Month: April 2024

Uri Berliner is a senior editor at NPR. (@TheFP / X)

NPR’s senior editor Uri Berliner resigned from his position on Wednesday after he was suspended for attacking the network’s biased coverage.

National Public Radio (NPR) is a liberal organization that pushes propaganda and doesn’t allow any dissenting opinions.

Berliner, in an explosive interview with journalist Bari Weiss on her podcast ‘Honestly,’ criticized the organization’s editorial standards, saying that they were skewed against President Trump.

In the interview, Berliner expressed his concerns about the network’s journalistic integrity, highlighting the disparate treatment of news stories depending on their political implications:

“Here was a president who, you know, I believed was belligerent and Ill-informed and not a good person by any standard measure of decency. But I think we developed a different standard of coverage for Trump than any other politician. And I think that that led us to serious problems in our coverage. I mean one of them was not so much about Trump but connected to Trump was the Hunter Biden laptop where you know, one of our top news manager when the post published this explosive story said, we’re not gonna cover this.

Berliner also penned an essay for the online news outlet The Free Press, titled “I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.”

Berliner resigned but he praised NPR in his resignation letter.

“I am resigning from NPR, a great American institution where I have worked for 25 years. I don’t support calls to defund NPR,” Berliner said in his resignation letter.

My resignation letter to NPR CEO @krmaher pic.twitter.com/0hafVbcZAK

— Uri Berliner (@uberliner) April 17, 2024

The post NPR Senior Editor Resigns After Being Suspended For Attacking the Network’s Biased Coverage appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The price tag of President Joe Biden’s student loan amnesty just keeps growing — and it’s not the neediest who are getting the money, either.

According to the New York Post, a new study by the University of Pennsylvania estimates that a new round of student loan cancellation programs raises the amount that taxpayers are stuck holding to $559 billion total, including $84 billion under new provisions announced last week.

The kicker? The newest provisions under the Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan will benefit those in higher tax brackets the most.

The income-driven plan was introduced last summer, but new loan cancellations for 277,000 borrowers were announced last week.

“Today’s announcement shows — once again — that the Biden-Harris Administration is not letting up its efforts to give hardworking Americans some breathing room,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement, the Post reported.

“As long as there are people with overwhelming student loan debt competing with basic needs such as food and healthcare, we will remain relentless in our pursuit to bring relief to millions across the country.”

Cardona was doing the usual media rounds promoting how the plan was going to help the most vulnerable student loan recipients:

.@SecCardona breaks down who qualifies for President Biden’s new student debt relief plan.#GMA3 pic.twitter.com/BB3PVT76K4

— GMA3: What You Need To Know (@ABCGMA3) April 9, 2024

However, the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton Budget Model found that the new round of cancellations wasn’t exactly going to help those who were struggling to put food on the table — unless their diet consisted of three square meals of foie gras and Wagyu steak.

“President Biden recently announced five main provisions to provide student loan debt relief. Some of provisions are already mostly covered by President Biden’s SAVE plan introduced in 2023. Some provisions, however, are more incremental to the SAVE plan, including one provision — the forgiveness of longer-term debt — that expands eligibility to higher-income households,” read a Thursday media release of the study’s key takeaways.

“We estimate that the New Plans will cost $84 billion in addition to the $475 billion that we estimated for President Biden’s SAVE plan, for a total cost of about $559 billion across both plans.

“While the New Plans, like the SAVE plan, contain provisions to relieve debt based on individual or household income, the New Plans will also relieve some longer-term student debt for about 750,000 households making over $312,000 in average household income,” it continued.

“The main reason for this high average household income is that the SAVE plan already provides long-term debt relief to households with lower incomes.”

Of the five major components of the new plans announced on April 8, two in particular stick out as driving the relief up the income ladder.

First is the threshold for waiving accrued and capitalized interest on the loans: “Up to $20,000 in accrued and capitalized interest will be waived for borrowers with current balances above the initial balance upon entering repayment, regardless of borrower’s income,” the Wharton media release read.

“Single borrowers making less than $120,000 or couples making less than $240,000 a year will qualify for a total waiver of all current balances above the initial balance if they are enrolled in any IDR plan. Automatic relief will be applied, and so no application is needed.”

