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Joe Biden’s team blocked CIA from distributing report on son Hunter’s Ukraine business dealings

Then-Vice President Joe Biden’s team intervened in February 2016 to prevent the CIA from disseminating an intelligence report to policymakers about the perceptions senior Ukrainian officials held about his son’s business dealings, newly declassified memos show. 

The request that the intelligence community withhold the report from others in the U.S. government by Biden’s national security advisor was “extremely rare and unusual,” a senior CIA official told Just the News. 

“I just spoke with VP/NSA and he would strongly prefer the report not/not be disseminated,” the vice president’s Presidential Daily Brief briefer told the CIA. “Thanks for understanding.” 

The report, reviewed by Just the News, compiled the reactions of senior Ukrainian government officials to the December 2015 visit of Vice President Biden to Kyiv. 

In the aftermath of the country’s Maidan Revolution and the Russian seizure of Crimea, Biden had been appointed President Barack Obama’s point man to manage U.S. policy towards the fledgling, pro-Western government.  

The document shows that the Ukrainian officials in the government of then-President Petro Poroshenko, were disappointed with the vice president’s visit to their country for his lack of substantive discussions with their leader. Those same officials “privately mused” about the U.S. media’s scrutiny on Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine, the report shows. 

“These officials viewed the alleged ties of the U.S. Vice President’s family to corruption in Ukraine as evidence of a double-standard within the United States Government towards matters of corruption and political power,” the CIA relayed.

The intelligence report also shows that the Ukrainian officials “expressed bewilderment and disappointment” about the vice president’s visit because he did not engage in any of the expected discussions about substantive matters with Poroshenko or other senior officials.

You can read the declassified document below: 

File

Ukraine _Redacted_Final.pdf

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Ukrainian Intelligence Says China Helping Russia Target Western-Funded Facilities In Ukraine

Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Agency official Oleh Alexandrov has told the state news agency Ukrinform that China has been directly assisting Russia with intelligence for use on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Specifically he said China is providing foreign intelligence to target those sites in Ukraine which benefit from foreign investment, meaning Western-backed and funded facilities, likely such as weapons production sites.

“There is evidence of a high level of cooperation between Russia and China in conducting satellite reconnaissance of the territory of Ukraine in order to identify and further explore strategic objects for targeting,” said Alexandrov. “As we have seen in recent months, these sites may belong to foreign investors.”

The Kremlin on Monday responded by rejecting the allegation, saying that it possesses all capabilities to not have to rely on any outside country or ally.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov when specifically asked about the new allegation from Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Agency said as follows:

“We have our own capabilities, including space capabilities, to accomplish all the tasks the special military operation poses,” he told reporters.

But the last year of the war has seen Moscow deepen its cooperation both with the Chinese and North Korean militaries.

The presence of North Korean troops within Russian forces is well-known, but Kiev has more recently alleged Chinese troops are fighting alongside Moscow forces as well.

There’s also reported to be training programs between Russian and Chinese militaries. For example, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate has told local media, the Kyiv Post, that “The Kremlin has decided to allow Chinese military personnel to study and adopt the combat experience Russia has gained in its war against Ukraine.”

Also, Iran has factored into the equation given it has established a drone production facility within southern Russia.

Beijing has additionally in the past issued statements calling out NATO for its constant expansion, and activity which has even been lately introduced in the Pacific region, and growing ties to Japan.

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Pakistan Proves Green Energy Is Not The Answer: Inside Their Solar Powered Water Crisis

Green energy solutions were supposed to rescue Pakistan’s farms. Instead, it’s supercharged pumping, emptied wells, and pushed the country’s most populous province towards a critical water emergency. So, while we continue to hear that our environment is at risk from man-made climate change, how can we ignore the irreparable damage being done to the very same environment green energy is supposed to save? 

What’s Happening in Pakistan?

Farmers in Punjab – a region home to 128 million people – have rushed to replace diesel systems with solar-powered tube wells. But, while it’s now cheaper and more “environmentally friendly” to power irrigation, it’s turbo-charged a water shortage in the province. Irrigation runs longer and more often and cropping patterns are shifting towards thirstier staples, while groundwater levels in key districts continue to fall. With the increased opportunity generated by cheap “green” energy, new wells are appearing across villages, boreholes dig deeper, and water tables are on their way to extinction. 

Punjab is the hardest hit region, but all around the country, most rural homes draw from groundwater. While the resources are being drained by solar panels though, it becomes more expensive and more difficult for families to access dwindling water supply, and salinity creeps up in the soils. So, while switching from diesel to solar power will sound like a victory on paper to most, its rushed adoption is affecting millions of people’s access to water. 

A Warning to the World

This is not a small problem. Punjab is one of the largest subnational populations on the planet, and on its own would be the 11th most populous country in the world. This current green-powered crisis is a case study in how blindly encouraging renewable energy sources in the name of hitting targets can affect entire countries.  

While countries are increasingly pushing farmers to use solar power, they should be learning from Pakistan who jumped on green energy sources before implementing any kind of policy on its usage. And it’s only taken a few years.  

