Saturday, December 24, 2022

The Illegal Nonprofit Set Up to Defend Biden - Daniel Greenfield

 

by Daniel Greenfield

The slimiest Clinton pal coordinates with Hunter Biden to reelect Joe Biden.

 


[Order David Horowitz’s and John Perazzo’s new booklet: “Internal Radical Service: Abuse Of Taxpayer Dollars To Advance Leftwing Causes Illegally And Unconstitutionally”: CLICK HERE.]

With Jeffrey Epstein dead, David Brock may be the slimiest of the Clinton friends still left standing. Brock started out in conservative politics writing hit pieces about Hillary.

Then he became the craziest Clinton defender around.

Brock claimed that the New York Times was a “megaphone for conservative propaganda”. “As it concerns Clinton coverage, the Times will have a special place in hell,” he ranted.

It’s easy to dismiss Brock as a nutjob. There were reports that he feared right-wing snipers were coming after him. But there’s also little doubt that America Bridge and Media Matters, the organizations he created, remains quite influential, that Democrats continue to listen to him and that leftist donors have put quite a lot of money at the disposal of his various schemes.

The Clintons are history, but Brock has a new group meant to do for Biden what he did for Hillary. It’s a venture that, like a number of other Brock projects, exists in defiance of tax laws.

Allegedly coordinating with Hunter Biden’s lawyer and backed by a $10 million budget, Brock’s new venture, Facts First USA, is out to attack Republicans and protect Joe Biden’s reelection by taking on subjects, like Hunter, that “may be too personal or delicate for the White House to be responding or to even be seen as directing a response.”

After meeting with Hunter, Brock has bragged that “absent a vigorous operation, like the one we’re putting out, I think it makes it difficult for President Biden to be re-elected.”

In October, Brock sent out a promotional memo announcing “Facts First USA: A SWAT Team to Counter Republican Congressional Investigation”. The extended memo, apparently uploaded by a New York Times reporter, left little doubt as to what Brock intended to use Facts First for.

“The presidential election in 2024 will be close and simply relying on the hope that facts will triumph over conspiracy is not sufficient. Instead, a robust external force – a SWAT team with additional capacity – must also be in place to ensure that the media and public do not accept the false narrative that flows from congressional investigations. An external operation will also allow President Biden to stay focused on his own preferred messaging during 2023 and 2024 and on his reelection campaign. We call this effort Facts First USA,” the memo states.

External operations for presidential campaigns are nothing new, but Facts First USA is raising money through ActBlue Civics while being registered as a 501(c)(4). The tax code is quite clear and even the most liberal IRS positions still stipulate that a 501(c)(4) nonprofit cannot “engage in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office” if that is its primary purpose.

Unlike a union or the NRA, Facts First’s primary purpose is defending Biden.

An NBC News report on Facts First claimed that White House “back-channel communications led it to believe the effort is welcome.” Brock has said that his group, “intends to work with the White House where appropriate but will make our own judgments.”

There’s no ambiguity about the fact that Facts First has been set up to defend the Biden administration as part of 2024 presidential campaign activity. Facts First is not only in violation of the statute, which requires a social welfare angle for a 501(c)(4), but is even in violation of the primary purpose test that the IRS uses. A 501(c)(4) is not a PAC.

Brock practically reinvented independent rapid response operations and breaking the rules. Before the 2016 election, he created Correct the Record, a rapid response PAC whose coordination with the Clinton campaign was deemed to be extremely controversial.

The Brock memo promoting Facts First even describes “Correct the Record, which I founded and directed within American Bridge Super PAC (which I also founded) before spinning off as a standalone hybrid Super PAC that under the law was able to coordinate with the Clinton campaign, serves as a model of the work that must be done”.

Facts First looks a whole lot like Correct the Record except that it operates as a nonprofit. Clearly Brock believed that he couldn’t run Correct the Record under the American Bridge umbrella and created a separate organization that was not a 501(c)(4). With Facts First, Brock has decided to test whether he can reinvent Correct the Record for Biden as a 501(c)(4).

Furthermore, Facts First was a front used on behalf of Biden by Priorities USA Action: a leftist PAC where Brock had formerly been a board member. During the 2020 campaign, Priorities spent $5 million on digital ads attacking Republicans using, among other tags, Facts First.. It could appear as if Brock has repurposed a pro-Biden hybrid PAC campaign into a pro-Biden 501(c)(4) campaign attacking Republicans.

Brock and his backers are betting that the IRS won’t do anything. The number of leftist nonprofits that function as campaign operations has increased astronomically. And while the IRS has targeted conservatives, it has allowed leftist campaign operations, like those of Stacey Abrams, to operate as nonprofits.

That’s a phenomenon that is one of the subjects of Internal Radical Service by David Horowitz and John Perazzo, documenting how the IRS has enabled the rise of an empire of nonprofits funding partisan elections. It’s also why the David Horowitz Freedom Center will be filing a complaint with the IRS challenging the nonprofit status of what is clearly a campaign arm.

Brock has built a career on creating radical groups that abused nonprofit status and shattered the walls between political campaigns and social welfare groups. Creating a rapid response organization in coordination with the president’s son in order to ensure his reelection and  maintaining backchannel communications with the White House doesn’t just strain even the most generous interpretations of the tax codes, it goes far beyond their farthest boundaries.

The political marriage of Hunter Biden and David Brock, two deeply troubled men who have plumbed new depths, is all too fitting. The organization born out of that marriage is not.

Facts First USA is another example of how the IRS has become the corrupt enabler for the Left.


Daniel Greenfield

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-illegal-nonprofit-set-up-to-defend-biden/

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Printer settings changed on Election Day, linked to tabulators rejecting ballots: Maricopa official - Natalia Mittelstadt

 

by Natalia Mittelstadt

In Kari Lake election challenge trial, county director of elections testified ballot-on-demand printer settings were altered by a tech acting independently of county election department. Trial judge is expected to rule in the case before January.

