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April 2022

Men Accused of Impersonating DHS Agents Have Possible Ties to Iranian Intelligence By Rick Moran

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2022/04/08/men-accused-of-impersonating-dhs-agents-have-possible-ties-to-iranian-intelligence-n1588109

The bizarre case of two men who posed as DHS agents, ingratiating themselves with four Secret Service employees, took an unexpected turn when it was revealed that the men are under investigation for having possible ties to Iranian intelligence — specifically, the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Investigators allege that Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35, posed as various officers and employees of the U.S. government, including members of federal law enforcement agencies, since February 2020. During that time, they got close to four Secret Service agents — including an agent assigned to Jill Biden’s protection detail — by supplying them with perks and gifts, including the use of a $40,000-a-year apartment.

The agents have since vacated the apartment, so investigators aren’t sure if their conversations were bugged or not.

The end game of the fraudsters is still unknown, although the ties to the IRGC would suggest that terrorism was a distinct possibility.

CBSNews:

Prosecutors said Thursday that Ali told witnesses he had connections to the Pakistani Intelligence Service, which the government said it has not yet verified. Prosecutors also said  the government recovered his passport containing three “older” Pakistani visas and two Iranian visas from 2019 and January 2020. There was an indication on Ali’s Iranian visa that he had entered that country at some point, prosecutors said, although they did not specify when.

Will Joe Biden Bring the U.S. Down With Him? David Solway ****

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/david-solway-2/2022/04/08/will-joe-biden-bring-the-u-s-down-with-him-n1588266

Joe Biden does not seem steady on his feet or clear in his mind, and at this stage the same might be said for the country he nominally governs. His unforced errors, some of which have an oddly deliberate ring to them, may have rendered the November midterms and the 2024 presidential election entirely moot. Whether the nation can remain socially, politically, and economically intact even for the next few months is an open question. Biden is a fool, but there is cunning in his folly. A frugal mind may be capable of great wiliness, and blunders may curiously work in an unintentional way to promote intentional policy. Many of Biden’s gaffes and much of his political mischief fit seamlessly into the Democrat plan for the nation. The result may not be wise, but as poet Thomas Gray wittily wrote, “where ignorance is bliss,/’Tis folly to be wise.”

There are two sorts of gaffes or blunders which Biden is prone to make: the kind that are plainly indicative of cognitive decline, and those that dovetail neatly into Democrat, neo-Liberal policy to being in a new world order associated with the Great Reset. This entails the extension of NATO, regime change in Russia, the collapse of the American middle class, and the installation of oligarchic rule in the U.S.
The elements of the master plan are obvious.

The situation on the southern border is an avowed catastrophe, for which the clueless Kamala Harris has taken much of the blame. She has been roundly condemned for failing in her duty to attend to the security breach, which was her remit, when it should have been obvious that abandoning border security was the purpose all along. Doing nothing, she did her job. Biden’s recent announcement ending the Title 42 Illegal Immigration Rule, which forced the return of more than half of illegal immigrants, is proof positive of the Democrats’ abiding intention to destabilize the nation.
When it comes to energy, the disaster compounds. Biden’s Executive Order on the first day of his assuming office canceling the Keystone XL pipeline project, and his suspending oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters, has ensured that American energy independence has become a thing of the past, that energy prices would soar, and that rampant inflation would devastate the domestic economy. Skyrocketing gas prices are merely the canary in the coal mine. Blaming Russia is a patent “red” herring.
As for foreign policy, Biden was asleep at the helm, or just as likely he was steering it hard to port rather than sagely to starboard. The U.S.-backed plan to sanction Russia, place an embargo on its oil shipments, seize and block Russian banking accounts and expel the country from the SWIFT international banking and messaging network for its incursion into Ukraine was a misconception of the first magnitude. The result is undeniable: increased inflation on the home front, the strengthening of the Russian ruble, and the isolation of Russia from the West which has enabled it to cement its trade relationships with non-compliant nations like China, India, and the Arab bloc, as well as to encourage it to replace its reliance on SWIFT by increasing its proximity to the Chinese-sponsored alternative, its Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, or CIPS.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra: ‘I Will Do Everything I Can to Defend’ Sex Changes for Children

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/hhs-secretary-xavier-becerra-i-will-do-everything-i-can-to-defend-sex-changes-for-children/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_

That’s good to know. Americans should keep it in mind next time they show up to the ballot box.

