Act, which would prohibit members of Congress and senior staff from purchasing and selling individual stocks and or serving on a board for any for-profit entity. Fox Business
Hillary Clinton expected to make a political appearance . . . Hillary Clinton expected to make a political appearance
We will never be rid of the Clintons. So many times, from the Gennifer Flowers scandal when they first appeared in 1992, we have almost seen the end of them. But no. They keep coming back. According to CNBC: Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is expected to speak at next week’s New York State Democratic Party Convention, according to people familiar with the matter. Clinton, who previously represented New York in the U.S. Senate, is likely to take the stage in
front of party leaders at the Sheraton hotel in Times Square, these people said. The development comes as Clinton, who also was secretary of State during the first half of President Barack Obama’s administration, works to maintain relevance in a party that could be headed for defeat in this year’s midterm elections.
It may also stoke speculation about a potential new Clinton bid for elected office. White House Dossier
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US-Russia Escalating Crisis
Biden tells U.S. citizens to leave Ukraine immediately amid 'troubling' signs of Russian escalation . . . President Joe Biden has issued a warning that U.S. citizens should leave Ukraine immediately as tensions with Russia over its military activity continue to intensify. "American citizens should leave. … Leave now," Biden told NBC News' Lester Holt on Thursday night. "We're dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. This is a
very different situation, and things could go crazy quickly." Russia began a 10-day program of military exercises with its neighbor Belarus on Thursday. NATO estimated 30,000 Russian troops were taking part, marking Moscow's biggest military deployment in Belarus since the Cold War. The drills, widely seen as a display of strength by Russia, come as around 130,000 soldiers, tanks, missiles and even fresh blood supplies have been moved to its border with Ukraine, according to NBC News.
Russia is demanding that Ukraine never be permitted to become a member of the NATO military alliance and has said it wants the organization to roll back its presence in Eastern Europe. CNBC
‘Dangerous moment’: Russian naval buildup near Ukraine hits Cold War levels . . . Over the past few weeks, Russia has pulled warships from across the globe to mass in the Black Sea and Mediterranean as part of one of the largest displays of naval firepower since the Cold War. Russian cruisers, submarines and other warships have moved into place as Europe remains on high alert for any Russian ground movements into Ukraine from Belarus or
western Russia, where over 100,000 troops have massed. Politico
Pentagon under fire for blocking journalist embeds around Ukraine . . . The Biden administration is under fire for refusing to allow journalists to embed with U.S. forces outside Ukraine as the threat of a Russian invasion looms. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby was grilled multiple times this week by reporters in the Pentagon’s briefing room and on television over the decision, which he claimed was to make room for diplomacy between
Western and Russian officials, an effort that has so far faltered. “There’s a lot of factors that go into deciding how we handle media access. Some of these decisions are very difficult to make. We take it very seriously and right now we’re trying to balance a lot of factors in terms of the time and space for diplomacy,” Kirby told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room” late Wednesday. But with more than 100,000 Kremlin troops already placed at Ukraine's border, including roughly
2,000 more added in the past 24 hours, a full-scale invasion could come in a matter of weeks, according to U.S. officials. The Hill
Ukraine Fears Emmanuel Macron's Fraught Peace-Dealings With Vladimir Putin . . . French President Emmanuel Macron's recent visit to Moscow has prompted fears in Ukraine that its Western partners are maneuvering to force Kyiv into costly concessions to avoid war with Russia. Vadym Prystaiko, Kyiv's ambassador to the U.K., told Newsweek in an interview at the Ukrainian embassy in London that the French president's visit was not received
well. "What bothers many Ukrainians is that he went to Moscow first, and then with prepared notes came to Ukraine," Prystaiko said. While reaffirming Western opposition to more than 100,000 Russian troops massed around Ukraine's borders, Macron also hinted that the West must consider Moscow's concerns that Kyiv might one day be allowed to join NATO. Newsweek
Satellite Images Show Russian Buildup on Three Fronts Surrounding Ukraine . . . New satellite images appear to show increased Russian military deployment on three fronts around Ukraine as invasion concerns continue to mount. The images, shared Thursday by Colorado-based technology company Maxar, shows the troops and equipment positioned on the Russian fronts of Crimea, Belarus and western Russia. Although Russia has continuously
denied any plans to attack Ukraine, there are about 130,000 troops now stationed near the Ukrainian border. Maxar reported "a large deployment of troops and military forces" that have "recently arrived at the Kursk training area to the east of the city—approximately 75 miles to the east of the border with Ukraine," according to Military Times. Newsweek
Investors Bet Ukraine-Russia War Will Be Averted . . . Russian troops are continuing to build up on the Ukrainian border, but investors are piling into bets that there won’t be a war.