 

A top Maricopa County elections official admitted Thursday in the Kari Lake election challenge trial that incorrect Election Day changes to ballot-on-demand printer settings were a factor in ballots being rejected by tabulators.

Lake, the 2022 Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee, is suing her Democratic opponent, Governor-elect and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs; Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer; the county Board of Supervisors; and county Director of Elections Scott Jarrett.

Lake's case alleges the "number of illegal votes cast in Arizona's general election ... far exceeds the 17,117 vote margin" between her and Hobbs.

Jarrett, who testified as a witness for the plaintiff on Wednesday and as a witness for the defendants on Thursday, admitted under direct examination by defense counsel that the county is conducting a root cause analysis of the Election Day issues. During this post-election analysis, the county found last month that one of the problems with ballot-on-demand printers was a "fit-to-paper" or "shrink-to-fit" setting adjusted on Election Day, Jarrett said.

Maricopa County has admitted that 70 of its 223 vote centers experienced ballot printer issues on Election Day, while Lake alleges in her lawsuit that about 132 of them did.

Under cross-examination by Lake's counsel, Jarrett explained that the setting was changed by a temporary technician at one of the vote centers who was trying to find a solution to the printer issues. The setting was adjusted on the tech's own initiative, not at the direction of the Maricopa County Elections Department, Jarrett testified.

As test prints were done for vote centers prior to Election Day, no shrink-to-fit printer setting issues were identified, Jarrett said. He he didn't know if all technicians were asked about the shrink-to-fit issue.

Jarrett testified that the printer settings were changed at only three vote centers, affecting nearly 1,300 ballots, and that no other Door 3 ballots in the county that weren't read by tabulators had that issue. He noted that ballots from one of those vote centers had been inspected on Tuesday by Lake's inspector, who was her cybersecurity expert during the trial, Clay Parikh.

Parikh, however, testified on Wednesday that 14 out of 15 Election Day ballots he viewed on Tuesday from six vote centers were printed incorrectly.

During cross-examination by Maricopa County Attorney Tom Liddy on Wednesday, Parikh was asked if a shrink-to-fit setting could have caused the issue of 19-inch ballots being printed on 20-inch paper. Parikh said it was possible but that it would've violated the configuration settings for the voting systems and the tabulators.

On redirect by legal counsel for the defendants on Thursday, Jarrett said that the shrink-to-fit printer setting issue had occurred during three prior elections: the August 2020 primary election, November 2020 general election, and the August 2022 primary election.

Jarrett didn't mention the shrink-to-fit setting when asked about printer settings on Wednesday, but said on Thursday under cross-examination by Lake's legal counsel that it was because he wasn't specifically asked about it.

During direct examination by Lake attorney Kurt Olsen on Wednesday, Jarrett testified that he hadn't heard reports of 19-inch ballots being printed on 20-inch paper during the general election and that there was no 19-inch ballot design for the November election.

On Thursday, Jarrett revealed that another printer issue found by Maricopa County's root cause analysis was that the heat settings weren't high enough to correctly print the marks the tabulators needed to scan. He testified that any ballots that couldn't be read by machines at vote centers but were put into Door 3 were later duplicated on new ballots and tabulated at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC).

The judge in the trial is expected to reach a decision in the case before January.


Natalia Mittelstadt

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/lake-election-trial-ends-maricopa-official-admitting-printer-settings

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Jan. 6 committee drops final report after 18 months of investigations - Ben Whedon

 

by Ben Whedon

Facing certain dissolution when Republicans take over the lower chamber, the committee made a last-minute criminal referral of Trump to the Department of Justice for his alleged role in the incident.

 

The House select committee investigating the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has released its final report, following 18 months of investigations and public hearings that many Republicans have derided as a partisan witch hunt and political hit job.

The 845-page report was widely expected to focus heavily on the role of former President Donald Trump, a personal priority of outgoing Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, a stalwart opponent of the 45th president.

Cheney led a group of House Republicans in voting to impeach Trump during his second impeachment trial. Her continued vitriolic comments against him ultimately prompted the House GOP to remove her from her leadership position. She was ultimately defeated in her primary by a Trump-backed challenger and will depart the House in January.

The Wyoming Republican was one of two hand-picked GOP lawmakers whom House Speaker Nancy Pelosi selected to participate in the investigations following her rejection of certain nominees from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. She was joined by Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who also voted to impeach Trump. Both earned the ire of the GOP for their involvement in the project and McCarthy even dubbed them "Pelosi Republicans."

Facing certain dissolution when Republicans take over the lower chamber, the committee made a last-minute criminal referral of Trump to the Department of Justice for his alleged role in the incident.

The committee, throughout its dealings, attempted to paint the narrative that the events of Jan. 6 constituted a violent insurrection directly ordered by Trump with the intent of overthrowing the American republic and keeping himself in power despite his electoral loss. Indeed, the report itself doubles down on that narrative from the state, with a foreword from Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., prefacing the report with such sentiment.

"The rioters were inside the halls of Congress because the head of the executive branch of our government, the then-President of the United States, told them to attack," he wrote. "Donald Trump summoned that mob to Washington, DC. Afterward, he sent them to the Capitol to try to prevent my colleagues and me from doing our Constitutional duty to certify the election. They put our very democracy to the test."

The report consists of eight chapters, focusing on different themes of investigation. Chief among them is "the Big Lie," the establishment media's catch-all for any and all insinuations that electoral fraud may have affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

It further explores other efforts to interfere with the certification of the electoral college votes, including an alleged scheme to substitute alternate slates of pro-Trump electors into the count.

Much of the report details the organization, leadup, and execution of the "attack" on the building itself and devotes much time to the various pro-Trump groups that appeared in Washington during the proceedings.

The publication of the report likely represents the final significant act of this committee, as Republicans plan to eliminate it entirely when the next Congress begins in January of 2023.


