Reader’s Links for April 22nd, 2023

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Here is a link to the VladTepesBlog social media Mastodon Pod. Please feel free to check it out and sign up for an account if you are sufficiently annoyed with Twitter and Facebook to try something new.

Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

50 Replies to “Reader’s Links for April 22nd, 2023”

  5. Trump Warns That He is the Only 2024 Candidate Who Can ‘Prevent World War III’
    By Cassandra MacDonald Apr. 22, 2023 8:00 am1 Comment

    After years of economic surrender from past leaders, I stood up to China like no administration has ever done before — bringing hundreds of billions of dollars pouring into our treasury from China, when no other president had gotten even 10 cents from them,” the speech continued.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/trump-warns-that-he-is-the-only-candidate-who-can-prevent-world-war-iii/

  6. Feds Now Eyeing Multiple Felony Charges Against Hunter Biden; IRS Whistleblower Story Grows Legs
    Tyler Durden’s Photo
    BY TYLER DURDEN
    FRIDAY, APR 21, 2023 – 09:25 AM
    Update (04/21/2023): Several Hunter Biden stories have begun gaining traction in the last 24 hours, including a report by NBC News (so, ‘the narrative’) that federal prosecutors are eyeing charges on three tax crimes and a charge related to a gun purchase.

    Of course, nothing related to Hunter’s trips on Air Force Two with his then-VP-daddy to ink shady family deals with CCP-linked business partners, or that giant diamond & a $30 million offer that has all the appearances of a bribe, or the $3.5 million payment made to a Hunter-founded firm from the wife of the former Mayor of Moscow. None of that.

    NBC News does let us know that there’s “growing frustration” inside the FBI because both FBI and IRS investigators finished with their Hunter investigations around a year ago and nothing has been done.

    The Washington Post previously reported that federal investigators believed they had gathered enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes and a false statement related to a gun purchase.

    The decision on which charges to file, if any, will be made by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who was appointed by President Donald Trump and retained by the Biden administration to continue the Hunter Biden investigation. There are no indications a final decision has been made, said the two sources familiar with the matter. -NBC News

    In short – the DOJ is lagging on Hunter’s slap on the wrist.

    We’re sure the above reporting was triggered by the IRS whistleblower – the guy in charge of the agency’s Hunter Biden investigation – who came forward earlier this week in a letter to lawmakers, accusing the DOJ of ‘mishandling’ the Hunter Biden case. What’s actually notable here is that the story is big enough that the NY Times can’t avoid reporting on it.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-admin-mishandling-hunter-biden-investigation-says-irs-criminal-supervisory-agent

  7. Joe Biden is planning to spend $5 billion on a new program designed to further the development of the “next generation” of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics.

    White House officials this week in an interview with the Washington Post revealed that Biden’s new project, dubbed “Project NextGen,” will serve as a successor program to former President Donald Trump’s “Operation Warp Speed” launched in March of 2020.

    Like Warp Speed, Biden’s Project NextGen will receive funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, and will be ran by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

    https://valiantnews.com/2023/04/biden-teams-up-with-bill-gates-for-5-billion-vaccine-project-successor-to-operation-warp-speed/

  10. Biden Introduces New Federal Agency With Massive Climate Authority
    John Hugh DeMastri
    on April 21, 2023
    President Joe Biden will sign an executive order establishing the Office of Environmental Justice, which will dramatically increase the scope of the administration’s initiatives in that space, the White House announced Friday morning.

    The new executive order directs federal agencies to consider the “disproportionate and adverse” impacts of climate change on minority and low-income communities, as opposed to “disproportionately high and adverse” impacts mentioned in a previous executive order, according to a White House fact sheet. This Biden administration hopes that this will prevent any “misunderstanding” that agencies should focus on only “large disproportionate effects,” expanding the scope of federal agency’s climate obligations to include any disparate climate impacts on minority and low-income communities.

    “With this action, the President is working to ensure that all people – regardless of race, background, income, ability, Tribal affiliation, or zip code – can benefit from the vital safeguards enshrined in our nation’s foundational environmental and civil rights laws,” the White House said in a statement. “That means cleaner air and water, reduced risk for asthma, cancer, and other health burdens, and better access to green space, safe and affordable housing, and clean transportation.”

    The executive order will also expand the programs covered by the president’s Justice40 Initiative — which directs 40% of all funds from certain federal projects to communities that are “marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution” — and make environmental justice a “duty” that all executive agencies must consider

    https://dailycallernewsfoundation.org/2023/04/21/biden-introduces-new-federal-agency-with-massive-new-climate-authority/

  11. President Trump Tells General Michael Flynn “Stay in Good Health, Mike, and Get Ready” (VIDEO)
    By Joe Hoft Apr. 22, 2023 8:30 am0 Comments

    President Trump told General Michael Flynn, his former National Security Advisor, to “stay in good health” and “get ready” in his speech yesterday in Lee County, Florida.

    President Trump spoke at the Lee County Lincoln Days Dinner. During his speech yesterday in Ft. Myers, Florida, Trump singled out General Michael Flynn.

    President Trump said:

    friend of mine and a very brave, brave person, somebody that got it very early and went through hell and he handled it like the brave man he is, General Michael Flynn. Where’s Michael? Where is Michael? Thank you Mike.

    Brave guy, great guy.

    Stay in good health Mike, get ready. Ok? It’s not long. A year and a half, Michael, just stay healthy.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/president-trump-tells-general-michael-flynn-stay-in-good-health-mike-and-get-ready/

  15. Trudeau to travel to New York for next week’s star-studded Global Citizen summit

    WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to head to New York next week for an international summit championing sustainable development and human rights.

    Summit host Global Citizen bills the event as a forum to address some of the most urgent challenges facing humanity and the planet.

    The Prime Minister’s Office says Trudeau will champion women’s rights when he joins other world leaders, artists and musicians at the event April 27-28.

    Other scheduled attendees include French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados.

    https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2023/04/21/trudeau-to-travel-to-new-york-for-next-weeks-star-studded-global-citizen-summit/
    ==========================
    Prime Minister to participate in Global Citizen NOW summit

    The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced he will travel to New York City, United States of America to participate in the Global Citizen NOW summit to advance collective efforts in addressing some of the most pressing global challenges and building a better and more equal world for everyone.

