June 2024 – Page 98

Ceasefire Deal in Gaza Unlikely; Israel–Hezbollah Tensions Rise

Posted on June 13, 2024 by

It appears that the Biden administration’s planned ceasefire for the ongoing Gaza war is probably dead as the Israeli and Hamas proposals seem to present irreconcilable differences, with the latter going so far as to call the provisions described by U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken “unworkable.”

Hamas responded to the deal by making several “amendments” to it in an attempt to avoid the optics of explicitly refusing the deal. While the Israelis have described Hamas’s amendments as a rejection, Blinken stressed the need for further mediation. The Hamas political bureau members Izzat al-Rishq and Jihad Taha asserted that Hamas’ response “opens up a wide pathway” to a ceasefire and peace settlement.

It appears that the current points of contention in the deal are Hamas’s demands that Israel commit up-front to a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal, while the Israelis’ version allows fighting to resume if Hamas does not meet certain conditions. The Israeli plan does include a commitment to a six-week ceasefire.

At the same time, tensions along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon have increased significantly, with Hezbollah launching 215 rockets at Israel on Wednesday and a further 40 on Thursday in response to the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander earlier in the week. The most recent attacks injured two and started several fires that are still raging. The IDF has responded by conducting airstrikes against Hezbollah infrastructure in Southern Lebanon.

The post Ceasefire Deal in Gaza Unlikely; Israel–Hezbollah Tensions Rise appeared first on The American Conservative.

Maria Bartiromo Absolutely Destroys Rep. Debbie Dingell Over Dems Relentless Politicized Attacks Against President Trump

Posted on June 13, 2024 by

Maria Bartiromo destroys Rep. Debbie Dingel over the treatment of President Trump.

Michigan Democrat Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-MI) joined Maria Bartiromo on Mornings with Maria on Thursday morning.

During their discussion, Maria pounded Dingell on the political and lawfare attacks against President Trump.

Maria Bartiromo: Joining me now is Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingle, a member of the House Energy and Commerce and Natural Resources committees, as well as the Select Subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic. Congresswoman, great to see you again. Thanks so much for joining me. Your reaction to what you just heard and to this vote.

Debbie Dingell: Look, I think that yesterday’s vote is a continued politicization of going after various secretaries. I actually have great deal of respect for our attorney general. I do not think he was playing games. I think there was an investigation. He did not find cause. Republicans didn’t like the outcome. I would really ask us, Maria, on all sides, we had to take a deep breath and stop politicizing people that are in public service. This is a ‘got you moment,’ really. It’s not going to go anywhere. We need We need to be working together on a lot of bipartisan issues that need us working together to solve a lot of problems.

Maria Bartiromo: I think a lot of people feel that way. I agree with you on some level for sure, but have you told the FBI that? Do you think that there’s been a political attack on President Trump since he first entered Washington in 2015?

Debbie Dingell: I think that…

Maria Bartiromo: What’s the answer?

Debbie Dingell: I have to say this to you….

Maria Bartiromo: What’s the answer? Has President Trump been attacked politically because he’s President Trump? Because he’s Trump, has he been attacked politically and it’s unfair.

Debbie Dingell: I think there are a lot of political attacks on a lot of people.

Maria Bartiromo: No, I’m asking about Donald Trump. What about Trump?

Debbie Dingell: President Trump does some things that I have had issues with. You know it, the two of us have had interesting sparse, but we do it directly with each other.

Maria Bartiromo: What specifically?

Debbie Dingell: Look, I think he does some things. I think the way that he goes after people, I think the way that he sometimes twists the facts.

Maria Bartiromo: But I’m asking about that on him.

Debbie Dingell: He was just convicted of 34 counts in a court of 34 counts of a felony in a due process by a jury of his peers.

Maria Bartiromo: What was the crime, Congresswoman?

Debbie Dingell: What was the crime? The crime was that he lied to people. He manipulated payments that were being made. He violated the law in terms of why was he making these payments.