Ben Whedon

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/congress/jan-6-committee-drops-final-report-after-18-months-investigations

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Update on US Supreme Court Case Against Social Media - Nitsana Darshan Leitner

 

by Nitsana Darshan Leitner

They are calling it "the case that could bring Big Tech to its knees."

Hanukkah 2022
 
Dear Friends, 

As we light the Hanukkah candles this week and prepare for the Christmas season, I'd like to provide you a quick update on Shurat HaDin's historic case against the social media giants. The lead case, Gonzalez v. Google, and its companion Twitter v. Taamneh, has the likelihood of America's highest court reinterpreting the internet law and greatly limiting the blanket immunity Big Tech has brandished in an unrestrained manner since 1996. Our litigation, on behalf of the terror victims, has the potential to finally compel the social media companies to rein in the terrorist incitement, extremist messaging and antisemitic hate that has been allowed to run wild of their platforms. More than 30 amici (friends of the court) briefs have been filed by a wide range of government agencies, elected officials and organizations, including the US government. This is a big deal! 

The Supreme Court has set Tuesday, February 21, 2023 for the arguments in the Google/YouTube appeal and Wednesday, February 22, 2023 to hear the case involving Twitter. 

In addition, Georgetown University's Supreme Court Institute will be conducting its prestigious "moot court" program in which mock court arguments of the social media cases are presented at the law school in DC before a panel of "judges" as a practice run the week before. The Gonzalez v. Google moot court will be held on Wednesday, February 15th and Twitter v. Taamneh will be on Friday, February 17th at Georgetown. 

It's predicted that the litigation against social media and the far-reaching impact it will have on Section 230 will be the main cases decided in the United States this Supreme Court term. They are calling it "the case that could bring Big Tech to its knees." We are very excited about the proceedings and hard at work preparing.  

This past week we traveled to Dallas to met with the parents of Nohemi Gonzalez, the Mexican-American art student  who was brutally murdered in the 2017 Paris terrorist attack perpetrated by ISIS. The Gonzalezes are the lead plaintiffs in the Google/YouTube case. We aimed to start to prepare the family for the proceedings and the media attention it will surely render. 

With the parents of Nohemi Gonzalez this past week in Dallas. 
Join Our Fight - Donate Now!
As such, we wanted to thank you again for all your support and encouragement, and will update you as things develop. 
Wishing you and your family a Happy and Safe Holiday, 
 

Copyright © 2022 Shurat HaDin, All rights reserved.
Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center
B.S.R. Tower 3, 9 Metsada, Bnei Brak, 5126237, Israel
Israel Phone: 972-3-7514175  |  US Phone: 845-709-8130 
 Fax: 972-3-7514174
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Nitsana Darshan Leitner

Source: https://my.israelgives.org/en/fundme/Fight_Terror

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House Republicans warming to Church-style committee to probe FBI from top to bottom - John Solomon

 

by John Solomon

Jim Jordan, Kevin McCarthy among those backing idea that independent panel is best way to force change

 

Collusion with Big Tech on censorship. A bungled probe that left Olympic gymnasts at risk of sexual abuse. Inaccurate surveillance warrants. Politicization of sensitive probes, manipulation of crime statistics and snooping on Congress.

Amid mounting allegations against the FBI and Justice Department — often from whistleblowers within their own ranks — House Republicans are increasingly convinced a dramatic top-to-bottom review of America's most storied law enforcement agency is warranted.

In the last week, both House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and incoming House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan have endorsed the idea of a searching investigation fashioned after the 1970s Church Committee in the Senate, which exposed FBI and CIA abuses a half century ago, or the 9/11 Commission, which exposed intelligence failures leading to America's most lethal terrorist attack.

The goal, they say, would be not only to expose failures and wrongdoing but also to impose reforms on the bureau.

"We've been looking at a Church-style committee to look at this," Jordan told Just the News in a wide-ranging interview Wednesday night.

A few days earlier, McCarthy likewise endorsed the idea, which has been gaining support from security experts like retired House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes and former FBI intelligence chief Kevin Brock.

"We've got to get to the very bottom, and I think just subpoenas are starting, but you're almost going to have to have a Church-style investigation to reform the FBI, the more that we are learning," McCarthy told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on Monday.

There is precedent for such an endeavor. Most recently, Congress stood up the 9/11 commission under former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, a Republican, and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, a Democrat.

Decades earlier, the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities exposed widespread abuses by the CIA, FBI, National Security Agency and Internal Revenue Service under the leadership of then-Sen. Frank Church, D-Idaho.

McCarthy has even suggested privately and publicly some outsiders who could serve, including Nunes and former Texas congressman and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, who helped expose FBI abuses in the now-discredited Russia collusion investigation.

"You've listened to John Ratcliffe, early on, talk about the different things that he was fearful of them doing," McCarthy said. "He is a former FBI, he is a former prosecutor, U.S. attorney, he's a former congressman, and he was DNI as well. So he is the key individual that will work with us in many avenues to help solve this problem and correct it once and for all."

In a series of interviews this month, Jordan as well as Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson have identified a dozen areas of inquiry including:

  • Why did the FBI use a command center in San Francisco to suggest content on social platforms that should be censored, including the posts of U.S. citizens like an Indiana councilman identified in files released by Twitter?
  • Did the FBI pressure social media platforms to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story during the 2020 election, including by suggesting it was Russian disinformation? Elvis Chan, a key FBI agent in dealing with platforms, denies he asked anyone to censor that story. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg and Twitter owner Elon Musk have both alleged the bureau did pressure their platforms on the laptop.
  • Why did the DOJ use grand jury subpoenas to eavesdrop on the email and phone data of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes' lead investigator in 2017 as the panel probed FBI misconduct and failures in the Russia collusion case?
  • Why did the DOJ and FBI treat parents protesting at school board meetings as domestic terrorists?
  • Were FBI personnel in the Washington field office motivated by politics in an effort to launch a probe of Donald Trump or quash a probe of Hunter Biden, as FBI whistleblowers have alleged?
  • Did the FBI violate the civil liberties of Jan. 6 defendants, as whistleblowing Agent Steve Friend alleges?
  • Did the bureau and DOJ manipulate case assignments in the field to create a false impression that domestic terrorism was a bigger problem than warranted?
  • Did the FBI or DOJ mislead the FISA court or other courts on search warrants, including during the Russia collusion case?
  • Why was the FBI so slow to pursue a criminal case against a doctor who was sexually abusing U.S. Olympic gymnasts?
  • Has the FBI has misused confidential human sources in politically sensitive cases, including the Jan. 6 riot, the kidnapping plot against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Russia collusion case targeting the Trump campaign?