Second is the elimination of undergraduate student debt for those who have been paying it for over 20 years or gradate debt for 25 years.

“If student loan repayments started on or before July 1, 2005, all debt will be eliminated for borrowers with undergraduate loans only. (For borrowers with any graduate debt, this date is pushed back to July 1, 2000). No enrollment in IDR plans will be needed to receive the relief, but currently it’s unclear if any other application will be required from the borrowers,” the news release said.

The total cost of all the five measures is a touch over $84 billion, added to the estimated $475 billion Biden’s unilateral student loan relief has already put taxpayers on the hook for.

However, in this case, Biden is providing relief to households who are less than $100,000 away from that magical $400,000 number that he says makes you one of the wealthy that he plans to tax to pay for his spending sprees — you know, those who need to start paying their “fair share.”

To say this is ridiculous is an understatement — until, of course, you realize that 2024 is an election year and Biden’s poll numbers haven’t looked hot since the beginning of the race, despite the fact that Democrat DAs and the Department of Justice have been on a quest to tie up the presumptive Republican nominee in court until November.

As House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Jodey Arrington, a Texas Republican, noted, this wasn’t just unconstitutional, it was a “quest to buy votes.”

“In reality, his plan will shift the responsibility of paying for loans owed by high-income earners who freely incurred them onto the backs of all taxpayers, many of whom do not even have a college degree,” Arrington said via a statement.

“[Biden’s] administration is dead set on circumventing the Supreme Court, defying Congress, and saddling our country with more debt.”

And unlike he says, it’s not taking from the rich to give to the poor. It’s taking from those who didn’t take college loans or paid them off and giving relief to wealthy people who did and haven’t.

Is this what student debt relief should look like? It is when one is down badly in the polls and is grasping at straws to get suburban voters in swing states. That’s hardly good policy — but as cynical strategizing, it’s not half bad.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post Biden’s Student Debt Cancellation Has Taxpayers Paying Over $550 Billion, Benefits Wealthier Families appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

J6 National Guard whistleblowers: Command Sgt. Major Michael E. Brooks, Colonel Earl G. Matthews, Aaron Dean Retired, Captain Timothy Nick

On Wednesday morning the House Subcommittee on Oversight held a hearing with National Guard whistleblowers who stepped forward to correct the media lies and dishonest narrative on the January 6 protests and riots.

Four members of the National Guard testified on Wednesday that ey were ready to be deployed on January 6 but THE PENTAGON held them back!

This directly brings General Milley’s actions into question!

Kash Patel tipped us off last month that there were more reports like this coming.

National Guard whistleblowers: Command Sgt. Major Michael E. Brooks, Colonel Earl G. Matthews, Aaron Dean Retired, and Captain Timothy Nick stepped forward today to correct the record on January 6.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser were both warned about the security situation prior to January 6th and both of them turned down National Guard troops at the US Capitol that day.

Pelosi and Mayor Muriel Bowser turned down thousands of National Guard troops at the Capitol on January 6 for political reasons.

Chris Wray’s FBI also refused to notify the Trump administration and his cabinet secretaries that they believed there could be violence like the mass protests at the Capitol that took place that day.

Nancy Pelosi also refused the National Guard at the US Capitol due to politics.

Capitol Police Chief Steve Sund said he asked House and Senate security officials for permission to request that the D.C. National Guard be placed on standby in case he needed quick backup. But they both turned him down.

John Solomon from Just The News released an explosive report in 2022 that revealed Capitol Police were first warned about possible violence at the January 6th protests TWO WEEKS before the planned rallies.

Pelosi, Mayor Bowser, and other government officials turned down the National Guard anyway. They hoped for an “insurrection.”

Solomon says the DHS and District of Columbia were made aware of online threats of violence two weeks before the protests and rally.

During the testimony on Wednesday Command Sgt. Major Michael E. Brooks got choked up as he testified that the Pentagon refused to send the DC Capitol Police to the US Capitol on January 6.

The National Guard members waited for hours — until 5:09 PM hours after the first violence was reported — before the Pentagon gave them the order to deploy to the US Capitol.

The National Guard whistleblowers testified that the deployment of the National Guard members was delayed.