    The Prime Minister will drive progress toward reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – a path forward for Canada and the world that leaves no one behind.

    At the summit, the Prime Minister will champion women’s rights, including sexual and reproductive health and rights and the empowerment of women everywhere. He will highlight the important work women’s rights organizations, human rights defenders, women peace builders, and young feminists are doing at this critical time when women’s rights are under attack in many places throughout the world.

    As co-chairs of the SDG Advocates, a group including academics, politicians, artists, musicians and more from around the world, Prime Minister Trudeau and the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, will convene a meeting of the group. They will take stock at the half-way point towards the 2030 goals and work together to raise ambition in the lead up to the SDG Summit in September 2023.

    Prime Minister Trudeau will also address the Council on Foreign Relations to build on the success of President Biden’s visit last month by emphasizing the importance of the Canada-United States bilateral relationship and our strong shared interest in building clean economies that benefit everyone on both sides of the border. Engaging with the private sector, investors, and financial leaders in New York, the Prime Minister will promote Canada’s economic outlook, commitment to developing the North American electric vehicle supply chain, and role as a reliable energy supplier and partner, while championing trade and investment opportunities with Canada.

    Quote
    “Building a future that is fair, equal, and peaceful, with clean air and clean water for everyone, is at the heart of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and reflects the vision of the Global Citizen NOW summit. In New York City, I look forward to advancing our shared progress and advocating for strong global commitments to support gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls everywhere.”

    The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
    Quick Facts

    In 2015, Canada joined all United Nations (UN) Member States in adopting ambitious goals for sustainable development, as outlined in Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 2030 Agenda centres on a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), encompassing social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Taken together, the SDGs aim to improve the lives of all people, while protecting the planet.
    In February 2021, the Government of Canada released the Moving Forward Together: Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy, which aims to create and foster a whole-of-society approach to accelerate progress on the SDGs, in Canada and abroad. Canada continues to take a gender-responsive approach to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda through its Feminist Foreign Policy, including the Feminist International Assistance Policy.

    Last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, were invited by the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, to co-chair the UN Sustainable Development Goals Advocates group to raise global awareness of the SDGs and accelerate action toward achieving these goals.

    The Global Citizen NOW summit will take place April 27 and 28, 2023, and will bring together government leaders, private sector executives, grassroots activists, cultural innovators, philanthropic experts, and leading journalists to set a global agenda for action on the most urgent issues facing humanity and the planet.

    Canada and the U.S. share a strong bilateral relationship built over the past 150 years and one of the largest trading relationships in the world, with over $1 trillion in bilateral trade in goods and services in 2021, making Canada the largest U.S. trading partner in goods and services.

    https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2023/04/21/prime-minister-participate-global-citizen-now-summit

    =========================

    Global Citizen NOW: Everything to Know & How You Can Get Involved

    This year, you can take part in the summit from wherever you are in the world.

    […]What Does the Program Look Like?
    Once again, this year’s summit is bringing together some of the world’s biggest decision makers, innovative thinkers, and brightest minds to spotlight urgent issues and work towards solving them.

    Showcasing the power of cross-sector participation to make progress on the systemic challenges our world is facing, Global Citizen NOW will feature a diverse program of sessions and speakers including:

    Climate of Urgency: Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados; Vanessa Nakate, Ugandan climate justice activist, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and author of A Bigger Picture; Ursula von der Leyen , President of the European Commission; Chris Martin, International Global Citizen Festival Curator; and Dr. Rajiv Shah, President, Rockefeller Foundation.

    How Ideas Become Impact: Sabrina Elba, United Nations IFAD Goodwill Ambassador; Hugh Jackman, Global Citizen Ambassador; Hugh Evans, Co-Founder & CEO, Global Citizen
    New York Attorney General Letitia Jamesin conversation with two time Emmy Award-winning journalist and author Tamron Hall.

    The “Good Life” : Portia Blunt, Vice President, Global Apparel, Reebok; Ebro Darden, Global Editorial Head of Hip-Hop and R&B, Apple Music, and Host, HOT 97; Nicole LaPointe Jameson, CEO, Evil Geniuses; Jordan Fisher, producer, actor, gamer; Gary Vaynerchuk, Chairman, VaynerX, and CEO, VaynerMedia

    Other participants include: Maggie Baird, Founder and President, Support + Feed; Helder Barbalho, Governor of the Amazonic State of Pará, Brazil; Phoebe Gates, Women’s Health & Reproductive Rights Activist; Prabal Gurung, Creative Director and Fashion Designer; Katie Holmes; Fran Katsoudas, EVP and Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer, Cisco; Alvaro Lario, President, International Fund for Agricultural Development; Stefan Löfven, Former Prime Minister of Sweden; Tshepo Mahloele, Founder & Chairman, Harith General Partners; Mark Malloch-Brown, President, Open Society Foundations; Chris Martin, International Global Citizen Festival Curator; Peter McGuinness, President & CEO, Impossible Foods; Catherine McKenna , Chair of the UN High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero; Bridget Moynahan, Global Citizen Ambassador; Antonio Nuño, CEO, Someone Somewhere; Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer, P&G; Amanda Seales, Comedian and Social Justice Advocate; Alok Sharma, COP26 President and Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom; Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director, Education Cannot Wait; Erna Solberg, Former Prime Minister of Norway; Abena Soreno, Founder, GOALSFORFLOW; Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation; and Elizabeth Wathuti, Kenyan Climate Activist and Founder, Green Generation Initiative.

    https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/global-citizen-now-everything-to-know-2023/

    ===================================
    GLOBAL CITIZEN NOW

    APRIL 27 & 28 | NYC

    Global Citizen NOW returns this April with a dynamic, two-day program focused on turning ideas into impact. Convening the brightest minds and leading voices across all spheres of society, from world leaders to grassroots activists, Global Citizen NOW showcases the power of cross-sector collaboration to solve the most urgent issues facing humanity and our planet.

    Make Your Voice Heard

    Join the conversation at Global Citizen NOW by leaving your message for world leaders, artists, and activists.

    We want to know what changes you want to see happen to make our world a better place – from making sure every kid gets an education, to achieving gender equality, stopping pollution, protecting nature, supporting rural farmers, and defending free speech.