Jordan stepped up his investigation into social media censorship on Friday, demanding that FBI Director Christopher Wray turn over records of all communications and payments between the law enforcement agency and Twitter.

Jordan's office said the release of internal Twitter files by Musk had unmasked an "ongoing surveillance operation" that exceeded FBI investigative authorities and resulted in a "coordinated misinformation effort between the FBI and Twitter to suppress and censor free speech."

"We are investigating politicization and abuses at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as Big Tech's censorship of conservatives online," Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) wrote Wray in an oversight letter. "Newly released information shows the FBI has coordinated extensively with Twitter to censor or otherwise affect content on Twitter's platform."

Meanwhile, the idea of a Church-style panel has been embraced by a growing number of prominent voices.

"Hear, hear!!" Musk tweeted in response to the suggestion from venture capitalist David Sacks, who said: "We need a new Church Commission to investigate why the FBI and Intelligence Community are engaged in social media censorship, including the suppression of the Hunter Biden story."

Kash Patel, one of the former House intelligence committee staffers who were spied on by DOJ. said a commission of respected voices can exert influence and force changes that a divided Congress cannot.

"Congress is probably going to have to form a special committee, because there is no one committee that can fix law enforcement, FBI, DOJ, intelligence community, CIA, and DOD," he said. "And in one way, shape, or form, most, if not all of them, had a hand in this.

"The Church commission comes to mind, I know a lot of people have talked about that from the '70s. But that's what it's going to take."

Brock, the FBI's first-ever assistant director for intelligence, said a Church-style committee can also restore trust among a public increasingly wary of the FBI.

"I think, frankly, it would be great for the FBI," Brock said. "They find themselves obviously in a very challenging situation, some of which they brought on themselves, others kind of imposed upon them." 

"But they find themselves in a place right now where well over the half the country believes they're working on behalf of one political party over another," Brock said during a wide-ranging interview with the John Solomon Reports podcast earlier this fall. "And that can't stand ... the agency can't survive if that persists."


John Solomon

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/congress/house-republicans-warming-church-style-committee-probe-fbi-top-bottom

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Swastika spray painted in Melbourne week before Nazi symbol ban - Israel National News

 

by Israel National News

Australian Jewish leader calls acts of antisemitism attempts to ramp up hatred before swastika ban goes into effect.

 

Areas of Melbourne, Australia were defaced with swastikas only a week before a ban on Nazi symbols becomes law in the state of Victoria.

Nazi graffiti was discovered in the city’s east and Southeast, including two swastikas in Central Gardens in Hawthorn and on a fence in Brighton. A garage in Cheltenham was also vandalized with antisemitic language on Sunday, AAP reported.

Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich said that other acts of antisemitism have occurred ahead of the ban, including a menorah at Elwood Beach being torn down on Wednesday and thrown into the water.

Abramovich told APP that Nazi symbols and antisemitic statements were purposely being used on the even of the swastika ban to ramp up hatred.

"Although it may be an uncomfortable truth for some, it's time to admit that the juggernaut of antisemitism has reached fever pitch in our nation," he said.


Israel National News

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/364882

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Turkey Crushes Human Rights at Home, Complains About 'Discrimination' in Europe - Uzay Bulut

 

by Uzay Bulut

Kurds in Turkey are not only exposed to racism and discrimination; they are murdered simply for being Kurdish.

  • Torture and abuse of citizens in Turkey is systematic and commonplace.

  • Kurds in Turkey are not only exposed to racism and discrimination; they are murdered simply for being Kurdish.

  • At the same time, those who call for an investigation on Turkey's alleged use of chemical weapons against members of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) in Iraqi Kurdistan — journalists, lawyers, medical doctors, and members of parliament — have been detained by police and criminally investigated. On November 4, lawyer Aryen Turan was detained and released on condition of judicial control, with a ban on leaving the country, after she called for an investigation about Turkey's alleged use of chemical weapons.

  • For Turkish government officials to accuse Europe of racism, discrimination or Islamophobia, while Turkish authorities victimize hundreds of thousands of their own citizens, is beyond hypocritical. It is not in Europe that Turks, Kurds and other Muslims are exposed to torture, rights abuses and other illegal acts. It is the government of Turkey that is violating and abusing their own citizens for either thinking differently or belonging to an ethnic or religious group of which the government is not fond.

Torture and abuse of citizens in Turkey is systematic and commonplace. Kurds in Turkey are not only exposed to racism and discrimination; they are murdered simply for being Kurdish. Pictured: Riot police in Istanbul on October 26 clash with citizens who are protesting the arrest of Dr. Sebnem Korur Fincanci, President of the Union of Doctors of Turkey, for her statements about the country's alleged use of chemical weapons against Kurdish PKK rebels. (Photo by Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images)

While the government of Turkey continues to crush the basic human rights and freedoms of its citizens, its officials are making statements completely detached from facts. On October 17, for instance, the head of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Çağatay Kılıç said that "racism and discrimination against religious identities in Europe have reached a peak."

"A human being is an entity with thoughts, feelings, beliefs and social networks," he added. "If a person is not allowed to live with these characteristics, this person's fundamental rights and freedoms are taken away from them."