The Russian ruble and Ukrainian hryvnia have strengthened against the dollar in recent days, appreciating 3% and 1.5% this month so far, respectively. The currencies traded at multiyear lows in the last week of January. Hedge funds have been especially active, with the most net long positions in the ruble in 23 months as of last Friday, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “It’s extraordinary. I think it’s a naive read on the situation,” said Timothy Ash, an
emerging-market strategist at BlueBay Asset Management. “I don’t see any reduction in geopolitical risk. If anything, evidence shows that Russia is putting more troops into position.” Wall Street Journal
One cultural difference between the Russians and the Americans the Russians always expect the worst-case scenario and prepare for it, while Americans are always optimistic. War is not something that most Americans think of as a realistic scenario because it didn't happen on US soil in modern history. For the Russians, it's the opposite because of Russia's history. Most Russian families have a member who died in WWII.
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U.S. faces China-Russia threats, decade after ditching 2-front war . . . -- In January 2012, then-U.S. President Barack Obama outlined a major shift in Washington's national defense objectives: an end to its two-front-war strategy. "America's not the world's policeman," he would later say. Now, more than a decade later, the U.S. once again finds itself grappling with adversity on two fronts -- this time from China and
Russia. America's overwhelming military might, which afforded the option of envisioning a two-front war, had enabled the country to take the lead in rebuilding the global order in the aftermath of World War II. It was also what led the U.S. to victory in the Cold War.
Still, Obama declared the strategic shift as Americans grew weary of the drawn-out wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, started by predecessor George W. Bush after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. The collapse of Lehman Brothers, which set off a global economic crisis in 2008, deepened that sentiment. Before public fatigue pushed the U.S. to abandon its two-front-war strategy, it was concerned mainly about potential parallel conflicts in the Middle East and on the Korean Peninsula. Today's
biggest threats lie elsewhere, with Russian President Vladimir Putin eyeing an opening to invade Ukraine and Chinese President Xi Jinping publicly vowing to unify Taiwan with the mainland.
That the U.S. is once again facing a two-front challenge a decade later could be seen as a strategic blunder. Asia Nikkei
The China Threat: counterintelligence and economic espionage . . . Hostile efforts emanating from the government of China and the Chinese Communist Party are a grave threat to the economic well-being and democratic values of the United States. Confronting this threat is the FBI’s top counterintelligence priority. To be clear, the adversary is not the Chinese people or people of Chinese descent or heritage.
