August 9, 2023 Good morning, Welcome to today's top news. Leading the
News . . . Does Ukraine Have Kompromat on Joe Biden? . . . Throughout the Trump presidency, the mainstream media constantly suggested that Russia had so-called "kompromat" on the president—embarrassing materials used as a weapon of influence through blackmail. Entire books
were written on all the kompromat that the Kremlin supposedly had on President Trump, which were eagerly cited across mainstream media. All the kompromat talk swiftly ended the moment Joe Biden became president because surely no foreign government could have any dirt on him. In obvious contrast with their obsession with Russia's kompromat on Trump, the mainstream media has lined up to dismiss the corruption allegations against Biden as a nothingburger. The latest evidence exposes the media's talking points as pure propaganda. On July 31, 2023, Devon Archer testified to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability about both Joe's relationship to Burisma and why he fired Shokin. Archer was
Hunter Biden's close friend who served alongside him on the board of Burisma. Under oath, Archer testified that Burisma paid Hunter millions of dollars solely because his father was Vice President. Burisma would have gone out of business without "the brand" and the brand was Joe, Archer testified. Per Archer, Joe Biden was involved in the racket; he was put on speakerphone in business meetings at least 20 times. Archer also testified that Shokin was fired by Joe not for being a corrupt prosecutor but for investigating the millions of dollars Burisma was paying Hunter, whom the company owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, said was stupider than his dog. In subsequent interviews, Archer has even more
clearly confirmed that Shokin was fired for pursuing Burisma's enormous payoffs to the Biden family. All of this is well-known to Ukrainian officials. Newsweek
Trading
places: More lawmakers are swapping political parties . . . Elliott Pritt, West Virginia lawmaker is defecting to the GOP. He is one of the 10 state lawmakers nationwide who have switched parties in 2023. That includes six who jumped from one of the major parties to the other. In 2022, by contrast, just two state lawmakers changed affiliation between the Democrats and Republicans. The uptick in party transitions this year speaks to the growing polarization and party feuding inside state
capitals. In recent decades, the red states have become redder, the blue states bluer and the number of swing states has fallen dramatically. Politico GOP hopefuls poised to encircle DeSantis at opening debate . . . With former Vice President Mike Pence qualifying for the first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate, he and the six other candidates can start settling on their strategies before they take the stage in two weeks. But those
strategies may have to be scrapped depending on whether former President Donald Trump, the race's front-runner, decides to take part. With the 2016 debate drawing an audience of 24 million people, the candidates should focus on President Joe Biden's failings when they are in Milwaukee on Aug. 23. Washington
Examiner Judge Considers Limits on What Donald Trump Can Reveal About Election Subversion Case . . . The judge overseeing the criminal case against Donald Trump
alleging he conspired to undo the 2020 election results set a court hearing for Friday morning to resolve disputes over what information the former president and his legal team can access and potentially publicly expose. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s decision is an early sign that she wants to follow a disciplined timetable, which could run counter to the Trump team’s tactics that have led to delays in other court proceedings. She scheduled the hearing after a flurry of court filings
revealed several disagreements between the Justice Department and Trump’s lawyers over how the voluminous evidence in the case should be handled. Wall Street Journal Burisma Was Told To Remove Picture Of Joe Biden And Devon Archer From Its Website, Emails Show . . . Hunter Biden and his business associates told Ukrainian energy firm Burisma to remove a picture of then-Vice President Joe Biden and Burisma board member Devon Archer from its website, emails from the Hunter Biden laptop archive show. In May 2014, then-VP Biden’s counsel Demetra
Lambros told Eric Schwerin, a business associate at Hunter Biden’s investment firm Rosemont Seneca Partners, to have Burisma remove an image of Joe Biden and Archer from its website, according to emails from Biden’s laptop archive. Daily Caller
Biden Admin Is
Hiding How Many Illegal Immigrants Are in Monitoring Programs . . . In violation of federal statute, the Biden administration will not provide a full accounting on the number of illegal immigrants in two Alternatives to Detention programs. Faced with a record number of illegal border crossings, the public has no idea how many illegal immigrants are enrolled in the Case Management Pilot Program and Young Adult Case Management Program. The two initiatives, which the Biden administration