It is actually Turkey that is silencing and even the destroying "thoughts, feelings, beliefs and social networks'" of those who disagree with the government, or who belong to a religion or ethnic group not considered sufficiently "Turkish." Torture and abuse of citizens is also systematic and commonplace. Dr. Sebnem Korur Fincanci, the head of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT), was arrested for her statements about the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. The foundation issues daily reports about the human rights violations in the country, such as torture and ill-treatment. The reports are based on media disclosures as well as testimonies of individuals who seek help from the organization after being exposed to torture, mistreatment, or other human rights violations.

One community that is often targeted by the government is the Alevis, a historically oppressed religious minority. Turkey's Alevi population is estimated to be in the tens of millions. Although Alevism is an authentic faith with its own traditions and philosophy, the Turkish government counts them as Muslim, in order to forcibly assimilate them and erase the Alevi culture.

Since the founding of Turkey in 1923, the Alevi faith and its places of worship, "cem houses," have been officially unrecognized, which makes the Alevi community a victim of discrimination and aggression. On July 30, for instance, two Alevi places of worship and an Alevi foundation were physically attacked in Ankara.

Alevis top the list of victims of hate crimes in the 2021 report of "Hate Crimes in Turkey Based on Religion, Belief or Unbelief" by the Freedom of Belief Initiative of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. The report cites a number of incidents of hate crimes, such as:

  • An Alevi family living in Istanbul said that their neighbors attacked and beat them, shouting hateful slogans such as "May Allah burn those who are disturbed by the sound of the adhan [Islamic call to prayer]".
  • A Muslim teacher in Ankara insulted Alevis, including his own Alevi students and their parents, because of their religious identity.
  • An Alevi sought help from the police after experiencing insults by an imam in the city of Amasya.
  • An Alevi family living in Izmir said that they were exposed to insults, verbal abuse, and threats from their neighbors.
  • A middle school teacher in the city of Hatay was subjected to systematic pressure, harassment, and coercion at the hands of the school principal for being an Alevi.

The harassment against Alevis has reached such levels Federation of Alevi Unions in Germany is suing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in court, announcing that they were filing suit against him in Ankara for "discriminating against and humiliating" them.

The case concerns a speech Erdogan made in the city of Siirt on December 5, 2021, where he said:

"A new religion is almost being put forward as Alevism without Ali, especially in Germany. And they [Germany] give them serious financial support. There was 30 million Euros of annual financial support for them two years ago."

On October 19, the court in Ankara ruled that the case be dismissed.

Discrimination against Alevis also occurs in prisons. Ergin Doğru, former provincial co-chairman of the Dersim branch of the pro-Kurdish DBP party and co-founder of the Dersim newspaper, has been incarcerated since 2016 for allegedly "making propaganda for a terrorist organization." He has repeatedly requested for the past two years to meet with an Alevi faith leader, also called a Dede or Pir, but his requests were rejected by the prison authorities.

Kurds in Turkey are not only exposed to racism and discrimination; they are murdered simply for being Kurdish. On June 17, 2021, Deniz Poyraz, a 38-year-old member of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), was killed in the party's provincial office in the city of Izmir. The office was under police surveillance. The murderer, who was arrested by police, was identified as Onur Gencer. He is a supporter of Turkey's fascist "Grey Wolf" movement. His trial is still in process.

Garibe Gezer, a female Kurdish political prisoner who was imprisoned in solitary confinement in Turkey, was killed in December 2021 after months of rape and torture. Turkish prosecutors recently dismissed the case about Gezer's torture and death because of a claimed "lack of evidence". But the Jin News Agency accessed footage showing the torture Gezer was subjected to.

At the same time, those who call for an investigation on Turkey's alleged use of chemical weapons against members of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) in Iraqi Kurdistan — journalists, lawyers, medical doctors, and members of parliament — have been detained by police and criminally investigated. On November 4, lawyer Aryen Turan was detained and released on condition of judicial control, with a ban on leaving the country, after she called for an investigation about Turkey's alleged use of chemical weapons.

On November 6, Kurds and other activists in Istanbul attempted to protest against the Turkish army's alleged use of chemical weapons. Police attacked the crowd, detaining 121 people.

On November 7, prosecutors prepared a summary of proceedings against a member of parliament from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Sezgin Tanrıkulu, after his statements concerning Turkey's alleged use of chemical weapons. The MP had said he would file a parliamentary question about the allegations that Turkey had used chemical weapons against the PKK.

Erdogan's government is also violently targeting the actual and supposed supporters of Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish Muslim preacher who fled to the US in 1999, and who the government claims was behind a 2016 coup attempt. For alleged connections with the Gülen movement, tens of thousands of people have been dismissed from their jobs, imprisoned, and tortured in prison or while in police custody.

The number of those seeking help from the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey has reached a 30-year peak. According to the "2021 Treatment and Rehabilitation Centers Report" published by the HRFT, 984 people went to the foundation because they or one of their relatives were tortured or ill-treated. Of them, 616 said that they were tortured in 2021, and 211 stated that they were tortured between 2016 and 2020. According to the report, they were tortured either during police detention, in the streets, during public demonstrations, or in police headquarters.

For Turkish government officials to accuse Europe of racism, discrimination or Islamophobia, while Turkish authorities victimize hundreds of thousands of their own citizens, is beyond hypocritical. It is not in Europe that Turks, Kurds and other Muslims are exposed to torture, rights abuses and other illegal acts. It is the government of Turkey that is violating and abusing their own citizens for either thinking differently or belonging to an ethnic or religious group of which the government is not fond.

Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.

 


Uzay Bulut

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19175/turkey-crushes-human-rights

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Trained To Kill: Iranian Mullahs' Militia Group - Majid Rafizadeh

 

by Majid Rafizadeh

Instead of preaching about human rights, the United Nations and the European Union urgently need to impose severe sanctions and cut the flow of funds to the regime and IRGC's paramilitary and mercenary group to compel them to stop.

