Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
February 14, 2022
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Welcome to today's top news.
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Censored But Not Silenced. Episode 2: What Putin is thinking . . . In this video, ex-DIA intelligence officer turned author and podcaster, Rebekah Koffler interviews a panel of specialists about Russian President Putin's mindset, goals, and motivations for his actions, in light of the escalating US-Russia showdown over Ukraine.
Panelists are:
Dr. David Charney, MD, a former Air Force Officer and psychiatrist, who evaluated, for mental stability, American nuclear missiliers who went on duty to guard US nuclear weapons in silos;
Dr. Larry Lindsey, President & CEO of The Lindsey Group;
Tim Gill, former US intelligence officer, trained in behaviorial analysis, who ran highly sensitive CIA-FBI counter-espionage operations against foreign high value targets.
Clinton campaign paid to 'infiltrate' Trump Tower, White House servers to link Trump to Russia: Durham . . . Lawyers for the Clinton campaign paid a technology company to "infiltrate" servers belonging to Trump Tower, and later the White House, in order to establish an "inference" and "narrative" to bring to government agencies linking Donald Trump to Russia, a filing from Special Counsel John Durham says. Durham filed
a motion on Feb. 11 focused on potential conflicts of interest related to the representation of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, who has been charged with making a false statement to a federal agent. Sussmann has pleaded not guilty. The indictment against Sussmann, says he told then-FBI General Counsel James Baker in September 2016, less than two months before the 2016 presidential election, that he was not doing work "for any client" when he requested and held a meeting in
which he presented "purported data and 'white papers' that allegedly demonstrated a covert communications channel" between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, which has ties to the Kremlin. Fox News
Former DNI Ratcliffe told Durham intelligence supports ‘multiple’ indictments in probe: sources . . . Ratcliffe: FBI did not have proper predicate to spy on Trump campaign. Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe met with Special Counsel John Durham on more than one occasion and told him there was evidence in intelligence to support the indictments of "multiple people" in his investigation into the origins of the
Trump-Russia probe. Durham's latest filing alleged that lawyers from Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016 had paid to "infiltrate" servers belonging to Trump Tower and later the White House, in order to establish an "inference" and "narrative" to bring to federal government agencies linking Donald Trump to Russia. Fox News first reported in October 2020 that Ratcliffe provided nearly 1,000 pages of material to the Justice Department to support Durham's investigation. Fox News
Irreconcilable differences? Trump, Pence aides fear relationship has reached point of no return . . . Keith Kellogg, adviser to both men, says he believes the relationship has hit a "hard break" and expects them to "go their separate ways." From the podium at a Christian convention four years ago, then-Vice President Mike Pence heralded that "good friend of mine" Donald Trump and praised the 45th president for "delivering every day on
his promise to protect faith and restore freedom." These days, the 45th president and his vice president don't talk at all, instead trading barbs in media statements about the episode that crushed a close relationship: the certification of the 2020 election and subsequent Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Pence recently criticized Trump for suggesting he could have overturned the election that day. (Actually, at the time Trump was asking the vice president to delay certifying the election
and ask state legislatures anew if they believed the vote was accurate.) Just the News
Harris heads to Munich at pivotal moment . . . Vice President Harris will get a new opportunity to burnish her foreign policy credentials when she attends the Munich Security Conference this week. The security conference comes at a particularly pivotal time, amid rising warnings of a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, which could happen before Harris departs for Germany.
“Her presence there is a big deal,” said one ally close to the White House, adding that President Biden regularly attended the conference as vice president. “It sends a message that she’s at the heart of these major foreign policy issues.” Harris has had an at times rocky start as vice president and aides have signaled a desire and willingness to get her out of Washington and on the road more. The conference, which runs Friday to Monday, will mark Harris’s fifth foreign trip as vice
president. She previously visited Guatemala and Mexico; Singapore and Vietnam; France; and most recently Honduras. The Hill
Yep.