started as part of its general policy of minimizing detention, are among the most liberal that the U.S. government offers to illegal immigrants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is mandated by law to publish the number of illegal immigrants enrolled in each of those programs but has yet to do so. Free Beacon US deploys more than 3K sailors, Marines to Middle East following Iran’s targeting of ships . . . The U.S. Navy
announced the arrival Monday of more than 3,000 sailors and Marines to the Middle East following a call by the Department of Defense for additional troops after "recent attempts by Iran to seize commercial ships in the CENTCOM area of operations." The forces from the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) arrived in the Middle East on Sunday, according to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (CENTCOM). Fox News China’s rapid space launch advantage, and how the US can try to counter it . . . China has now passed the United States in its tactically responsive space launch capabilities, according to a new report by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology. The last five years have seen a marked increase in China’s satellite launches, and the country now boasts the second most extensive space architecture after the United States. Satellites power modern
communications networks and facilitate weather forecasting, and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), like other modern fighting forces, is integrating satellite-enabled capabilities into its military doctrine. The PLA has developed satellites for position, navigation, timing (PNT) services, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, communications, and even early missile warning systems. As China’s dependence on space has increased for both economic and security
applications, Beijing has poured resources into improving the durability of its growing space architecture, both by designing systems that are resilient to attack and by deterring attacks against its satellites. Breaking Defense
Huge Explosion
at Military-Linked Factory Rocks Russian Capital . . . An explosion at a factory linked to Russia's military complex has sent a mushroom cloud into the sky in the Moscow region. The blast at the Zagorsk optical mechanical plant in the city of Sergiev Posad around 45 miles northeast of the Russian capital took place at around 10:45 a.m. local time (3:45 a.m. ET) Wednesday. The plant, which was founded in 1935, is referred to as "ZOMZ," and produces night-vision devices and binoculars for
the Russian military as part of the country's defense conglomerate Rostec. Newsweek Ukraine arrests woman in alleged foiled Russian assassination plot against Zelenskyy . . . Ukraine says it has foiled a fresh assassination attempt against President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and arrested a woman believed to have been acting as an informant for Russia. In a statement Monday, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) alleged the woman was trying to "establish the time
and list of locations" of where Zelenskyy would be during a trip of the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv, in order to help Russia carry out a "new mass airstrike" there. Fox News Joe Biden makes his big Middle East push: a Saudi Arabia-Israel pact . . . After months of shuttle diplomacy between Washington and Riyadh, the shape of the Biden administration’s blockbuster plan to normalise relations between Israel and
Saudi Arabia — and in doing so reshape the region’s geopolitics — is coming into view. So are the obstacles. “There’s a rapprochement under way,” President Joe Biden said at the end of July. It was a cautious shift in tone from the president, who only weeks earlier had downplayed the chances of a diplomatic breakthrough. The terms are complex. Saudi Arabia would open formal relations with Israel, bringing hopes that other Muslim nations would follow suit. In exchange, Riyadh would
secure more US defence support and assistance on a civil nuclear programme. The kingdom would also want Israel to make concessions on the Palestinians’ aspirations for statehood. The two regional powers would then step up tacit bilateral security co-operation. Financial Times
Money 401(k) hardship withdrawals on the upswing as inflation squeezes
consumers . . . A growing number of Americans are making emergency withdrawals from their 401(k) retirement plans to cover a financial emergency amid chronically high inflation, according to new data from Bank of America. About 15,950 workers taking part in employer-sponsored 401(k) plans made a "hardship" withdrawal during the first three months of 2023, according to Bank of America's analysis of clients' employee benefits programs, which tracks about 4 million accounts. That marks an
increase of about 36% from the second quarter of 2022. Hardship withdrawals allow workers to tap their 401(k) for an "immediate and heavy financial need." Fox Business Mortgage demand drops again after FHA loan interest rate hits 21-year high . . . Mortgage interest rates soared across the board last week, with the rate on the government's low down payment option increasing to the highest level in 21 years. That hit mortgage demand hard, with total