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Meet the Democrats Who Still Endorse Jay Jones After Remarks About Wanting a GOP Leader and His Children Dead

Virginia Democrat attorney general candidate Jay Jones continues to hold nearly 200 endorsements from organizations, elected officials, and prominent Democrats, several days after text messages resurfaced from 2022 in which he discussed shooting former Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert and referenced his children dying. As of Monday, October 6, none of his endorsers have withdrawn their alignment or publicly called for him to drop out of the race.

The fallout erupted late last week after National Review published messages between Jones and Republican Delegate Carrie Coyner. In the texts, Jones wrote that if faced with a choice between shooting two dictators or Gilbert, he would “pick Gilbert every time.” Coyner confirmed that Jones also referenced Gilbert’s children dying “in the arms of their mother.” Jones later apologized, saying he was “deeply sorry” and took “full responsibility” for his comments.

Since the report, calls for Jones to withdraw have come from President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running for governor. Earle-Sears released an ad Sunday featuring Democratic support of Jones and urging voters to “reject the insanity.” Trump endorsed incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares, describing Jones’s statements as “sick and demented,” while Miyares called them “disqualifying.”

His campaign website continues to feature backing from national figures, including Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, former Virginia Gov. Ralph S. Northam, former first ladies Dorothy McAuliffe and Pamela Northam, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA), Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA), and former Reps. Elaine Luria and Tom Perriello.

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What Democrats Will Support In Order To Oppose Donald Trump

The list is staggering, really. And one need not go back to January to compile a collection of the most anti-democratic behavior and positions possible, all to save muh democracy. I can fill out this column with stuff just since Friday. 

In June of this year, The United States Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision in Mahmoud V. Taylor, in favor of parents objecting to sexually explicit LGBT material being used in school on religious exemption grounds. The case overturned the decision against both the rights of parents and the 1st Amendment’s freedom to practice religion by a district court judge nominated early in Joe Biden’s term. That judge’s name? Deborah Boardman. 

One might think that a leftist trial court judge getting spanked by the Supreme Court that hard would be the biggest black mark on her record. Wrong. On Friday, Judge Boardman ruled in the sentencing phase of the would-be assassin of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Nicholas Roske. 

Roske, in case you don’t recall, left his home in Simi Valley, California after the Dobbs decision overturned Roe V. Wade and returned the abortion issue where it belonged – to each state’s citizenry to decide. This was too much for Roske, who flew across the country and eventually arrived outside Justice Kavanuagh’s Maryland home with a Glock-17 with ammunition, zip ties, a tactical knife, pepper spray, a hammer, a screwdriver, a nail punch, a crowbar, duct tape, a pistol light, and padded boots for stealth. This was not a spontaneous murder he was plotting. 

Roske was found guilty by a jury of his peers. Federal sentencing guidelines for a crime like this vary between 324-405 months. The Department of Justice asked for 30 years, or 360 months, right in the middle of the sentencing guidelines. Boardman came back with 8 years, or 96 months. Why? Because sometime recently, Nicholas decided he was now trans and wants to be called Sophie. Boardman essentially threw all legal jurisprudence out the window and came up with this for justification.

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North Carolina Transgender School Bus Driver Called ‘Ms. Sharon’ Accused of Child Sex Crimes

A transgender school bus driver in Charlotte, North Carolina, is accused of sexually assaulting several 14- and 15-year-old boys.

The suspect was arrested Tuesday and identified as 48-year-old Leetwain Darrell Tate, who goes by the name of “Ms. Sharon,” the New York Post reported Sunday.

Authorities said he is accused of assaulting at least four teenage boys. Tate was charged with two counts of statutory rape and six counts of indecent liberties with a minor.

An image shows the suspect who appears to be dressed like a woman.

The man is accused of luring the boys to his home where they stayed with him. One of the victims claimed the suspect offered him money for sex.

“Tate was employed as a school bus driver for Sugar Creek Charter School in Charlotte. He was initially suspended while the investigation was underway and was officially terminated on September 30, according to WCCB. Authorities emphasized that none of the alleged crimes occurred on school property or during Tate’s bus routes,” according to a KTSA report.

Court records said the man is being held on a $1 million secured bond, WCBD reported. The outlet also said police were called to the area of Peachtree Road and Corvis Road in early September once a parent learned her child had allegedly been sexually assaulted.

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Supreme Court to Decide If Colorado Ban on ‘Conversion Therapy’ Violates Free Speech

The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider on Oct. 7 a free speech case involving a Colorado law that bans therapists from providing so-called conversion therapy to minors experiencing same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria.

A therapist challenging the law argues that it violates her First Amendment rights. On the other side of the debate, Colorado contends that it has the right to regulate mental health treatments for minors that it deems harmful and ineffective. It is among more than 20 states with such bans.