    The best submissions will be featured at the event!

    […]

    […]

    […]

    MORE:

    https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/info/now/

    ==================================
    rudeau’s message on Eid al-Fitr

  21. APRIL 22 2023 – UK – THE TIMES – Ukraine’s soldiers face lack of firepower to stop Russian onslaught

    Kyiv is at risk of losing control of its air space unless the West answers desperate plea for more weapons

    When a little black kitten was born at a frontline base in Kharkiv, the soldiers adopted it as their mascot, calling it “Stinger” after the feared shoulder-held missile that helped to defeat the Soviet army in Afghanistan. “It’s the only air defence we have here,” one of the men, codenamed “Hollywood”, explained.

    Three decades on, Russian aircraft are equipped with new technology that scrambles the Stinger’s heat-seeking targeting system. “Now we have to fire two and hope that the second one will make it,” Hollywood said.

    “We have used anti-tank missiles against them too and it stopped them from sending helicopters far into our territory because they were scared they would get hit. But now the Russians know we are running low on ammunition they are getting bolder. There are more and more helicopters and aircraft coming every day and they are starting to realise we can’t stop them.”

    The top-secret Pentagon documents leaked online by a junior American airman in recent weeks have revealed weaknesses in the Ukrainian military and sounded an alarm bell. They showed, among other things, that Ukraine is so short of anti-aircraft munitions that it could lose control of its skies to Russia as soon as next month — just as it gears up for a ground offensive to retake territory it lost last year.

    That was little surprise to the soldiers holding the line from Svatove to Kreminna, where Russian troops have been trying to break through every day, after being pushed out of much of Kharkiv in September. The Kremlin’s attention was concentrated elsewhere at the time: the southern front in Kherson and the “meat grinder” of Bakhmut, the Donbas town where thousands of soldiers on both sides have died.

    Russia had already taken note of Ukraine’s diminishing air defence supplies. A winter campaign to destroy Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure may have been unsuccessful but it resulted in the concentration of air defences over cities and key installations, leaving little to cover the front line.

    At the same time, Russia made improvements to its FAB-500 “dumb” bomb, giving it wings and a GPS system that allows it to be dropped from a warplane and travel to its intended target independently, without the aircraft ever entering enemy airspace and exposing itself to fire. Such a bomb, dropped from an Su-34, was responsible for an accidental strike on the Russian city of Belgorod last night which injured at least three people. Analysts have credited the rise in such incidents to a sharp increase in the number of Russian military flights.

    Ukraine’s military planners now question how aerial cover can be provided for ground troops in the looming offensive. Allies have yet to answer their anguished appeals for F-16 jets.
    Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, repeated that plea at a meeting of western defence ministers at the Ramstein air base in Germany today, a day after Jens Stoltenberg visited Kyiv for the first time, in a show of solidarity. President Zelensky said he had asked the Nato secretary-general “to help us overcome our partners’ reticence to supply some weapons, namely long-range weapons, modern aviation, artillery and armoured vehicles”.

    At a drone-operating base inside an abandoned house a few miles from Russian trenches, soldiers demonstrated the effect of their diminishing stocks of ammunition. A large monitor displayed the feed from a Ukrainian drone hovering close to the Russian lines, showing several men moving forward. “If there are less than ten of them, it’s a waste of a mortar, we need them to strike their artillery,” one of the men, nicknamed “Cat”, said. A sniper managed to shoot one of the enemy team, scattering the others.

    The $6,000 drone, equipped with night-vision cameras, is one of the most expensive this unit uses. Other commercial models cost about $3,000, many bought through crowdfunding.

    Increasingly, however, the Russians are improving their jamming capabilities, using systems the men believe have recently arrived from China. The most popular drone used by the Ukrainians is a commercial Chinese model — and Russia’s increasing success in jamming them has stoked speculation on the Ukrainian side that Beijing is helping them to do so.
    In theory, the drones are banned from use in Ukraine or Russia because DJI, the Shenzhen-based manufacturer, said it did not want them used there. But they are bought in large numbers by donors in Europe and the US and sent to Ukraine.

    The fear is that Russia’s progress in jamming the drones will render thousands of Ukraine’s most valuable tools inoperable, with little prospect of replacements being found. While the drones have been hailed from the start of the conflict as one of Ukraine’s most effective low-cost equipment, they are now, if anything, even more crucial as ammunition runs low, making precise targeting critical to preserving stocks.

    “Every day we are losing a drone,” Cat said. “On a really bad day it can be three or four. And without them we cannot target what munitions we have. It’s a daily battle to keep them in the air.”

    The drones, sourced in the EU, require special export licences, which slows their supply. There is no such problem for the Russians, who buy cheaper models in China.
    “Drones are absolutely critical for both sides,” an operator known as Koala said, taking a break after three days in the frontline trench 700 metres from the enemy. “They are flying for both sides, 24/7.”

    Just as critical are the soldiers themselves. “The biggest problem in our company is we need more men,” a commander, Chaos, said. A year of fighting has seen their numbers depleted by injury, ill health and fatalities, nowhere more so than Bakhmut where many are increasingly questioning the wisdom of throwing so many highly trained, experienced fighters into what has become a bloodbath. The bulk of Russia’s losses there have been from the Wagner paramilitary force, convicts given early release in return for a six-month deployment.

    Here in Kharkiv, the Ukrainians have started to see fighters from rival private military companies, including the one run by President Putin’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, a bitter rival of the Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin. “It’s the new fashion, having your own private army,” Hollywood joked, cuddling the kitten in his huge hands. “There’s enough Russians for everyone.”

    https://archive.ph/IKMVx#selection-1063.0-1103.379

    ====================================
    redacted – It’s over and NATO is finished

    NATO is looking for a way out of Ukraine according to recent reports. These claims come on the heals of mysteriously time document leaks showing the war in Ukraine is unwinnable for NATO unless it wants to launch WW3.

    The news also follows recent independent reports showing that Russia just destroyed a heavily fortified underground bunker that housed over 300 top NATO and Ukrainian leaders.
    Why is the media silent on this story?

    • DEUTSCHE PRAVDA – How Ukraine’s frontline Muslims keep the faith in wartime

      Ukraine is largely Christian of one sort or another.