application volume dropping 3.1% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index. CNBC
Culture Ruling Against Middle Schooler Punished for Wearing ‘There Are Only 2 Genders’ T-Shirt to Be Appealed . . . The Alliance Defending Freedom has filed a “notice of appeal” after a federal district court in Massachusetts ruled that a middle school in
Middleborough, Massachusetts, has the right to prohibit a student from wearing a “There are only two genders” T-shirt to school. “We look forward to showing the court how this isn’t just about a T-shirt,” Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel Logan Spena told The Daily Signal of its Aug. 4 appeal. “This is about a public school telling a middle-schooler that he isn’t allowed to express a view that differs from the school’s radical gender-identity ideology.” Daily Signal
Fox Business to host second GOP primary debate . . . By tapping Rupert Murdoch-run Fox for the first two debates, the committee is looking to reach a
broad swath of Republican voters who regularly tune into the network’s stations. But Fox News’ specific role in the first debate has gotten pushback from former President Donald Trump, who has warred with the network over what he has called its unfair coverage of him since leaving the White House. Trump has yet to commit to appearing at this month’s debate, and Fox News officials, including network president and executive editor Jay Wallace, recently met with the former president at his
Bedminster Golf Club in hopes of persuading him to participate. Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel has also encouraged Trump to attend. Politico
One of America’s Favorite Generals Is Pivotal in Niger Coup . . . American military commanders were dismayed last month when a clique of top army officers seized power in Niger, the U.S.’s main ally in the fight against Islamist militants in West Africa. What stung perhaps most sharply were televised
images of one particular man, Brig. Gen. Moussa Salaou Barmou, among the coup plotters. Barmou is a guy the U.S. military has courted for almost 30 years. He is a guy the U.S. sent to Washington, D.C.,’s prestigious National Defense University. He is a guy who has invited American officers to his home for dinner. He is a guy in charge of elite forces crucial to stemming the flood of al Qaeda and Islamic State fighters across western Africa. “Brig. Gen. Barmou,” a U.S. defense official said just a few months ago, “is the guy.” He may still be. In the two weeks since Niger’s coup, Barmou has emerged as the main diplomatic channel between the U.S. and the junta. American officers and diplomats have his number in their cellphones and think he’s their best chance of restoring democracy and preventing a messy regional war that would plunge one of
the poorest parts of the world deeper into crisis. Wall Street Journal Stunning how much effort Washington political technologists invest in trying to democratize every nook and cranny in the world, while trying even harder subvert democracy in America. Go figure. White House to detail plans restricting some US investments in China . . . The White House on Wednesday will detail its plans to prohibit some U.S. investments in sensitive technology in China, and require that the government be notified of other investments, a senior government source told Reuters. The plans are aimed at preventing U.S. capital and expertise from helping develop technologies
that could support China’s military modernization and threaten U.S. national security. President Joe Biden was expected to soon issue a the long-awaited executive order to screen outbound investments in sensitive technologies to China this week. Biden administration officials have stressed for months any restrictions on U.S. investment in China will be narrowly targeted. Reuters Joe wants you to
think he is tough on Chayyna as he and his family have raked in millions from their corrupt dealings with the CHICOMs.
Trump Indicted
For Mocking US Women’s Soccer . . . U.S. — Former President Trump is facing yet another indictment, this time for mocking U.S. Women's soccer after their embarrassing loss to Sweden over the weekend. "The sanctity of U.S. Women's soccer is never to be made fun of," said Special Council Jack Smith after reading the charges. "Every one of those highly attractive and beautiful women is both stunning and brave. We believe Trump violated the constitution somehow by making fun of
them on Truth Social, and we will prove it as soon as we can figure out which law he broke." According to sources, Trump posted the words "Nice shot Megan" shortly after Megan Rapinoe's terrible shot in which
she kicked the ball like a girl and missed a penalty kick by a mile. Sources within the U.S. Women's team confirmed all the players were distraught by Trump's mockery and are begging authorities to arrest him before it can happen again. "Please," said one anonymous source. "Our democracy depends on it." Babylon Bee
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