While testifying before the House Budget Committee yesterday, Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Xavier Becerra affirmed that yes, his department was in favor of taxpayer-funded sex-reassignment surgeries for minors. “So for the record, you favor HHS funding . . . for sex-reassignment surgeries for minors?” Lauren Boebert, (R, Colo.) asked. Becerra answered:

I will do everything I can to defend any American, including children, whether or not they fit the categories you have mentioned or not. And if they talk about gender-affirming care, I am there to protect the rights of any American.

In other words: yes.

David Mamet Is a Defiant Scribe in the Age of Conformity The playwright won’t play along with woke signaling, talismanic masking or deference to petty tyrants. Barton Swaim

https://www.wsj.com/articles/david-mamet-book-recessional-free-speech-covid-mask-vaccine-mandates-lockdown-transgender-lgbtqia-sogie-woke-crt-critical-race-theory-blm-hollywood-theater-11649424996?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

“Woke signaling, blind compliance with public-health authoritarianism, deference to theater critics and tyrannical city officials—Mr. Mamet doesn’t play along.”

Back in the 1980s and ’90s, innumerable films, TV documentaries and history textbooks instructed us that the 1950s were years of conformity and conventionalism: “The Donna Reed Show,” McCarthyism, “The Organization Man,” TV dinners. In fact, the ’50s were a time of extraordinary artistic creativity, boundless technological innovation, original thinking in politics, intellectual diversity in journalism and higher education, new energy in religion, and enormous progress in race relations. What the ’80s and ’90s mistook for conformity was a naturally evolved cultural solidarity—something nearly everybody, on the left and the right, longs for now.

An informed observer of present-day America might reasonably conclude that our own decade—at least among the educated and advantaged classes—is far more imbued with the spirit of conformism than the ’50s were. Corporate managers and military leaders parrot nostrums about diversity, inclusion and sustainability that few of them believe. Museums and orchestras studiously avoid programming that might offend ideologues. Reporters and producers in the mainstream press seize on stories—or ignore them—solely because that’s what everybody else in the press is doing. Large majorities in wealthy cities dutifully comply with public-health restrictions they know to be largely ineffective, mainly because refusing to do so would invite the ire of friends and neighbors complying with those restrictions for the same reason.

Maybe America’s deciders and describers (to use Nicholas Eberstadt’s phrase) aren’t the independent-minded lot they think themselves to be.

Barack Obama Rewrites His Russia History His claim that he was tough on Putin is contradicted by his eight-year record.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/barack-obama-rewrites-his-russia-history-vladimir-putin-ukraine-11649450309?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

Russia’s bloody invasion of Ukraine has sparked an Olympic sprint of sorts as politicians run away from their abysmal records regarding Vladimir Putin. Few are running faster than former President Barack Obama, who this week tried to rewrite the history of his own Russia policies.

“As somebody who grappled with the incursion into Crimea and the eastern portions of Ukraine, I have been encouraged by the European reaction [this time],” Mr. Obama said at an event in Chicago. “Because in 2014, I often had to drag them kicking and screaming to respond in ways that we would have wanted to see from those of us who describe ourselves as Western democracies.”

As for Mr. Putin, the former U.S. President purports to be surprised by the Russian leader’s brutality. “I don’t know that the person I knew is the same as the person who is now leading this charge. He was always ruthless. You witnessed what he did in Chechnya, he had no qualms about crushing those whom he considered a threat. That’s not new. For him to bet the farm in this way—I would not have necessarily predicted from him five years ago.”

Mr. Obama managed to say all this with a straight face while speaking at an event about “disinformation” in politics.

The Media Are Silent Over One Particular Story Relating to Kamala Harris Matt Vespa

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2022/04/08/the-media-is-silent-over-one-particular-story-relating-to-kamala-harris-n2605643

When you can’t say anything good, you might as well not say anything at all, right? Vice President Kamala Harris is a trainwreck. She’s been a nightmare on television. She’s failed at every task handed down to her by Joe Biden. She’s a master chef when it comes to word salad. Regarding Ukraine, her analysis could have been drafted by a first grader. She botched the talking points on the sanctions against Russia. It all ties into the many, many stories about how she doesn’t do the work. She often ignores the briefs her staff prepare for her in a futile attempt to not make her look like an idiot. 

We all know she creates a toxic work environment. We all know she bleeds staff. All her top people have left, and the media is doing their part in not letting everyone know that by completely ignoring the story. Scott Whitlock at Newsbusters noted the media’s silence about the virtual disintegration of Harris’ office (via Newsbusters):

Well, that makes an even dozen. Not that you would know it, but Kamala Harris has lost her 12th major staffer since last June. As each one departed, the network newscasts avoided saying any of their names, saving the Vice President from embarrassment.