      But it also has a Muslim minority.

      Most of them are from Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, and the east, so they’ve been particularly affected by displacement and occupation.

      They observed the holy month of Ramadan and Eid – in the middle of a war.

      [ they seem to forget that when at war Muslims don't have to fast ... ]

      DW’s Aya Ibrahim traveled to a mosque near the eastern front line.

      There she met a former Muslim spiritual leader from the Donbas region who now spends much of his time helping soldiers in a very practical way.


    • zero hedge – Moscow Boots 20 German Diplomats In Tit-for-Tat Mass Expulsion

      At a moment G7 countries are mulling whether or not to ratchet the sanctions regimen on Moscow further, relations between Russia and leading EU countries continue sliding with little hope of repair.

      The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Germany is initiating a new massive expulsion of Russian diplomats in the country, and that Moscow will respond in kind. Russia has blamed Germany for destroying “the foundations of the Russian-German relations.”

      “The German government has made a decision on a new massive expulsion of employees of Russian diplomatic missions in Germany … We strongly condemn this actions of Berlin that continues to defiantly destroy the foundations of the Russian-German relations, including their diplomatic dimension,” the ministry stated.

      “As a response to Berlin’s hostile actions, the Russian side has taken a decision on a ‘mirror’ expulsion of German diplomats from Russia as well as on a substantial reduction of a maximum number of employees of German diplomatic missions in our country. German Ambassador to Russia Geza Andreas von Geyr was informed about it during the discussion in the Russian Foreign Ministry on April 5, 2023,” the statement added.

      The tit-for-tat move will involve Russia booting over 20 German diplomats from its soil, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed to RIA Novosti on Saturday.

      Interestingly this comes at a moment the Kremlin is being widely accused of trying to influence German politicians to form an influential anti-war coalition, in order to return Germany to a more neutral approach regarding the Ukraine conflict:

      The Kremlin attempted to sway German politicians to form an anti-war coalition as part of a broader strategy to weaken European backing for Ukraine, The Washington Post reported Friday.

      Citing documents dated between July and November last year that were obtained by an unidentified European intelligence service, the publication said Kremlin deputy chief of staff Sergei Kiriyenko had ordered Russian political strategists at a July 13 meeting to “focus” on Germany.

      A Sept. 9 document spelled out plans for uniting Germany’s leading far-left lawmaker Sahra Wagenknecht and the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party under a common anti-war banner, WP reported.

      But the reality remains that these groups are already highly skeptical of Germany abandoning its historic neutrality last year, and joining what’s now in effect a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. The German Left party MP in question has called the allegations fake news.

      Germany’s Ukraine policy now involves Berlin sending its Leopard II main battle tanks, a highly controversial move. Countries like Germany, France, and Hungary have come under criticism by European hawks for either not acting fast enough to support Ukraine, or blocking muscular initiatives.

      https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/moscow-boots-20-german-diplomats-tit-tat-mass-expulsion

      ======================

      APRIL 21 2023 – WaPo – Kremlin tries to build antiwar coalition in Germany, documents show

      Marrying Germany’s far right and far left is a Kremlin goal, according to a trove of Russian documents reviewed by The Washington Post

      BERLIN — When 13,000 demonstrators gathered at the Brandenburg Gate on Feb. 25 to call for an end to weapons supplies to Ukraine, the protest was led by Sahra Wagenknecht, a member of parliament for Germany’s far-left Die Linke party and a firebrand with national ambitions. Wagenknecht decried the prospect that German tanks, soon to be delivered to Ukraine, could once again be used to shoot at “Russian women and men.”

      “We don’t want Germany to be drawn deeper into this war,” she said, as she called for the creation of a new peace movement and condemned the bloodshed in Ukraine, without mentioning Russia’s invasion.

      Among the crowd in Berlin was Jürgen Elsässer, editor of a far-right-wing magazine, and dozens of members of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party who cheered Wagenknecht’s calls to cut off Ukraine. Elsässer’s Compact magazine had recently declared on its cover that Wagenknecht was: “The best chancellor — a candidate for the left and the right.”

      The coming together of political opposites in Berlin under the banner of peace had been percolating for months, though the union remains ad hoc and unofficial. But marrying Germany’s extremes is an explicit Kremlin goal and was first proposed by senior officials in Moscow in early September, according to a trove of sensitive Russian documents largely dated from July to November that were obtained by a European intelligence service and reviewed by The Washington Post.

      The documents record meetings between Kremlin officials and Russian political strategists, and the Kremlin’s orders for the strategists to focus on Germany to build antiwar sentiment in Europe and dampen support for Ukraine. The files also chronicle the strategists’ efforts to implement these plans and their reports back to the Kremlin. The documents do not contain any material that records communications between the Russian strategists and any allies in Germany. But interviews show that at least one person close to Wagenknecht and several AfD members were in contact with Russian officials at the time the plans were being drawn up.

      The documents — details of which were broadly corroborated by officials in Western governments — show for the first time the Kremlin’s direct attempts to interfere in German politics by seeking to forge a new coalition among Wagenknecht, the far left and the AfD, as well as to support protests by extremists on the left and right against the German government.

      The aim of a new political formation, according to a document dated Sept. 9, would be to win “a majority in elections at any level” in Germany and reset the AfD to boost its standing beyond the 13 percent the party was polling at then. The reset, laid out among the documents in a proposed manifesto for the AfD that was written by Kremlin political strategists, includes forging the AfD into the party of “German unity” and declaring sanctions on Russia as counter to German interests.

      “Inadequate politicians, unable to calculate the consequences of their decisions, have dragged Germany into conflict with Russia — a natural ally of our country and of our people,” the manifesto stated. “Our interests demand the restoration of normal partnership relations with Russia. … Today in Germany there are only two parties: the party of enemies of Germany and the party of its friends.” It is unclear from the documents if the manifesto ever reached anyone in the AfD.

      Efforts to build antiwar sentiment in Germany are part of a hidden front in Russia’s war against Ukraine as the Kremlin tries to undermine Western unity and freeze the war on its terms. Exploiting peace protests to divide the West repeats tactics that were first honed in Soviet times, and have come back to the fore since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Elsässer, 66, who has migrated from the Communist left to the far right over the course of his political life, first led demonstrations in the 1980s against the deployment of U.S. Pershing II missiles in West Germany. His Compact magazine is now described by German officials as a Kremlin propaganda outlet.