Maria Bartiromo: Do you see any similarity to the 51 intelligence officials who lied about the Hunter Biden laptop right before the 2020 election, calling it Russian disinformation?

Debbie Dingell: Hunter Biden, by the way, we have a problem on all sides with Russian disinformation, so I’m never going to downplay. I think we have real problems.

Maria Bartiromo: But specifically, the Hunter Biden laptop was real. They signed a letter saying that it was Russian disinformation. Is that a similar situation to what President Trump was just convicted of?

Debbie Dingell: Hunter Biden was in a court and convicted….

Maria Bartiromo: No, that was gun charges. That was a very separate situation. Different situation. I’m talking about the Hunter Biden laptop right before the 2020 election. Fifty-one intelligence officials signed a letter saying it was Russian disinformation. They hid the truth before the election. Is that similar to what Trump was just charged with?

Debbie Dingell: There’s an investigation going into that laptop.

Maria Bartiromo: Is there?

Debbie Dingell: I don’t have the facts. I think you’re going to hear a lot more about this laptop in the coming months. I’m not privy, Maria, about what was on there, what wasn’t, what happened.

Maria Bartiromo: No, I’m just I’m asking if it’s a similar situation. Is it a similar situation that people hid truth before the election in 2020 about Hunter Biden, and now Trump was discharged with, I guess, hiding truth ahead of an election about a $130,000 payment he made to a porn star? Is it the same?

Debbie Dingell: First of all, I don’t have all the facts, so I’m careful.

Maria Bartiromo: I’m sorry?

Debbie Dingell:I don’t have all the facts. I think a lot of people were looking for facts, didn’t know what the Biden computer was. I still don’t know. I think this Trump trial happened after. I don’t know all the facts related to this. I read lots of stuff.

Maria Bartiromo: I know that the DOJ used the laptop as evidence in the gun trial against Hunter Biden. They obviously looked at the laptop. They said that it is real, and we knew that it was real at the time, but 51 intelligence officials said it wasn’t. They lied.

Debbie Dingell: I don’t have the letter in front of me. Look, nobody’s above the law. I want to make that really Nobody. The rule of law needs to work in this country. We’ve seen it twice now in the last month, people have been convicted. I want to know that the rule of law works. Nobody. I don’t care if the Republican or a Democrat or who they are, wherever. The rule of law is a very important fact in our country. I totally agree with you. I totally agree.

Bartiromo also destroyed Dingell when it comes to Biden’s broken border and her vote on H.R.2 to secure the border.

Maria Bartiromo: Did you vote against HR2?

Debbie Dingell: I don’t remember.

Maria Bartiromo: You don’t remember if you voted against HR2?

Debbie Dingell: I can’t. It was under Donald Trump, and I can’t remember what I voted on back then, so I should have looked before today. That’s an important bill.

Maria Bartiromo: It was an important bill, HR2. You don’t remember how you voted?

Debbie Dingell: Maria, it’s early morning and it was-

Maria Bartiromo: It’s ten to eight am in the morning, Congresswoman.

Watch the full interview below:

Watch the latest video at foxbusiness.com

The post Maria Bartiromo Absolutely Destroys Rep. Debbie Dingell Over Dems Relentless Politicized Attacks Against President Trump appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

US Military Bases Unprepared for Rising Threats From Communist China

Posted on June 13, 2024 by

Commentary

FBI Director Christopher Wray and National Security Agency Director Gen. Timothy Haugh have stated that the recent Chinese cyber assault on America’s critical infrastructure is preparation for conflict with the United States.

In the face of these indicators and warnings, a wartime posture of dispersing forces across new and different sites, hardening facilities (with more guards and missile defenses), and actively camouflaging the dispersed and hardened locations would be prudent. By operating Department of Defense (DOD) facilities in a wartime manner, a strong message of readiness and deterrence would be communicated.