The threat comes from the programs and policies pursued by an authoritarian government. The Chinese government is employing tactics that seek to influence lawmakers and public opinion to achieve policies that are more favorable to China. At the same time, the Chinese government is seeking to become the world’s greatest superpower through predatory lending and business practices, systematic theft of intellectual property, and brazen cyber intrusions. China’s efforts target
businesses, academic institutions, researchers, lawmakers, and the general public and will require a whole-of-society response. The government and the private sector must commit to working together to better understand and counter the threat. FBI
Breaking Dependency on Russia, China Will Cost Us, but It’s Worth It: Lithuanian Foreign Minister . . . The cost of goods such as iPhones, shoes, and electricity could go up if countries break from their dependency on Russia and China, but it’s the price the world must pay to safeguard the rules-based order, Lithuania’s foreign minister has stated. Lithuania’s Gabrielius Landsbergis made the comments in an address to the National Press
Club in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 10, where he called for tighter global alliances and a stronger response in dealing with the twin challenges posed by Moscow and Beijing. Lithuania currently sits on two major geopolitical fault lines—on the one hand, it must confront rising tensions on the neighbouring Ukrainian border with Russian troops mobilising in their thousands, while on the other, it has been the subject of ongoing economic coercion from the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP). “For decades now, there were those who were convinced it is possible through the liberalisation of trade to bring values like rule of law and democracy to others,” he said. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be the case—quite the opposite actually.” Epoch
Times
‘Communism Is Cancer’: Senator Says Americans Must ‘Fight Hard’ Against Communist China’s Influence . . . Communist China is reshaping the world according to its own agenda. And Americans need to act if they don’t want their cherished freedoms taken away, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told a panel event in Washington on Feb. 10. “We cannot allow Xi’s influence to spread, because communism is a cancer,” he said, referring to Chinese leader Xi
Jinping. “We know what it’s done in Cuba. We know what it did in Soviet Russia. We see it at work in Venezuela, and now we have people in America saying socialism is good—we cannot let this spread.” “It will kill us, just like it killed one hundred million people in the 20th century.” At the forum at America First Policy Institute, a think tank led by some former top advisors for former President Donald Trump, the senator made clear that he saw China under the Chinese Communist Party
as the greatest threat to world order and Americans’ livelihoods, an idea that is receiving growing consensus in Washington. For Scott, the “tainted” Winter Olympics in Beijing is the latest reminder about the direction the communist regime is heading. Epoch times
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New York middle school play praises COVID vaccines, says unvaxxed kids won't have friends . . . Children appear to be dressed as QAnon Shaman, box of cigarettes in skit apparently mocking conservative caricatures as well. A New York City public school put on a holiday show in which 5th-8th graders sang "It's safe to vax and if your friends don't vax then they ain't no friends of mine," according to a mother who attended
and shared her recordings with Just the News. While the singing is hard to understand, the visual elements make clear the children at the Upper West Side's M.S. 243 Center School are being taught to celebrate COVID-19 vaccines and single out unvaccinated peers. Just the News
Do they call unvaxxed kids enemies of the people? Soviet Playbook.
COVID-19 vaccines’ flaws dash hopes of reaching herd immunity . . . When COVID-19 emerged, scientists figured they could stop the disease by getting 70% or 80% of the country vaccinated. As the delta variant of the virus raged, experts said it might take 90%. Now, as the virus enters its third year, it’s becoming clear that no level of vaccination may be enough to control the spread. “Even if everyone were vaccinated, we would still
be able to see some amount of spread,” said Stephen Kissler, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “We’re basically at the point there that [herd immunity] threshold no longer exists.” Herd immunity projection was just one of the areas where COVID-19 has humiliated policymakers and experts who have tried to lead the U.S. through the pandemic. Washington Times
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Suffer like it's 1982 — Bidenflation the worst in 40 years . . . It is now official that this is the worst inflation in 40 years. At 7.5%, prices are rising so quickly that they will double in less than 10 years if this rate of inflation continues. Of course, Reagan inherited an inflation problem back in his own day. President Joe Biden, on the other hand, created his own inflation problem with the reckless spending that began his
administration. With so many trillions already shoveled out the door in the form of COVID relief, Biden just couldn't resist the temptation to play Santa Claus himself. Inflation was the predictable result, and indeed one we predicted, due to a surge in deficit spending and the slowdown in production that occurred because of COVID-19. Biden has spent the last few months attempting to compound his mistake further, spending another $5 trillion on his completely unnecessary Build Back Better
boondoggle. Washington Examiner
Why Your Car Might Be Worth More Today Than When You Bought It . . . The prolonged inventory crunch of dealership lots is turning the U.S. used-car market upside down: Once-depreciating vehicles are rising in value, and some recently purchased ones are worth more now than their original price. With car companies still trying to resume normal levels of factory output, dealers have been left with a scarcity of new vehicles to sell at
stores, pushing many buyers into the used-car market where they are also encountering limited options. Used-car prices rose 40.5% in January from a year ago, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department, a jump that helped accelerate U.S. inflation to an annual rate of 7.5% last month, a new four-decade high. Wall Street Journal
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Video shows dad forcibly tossed from school board meeting after refusing to wear mask . . .