VERY interesting interview with regard to the National Guard not being deployed during J6 by the Select Committee.

Loudermilk: “Do you believe the deployment of the National Guard was delayed?’

Col E. G. Matthews: “They believed there was going to be a coup.”
“This is out there… pic.twitter.com/xEHKh8jSNF

— SweetPeaBelle (@SweetPeaBell326) April 17, 2024

The whistleblowers also testified that Liz Cheney and Nancy Pelosi’s shame J6 subcommittee DID NOT want their testimony during their politicized investigation!

Of course they didn’t! They wanted to hide the truth from the American public.

Here is the full video from today’s hearing.

The post SEDITION? DC National Guard Whistleblowers Reveal PENTAGON Under Direction of Mark Milley REFUSED to Deploy Guard Until After 5 PM – And Liz Cheney’s Committee Never Called Them to Testify appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Alaska Airlines on Wednesday asked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to pause the airline’s departures nationwide.

The FAA issued a ground stop advisory for Alaska Airlines at 7:50 am on Wednesday.

According to KIRO 7, the ground stop is related to a problem with the airline’s weight and balance system.

“This morning we experienced an issue while performing an upgrade to the system that calculates our weight and balance. A ground stop for all Alaska and Horizon flights was instituted at approximately 7:50am PT. We’re working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience and encourage guests to check the status of their flights on alaskaair.com or the Alaska App prior to heading to the airport.”

Alaska Airlines responded to angry stranded customers on Wednesday morning.

I understand and I apologize again! -Jordan

— Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) April 17, 2024

I apologize but we have no info on other carriers -Jordan

— Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) April 17, 2024

Thank you so much for your patience as we work to get you back on your way.
– Bobbi

— Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) April 17, 2024

I’m sorry for the wait. We are working to get you on your way as quickly as possible. -Jordan

— Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) April 17, 2024

DEVELOPING…

The post DEVELOPING: FAA Issues Ground Stop Advisory For Alaska Airlines appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

This article originally appeared on WND.com

Guest by post by Bob Unruh 

‘If you don’t believe in God, something’s wrong with you, seriously’

A coalition whose goal includes censoring select Christians who make reference to their personal faith has demanded that the University of South Carolina censor its women’s basketball coach.

But officials with the Rutherford Institute have volunteered to help defend the school from the attack by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

The fight is over comments by Dawn Staley, the coach of the Gamecocks, which came after the team defeated Oregon State last month to advance to the NCAA’s Final Four. The team later won the title.

Staley was interviewed, and was asked, “Since the last two games have been close and tough,…what’s impressed you about this [team]?”

She praised the players’ resilience and added, “I’m giving all the glory to God, though. …The devastating loss that we had last year, to put us back here with a totally different team—if you don’t believe in God, something’s wrong with you, seriously. I’m a believer. I’m a believer because He makes things come true. When you’re at your worst, He’s at His best.”

Within hours, the FFRF had ordered the school to “take action to protect its student athletes and to ensure that Staley understands that she has been hired as a basketball coach and not a pastor.”

It also issued a demand that Staley “be educated as to her constitutional duties under the Establishment Clause.”

The protest group also complained that Staley had posted Bible verses on her own social media accounts and was involved in devotionals.

Rutherford now has advised the school that, “To prohibit Coach Staley from making any reference to biblical passages as a source of motivation and team building, while allowing her to make references to secular writers and stories, would be discriminatory and ‘may evidence hostility to religion…,’” the letter said.

“Coach Staley is tasked with motivating her players as a team to win. After winning the NCAA championship this year, freshman Tessa Johnson credited the team’s success with the environment Staley helped create: ‘We’re unselfish people and that’s how we win it,’” the letter said.

“Indeed, the Bible contains many passages that call for people to be unselfish and work as a team: ‘Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others;’ ‘the body is one and has many members,…[i]f one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together;’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

The letter to South Carolina chief Michael Amiridis explained that while the Constitution says the government “may not establish or compel a particular religion, it also may not silence and suppress religious speech merely because others take offense.”

It continued, “People are free to ignore, disagree with, or counter the religious speech of others, but they cannot compel the government to censor such speech.”