  • That members of the Basij appear in plainclothes makes it extremely difficult for people to identify them before being attacked. Iran International news agency reported: "According to Rouydad24 news website in Tehran, when people produce evidence that they were beaten or arrested by plainclothes individuals or even when videos of plainclothes officers arresting, beating or shooting at protesters emerge, the government always claims that they were 'rogue elements...' Since 1999... some regime insiders have been trying to convince the security forces to issue uniforms to all law enforcers, to no avail. Security forces are under the command of Iran's ruler Ali Khamenei who needs the plainclothes agents to save the regime from the people." — Iran International, October 19, 2022.

  • The ruling mullahs claim that the Basij is a voluntary group, but its members are paid. In fact, the regime designates a large budget to the group every year. The Basij... is reportedly one the largest investors in the Iran Stock Exchange. Those who join the group are given financial and non-monetary incentives, such as easier entry to universities, obtaining bank loans, grants and getting employment.

  • Instead of preaching about human rights, the United Nations and the European Union urgently need to impose severe sanctions and cut the flow of funds to the regime and IRGC's paramilitary and mercenary group to compel them to stop.

The Iranian regime's mercenary paramilitary group, the Basij, consists of millions of members, and they are killing protesters with full impunity. Pictured: Basij commanders and forces attend a speech by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in honor of "National Basij Week," on November 23, 2016. (Image source: khamenei.ir)

While the European Union is busy appeasing the ruling mullahs of Iran who are delivering weapons to Russia with which to kill Ukrainians, and while the United Nations is turning a blind eye to the massive crimes against humanity committed in Iran, neither the UN nor a single European country has yet to hold accountable the Iranian regime's mercenary paramilitary group, the Basij. It consists of millions of members and they are killing protesters with full impunity.

The theocratic establishment has been rocked with continuing anti-regime protests for four months now, and the Iranian authorities appear to be resorting to every possible mode of repression to suppress the demonstrators. These violent methods include shooting at protesters, injuring and killing people, executing protesters, thousands of arrests, physical and mental torture, sexual violence, and the rape of minors.

The Basij, a leading force committing crimes against humanity, acts freely throughout Iran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) granted the Basij extensive powers that allowed its members to act as religious and moral police, enforce the regime's revolutionary laws, monitor people's daily activities, suppress anti-regime protests, operate in foreign countries, organize religious events throughout Iran, and recruit and train child soldiers for the IRGC. Basij centers can be seen in almost every city, town, school and university campus across Iran. In return, the Basij has significantly empowered and emboldened the Iran's Islamist regime. As the US Treasury Department pointed out:

"In addition to its involvement in violent crackdowns and serious human rights abuses in Iran, the Basij recruits and trains fighters... including Iranian children, who then deploy to Syria to support the brutal Assad regime."

The Basij have played a critical role in attacking demonstrators and those who dare to criticize the Islamic Republic and its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Many videos on social media show plainclothes agents shooting and beating up protesters.

That members of the Basij appear in plainclothes makes it extremely difficult for people to identify them before being attacked. Iran International news agency reported:

"According to Rouydad24 news website in Tehran, when people produce evidence that they were beaten or arrested by plainclothes individuals or even when videos of plainclothes officers arresting, beating or shooting at protesters emerge, the government always claims that they were 'rogue elements.'

"As long as all law enforcement officers in Iran do not wear uniforms, the government can always get away with criminal acts committed by them. Since 1999, when plainclothes officers violently suppressed a student uprising in Tehran killing several students, some regime insiders have been trying to convince the security forces to issue uniforms to all law enforcers, to no avail. Security forces are under the command of Iran's ruler Ali Khamenei who needs the plainclothes agents to save the regime from the people."

The ruling mullahs claim that the Basij is a voluntary group, but its members are paid. In fact, the regime designates a large budget to the group every year. The Basij has become an important player in both the private and public sectors, and is reportedly one the largest investors in the Iran Stock Exchange. Those who join the group are given financial and non-monetary incentives, such as easier entry to universities, obtaining bank loans, grants and getting employment.

While Iran's theocratic establishment denies that Basij are involved in the regime's crackdown, a member of Basij surprisingly revealed to France 24 International in a rare interview that

"In our unit, we have shotguns, tear gas, batons, paintball guns and stun guns. We had a few hours of introduction and training on "non-combat" weapons like these.... I try not to hit protesters... The others in my unit aim at people to hit them, to hit them in the chest or head, to kill them. And if you kill someone, you won't get in trouble. So hotheads or officers who do not care shoot at people's heads. That can be deadly. We have some Kalashnikovs in our arsenal too, but we have not used them yet. Kalashnikovs are now being used by IRGC members and the police. As far as I know, the Basij arsenal is the same in all the big cities. As Basij, we have not yet been ordered to use Kalashnikovs, but our unit used them in 2019. We will use Kalashnikovs again when the orders come."

Instead of preaching about human rights, the United Nations and the European Union urgently need to impose severe sanctions and cut the flow of funds to the regime and IRGC's paramilitary and mercenary group to induce them to stop.

 
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19256/iran-basij-trained-killers

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Shooting attack in Samaria, no injuries reported - Israel National News

 

by Israel National News

Terrorists opened fire on the village of Shaked in Samaria on Friday evening. Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the attack.

 

Terrorists fired multiple shots at the village of Shaked in Samaria on Friday evening. One round hit one of the village's buildings. IDF forces searched the area for the shooters.

A short time later, Palestinian Islamic Jihad's Jenin decision accepted responsibility for the shooting: "Our fighters shot rounds at the settlement of Shaked at 5:30 PM," the terror organization stated.

This is the third time in the past two months that the community was shot at. Last month terrorists from the village of Tura al-A'rabiah shot at one of the houses in the community, and miraculously no one was injured. Two months ago, shots were fired at the community.