A father from upstate New York was seen on video being forcibly tossed from a school board meeting this week after he refused to wear a mask. Dave Calus was unmasked while sitting in a chair watching a presentation at a board of education meeting in Webster on Tuesday night when a security guard approached him and asked him to put on a face covering.
Callus said he told the guard “Thank you,” but refused to cover up. The officer persisted, saying “No, you need to put your mask on right now.” The security guard then dragged Calus’ chair towards the back of the room. Callus turned around to confront the security guard but is then pushed out of a back door, video posted to the Facebook page ROC for Educational Freedom Public Page shows. “What are you doing?!” the woman filming the video yells. “What are you doing?! Holy crap.
Holy crap.” “That is assault. That is assault.” the woman says. “Do you put your hands on our children, too?” another lady asks the guard. New York Post
‘Duck Dynasty’ star weighs in on Joe Rogan, Whoopi Goldberg facing cancel culture . . . Phil Robertson is speaking out about cancel culture after Joe Rogan and Whoopi Goldberg ruffled some feathers. Earlier this month, Neil Young pulled his music from Spotify after a group of doctors called out Rogan for his interview of a man who has spread COVID-19 misinformation. Then India Arie revealed on Instagram that the podcaster had repeatedly
used the N-word. As a result, the 54-year-old Rogan apologized and the streaming service pulled dozens of past episodes of his podcast from circulation. Meanwhile, Goldberg was suspended for two weeks as co-host of "The View" following her remarks about Jews and the Holocaust. The comments were made during a discussion about a Tennessee school board’s banning of "Maus," a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Nazi death camps during World War II. The 66-year-old said the
Holocaust was "not about race ... it’s about man’s inhumanity to other man." While she apologized hours later, the original statement drew condemnation from several prominent Jewish leaders. Fox News
Soros DA’s Office Hired Registered Sex Offender As Paralegal . . . A George Soros-backed prosecutor in Northern Virginia is under fire after a registered sex offender was hired to work in her office. The offender briefly served as a paralegal in Loudoun County commonwealth’s attorney Buta Biberaj’s (D.) office. He was dismissed from the post only after his probation officer made inquiries about his employment status with Biberaj’s
office. "I was kind of surprised how quickly the process went," the unidentified offender said in an interview with Fox 5, which first reported the story. "And I was expecting there to be the background check, of course. I mean, everybody does a background check these days." Federal authorities raided the sex offender’s home in late 2013 and found over 600 images of child pornography. Washington Free Beacon
Kamila Valieva will get urgent hearing to decide Olympic eligibility . . . Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva’s right to compete in the imminent women’s event at the Beijing Olympics will be decided at an urgent hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The International Testing Agency — on behalf of the IOC — said Friday it would fight a decision by Russia’s anti-doping agency to allow the 15-year-old Valieva to skate. The
Russian agency had provisionally banned Valieva this week because she failed a doping test in December. Valieva is the heavy favorite in her event which begins Tuesday after setting world record scores this season and landing the first quad jump by a women at an Olympics when the Russian Olympic Committee won the team event Monday. The ROC said it will fight to keep that gold medal.
The ITA confirmed reports that Valieva tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine at the Russian national championships in St. Petersburg six weeks ago. New York Post
This is terrible. She didn't need any artificial help. The Russians have superior training in figure staking, gymnastics, and ballet. They are simply the best in these sports and art forms. They should stop monkeying around.
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Censored But Not Silenced
Censored But Not Silenced Podcast . . . Censored But Not Silenced, with Rebekah Koffler brings you insightful commentary to breaking US and world news headlines that you won't find anywhere else. An ex- DIA intelligence officer turned author and national security commentator, Rebekah provides context to current events from a unique
perspective of a secret world of espionage. Rebekah has appeared on Fox News, Newsmax TV, The Sean Hannity Radio, and on countless other TV, radio, and podcast shows. He work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The Hill, The New York Post, on the Fox News website, and in many other major outlets. The US government tried to sabotage the publication of Rebekah's first book 'Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America,' by claiming, unjustifiably, that it contained classified
information. Although censored by the feds, Rebekah will not be silenced. Tune in to Censored But Not Silenced. Now. Podcast Addict
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