      “We know [these tactics] from the Cold War, when the Soviets tried to influence and manipulate the antiwar movements,” said a senior German security official who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

      The files indicate that on July 13, first Kremlin deputy chief of staff Sergei Kiriyenko assembled a group of Russian political strategists and told them that Germany was to become “the focus” of Moscow’s efforts to undermine support for Ukraine in Europe.

      The Kremlin’s proposed strategy would draw together two German factions with long-standing pro-Russian stances. Wagenknecht, 53, is a former Communist who grew up in East Germany and has clashed several times with the more traditional leadership of Die Linke, including over her populist stance against unauthorized immigration and her claims that the party was too focused on left-wing academic elites, not the working class.

      Opinion polls show that her popularity is growing nationally, and she is openly mulling forming a new party. German pundits predict she would draw support from the AfD’s base, and overall could garner up to 24 percent of the national vote, according to a recent poll cited by the German magazine Der Spiegel, which just put Wagenknecht on its cover.

      Wagenknecht said in a statement to The Post that there would not be “any cooperation or alliance” between her “and elements of the AfD in any form.” She said any suggestion that she may have received communications from Russian officials or their representatives proposing an alliance with the AfD was “absurd,” adding that she had “not been in contact with anyone from the Russian state or any of its representatives.”

      The AfD — called the party of “Putin understanders” by some in Germany — has echoed the Kremlin’s view that the war in Ukraine was triggered by the United States and that Russia was simply defending itself from NATO encirclement while protecting Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine. Moscow has long cultivated dozens of AfD members, especially through lavish, all-expenses-paid trips to Russia, documents and interviews show.

      It is not clear from the documents how the political strategists working with the Kremlin attempted to communicate with members of the AfD or other potential German allies about Moscow’s plans. But soon after the Kremlin gave the order for a union to be forged between Wagenknecht and the far right, AfD deputies began speaking in support of her in parliament and party members chanted her name at rallies. Björn Höcke, chairman of the AfD in Thüringen in eastern Germany, publicly invited her to join the party.

      The AfD as well as its co-leader Tino Chrupalla declined to comment in response to questions about the alliance and whether the AfD had received any communications from the Kremlin or individuals close to it proposing such a union.

      Some in the AfD described the Russian effort as predictable but not necessarily having any actual role in charting the party’s direction, especially since the two German camps held diametrically opposed views on running the economy. “Of course, the Russians are going to make use of every opportunity, but for them it is only theory,” said one AfD member of parliament, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive party matters. “It is some kind of theoretical battle plan. But it is not what we are practicing here.”

      Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied that the Kremlin was involved in any efforts to interfere in German politics. “This is 100 percent fake,” Peskov told The Post. “We never interfered before and now we really don’t have time for this.”

      At least two key figures — one in the AfD and another close to Wagenknecht — said they were in contact with Kremlin officials or Kremlin allies at the time Moscow’s proposals for a coalition were being drawn up. In addition, three AfD lawmakers traveled to Russia on Sept. 20 but broke off the trip after less than a day following a public outcry — and censure from the AfD party leadership — over their plans to visit Donbas, the region in eastern Ukraine that is illegally occupied by Russia.

      One of the individuals in contact with Russian officials was Ralph Niemeyer, Wagenknecht’s ex-husband. He told The Post that he was still in near-daily communication with Wagenknecht and that during recent meetings with top-level Kremlin officials in Moscow it was clear to him that “there are certain people in Russia who have [an] interest” in a union between Wagenknecht and the far right.

      “I know from private talks with these people that they are aware of the potential that this would have,” said Niemeyer, whose house was raided in late March as part of a criminal investigation over his alleged involvement in a plot by the ultra-right Reichsbürger movement to overthrow the German government — allegations that Niemeyer denies.

      Despite the Kremlin’s interest, Niemeyer said, Wagenknecht would never accept any support from Moscow. “That would immediately destroy this project because … you saw it with Marine Le Pen in France. She only borrowed some money from some Russian bank, and not even a donation, and that cost her the presidency. Sahra can’t make that mistake.”

      Wagenknecht said she would not comment about her private contacts in response to a question about whether she was in frequent communication with Niemeyer.

      The other individual was Petr Bystron, a charismatic AfD member of parliament. Bystron traveled secretly to Belarus for three days in November; he acknowledged the trip only after it was exposed by Lithuanian and German media. Bystron told The Post that he met with the Belarusian foreign minister and that the visit was a fact-finding mission to prepare an AfD peace initiative, not to discuss German politics. He said he did not meet with any Russian officials. A trip he had made to Kyiv to visit Viktor Medvedchuk, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who was under house arrest, not long before Russia’s invasion had also raised concerns among European officials, according to a European security official.

      ‘This is going to be complicated’
      In early July, Putin declared that “even in the countries that are still satellites of the United States, there is a growing understanding that their ruling elites’ blind obedience to their overlord, as a rule, does not necessarily coincide with their national interests, and most often simply and even radically contradicts them.”

      Days later, Kiriyenko summoned the political strategists to the Kremlin, and they began to try to exploit the perceived contradiction identified by Putin, the documents show. The political strategists had been told at the meeting with Kiriyenko that their main target was Germany, where they were to discredit the European Union, the United States, Britain and NATO while convincing Germans they were being harmed by the sanctions imposed on Russia, one of the documents dated July 13 shows. The share of the German population in favor of improving relations with Russia, Kiriyenko demanded, was to be boosted by 10 percent within a three-month time frame, a later document shows.

      The Russian political strategists rued the difficulty of their task. “This is going to be complicated,” one of them noted. They immediately scrambled to work with Russian troll farms to pump out slogans for German social media platforms and protests — “Buy gas, not war” and “Ukraine wants war, Germany want peace.” Preparing slogans for protests over soaring energy costs formed another part of the strategy, according to the documents, though that issue failed to get much traction because of a mild winter in Europe and the German government’s ability to diversify energy supplies.