So, the letter said, the FFRF “has the right to complain about the actions of the university’s women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley, but it does not have the right to compel the University of South Carolina to suppress the religious speech and expression made by Coach Staley as a private citizen.”

It notes the Supreme Court previously has ruled: “Learning how to tolerate speech or prayer of all kinds is part of learning how to live in a pluralistic society.” The court further has affirmed that while public officials and employees “can act on behalf of the state, they are also private citizens with their own constitutional rights.”

“While the government may not establish or compel a particular religion, it also may not silence and suppress religious speech merely because others take offense,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute.

Copyright 2024 WND News Center

The post Holy War Erupts When Basketball Coach Dares to Voice Christian Faith appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

California police arrested several Google employees after staging an anti-Israel sit-in protest inside Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s office in Sunnyvale, California.

Employees participating in the sit-in were protesting against Google’s $1.2B contract with Israel’s government, known as Project Nimbus.

According to National Review, the pro-Palestinian protestors who are connected to the group “No Tech For Apartheid” were streaming the protest for over 10 hours before police got involved.

Similar protests erupted outside of Google’s offices in New York and Seattle.

WATCH:

BREAKING: Google employees were arrested after occupying their boss’s office for more than 8 hours to demand that the company sever ties with Israel.

WATCH: pic.twitter.com/W4WQO8NNgH

— Kassy Akiva (@KassyDillon) April 17, 2024

More scenes from the protests:

@NoTechApartheid activists have taken over Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s office at the Google headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA to call on the company to drop Project Nimbus, a cloud computing project of the IDF.

Simultaneously in NYC, Googlers have taken over the lobby: pic.twitter.com/m7YnBM0NyB

— Talia Jane ‍ (@taliaotg) April 16, 2024

Per The New York Post:

Several Google employees were arrested and placed on administrative leave late Tuesday after staging 10-hour sit-ins at offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California to protest the company’s $1.2 billion cloud contract with Israel.

The pro-Palestinian employees, who are affiliated with a group called “No Tech For Apartheid,” posted several videos and live-streams of the protests — including the moment they were issued final warnings and arrested by local police for trespassing.

A third protest took place in Seattle.

The shocking protests included a complete takeover of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s office in Sunnyvale by workers wearing traditional Arab headscarves.

Google staffers storm NYC, California, Seattle offices to protest Israel contract https://t.co/QeznUp5e1j pic.twitter.com/Ehw8yjUU1S

— New York Post (@nypost) April 16, 2024

The post Google Employees Arrested After Staging Protest Inside CEO Office Demanding Google to Cut Ties With Israel (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The first seven jurors in President Trump’s NYC lawfare case in liberal Judge Juan Merchan’s court.

Judge Juan Merchan on Tuesday accused Trump of intimidating a juror who admitted she posted a pro-Biden video to her Facebook page.

Jury selection was still underway on Tuesday in the Stormy Daniels ‘hush money’ trial after more than 50 prospective jurors were dismissed from the jury pool on Monday.

One potential juror was brought in for questioning after Trump’s lawyers discovered she posted a pro-Biden celebratory video in 2020.

“You had to get in the car to spread the honking cheer. it’s a full on dance party at 96th street,” the potential juror’s caption read according to Trump attorney Todd Blanche.

President Trump was allegedly gesturing and ‘audibly speaking in the direction of the potential juror’ while she was being questioned about her pro-Biden social media post.

Judge Merchan accused Trump of intimidating the juror.

“I won’t tolerate that. I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. I want to make that crystal clear,” Judge Merchan said.

Merchan’s daughter is a top activist for Democrats and Joe Biden campaign.  Merchan is pushing charges against Trump that are not a crime.  He needs jurors who believe like he does that President Trump is guilty of a crime because he is still breathing.

Jesse Watters reviewed the first seven jurors selected for Trump’s criminal trial in Merchan’s kangaroo court.

They all get their news from the far-left New York Times. No one who takes the reporting and nonsense published at the NYT seriously is even slightly conservative. The trial is rigged.