Barack Obama making a return as Dems work to fill the Biden vacuum . . . President Biden is deeply unpopular. Hillary Clinton appears poised for a comeback. And Barack Obama appears to be stepping in too. If Biden were well-liked and perceives as a strong leader, we wouldn’t be hearing a peep out of either. According to the Washington Examiner: Former President Barack Obama is ramping up his involvement in Washington politics
as a tricky midterm cycle approaches for Democrats a year after his vice president settled into the top job at the White House. Obama spoke at the COP26 climate conference in November, pushed for Senate filibuster reform in January, criticized Alabama’s redistricting map last week, and spoke to a group of House Democrats on Thursday. The spate of activity has party boosters expecting to see a more prominent role for the 44th president in 2022. White House Dossier
Hillary talk shows Democratic dilemma . . . Millions of words have been devoted, online, on television, on podcasts, and everywhere else, to debating the effect former President Donald Trump will have on Republican presidential politics between now and the 2024 election. Indeed, it's true there is a lot of uncertainty in the GOP's current situation. But far fewer words have been expended on the very different but equal amount of
uncertainty on the Democratic side. How uncertain is it? All you have to do is look at speculation that Hillary Clinton, the former first lady, New York senator, defeated 2008 Democratic presidential primary candidate, secretary of state, and defeated 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, might run for the White House again. Clinton is scheduled to speak next week at the New York State Democratic Party convention, and her appearance has set off lots of anticipatory speculation. Washington Examiner
Republicans introduce HUNTER Act to ban government funding for crack pipes . . . Well, if it ever gets to President Biden’s desk, it certainly stands a possibility of being vetoed. Even though the cause seems somewhat reasonable. According to Fox News: A pair of Republican lawmakers authored new legislation to ban federal taxpayer dollars from funding crack pipes, needles and other drug paraphernalia, following a firestorm over a viral
report that alleged the Biden administration would be funding crack pipes for addicts. Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Dan Bishop of North Carolina said in an exclusive joint interview with Fox News Digital that the Biden administration got caught “red-handed” trying to fund crack pipes as part of a $30 million grant program and that legislation is needed to stop the “ridiculous” proposal. The White House has denied the grant would fund crack pipes. They’ve introduced the Halting
the Use of Narcotics Through Effective Recovery Act this week, dubbing the bill the HUNTER Act, in reference to President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, who has openly struggled with drug
Unhappy independents defect from Biden, deliver another bad omen for Democrats in November . . . Polls show President Biden is losing the support of independent voters, a trend that could make it more difficult for Democrats to hold on to their majorities in the House and Senate. Mr. Biden’s support among independent voters has been shrinking for months, and an SSRS poll conducted for CNN is the latest measure of his declining popularity
among this crucial voting bloc. Mr. Biden’s approval rating among independents sank from as high as 58% last spring to 36%, the Feb. 10 survey found. The president’s approval rating overall has been declining for weeks, but the loss of independents is particularly dangerous for Democrats, who face challenges to their congressional majorities in November elections. Washington Times
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Russian Buildup Near Ukraine Features Potent Weapons Systems, Well-Trained Troops . . .
Russia’s enormous military buildup near Ukraine features some of its most potent weapon systems and provides the Kremlin with the means to attack Ukrainian forces from multiple directions, which likely would overstretch their defenses. In its buildup, which has quickened in recent weeks, Russia has positioned forces on three sides of Ukraine: in Belarus, western Russia and Crimea and on naval vessels in the Black Sea. The forces include some of Russia’s best trained battalions, special
forces and surface-to-surface missiles that could strike targets throughout Ukraine. The more than 130,000 troops Russia has in the region are still too few to seize and occupy the entire country, according to U.S. assessments. Urban warfare would still be a challenge, military specialists said, as it was for Russian forces fighting in Chechnya more than a decade ago and for the U.S. and its partners in the Iraqi city of Mosul in their more recent struggle against Islamic State militants.