      The campaign even extended to graffiti to be painted on walls across Germany and then photographed and placed in the German press, the documents show. These included a drawing of a fat “Uncle Sam” saying, “Bear it a few more years.” Another depicted German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock sitting on the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany, waving a Ukrainian flag and saying, “I don’t care what the Germans think.” It is unclear whether any of this graffiti appeared.

      Russian disinformation is demonizing Ukrainian refugees

      The strategists reported their progress at least once a month to Kremlin officials, the documents show, using a dashboard presentation to demonstrate the reach of their social networks, Telegram accounts and other media, such as a YouTube talk show, “Understanding the Russians,” set up in August.

      By late August, the documents show, the strategists were compiling information about planned protests across Germany, from Neustrelitz, a small town north of Berlin, to Stuttgart in the west. The protests were to take place under the leadership of the far left or the far right, including demonstrations to be led by the Reichsbürger movement. The strategists hoped to use the rallies as an opportunity to promote their own agenda, a security official familiar with the documents said, adding that they may have initiated some of the protests.

      Demonstrators taking part in protest walks held every Monday in Leipzig and Neustrelitz carried slogans drawn up by the Kremlin strategists, demanding in Leipzig: “Launch Nord Stream 2 immediately!” “Lift the anti-Russian sanctions!” and “Lower electricity prices!” In Neustrelitz, they declared: “We want to live and not just survive!” and “What are we going to warm ourselves with in winter?”

      ‘You have to choose one side, especially in wartime’
      For many AfD members of parliament, the party’s alignment with Russia over the war in Ukraine, and with the Kremlin’s anti-LGBTQ and anti-globalist agenda, is natural — and, they insist, not dictated by Moscow. The party was founded in 2013 in opposition to the German government’s handling of the euro-zone crisis, but it soon took ever-harder right-wing stances: anti-immigration and railing against what party members saw as Germany’s Atlanticist and liberal ruling elites.

      “Normally, defending Ukraine would coincide with our own interests in the idea of national sovereignty. We believe in a Europe of fatherlands,” said Andreas Kalbitz, former chairman of the AfD in Brandenburg and a member of the party’s executive board until 2020, when he was ousted over his membership in a neo-Nazi group. “But this is a proxy war. And for many conservative people, Putin is the only big player working against the whole idea of Western liberalism. … You have to choose one side, especially in wartime. But you can’t say AfD is some kind of fifth column.”

      Kalbitz, like many other AfD members of parliament, was a frequent guest in Moscow. The AfD lawmakers’ expenses, documents from the trove show, were often paid out of the Kremlin kitty, often through the “Russian Peace Foundation,” an organization chaired by the Russian parliament’s foreign affairs committee chief, Leonid Slutsky. The foundation “will cover the expenses for your trip to Russia,” said one such invitation from Slutsky to Kay Gottschalk, an AfD lawmaker, dated Oct. 3, 2018, according to one of the documents. Gottschalk declined to comment.

      Kalbitz insisted his Kremlin hosts had never offered the party money — and noted that Alexander Gauland, one of the AfD’s founding fathers, said the party would never accept if offered. But he conceded that he could not speak for every AfD lawmaker and said the Russians had frequently wowed their guests with sumptuous hospitality. In his case, that included an evening in one of St. Petersburg’s most ornate imperial palaces, the Yusupov Palace, rented out solely for the handful of AfD visitors and their Kremlin-connected hosts, complete with a private performance by soloists from the Bolshoi Theater. “The Russians believe they can do most things with money,” Kalbitz said.

      Leaked emails from Russian officials, including an attache in the Russian Embassy in Berlin, previously reported in Der Spiegel in cooperation with the Dossier Center in London, have offered some insight into how the Russians viewed their German guests. “We will have our own absolutely controlled MP in the Bundestag,” one April 2017 email said of Markus Frohnmaier, an AfD member of parliament and a guest on several junkets. Frohnmaier has previously denied the assertion and didn’t respond to a request for comment from The Post.

      AfD members and Niemeyer have continued to travel to Russia since the war began. When Niemeyer traveled to Vladivostok, a Russian city in the Far East, in September, he posted images on social media of his meetings at an economic forum with Peskov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Alexei Miller, chief executive of Gazprom, the Russian state gas giant.

      Niemeyer said at the time that he was there to negotiate a new gas supply contract through Nord Stream 2 with Moscow, on behalf of what he called “a German government in exile.”

      The aim of the exercise was clear: a publicity stunt to try to put pressure on the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz to seek a new relationship with Moscow as German businesses smarted from soaring energy costs. Niemeyer told The Post he delivered a copy of the proposed contract to the chancellor’s office, and then told Alice Weidel, the AfD co-leader, who raised the issue with Scholz in parliament.

      “She said, ‘What if we found out later that you were sitting on an offer from Gazprom and you didn’t sign it?’” Niemeyer said.

      Niemeyer said he returned to Moscow following the Baltic Sea explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines in September and was told by a top Kremlin official, Yury Ushakov, that supplies could still be delivered through Nord Stream 2, where one branch was undamaged in the explosions. During these meetings, he said, he was given a special encrypted telephone for communicating securely with Peskov, who, he said, is also interested in the effort to unite Wagenknecht and the AfD. Peskov did not respond to a request for comment about whether he gave an encrypted phone to Niemeyer.

      “Peskov doesn’t openly speak about [such an alliance] because he can’t be quoted as saying, ‘We wish this happens in Germany.’ That’s domestic policy,” he said. “But I know from private talks with these people they are aware of the potential this would have. … That’s why I am talking to people who are more right-wing and saying, ‘Let’s forget about all the differences we have.’”

      The idea of union with the AfD, he said, has so far not sat well with his ex-wife. Although at the Feb. 25 protest Wagenknecht said she welcomed everyone who was “pure in heart” and for peace and negotiations with Russia, she has balked at openly seeking an alliance with the far right, fearing it would cost her support on the left, her supporters say. Niemeyer said that if she formed her own party, she could garner 10 to 20 percent of the national vote, drawing some AfD support. But if she officially forged an alliance with the AfD, Niemeyer asserted, without citing any specific polling, “she would probably be given a majority.”

      “She is immensely popular in Germany, so she would win the chancellorship with that, yes,” he said, adding that he was already preparing a platform for Wagenknecht in hope that calls from Germany’s main opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union, for a parliamentary inquiry into Scholz’s handling of a tax fraud scam before he became chancellor could lead to early elections. The Russians “would immediately support her,” Niemeyer said, after spending a further two weeks in Moscow in April.