Jesse Watters: Over half of the jury has already been selected. We already know a lot about them, and it is hysterical. Before we tell you about them, remember that this is a Manhattan jury. It went 87% for Biden. The judge who’s overseeing the selection process is a Biden donor whose family was paid by the Biden campaign. Yesterday, 50 white women wearing masks fled the courtroom, claiming they couldn’t be fair to Trump. Anyone wearing a mask at this point is not an impartial juror…

…Show me a juror who says they can be unbiased towards Trump, and I’ll show you a liar. That’s why we don’t have political trials in America. Fairness is impossible. Trump’s legal team was given the names of potential jurors, and after googling them, discovered there were undercover activists trying to sneak onto the jury. One juror couldn’t recall any anti-Trump feeling, but when the defense showed him the receipts, he admitted he’d posted on social media, Donald Trump should be locked up. Another juror said he didn’t remember posting anything bad about Trump. Then when shown the evidence, conceded to He’s posting a picture that says, Trump invites Thai boys to the White House. Thai boys request to return to cage. Those two radical liberals got caught lying to the court and were almost seated on the jury. This is what Trump has to deal with. Yesterday, Clay Travis was criticized for suggesting Trump supporters get on the jury.

So far, seven jurors have been seated. Here’s what we know about them.

The Foreman, juror number one. He’s a salesman from Harlem who was born in Ireland. He used to be a waiter, didn’t finish college, and likes anything outdoorsy. He’s married with no kids. His wife’s in school. He gets his news from the New York Times, the Daily Mail, and some Fox News and MSNBC. Never met anybody who watches both Fox and MSNBC, but okay, that guy is your jury foreman.

Juror number 2, a nurse from the Upper East Side with a master’s degree. She’s not married, has no kids, and lives with her fiancé who works in finance. She gets her news from the New York Times, Google, and CNN. She said two things that really stuck out. One, I don’t really have an opinion of Trump, and, No one is above the law. I’m not so sure about Jury Number Two. Jury number two.

Juror number 3 is a young Asian lawyer from Oregon. His corporate law firm features DEI on its homepage. He’s single, lives in Chelsea, and was wearing a purple jacket. He claims he’s not super familiar with Trump’s other charges. He likes to hike and run and gets his news from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Google.

Jury number 4 is a Puerto Rican who finds Trump fascinating and mysterious. He walks into a room and he sets people off one way or the other. I find that really interesting that this one guy can do all this. Wow. The guy was actually born in Puerto Rico, lives on the Lower East Side now, and works in IT. He’s married and he has grandkids. Wife’s a writer. Previously served on a jury but says he doesn’t remember the verdict. He gets his news from the The New York Daily News, The New York Times, and Google. Anyway.

Jury number 5. A black woman in her 20s who doesn’t follow the news and didn’t know Trump was facing charges, any charges, anywhere. She lives in Harlem. She’s a teacher. She’s not married, has no kids, and lives with her brother, who’s a basketball coach. She gets her news from Google and TikTok. She also listens to Charlemagne the God.

Jury number 6 is a woman in her 20s who works for Disney. She made the courtroom laugh because she wanted to know if the trial would be over before September because she’s a bridesmaid in her sister’s wedding. She’s not married She has no kids, and likes to dance. She lives with three roommates and gets her news from the New York Times, Google, Facebook, and of course, TikTok, and says she doesn’t have strong feelings about Trump one way or the other. Okay.

Jury number 7 is a middle-aged, balding white guy with a tan. He lives on the Upper East Side, and you guessed it, another lawyer whose firm is big into DEI and ESG. He’s originally from North Carolina, married with two kids, and his wife works at a bank. He gets his news from the New York Times, the Journal, the New York Post, the Washington Post, and he listens to NPR.

That’s the jury of Trump’s peers so far. The fate of a billionaire real estate tycoon, TV celebrity turned 45th President of the United States is in the hands of New York City lawyers, teachers, and Disney workers who like to dance and get their news from the Times. But swear they can be impartial.

The trial is rigged. They have no crime but will find Trump guilty anyway. We already know the outcome.

This is America today – it’s open season on patriotic, conservative Americans.

Here is the video, via Catturd2.

The post KANGAROO COURT: Jesse Watters Reviews First Seven NYC Jurors in Trump’s Rigged Criminal Case – And It’s Just What We Expected (Video) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Commentary

A well-attended press conference took place at the National Press Club in Washington on April 8. Experts shared the essential learning points on how Taiwan conducted a successful presidential election in the face of a concerted, malign influence campaign waged by communist China through online methods enabled by collaborators inside Taiwan.