Israel National News

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/364884

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Many churches cancel services on Christmas day: Enjoy some 'time with your family' - Kendall Tietz

 

by Kendall Tietz

 "Canceling church to celebrate ‘Christ’mas — that should not make sense to any believer," Nathaniel Jolly, pastor of Homer Reformed Baptist Church in Homer, Alaska tweeted.


An increased number of churches are canceling Christmas day services in anticipation of low attendance, given the holiday falls on a Sunday this year. 

With the pandemic impacting the way people worship, Only 84 percent of pastors plan on holding services this year, down from 89 percent in 2016, which was the last time Christmas Day fell on a Sunday, according to surveys conducted by Lifeway Research. Only 60 percent of pastors plan to have church services on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 

Reallife Church in Macon, Georgia tweeted that they would be hosting a Christmas Eve service, but not one on Christmas morning. 

CHRISTMAS CANCELED: PARENTS AND MEDIA GO AFTER HOLIDAY TRADITIONS ‘IT’S GETTING ANNOYING'

 

 

Josh Camody, the pastor of New Covenant Christian Church posted a video on Twitter saying there would be no services on December 25. "Enjoy some time at home with your family," he said. 

Mecklenburg Community Church in Iowa is hosting in-person Christmas Eve services, but services on Christmas day are only online. 

More churches are canceling Sunday services this year than in 2016, the last time Christmas was on a Sunday.

More churches are canceling Sunday services this year than in 2016, the last time Christmas was on a Sunday. (iStock)

"Families have many traditions on Christmas morning, and most pastors acknowledge not as many of their members will be present compared to Christmas Eve and services earlier in the month," Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, said in the report. "However, churches not holding services on Christmas Day are still the exception."

The Catholic Church believes Sunday Mass to be a non-negotiable, which includes Christmas Day even if it does fall on a Sunday. In contrast, only 61 percent of nondenominational evangelical pastors said they would be leading services this year, according to Lifeway’s survey. 

5 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD STILL GO TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY, EVEN IF IT'S CHRISTMAS

In addition, churches with 250 or more in attendance are more likely to hold Sunday services on Christmas day than those with fewer than 50 in attendance. 

First United Methodist Church Winter Park in Florida canceled services on the 25th, encouraging its congregation to "spend time with loved ones and celebrate the birth of Christ" at home instead, according to a tweet.

Beautiful white Scandinavian church in Iceland at sunrise

Beautiful white Scandinavian church in Iceland at sunrise (iStock)

Walnut Gardens Community of Christ in Independence, Ohio said it wouldn't be hosting a service on the 25th, but posted to Twitter that for "those wishing to attend a Christmas Day service, the Mission Center has posted that Grandview Community of Christ will be having one."

"Additionally there are services at Beacon Heights, Colonial Hills, and Woods Chapel Community of Christ," the tweet added. "For more information on specific times, check with that congregation."

CHRISTIANITY DWINDLES TO MINORITY RELIGION IN ENGLAND, WALES FOR FIRST TIME ON RECORD: ‘NOT A GREAT SURPRISE’

This year, 85 percent of Protestant pastors plan to hold services on New Year’s Day, which is the same as six years ago when the holiday last fell on Sunday, according to the report. 

All Saints Community Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma will be closed on Christmas Day and New Years Day and will instead host a Christmas Eve service and a "worship night" on Jan. 1. 

"Some churches meet on New Year’s Eve for a service followed by fun and fellowship," McConnell said. "Others have a late-night or watchnight service reflecting on the past year with spiritually significant times of prayer and observing communion." 

The scene inside the bright Church

The scene inside the bright Church (iStock)

CHRISTIANITY QUICKLY DIMINISHING IN US, ON PACE TO BECOME MINORITY RELIGION IN DECADES: STUDY 

Some pastors took to Twitter to voice their opposition to churches canceling Christmas Day services, seeing it an affront to the reason for the season. 

 "Canceling church to celebrate ‘Christ’mas — that should not make sense to any believer," Nathaniel Jolly, pastor of Homer Reformed Baptist Church in Homer, Alaska tweeted.  

"Isn’t it tragically ironic that some churches will be closed next Sunday because Christmas falls on that day?" David Cassidy, lead pastor of Spanish River Church in Boca Raton, Florida tweeted. "In some places the magi might show up for worship and find the doors locked. In an ironic twist of the tale they’d find that there is no room for them in the church."

 

Kendall Tietz is a Production Assistant with Fox News Digital.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/media/many-churches-cancel-services-christmas-day-enjoy-time-with-family

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Thursday, December 22, 2022

Pelosi's Jan. 6 story unravels as evidence mounts that Capitol breach was preventable - John Solomon

 

by John Solomon

Contemporaneous emails and text messages show Pelosi staff involved in failed security planning ahead of Capitol riot.

 

A month after the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi deflected any suggestion she or her staff could have influenced the security that failed that day when the Capitol building was breached. "I have no power over the Capitol Police," she declared.

Two years later, that claim is directly challenged by contemporaneous text and email messages made public by five House Republicans showing her staff had direct contact with the officials who planned the security and even edited some of the plans and notifications in the fateful days before tragedy struck.

The revelations, released Wednesday in a House GOP report obtained by Just the News, are prompting serious questions about whether the Jan. 6 Capitol breach could have been prevented while creating a new push for Republicans to summon Pelosi for testimony after they take over the House next month

"January 6 should have never happened," Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), one of the authors of the report, told Just the News on Wednesday night.

"The reason there wasn't a proper security presence on that day goes right to the Speaker's staff and the Speaker's office," added Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the soon-to-be-chairman of the House Judiciary Committee:

The Republican report — which also included the work of Reps. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) and Kelly Armstrong — provided a meticulous, fact-based recounting of how Pelosi's staff began meeting and communicating with security planners in the House Sergeant at Arms office in early December 2020, continuing all the way through the final 48 hours before the attacks.

Those communications were occurring as Capitol Police began receiving detailed intelligence that extremist groups were discussing storming the Capitol, attacking lawmakers, targeting the tunnels beneath the complex and blocking the planned certification of the 2020 election results.