Wall Street Journal
Pentagon orders US soldiers out of Ukraine as war fears mount . . . Germany — U.S. Army National Guard troops on a training mission in Ukraine have been pulled out of the country amid growing concerns about a possible Russian invasion, the Pentagon said Saturday. About 160 members of the Florida National Guard, who have been in Ukraine since November, have been repositioned elsewhere in Europe, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in
a statement. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “made this decision out of an abundance of caution — with the safety and security of our personnel foremost in mind,” Kirby said. The Pentagon did not say whether U.S. special operations troops also have been withdrawn from Ukraine. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe has a small training mission in the vicinity of Kyiv. As of Friday, those troops were still carrying out their mission, U.S. European Command said at the time. The
repositioning of Guard troops comes as the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine on Saturday began evacuating its personnel out of the country. Stripes
What Does Russia Want With Ukraine? Tensions Between Putin and NATO Explained . . . Ukraine has become the focus of geopolitical attention in recent weeks as a Russian troop buildup along its borders and a list of demands from the Kremlin have prompted threats of sanctions by the West and military deployment by NATO allies. As attempts to defuse the crisis diplomatically continue, world leaders have embarked on a flurry of international
visits in recent days to try to resolve the standoff. The U.S. has said that Russia is planning to fabricate a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine and, most recently, that an attack by Moscow could take place at any time. On Saturday, President Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of “swift and severe costs” if Russia moves against Ukraine, as both Washington and Moscow took actions to reduce their embassy staff in the country. On Sunday, Mr. Biden told Ukraine’s leader that the
U.S. and its allies would respond rapidly to any further Russian aggression against his country, the White House said, as Russia deployed some of its most powerful weapons and best-trained battalions around Ukraine and the prospect of imminent war loomed in Europe. Wall Street Journal
Declassified Afghanistan reports back U.S. commanders who said Biden team was indecisive during crisis . . . Declassified U.S. military analyses of the calamitous exit from Afghanistan detail repeated instances of friction between American troops and diplomats before and during the evacuation, concluding that indecisiveness among Biden administration officials and initial reluctance to shutter the embassy in Kabul sowed chaos and put the overall
mission at “increased risk.” Two “after action” reports were prepared by officials assigned to U.S. Central Command in September, about three weeks after the final planeload of military personnel departed Hamid Karzai International Airport. The assessments appear to affirm separate accounts of senior U.S. commanders frustrated by what they characterized as sloppy, misguided management of the withdrawal. Washington Post
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Canada-US border crossing reopens after police remove protesters . . . A crucial trade route between Canada and the US has been reopened following a weeklong-protest by lorry drivers and anti-lockdown demonstrators as police moved to clear the disruption. The Ambassador Bridge, the busiest border crossing in North America that connects Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan, had been closed by a group of anti-vaccine
mandate protesters. Detroit International Bridge Co, the bridge’s owner, said on Sunday it was “fully open allowing the free flow of commerce”, according to the Associated Press. The protesters are part of the self-styled “Freedom Convoy” that has occupied Ottawa, Canada’s capital, for two weeks. What began as a narrow demonstration against a requirement that truck drivers crossing the Canada-US border be vaccinated against Covid-19 has swelled into a vast, foreign-funded anti-government
protest. Financial Times
‘I’m All For It’: Rand Paul Supports ‘Freedom Convoy’ Protests At Super Bowl, DC . . . Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Thursday that he would be “all for” large-scale anti-mandate protests like the one occupying the Canadian capital at the Super Bowl and in Washington, D.C. Paul sat down for an interview with The Daily Signal, where he was asked to comment on the NBC News’ report about Freedom Convoy-like protests poised to take
place in Los Angeles during the Super Bowl and in the nation’s capital for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. “I’m all for it,” Paul said. “Civil disobedience is a time-honored tradition in our country, from slavery to civil rights, you name it. Peaceful protest, clog things up, make people think about the mandates.” Daily
Caller
Oh, Canada: The truckers’ occupation of Ottawa has revealed the fecklessness of the Regime . . . By Giles Hoffman. I joined the Canadian Freedom Convoy once the trucks were already firmly set in Ottawa. My time in the Canadian capital was spent gathering information, specifically to document the successful, as well as the failed, tactics and strategies of the demonstration. My reticence over details is necessary because, whether
through fate or my own persistence, I am now helping the central organization with some of their strategy, and anything that I disclose publicly could be used against them. But I can give a brief overview of what is happening here. There are “grand narratives” and many false directions. Walking through the blockade, it can seem as though multiple demonstrations are going on at the same time, some of which feel distinct. The protest can often seem like a textbook workers revolution, since much of
the language used by the protestors stake the “working class” against the bourgeoisie and the other traditional enemies of the proletariat. American Mind
At some point, people just get fed up with all the lunacy.