Russell Hsiao, executive director of the Global Taiwan Institute, led a panel of experts that included Yang Shun-Ching of Doublethink Labs, Yu Chihhao of Taiwan Information Environment Research Center, Eve Chiu of Taiwan Fact Check Center, Billion Lee of Cofacts, and Liu Wen-Ping of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau.

Ms. Chiu showed examples of this messaging. U.S. political figures such as presumptive GOP nominee and former President Donald Trump and Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) had their English language and Mandarin-translated voice tracks altered.

One of the AI-altered TikTok videos with Mr. Wittman showed him voicing support for Democratic Progressive Party candidate William Lai, while the original video clip showed the congressman talking about Ukraine—meaning that the altered video had been manipulated from a totally different topic.

Influencers also played a key role on TikTok and repeated the same talking points between the different influencer personalities. Mr. Yang presented an example of a TikTok influencer who had previously focused on fashion and started sharing messages questioning the integrity of the Taiwanese election process and alleging electoral fraud.

One of the ugliest and most pernicious themes pushed were smears of the growing Indian population doing high-tech work in the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. chip factories and other labor categories such as construction. The messages were intentionally designed to create fear that Taiwanese women would be targeted in sexual assaults by this imported labor that has become necessary because of labor shortages and low birth rates in Taiwan.

One curious theme was the planted messages that U.S. pork was contaminated, low quality, or had other negative attributes. This theme was perhaps a double-edged sword or not fully thought out. The Chinese population depends heavily on U.S.-imported pork. Should the Chinese not trust U.S. pork or the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)?

One semi-comical attempted smear was aimed at Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and looked like a typical American political attack ad, in which her picture in color would be reshown in black and white with vague intimations that some sinister secret double life was being led, yet with scant detail behind the allegation.

The post Taiwan Sets the Bar on Respecting Freedom of Speech While Shutting Down Chinese Election Interference appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

While there’s continued activity all over the Ukraine theater of war, the battle for Chasov Yar remains one of the most relevant focus points of the war, both because of its strategic relevance and also because of what it tells about the state of the confrontation.

Located in the Donetsk region, Chasov Yar lies 3-6 miles from Artyomovsk (Bakhmut), captured by Russian Federation forces in May last year after a bloody months-long siege.

Watch: heavy bombardment of Ukrainian defense positions. 

CHASOV YAR: heavy bombardment of Ukrainian defense positions. pic.twitter.com/Cw291i5fJ6

— Paul Serran (@paul_serran) April 17, 2024

Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, has stated that Moscow aims to capture the town by the patriotic ‘Victory Day’ of May 9.

Reuters reported:

“The fall of the town west of the shattered city of Bakhmut by the date Moscow marks the Soviet victory in World War Two would indicate growing Russian battlefield momentum as Kyiv faces a slowdown in Western military aid.

Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who warned this weekend that the situation in the east had deteriorated, said Russia was focusing its efforts west of occupied Bakhmut to try to capture Chasiv Yar before moving towards the city of Kramatorsk.

[…] ‘The threat remains relevant, taking into account the fact that the higher Russian military leadership has set its troops the task of capturing Chasov Yar by May 9’, he said, without elaborating.”

Russia traditionally celebrates ‘Victory Day’ with a big military parade on Red Square.

While the progressive Russian advance all over the 600-mile-long frontline has forced the MSM into being more factual and less hopeful, it’s still far from adequate to form a comprehensive picture of the developments.

Watch: Russian artillery barrage is unleashed.

CHASOV YAR: Russian artillery barrage is unleashed. pic.twitter.com/R1XBSltaX6

— Paul Serran (@paul_serran) April 17, 2024

Let’s find out what we can gather from a variety of Telegram channels, mostly Sputnik International, Intel Slava Z, Slavyangrad, and Bellum Acta.

To begin with, Russian Federation forces have captured additional positions on the flanks along the administrative borders of the city, in its never-ending encircling the enemy in ‘boilers’, pincers and all kinds of tactical maneuvers.

While Avdeevka Moscow’s forces made comparatively fast advances, when it comes to urban warfare, the fight becomes street by street, block by block, building by building.