      Some in the AfD are wary of joining forces with Wagenknecht, fearing she will end up diluting the potential of the party as a national force. While such an alliance could win AfD votes in east Germany, it would cost the party in the west, Kalbitz said. “Without the western part of Germany, the AfD will have no future on the level of the whole republic. We don’t intend to lose our standing. I don’t want to have one piece of cake when I can have the whole bakery. … We are not here to fulfill Russian dreams.”

      But for Bystron, the AfD spokesperson on foreign policy, an alliance with Wagenknecht is attractive. “It is visible that on one side there is the globalist coalition and on the other side the populists, in the positive sense of the word.”

      Bystron insisted any such alliance was happening naturally and had nothing to do with any Kremlin plans. AfD supporters had first joined with the far left for protests against restrictions during the pandemic, he said. “This coalition is already [here],” he said. “The people are on the streets. They are already there. They are standing side by side.”

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/04/21/germany-russia-interference-afd-wagenknecht/

  24. California Will Use National Guard to Combat Fentanyl Crisis.
    By Anthony Scott Apr. 22, 2023 9:45 am67 Comments

    Governor Gavin Newsom of California announced the California Highway Patrol and the California National Guard will now be used to combat the ongoing fentanyl crisis in San Francisco.

    In recent years, overdose death in the city of San Francisco has skyrocketed due to Democrat elected officials such as Newsom being soft on drug-related crime.

    Newsom in his announcement stated the new partnerships between the National Guard and law enforcement agencies will “crack down on crime linked to the fentanyl crisis and hold the poison peddlers accountable.”

    The California governor refused to address the homeless crisis in San Francisco which is one of the main root causes of overdose deaths.

    The University of California San Francisco reported that 82% of homeless deaths in San Francisco are due to drug overdoses.

    Per the Office of Gavin Newsom:

    Today Governor Gavin Newsom announced an agreement between the California Highway Patrol (CHP), California National Guard (CalGuard), San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office (SFDA) to assist the city in its ongoing efforts to address the fentanyl crisis.

    This agreement will lead to the formation of a new collaborative operation between all four agencies focused on dismantling fentanyl trafficking and disrupting the supply of the deadly drug in the city by holding the operators of large-scale drug trafficking operations accountable.

    “We’re taking action. Through this new collaborative partnership, we are providing more law enforcement resources and personnel to crack down on crime linked to the fentanyl crisis, holding the poison peddlers accountable, and increasing law enforcement presence to improve public safety and public confidence in San Francisco.”

    Earlier in the month a woman gave birth on a San Francisco sidewalk just hours after doing drugs.

    READ:

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/california-will-use-national-guard-to-combat-fentanyl-crisis/

    (Richard: Is he declaring martial law? The guard are soldiers not cops so they will be useless investigating and arresting drug smugglers. Unless he is planning on having them shut down the Southern border.)

  25. White House Condemns Bud Light Boycott — Says ‘Dangerous Rhetoric’ and ‘Vitriolic Language and Violence’ Needs to Stop (VIDEO)
    By Cassandra MacDonald Apr. 22, 2023 10:00 am218 Comments

    The White House has condemned the boycott of Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch over the company’s partnership with controversial transgender activist and influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
    The company has lost over $6 billion in market capitalization since the partnership with Mulvaney was announced.

    During Thursday’s press briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about the conservative boycott.

    “The transgender actor and influencer Dylan Mulvaney has been the target of a barrage of attacks from anti-trans individuals online after she did an ad with Bud Light a couple of weeks ago,” asked CBS News reporter Nancy Cordes. “She’s someone who has been here to the White House. She interviewed the president last year and he had a lot of warm words for her. Has

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/white-house-condemns-bud-light-boycott-says-dangerous-rhetoric-and-vitriolic-language-and-violence-needs-to-stop-video/

  26. Diplomats and nationals from the UK, US, France and China are to be evacuated from Sudan by air as fighting there continues, a statement from the Sudanese army says.

    Army chief Fattah al-Burhan agreed to facilitate and secure their evacuation “in the coming hours”, it said.

    He is locked in a bitter power struggle with the leader of a rival paramilitary faction, the Rapid Support Forces.

    The UK government said it was preparing for “a number of contingencies”.

    Previous plans to evacuate foreign nationals have not been implemented because of safety fears.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65358069

  29. Biden Official Placed On Leave, Has Office Raided And Taped Off After “Security Incident”
    By ProTrumpNews Staff Apr. 22, 2023 11:15 am137 Comments

    This is not a good look for the Biden administration.

    DHS official Brian Sulc, executive director of the Transnational Organized Crime Mission Center at DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis, had his office searched and was escorted out of the building Monday.

    His office was sealed with police tape and evidence seals were put around the keyholes.

    Sulc is under investigation for allegedly taking a personal electronic device into a secured office – this is a violation of security protocols.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/biden-official-placed-on-leave-has-office-raided-and-taped-off-after-security-incident/

  31. Based Grandpa’ Stands Up For His Beliefs and Refuses to Dance With Drag Queen On Show… “I’m a Man of God” [VIDEO]
    By Patty McMurray Apr. 22, 2023 12:20 pm47 Comments

    A video has gone viral on social media that shows an elderly man refusing to dance with a drag queen because he is a “man of God.”

    100 Percent Fed Up reports – The clip, from the media company Participant, was originally released in 2019 but just recently began to circulate on social media. It is gaining a lot of attention because of how strongly one of the men stuck to his beliefs and didn’t bow to the pressure of the woke left to accept a lifestyle that doesn’t align with his values or that he is uncomfortable with.

    In the video, three elderly men were paired up with three drag queens. Neither of them knew beforehand, but they were challenged with choreographing a dance routine to Britney Spears’ “Toxic” in just 30 minutes.

    It also seems that the elderly men did not know their dance partners would be drag queens

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/based-grandpa-stands-up-for-his-beliefs-and-refuses-to-dance-with-drag-queen-on-show-im-a-man-of-god-video/

  32. North Dakota House Passes Ban on Sexually Explicit Books in Children’s Sections of Libraries
    By Cassandra MacDonald Apr. 22, 2023 1:00 pm24 Comments

    The North Dakota House has passed a bill to remove sexually explicit books from the children’s section of libraries.
    The bill has passed the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities. Ten Republicans and all Democrats voted against it, but it still passed with a 70-22 vote.