However, the spirit of Army Lt. Gen. Walter Short and Navy Adm. Husband E. Kimmel seems to have prevailed so far.

In February 1941, Short and Kimmel arrived in Hawaii to take over the Army and Navy forces. In what has been characterized in hindsight as a major strategic error of judgment, in the face of rising tensions with Japan, they dismissed a wartime posture of dispersing, hardening, and camouflaging military sites. Instead, they both chose to guard their forces by administratively grouping the ships and planes to guard them. This deadly mistake ensured the aircraft and ships of the Army and Navy were much easier to attack on Dec. 7, 1941.

History seems to be repeating itself. Dealing with rising tensions with the Chinese regime, little if any DOD wartime posture actions have been communicated or detected that should have been triggered by Chinese spy balloons, suspicious foreign land purchases, a pervasive cyber assault on U.S. critical infrastructure, and military facilities experiencing a surge of active penetration attempts by foreign nationals, often from China—including a recent revelation of a Chinese national flying a drone to spy on U.S. submarine construction.

Ominous ‘Dry Run’ Attempt to Enter a DOD Facility

Two Jordanians made the most recent attempt to enter a DOD site, gaining entry into Quantico Marine Corps Base. The pair said they were “Amazon subcontractors” attempting to make a delivery. The two Jordanians were stopped after Marine gate guards deployed a vehicle denial barrier to block their path. The Jordanians were arrested and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They have been determined to be non-U.S. citizens, and one of them is reported to be on the terrorist watch list.

Local reporter Kelly Sienkowski, who broke the original story, followed up with a story on May 16 titled “ICE confirms attack on Quantico; Ignores questions on terrorist threat.” Quantico has Marine training facilities, but it is also the home base to the Presidential Helicopter Squadron, Drug Enforcement Agency offices, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy, and the very important FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), which the agency refers to as “federal law enforcement’s only full-time counterterrorism unit.”

The HRT is a very important asset in responding to domestic terrorist events, such as Chinese special operators carrying out attacks within the United States. One former Quantico staffer reportedly characterized the attempted breach at Quantico as a “dry run.”

An Intent to Disrupt Space Launches, US Readiness?

A focus of the Chinese efforts has been in Florida, where Chinese nationals have attempted to enter Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Key West Naval facilities.

Cape Canaveral has two parts: the well-known Kennedy Space Center, which focuses on civil space activities, and the not-as-well-known Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which focuses on classified military and intelligence space activities. The Chinese were found scuba diving right off the launch pads on the facilities. From where they were caught, the scuba divers could have used sniper rifles or rockets to damage or destroy space launch activities.

In Key West, Florida, three Chinese nationals were convicted in 2020 for attempting to enter the Navy facilities. The Navy facilities are about 90 miles north of the Chinese spy base in Lourdes, Cuba, revealed in 2023. The Chinese Key West operation could have assessed U.S. readiness to detect and respond to the stealth expansion of Chinese spy and military activities in Cuba and the Chinese influence operations in the Bahamas.

Hardening Efforts Begin, but Force Dispersion, Camouflage Needed

At the height of the Cold War, U.S. bases in Europe were greatly dispersed, hardened, and camouflaged to protect them from Soviet special forces raids or aircraft and missile strikes. Hardened and camouflaged facilities were everywhere, and repelling a Soviet Spetsnaz attack was a very real scenario that was taken very seriously.

The “Pacific Pivot” was started in 2010. Thirteen years later, it is hard to see any manifestation of wartime readiness in the Pacific or anywhere in the DOD. Congress has finally noticed this and is forcing the DOD to explain why China has built 400 hardened aircraft shelters in the past 10 years while the DOD has built only 22. DOD press photos routinely show Air Force aircraft neatly lined up at Pacific bases, much like 1941 pre-attack Hawaii (although a number of these photos have been taken down).