Combat now takes place in the Canal microdistrict of the city along Oleg Koshevoy Street from the T-shaped intersection with Gorbatova street. The fighting is taking place near the food market.

Military correspondent Yevgeny Lisitsyn:

“There are active battles in the Chasov Yar area. The Russian Armed Forces take positions in the Canal microdistrict on the eastern outskirts of Chasov Yar and in the Stupki-Golubovskie-2 area, where one of the enemy strongholds was captured. Russian troops are actively using aviation to attack the positions and rear of the Army, which significantly complicates the defense of the city for Ukrainian forces.”

But while the fierce Ukrainian defenders have been reinforced with artillery and drones, and electronic warfare devices, as per a Reuters report, the striking feature of this battle is the fact that Nazi Azov brigades seem to be ‘sitting this one out.’

Watch: Drone attacks target Ukrainian troops and equipment.

CHASOV YAR: Drone attacks target Ukrainian troops and equipment. pic.twitter.com/dUvlRYBKHy

— Paul Serran (@paul_serran) April 17, 2024

The experience from previous sieges apparently has made the most ideological Ukrainian forces weary of defending ‘to the end’ localities that they deem un-defendable.

Aleksander Khodakovskiy writes:

“Information has emerged that Azov, the menace of all the ‘Moskals’, has again refused to sacrifice itself for European values. […] in Ukraine, those who made the mess are now pushing forward the gray masses, who were driven against their will, while they themselves prefer to save themselves for future political feats.”

The telegram channel from the Z 105th regiment:

“However, not everyone faces threats like ‘pincers’, ‘cauldrons’, and other blockades. The 3rd brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (formerly known as “Azov”) is one such example. These nimble soldiers have already departed from Chasov Yar in advance, drawing from their experiences in Mariupol and honing their skills in Avdeevka.”

Besides the 3rd Assault Brigade AZOV refusing to go to Chasov Yar, the 67th Mechanized Brigade (‘right sector unit’) refused orders and left Chasov Yar and reportedly will be dissolved.

Russian will need to cross the Severo Donetsk chgannel before attacking the city.

In the last couple of days, the fighting shifted westward to the area of the Seversky Donets Canal.

A lot is written these days about how Ukrainians are outgunned by the Russians, with all the blame assigned to its allies. Not enough is written about how it faces a manpower shortage due to a real demographic catastrophe caused by the hundreds of thousands of dead.

And certainly, almost nothing gets published about how Ukrainians are outmaneuvered by the Russian strategy of ‘death by a thousand cuts,’ attacking at multiple axis at once, making the defenders scramble to move reinforcements around.

Now we learn that there’s a downsizing of the Ukrainian group in the northern Kupyansk direction. A significant amount of troops and equipment is being relocated to Chasov Yar.

And so, maybe we’ll see rapid advances – in Kupyansk.

Watch: Mi-28N and Ka-52 launch unguided missiles at Ukrainian Armed Forces positions in Chasov Yar.

Russian Helicopters launch unguided missiles at Ukrainian Armed Forces positions in Chasov Yar. pic.twitter.com/2XwiMY0woj

— Paul Serran (@paul_serran) April 17, 2024

It is also reported that drone operators of the 98th Airborne Division have begun ‘free-hunting’ Ukrainian forces in the urban area of Chasov Yar.

Drones with night vision are also used. The use of quadcopters and FPV drones directly in the residential areas of Chasov Yar has increased drastically.

Despite all this activity, the assault on Chasov Yar from both flanks reportedly remains a distant prospect. This process requires not only taking control of key enemy strongholds but also force-crossing the Seversky Donets-Donbass Canal.

Powerful airstrikes were carried out on the suburb of Chasov Yar, where temporary deployment points of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are located.

The post Chasov Yar: Russians Want To Conquer City Before ‘Victory Day’ on May 9th – Besiegers Advance, Pound Defensive Positions – Azov Brigade Keeps Out of the Confrontation (VIDEOS) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Image: Wikimedia Commons (Moderna Covid-19 vaccine)

Through the lens of tens of thousands of service members and veterans affected by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s 2021 COVID-19 military shot mandate, an important question arises: Did the Department of Defense, specifically the Secretary of Defense, mandate a “toxic exposure risk activity” (TERA)?