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Authoritarian Science and the Case of Hydroxychloroquine . . . By Connor Harris, fellow at the Manhattan Institute. The approach to medical information increasingly taken by authorities and the media is damaging to public health and scientific inquiry. Imperial County, California, a poor, largely Hispanic agricultural region in the southeastern corner of the state, has been hit hard by Covid-19. By the end of January,
according to the New York Times’s Covid-19 database, Imperial County had suffered 845 Covid deaths, or 4.7 per thousand inhabitants—a rate almost 80 percent higher than the U.S. average. The case fatality rate in Imperial County is 1.44 percent, the second-highest in California—and was significantly higher, 2.10 percent, at the end of October 2021 before the Omicron wave.
Two doctors in Imperial County, though—George Fareed and Brian Tyson, who run the All Valley Urgent Care network of medical centers—claim to have done far better with their Covid-19 patients. In fact, they claim near-perfect success: in a book that they published last January, they claim to have seen more than 7,000 patients and had only three deaths, all among patients who began treatment in later disease stages. City Journal
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Gasoline Prices Rise Across US Again, Experts Warn More Pain at Pump Coming . . . The price of gasoline has risen across the United States again as experts warn that more pain could lie ahead at the pumps for Americans. The average price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline currently stands at $3.488, an increase of more than 30 percent since the same time last year, when it was $2.505 a gallon, according to data from
the American Automobile Association (AAA). In the last week, the price of regular-grade gasoline has soared nearly 1.4 percent, from $3.441. According to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), total domestic gasoline stocks decreased by 1.6 million barrels to 248.4 million last week.
Meanwhile, demand for gasoline increased from 8.23 million barrels per day to 9.13 million barrels per day, resulting in a disparity between demand and supply. The rising cost of crude oil, driven by loosening COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions and economies rebounding from the recession, is also putting continued pressure on prices. Epoch Times
European stocks drop over fears of Russian attack on Ukraine . . . European equities sold off and traders rushed into haven assets on Monday as German chancellor Olaf Scholz prepared to travel to Moscow in a fresh effort to deter Russia from launching an invasion of Ukraine. The regional Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 2.8 per cent in afternoon dealings, in a broad decline. Germany’s Xetra Dax fell about 3.3 per cent, with sharper drops for
bourses in Austria, Sweden, Denmark and Greece. Monday’s drop came after Jake Sullivan, US national security adviser, said on Sunday that an attack by Russia against Ukraine could begin “any day now”, including “this coming week before the end of the Olympics “. Futures markets implied Wall Street’s S&P 500 share index, which closed almost 2 per cent lower on Friday after the White House issued its first warning of an “immediate threat” of invasion, would drop a further 0.9 per
cent on Monday. Western nations are continuing to withdraw diplomatic and military personnel from Ukraine, and airlines have cancelled flights to the country, in moves that jolted investors who had been focused on US monetary policy while viewing geopolitical tensions as less of a risk. Financial Times
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Featuring my friend, author Charles Love's Opinion piece in The NY Post
Who is leading BLM and where are their millions going? No one can say . . . By Charles Love. Black Lives Matter is another major nonprofit in this country. But who is running it, and how are their donations being spent? The answers are hard to find. In 2020, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) raked in $90 million – a handsome sum for an organization that was only awarded nonprofit status in December of
that year. Soon after, the group came under fire for not clearly showing how it spends its money. The attorneys general of California and Washington are now demanding that BLMGNF stop taking donations, citing a lack of financial transparency and delinquent registry of charitable trusts. (In response, an unidentified spokesperson for BLMGNF told the Washington Examiner: “We have shut down online fundraising as we work quickly to ensure we are meeting all compliance requirements.”)