    The legislation describes “explicit sexual material” as “any material which, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest of minors; is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community in North Dakota as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.”

    The bill also applies to “newsstands or any other business establishment frequented by minors, or where minors are or may be invited as a part of the general public.”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/north-dakota-house-passes-ban-on-sexually-explicit-books-in-childrens-sections-of-libraries/

  33. Abortion Surges to the Center of the 2024 Campaign
    April 22, 2023

    Nearly a year after the Supreme Court turned abortion into a dominant issue of the 2022 midterms, the battle over abortion rights has catapulted to the center of the emerging 2024 election season, igniting Democrats, dividing Republicans and turbocharging sensitive debates over health care.

    From North Carolina to Nevada, Democrats running at every level of government are vowing to make support for abortion rights a pillar of their campaigns, and to paint their opponents as extremists on the issue.

    And as races intensify, Republicans are caught between the demands of their socially conservative base and a broader American public that generally supports abortion rights, exposing one of the party’s biggest political liabilities as it tries to win back the White House, recapture the Senate and expand its narrow House majority.

    All of those dynamics have crystallized over the last month. First, a liberal Wisconsin judge won a crucial State Supreme Court race by a commanding margin after running assertively on her support for abortion rights. A few days later, a conservative judge in Texas took the extraordinary step of moving to invalidate the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. The Supreme Court on Friday said the pill would remain widely available for now, halting two separate

    https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fdnyuz.com%2F2023%2F04%2F22%2Fabortion-surges-to-the-center-of-the-2024-campaign%2F

  36. “Deep State CIA Colluded With Biden Campaign To Influence Election | PANIC As Joe Down In FLAMES” Benny Johnson – April 21, 2023

  37. As Bed, Bath & Beyond Nears Bankruptcy, Conservatives Remember What They Did To MyPillow — “Our Money Is Our Voice”
    By Promoted Post Apr. 22, 2023 2:00 pm64 Comments

    It looks like Bed, Bath & Beyond is on its last legs.
    Bloomberg reported:

    Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is considering selling assets and intellectual property as part of a potential bankruptcy filing that could come as soon as this weekend, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
    The retailer is also looking to line up funding from Sixth Street Partners to support its operations through Chapter 11 proceedings, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details are private. Talks remain fluid and plans could still change, the people said.
    A lot of conservatives boycotted Bed, Bath & Beyond after they discontinued MyPillow — and bought their bedding from MyPillow.com instead using promo code TGP (plus, Gateway Pundit benefits when you use that code).

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/as-bed-bath-beyond-nears-bankruptcy-conservatives-remember-what-they-did-to-mypillow-our-money-is-our-voice/

  38. The More You Tell the Truth, the Stronger You Become” – Tucker Carlson Keynote Address at Heritage 50th Anniversary Celebration
    By Joe Hoft Apr. 22, 2023 3:00 pm0 Comments

    Tucker Carlson gave the keynote speech at the 50th Anniversary of the Heritage Foundation last night Thursday night.

    Tucker began his career at Heritage 30-years ago as a fact-checker.

    Daily Signal reports:

    Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center

    The battle for America today is one between good and evil, popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson said Friday night in his keynote address at The Heritage Foundation’s 50th anniversary gala.

    “What you’re watching is not a political movement,” Carlson said. “It’s evil.”

    The side of evil is characterized by violence, hate, disorder, division, disorganization, and filth, Carlson said in remarks at the black-tie-optional affair at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center here. And praying to protect America against such things is something he too often forgets to do, he told a ballroom audience of about 2,000.

    The battle is not about economics or policy papers, Carlson said, as it was in 1991 when he began his first job at The Heritage Foundation as a fact-checker on the same day communist hard-liners staged a coup in the Soviet Union. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s multimedia news organization.)

    “The side of good is characterized by calmness, tranquility, peace, lack of conflict, cleanliness,” Carlson said. “And evil is characterized by their opposites.”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/the-more-you-tell-the-truth-the-stronger-you-become-tucker-carlson-keynote-address-at-heritage-50th-anniversary-celebration/

  40. WSJ: Jeffrey Epstein’s Ties to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Deeper than Bank Has Acknowledged
    By Jim Hoft Apr. 22, 2023 3:20 pm60 Comments

    JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein were much deeper and extensive than what the bank has acknowledged.

    The relationship between JPMorgan and Epstein also lasted years beyond when the bank announced they were closing the sex offender’s accounts.

    The bank also reportedly met with Epstein for years after his first conviction.

    Banking officials held meetings at Jeffrey Epstein’s New York City townhouse between 2014 and 2017.

    As Americans Scramble to Protect Retirement Accounts With Physical Gold and Silver, A Faith-Based Company Shows Them How

    Reuters reported:

    The bank has said it shut the convicted sex offender’s accounts in 2013, but its bankers were still meeting with him years later, people familiar with the matter said.

    JPMorgan Chase & Co. had ties to Jeffrey Epstein that ran deeper than the bank has acknowledged and extended years beyond when it decided to close the convicted sex offender’s accounts, according to people familiar with the matter.

    Mary Erdoes, a top lieutenant to Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, made two trips to Epstein’s townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, in 2011 and 2013, when Epstein still was a client of the bank, said the people familiar with the matter. She exchanged dozens of emails with him and discussed sharing with him fees related to a charitable fund the bank was considering launching, the people said.

    John Duffy, who ran JPMorgan’s U.S. private bank for the ultrarich, went to Epstein’s townhouse for a meeting in April 2013, the people said. One month later, the private bank renewed an authorization allowing Epstein to borrow money against his accounts despite repeated warnings from compliance staffers about his unusual banking practices.

    Justin Nelson, one of Epstein’s bankers at JPMorgan, had about a half-dozen meetings at Epstein’s townhouse between 2014 and 2017, the people said. He also traveled to Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico in 2016, the people said.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/wsj-jeffrey-epsteins-ties-to-jpmorgan-chase-co-deeper-than-bank-has-acknowledged/