Democrats Are Getting Called Out for Creating the Energy Crisis Katie Pavlich

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2022/04/06/democrat-gets-called-out-for-voting-to-end-fracking-n2605554

For weeks the Biden administration and their Democratic allies on Capitol Hill have attempted to pin out of control energy prices on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The White House communications team even dubbed price increases on oil and gas the “Putin price hike,” while also downplaying the amount of oil the U.S. previously imported from Russia. 

But as Democrats — who have been waging a war on the oil and gas industry — continue to blame Putin, Americans and some in the media aren’t buying it. In fact, the anti-fracking records of congressional climate activists are being scrutinized. 

During an interview with CNBC Wednesday morning, Democrat Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky doubled down on the need to ban fracking — which she voted for — and falsely claimed oil companies are price gouging customers. 

Reuters Whitewashes Terrorism — Again How they Report Terrorism in Israel

Those incorrigible Israelis and Palestinian are at it again — “cycle of violence” and all that. Those who did not read past the headline may never find out that the dead Palestinian, one of two, had walked down Dizengoff Street, the city’s most crowded commercial district, indiscriminately shooting people. Two Israelis were murdered, and many others are in serious condition. The attack in Tel Aviv is part of string of deadly attacks, perhaps the beginning of a third Intifada, that includes the recent murder of five people in nearby Bnei Brak.

Reuters has a long history of anti-Israel activism. I can remember writing about an incident more than a decade ago in which a Palestinian terrorist planted a bomb near a bus stop in Jerusalem — or, as Reuters might say, the “Jewish district of Jerusalem.” The explosion killed a British woman and injured 30 others. The piece explained: “Police described the explosion as a ‘terrorist attack’ — Israel’s term for a Palestinian strike.”

On the bright side, at least Reuters, unlike our Secretary of State Antony Blinken — who has no problem decrying so-called “settler violence” — can identify the nationality of the attackers. Which seems noteworthy considering that the families of both dead terrorists are likely to be paid bounties by the Palestinian National Authority, which is, in turn, generously funded by U.S. taxpayers.

DEMOCRATS ARE TERRIBLE INVESTORS OF YOUR TAX DOLLARS

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/04/08/democrats-are-terrible-investors-of-your-tax-dollars-report/

Democrats love to say that when they forcibly extract taxpayers’ money and spend it on their pet projects that they are actually making “investments.” Yet Democrats, it turns out, are terrible investors. That’s what a report from WalletHub shows, in any case. Everyone should keep this in mind as they struggle to file their taxes this month.

When California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his new budget plan, he bragged about how the $213 billion spending plan would “make history investments in California’s future.” This type of language is now typical of how the left talks about government spending – because “investment” sounds a lot better than “wasteful, duplicative, fraud-riddled government program.”

The problem is that no one is held to account for the lousy “returns” on their “investments.” If they were, they’d be fired immediately.

California’s investing acumen, for example, has resulted in a “bullet” train that will likely never be finished, a massive homeless population, rising crime, and fleeing residents. So why are taxpayers in the state willing to hand still more of their hard-earned money over to these people?

WalletHub took it upon itself to determine the “return on investment” on taxpayer money each of the 50 states. The result: States controlled by Democrats do worse on this score than those controlled by Republicans.

Not a ‘Kitchen Table Issue,’ Jen Psaki? Actually, Our Kids Are All We’re Thinking About Abigail Shrier

https://abigailshrier.substack.com/p/not-a-kitchen-table-issue-jen-psaki?s=r

Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki accused Republican lawmakers of “engaging in a disturbing, cynical trend of attacking vulnerable transgender kids,” and exploiting them. “Instead of focusing on critical kitchen table issues like the economy, COVID, or addressing the country’s mental health crisis,” she said, “Republican lawmakers are currently debating legislation that, among many things, would target transgender youth with tactics that threaten to put pediatricians in prison if they provide medically necessary, life-saving care for the kids they serve.”

Life-saving care? Surely she must mean insulin or antibiotics?

No, she means “gender affirming care” that devilish euphemism for puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and experimental surgeries whose benefits are unproven, but whose risks—permanent sexual dysfunction, infertility, cardiac event and endometrial cancer are a few—ought to nudge any doctor toward soul searching. As I’ve written many times, these treatments are often recklessly administered, of questionable benefit to children, and attended by forbidding risks.

For these reasons, in the last two years, national gender clinics in France, the UK, Sweden and Finland have all reevaluated or curtailed their use. But as Psaki made clear, any legislator who tries to follow suit will face double-barreled legal opposition from the current Administration.