Capitol Police whistleblowers told the congressmen there were ample and detailed warnings that violence would occur on Jan. 6, but the leadership of the Capitol Police failed to adjust  the security plan to address the threat while the political leadership in Congress repeatedly refused to provide resources to secure the building.

One officer discussed how he went to the Capitol unaware of the threat assessment with only a police cap as his equipment. Others revealed that congressional security leaders turned down resources like armed officers or National Guard troops ahead of the tragedy because of concerns about the political optics.

The $600 million-a-year Capitol Police "was set up to fail, and there have been scant signs of progress toward addressing these weaknesses" since the attack, the lawmakers warned.

You can read the full report here:

While the mainstream news media and Democrats have suggested Pelosi and congressional leaders were not to blame for the security failures, internal messages of House security planners pointedly slammed Pelosi and her congressional appropriators for failing to provide the resources needed to secure the building.

After Pelosi forced House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving to resign following the devastating events of Jan. 6, for instance, a staffer in the House Sergeant at Arms office sent a stinging email suggesting the Democratic leadership had made Irving and Capitol Police Chief Steve Sund the fall guys to cover up the failure of lawmakers to provided adequate security resources.

"For the Speaker's knee-jerk reaction to yesterday's unprecedented event (and God knows how Congress lives for its knee-jerk reactions and to hell with future consequences ... ). to immediately call for your resignation ... after you have been denied again and again by Appropriations for proper security outfitting of the Capitol (and I WROTE several of those testimonies, dangit) ... and to blame you personally because our department was doing the best they could with what they had and our comparatively small department size and limited officer resources ... and because other agencies stepped in to assist just a fraction too late ... again, for Congress to demand your resignation is spectacularly unjust, unfair, and unwarranted," the staffer wrote Irving, according to the email included in the report.

"This is not your fault," the staffer added. "Or Sund's fault. If anything, Appropriations should be hung out to dry."

​The new report also corroborated prior reporting by Just the News that Capitol Police began receiving specific warnings in mid-December that there could be significant violence planned against the Capitol and lawmakers by protesters planning to attend the certification of the 2020 election results.

"Prior to that day, the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) had obtained sufficient information from an array of channels to anticipate and prepare for the violence that occurred," the report noted.

The Capitol Police issued a statement Wednesday night that did not challenge any of the findings of the report, but rather vowed to accelerate changes to improve security.

"For nearly two years our officers, officials and civilian employees have been working around the clock to address many of these findings and similar findings from a series of post January 6 reviews we value everyone's input and we are confident the U.S. Capitol Complex is more secure because of the hard work of our brave men and women and because of the resources provided by the Congress to turn recommendations into results," the department said.

Pelosi's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Banks said the GOP report helps counter a Democrat narrative that ignored security failures by police and political leadership, he said.

"Our report exposes the partisanship, incompetence and indifference that led to the disaster on January 6 and it the leading role Speaker Pelosi and her office played in the security failure at the Capitol," he said. "Unlike  the sham January 6th Committee, House Republicans produced a useful report that will keep out Capitol and USCP officers safe with no subpoena power and no budget."

The report does not sugarcoat the behavior of pro-Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol.

"On January 6, 2021, criminal rioters assaulted police officers, broke into the U.S. Capitol, damaged property, and temporarily interfered with the certification of states' presidential and vice presidential electors at the Joint Session of Congress — a typically pro forma event," it noted.

But its most explosive revelations involved text and email messages showing that two key staffers in Pelosi's office attended regular meetings to discuss the security plan for Jan. 6 dating back to early December 2020 and that Pelosi's top aide even edited some of the plans. Most of those discussions and meetings excluded Republican lawmakers in the House, the report noted.

"Then-House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving — who served on the Capitol Police Board by virtue of his position — succumbed to political pressures from the Office of Speaker Pelosi and House Democrat leadership leading up to January 6, 2021," the report said. "He coordinated closely with the Speaker and her staff and left Republicans out of important discussions related to security."

The GOP report directly challenges the story Pelosi gave in February 2021 that she had "no power" over Capitol Police or the security plan for Jan. 6. "Documents provided by the House Sergeant at Arms show how then-House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving carried out his duties in clear deference to the Speaker, her staff, and other Democratic staff," it said.

It noted that Pelosi's chief of staff Terri McCullough and another aide assigned to Pelosi's staff, Jamie Fleet, had regular contact with police and the sergeant at arms over the security planning for Jan. 6 starting in early December 2020. At one point, McCullough was so involved she was asked to edit a security plan letter that was going to lawmakers a few days ahead of the tragic events.

"Irving sent the draft to McCullough and Fleet and requested any edits comments or concerns," the report said "McCullough responded shortly afterwards with edits."

The Republicans used Pelosi's own actions over the course of her speakership to demonstrate that she regularly exercised control over security, and the police and sergeant at arms acquiesced. Pelosi "denies the relationship and ignores her office's obligation to secure the Capitol, perhaps in an effort to shift blame," the report suggested.

"Speaker Pelosi exercised her authority with respect to the safety and security of the House of Representatives when she directed the use of magnetometers outside the House chamber in the name of safety," it noted. "She announced the use of punitive fines for Members who refused to go through the metal detectors. Similarly, she required masks in the House chamber and around the House Office Buildings."

The report faults Irving for being distracted by other responsibilities and a top intelligence official for the Capitol Police for making changes to intelligence analysis that kept front-line officers from knowing the dangers they were about to face that day.

"Officers on the front lines and analysts in USCP's intelligence division were undermined by the misplaced priorities of their leadership," the report said. "Those problems were exacerbated by the House Sergeant at Arms, who was distracted from giving full attention to the threat environment prior to January 6, 2021 by several other upcoming events."


John Solomon

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/congress/pelosis-jan-6-story-unravels-evidence-mounts-capitol-breach-was-preventable

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