But while these concerns coming from the government may be new, the warning signs have been with us for some time. Immediately following George Floyd’s death in police custody in May 2020, donations started flooding into the BLMGNF coffers, ostensibly to fight police brutality. But the organization then had no financial reports on its website, even though it had existed for seven years. There were also no leaders visible or accomplishments listed on the site. New York Post
Check out Charles' Loves book, Race Crazy. If you order it on Audible, you will have the pleasure of listening to Charles narrate his own book. Please support this brave author's work.
War on cops: 24-hour-period sees 13 police officers wounded by gunfire . . . Thirteen police officers were wounded in shootings over a 24-hour period across four states Friday.
"This is what we call the war on cops," Betsy Brantner Smith, spokeswoman for the National Police Association and a 29-year police veteran who trains officers, told Fox News Digital.
"[W]e are constantly attacked, and we are either attacked doing very simple things — traffic stop, responding to a 911 call, a domestic. All of that." The incidents happened in Arizona, Maryland, New Mexico and Pennsylvania. Here are some details: Fox News
Texas coach has broken arm after he’s chased, beaten by middle schoolers . . . A Texas physics teacher was chased and beaten by a group of middle school students who broke his arm in the attack, video shows. The assault occurred at Langham Creek High School in Houston on Thursday when students from Aragon Middle School attacked assistant baseball coach and high school physics teacher Michael Shott during a baseball practice, according to
reports. Cell phone video posted on social media shows Shott sprinting away full speed through the high school parking lot attempting to evade several pursuing students while others follow, taking videos of the attack on their phones. At one point, the attackers catch up and force their coach to the ground, before he gets up and runs out into an area of the parking lot away from them. New York Post
After-school 'Satan Club' takes new aim at archenemy: Christian clubs for kids . . . The Satanic Temple recently opened an after-school "Satan Club" in a Moline, Illinois, elementary school, as part of its nationwide campaign to push back against the Christian Good News Clubs offered to schoolchildren after regular-hour classes. Parents protested outside the Jane Addams Elementary School in Moline when the first after-school Satan Club
met there last month. Last Thursday, a few people came out to protest the club's second meeting as well. It's why some say that spiritual warfare is now taking place in America's public schools. Fox News
Court Allows Russian Figure Skater Kamila Valieva to Compete at Beijing Olympics Despite Failed Drug Test . . . An international sports court on Monday allowed 15-year-old Russian figure skating star Kamila Valieva to compete in the women’s individual event starting Tuesday following the revelation of a positive doping test that has roiled the Beijing Olympics and thrown figure skating medals into limbo. The ruling by the Court of
Arbitration for Sport came as a surprise to many sports lawyers in the West and Russia. The drug that Valieva tested positive for, trimetazidine, is considered a risky substance that could be used to boost athletic performance under anti-doping rules and seemed to offer a narrow path for Valieva to overturn it. Instead, the panel appears to have relied on a novel interpretation of a relatively new provision in the anti-doping code that created additional room to arrive at a solution other
than an automatic suspension for “protected persons,” specifically athletes under the age of 16. Wall Street Journal
Profile of Skating’s Most Polarizing Figure, Eteri Tutberidze, the head of Kamila Valieva’s coaching team . . . Eteri Tutberidze, the head of Kamila Valieva’s coaching team is one of skating’s most polarizing figures. Tutberidze’s young students have revolutionized the sport in recent years with an arsenal of spectacularly athletic jumps that put them leaps and bounds above the rest of the world. But their phenomenal success and short careers
have underscored the cutthroat nature of Russian women’s skating and the steady clip of a conveyor belt that has produced champion after champion, making them seem almost interchangeable. Russian training strategies have also raised concerns about the welfare of underage athletes in the most-adored event of the Olympics. The issue will linger even after Valieva’s legal situation is resolved. Tutberidze is the coach of the two other ROC female skaters in the women’s event, 17-year-olds Anna
Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova, and they could easily take gold and silver in her absence. Wall Street Journal
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Rebekah
Rebekah Koffler
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