It’s a question being asked increasingly more often by people like whistleblower Trey Fleming and Dr. Crisanna Shackelford. Previously speaking under a pseudonym, the whistleblower’s name is Sonny Fleeman III, a combat veteran and Rating Veteran Services Representative for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Fleeman revealed himself on a video podcast with Feds for Freedom.

Like Fleeman, Dr. Crisanna “Shack” Shackelford is a veteran. She is also founder and CEO of realreactions.org. They are working to expose that the COVID-19 shots contain toxins that can be claimed as a toxic exposure risk under the 2022 Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act.

Fleeman told The Gateway Pundit that exposure to burn pits, toxins in improvised explosive devices (IED), chlorine bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, burning oil wells, and Agent Orange used during the Vietnam war topped the list of widely recognized cases of toxic substances within the PACT Act.

But what does the PACT Act say about those who have clearly been injured by the so-called COVID-19 vaccine, he and Dr. Shackleford questioned, also pointing out what has recorded by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) concerning the Moderna injection. “Currently, mRNA is considered a gene therapy product by the FDA,” the report states. And according to Dr. Robert Malone, the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein used within COVID-19 “vaccines” is a toxin.

SARS-CoV-2 direct cardiac damage through spike-mediated cardiomyocyte fusion

More evidence of Spike as a toxin.https://t.co/ytUpbNRX3k

— Robert W Malone, MD (@RWMaloneMD) September 1, 2021

Interestingly, within the toxic Exposure Risk Activity (TERA) provisions for veterans to obtain a screening for their toxic exposures, the policy states, “Vaccines and medications in general are not considered participation in a TERA [under the PACT Act] because there is no scientific or medical evidence that supports the conclusion that vaccines and medications administered to Service Members have resulted in long-term adverse health effects.”

Dr. Shackelford said, “this is shocking given how much is known about the toxicity of the ‘gene therapy’ injection and known adverse health effects.” For her, “the fact that the VA would disenfranchise our service members who were mandated to take this injection raises critical questions.”

The policy being enforced by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is easily debunked, according to Dr. Shackelford. Her straightforward, but oft-ignored, explanation should “raise the alarm bell” for those who continue to deny countless stories of the gene therapy’s toxic adverse side effects. According to her, it’s undeniable: “The spike protein that the body is forced to make from the injection—in and of itself—is toxic.”

Consider the plight of Army Corporal Karolina Stancik who has suffered more than one heart attack, a mini-stroke, and several neurological maladies after being forced roll up her sleeve and get the shot. Yet, in a case like hers, the VA would maintain that “…vaccines and medications, in general, are not considered participation in toxic exposure risk activity because there are no long-term adverse health effects supported by science.”

“This very issue of toxic exposure and the known mechanisms of injury such as Karolina’s must be acknowledged, and those responsible must ensure that disability compensation for this toxic exposure occurs,” she said.

In December 2023, Fleeman explained that “veterans with vaccine injuries are excluded from receiving a VA examination and medical nexus opinion under the PACT Act—and more specifically under the TERA provisions.” And according to Dr. Shackelford, the exclusion is “fraudulent” and the “willful ignorance” needs to be exposed.

From the start, it was illegal for the Pentagon’s policy to say that the Comirnaty and EUA Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines were interchangeable. “This cannot be refuted, “Dr. Shackelford said, adding that “it was undeniably an illegal mandate for this reason and more.” With that, the question remains: did the Department of Defense, specifically the Secretary of Defense, mandate a TERA?

According to Dr. Shackelford, “If the VA was forced to concede that the so-called vaccine, or gene therapy per the Moderna SEC filing, is toxic, all bets would be off for the Department of Defense.” This must be addressed by Congress at some point, she argued, adding that “the mandate for COVID-19 injections represented a forced toxic exposure with catastrophic implications for our national security and defense readiness.”

Because of concern about reprisals, Fleeman emphasized that his views don’t reflect those of the VA.

The post EXCLUSIVE: Whistleblower Who Exposed A Blatant Oversight in the VA’s Policy for Veterans With Vaccine-Related Injury Goes Public appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.