The DOD should ensure all of the airfields in the Pacific and even some in the continental United States have hardened shelters for all aircraft, fuel depots, ammunition storage, crew quarters, command centers, and other critical facilities. Facilities such as Anderson Air Force Base in Guam have a significant concentration of aircraft. Additional bases should be constructed. A new air base close to Tinian is being developed, but more are needed.

In the continental United States, all of the Navy’s fighter/attack aircraft are in one location, Naval Air Station Lemoore, California—close to where the mysterious Chinese national-operated “bio-warfare” lab was discovered. This high concentration of aircraft should be sent to several new bases.

Finally, like in World War II, when “faux” cities were built over aircraft factories, generous camouflaging should be deployed to make the hardened, dispersed bases more resilient and ready.

All viewpoints are personal and do not reflect the viewpoints of any organization.

This article first appeared in Epoch Times and was reprinted with permission.

The post US Military Bases Unprepared for Rising Threats From Communist China appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Revealed: Fetterman Had Speeding Tickets, Drove 34 MPH Over Speed Limit, FaceTimed and Texted While Driving Before Car Accident

Posted on June 13, 2024 by

Why is this guy driving?

Democrat Senator John Fetterman (PA) and his wife Gisele Fetterman, were injured in a car crash Sunday morning in Maryland and transported to a nearby hospital.

Stroke victim John Fetterman was driving and crashed his vehicle into the back of a Chevy Impala.

According to a Maryland State Police report, Senator Fetterman is ‘at fault’ for the car accident. The report stated that Fetterman was traveling “at a high rate of speed, well over the posted speed limit” when he slammed into the Chevy Impala.

The posted speed limit was 70 miles per hour and a witness said Fetterman flew by her at a high rate of speed!

Fetterman was NOT tested for drugs or alcohol. No citations were issued. Both vehicles involved in the accident were towed away.

According to The Washington Post, Fetterman had speeding tickets before his car accident.

The Democrat Senator has also texted and FaceTimed aides while driving!

Fetterman got two speeding tickets for going 24 miles per hour over the speed limit. He was required to complete a driver’s improvement course after getting caught driving 34 miles per hour over the speed limit.

The Washington Post reported:

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was speeding and at fault for a Sunday morning auto accident in western Maryland, where he rear-ended another driver, a 62-year old woman who was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, according to a Maryland State Police report.

Fetterman was also treated for a shoulder injury, and he and his wife were taken to the hospital by ambulance, according to the police report and information from his office. Fetterman brushed off the wreck afterward, brandishing a bag of frozen peas and Tylenol in a video Monday with his wife and thanking people for their well wishes.

The accident was the latest example of unsafe driving by Fetterman, according to public records and people with knowledge of the situation. He has received two speeding tickets for violations of at least 24 miles per hour above the speed limit, one in 2016 and one in March, according to Pennsylvania state records. After the ticket this year, when he was driving 34 miles per hour over the limit, he was required by the state to complete a driver’s improvement course, according to a person familiar with the outcome who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the episode. Neither record said exactly where he was driving or how fast he was going.

The post Revealed: Fetterman Had Speeding Tickets, Drove 34 MPH Over Speed Limit, FaceTimed and Texted While Driving Before Car Accident appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Transcript of Special Counsel Hur Interview with Biden Ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer Released – Biden Stolen Classified Docs Scandal MUCH WORSE Than We Thought

Posted on June 13, 2024 by

A heavily redacted transcript of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interview with Joe Biden’s ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer was released.

Biden’s stolen classified documents scandal is way worse than we thought.

Mark Zwonitzer told the special counsel’s office that Joe Biden knowingly shared highly classified information with him and took him to his Wilmington garage where classified materials were stored in boxes.

MAJOR COURT WIN

Late last night we forced Garland’s DOJ to cough up the transcript of Special Counsel Hur’s interview with Biden ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer

We are reviewing now but wanted the American People to have it as soon as possible

Link below pic.twitter.com/XuMpeD8nj7