Colorado’s Prohibit Conversion Therapy for a Minor law, passed in 2019, prohibits licensed therapists from trying to “change an individual’s sexual orientation, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”

Therapists who violate the law could be stripped of their licenses and face fines of up to $5,000.

Colorado has stated that its regulation was enacted in response to “overwhelming” scientific evidence that conversion therapy for minors is unsafe and not effective in the long term.

A practitioner of such therapy told The Epoch Times that the therapist’s work focuses on mending psychological wounds and is not coercive or harmful.

Opponents of conversion therapy, including the American Medical Association, point to practices such as electric shock and negative feedback methods such as smelling salts or chemically induced nausea to create a psychological aversion to the unwanted behaviors or attractions.

However, according to licensed counselor Christopher Doyle of the Institute for Healthy Families, modern therapists avoid these methods and instead favor exploring clients’ attitudes on sexuality, trauma, self-perception, and relationships.

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Zelensky Floated Stepping Down from Power ‘For Peace’, but Instead He Is Intimidating and Silencing Opponents, Paving the Way for a Vote That Keeps Him in Office: REPORT

Zelensky is working hard to remain in power.

Between his endless trips abroad to get support and money from his war sponsors, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky is moving strongly to cement his chances in the event of an upcoming election.

But because his popularity is so low, to achieve that, he has to neutralize his opponents.

Almost no one believed his recent claims that he is ‘ready not to go for the second term’ because ‘it’s not [his] goal’, repeating the claims he made last winter.

Politico reported:

“In a move presumably aiming to take the sting out of the ‘autocrat’ allegation, Zelenskyy announced [last winter] dramatically that he was ‘ready’ to go if his resignation would help secure a ceasefire with Russia and gain Ukraine’s admission into NATO. ‘If [it guarantees] peace for Ukraine, if you really need me to resign, I am ready. I can exchange it for NATO’, he said.

This time round he told Axios: ‘My goal is to finish the war’ and not necessarily to continue to run for office. He also vowed to ask Ukraine’s parliament to organize elections if a ceasefire is agreed.”

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FBI: Jack Smith, Biden DOJ Tracked Phone Calls of GOP Senators, Congressman

Nearly ten Republican senators and a representative had their private communications allegedly tracked by former Special Counsel Jack Smith under the Biden administration, FBI Director Kash Patel revealed Monday.

Files obtained by Fox News show that Smith, in his official capacity at the Department of Justice (DOJ) as he investigated President Donald Trump and the events of January 6, 2021, was allegedly tracking the phone calls of Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (SC), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Ron Johnson (WI), Josh Hawley (MO), Cynthia Lummis (WY), Bill Hagerty (TN), Dan Sullivan (AK), Tommy Tuberville (AL), and Republican Rep. Mike Kelly (PA).

The alarming document, revealing that Smith and his “Arctic Frost” team had subpoenaed telephone providers for the lawmakers’ records in 2023, was “recently discovered” by Patel, according to Fox News.

Patel confirmed the legitimacy of the findings in an X post, writing, “We recently uncovered proof that phone records of U.S. lawmakers were seized for political purposes.”

“That abuse of power ends now,” the FBI director continued. “Under my leadership, the FBI will deliver truth and accountability, and never again be weaponized against the American people.”

An FBI official told the outlet that Smith and his team, which was opened in the bureau in 2022, were able to see which numbers the politicians contacted, the locations from where the calls originated, and the locations where they were received. 

Officials also explained that the records were investigated pursuant to an oversight request from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), which Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino personally directed in response. 

A source added that the calls were “likely in reference to the vote to certify the 2020 election,” Fox News reported.

Bongino briefed the impacted lawmakers on Monday afternoon and told the publication it is a “disgrace” that he had to reveal those findings. 

“It is a disgrace that I have to stand on Capitol Hill and reveal this — that the FBI was once weaponized to track the private communications of U.S. lawmakers for political purposes,” Bongino said. “That era is over.”

He added, “Under our leadership, the FBI will never again be used as a political weapon against the American people.”

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Jay Jones Demanded Cop’s Badge Over Rittenhouse Donation

The Virginia Democrat mired in scandal over text messages — in which he called for the assassination of a political opponent — once called for a police lieutenant to lose his job over a $25 donation to Kyle Rittenhouse’s legal defense fund.

Jay Jones, currently a candidate for state attorney general in Virginia, has not responded to calls for him to drop out of the race over 2022 texts advocating political violence against then-state House Speaker Todd Gilbert, a Republican. But in 2021, claiming to be in pursuit of “true accountability in policing,” Jones demanded that Norfolk Police Lt. William K. Kelly III lose his job after he donated $25 to the legal defense fund for Kyle Rittenhouse — the teenager who fatally shot two protesters and injured another in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a 2020 riot. A jury determined that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense.

At the time, The Guardian reported on the sources of some of the donations for Rittenhouse’s defense, identifying Kelly as one of the donors.

“God bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You’ve done nothing wrong,” the message with the donation read. “Every rank and file police officer supports you. Don’t be discouraged by actions of the political class of law enforcement leadership.”

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