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Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Hamas Rejects Ceasefire Proposal Endorsed by Biden

Times of Israel: An Israeli official says that Jerusalem has received Hamas’s response to the hostage release and ceasefire deal offer presented by US President Joe Biden late last month, and that the reply from the terror group effectively rejects the proposal. “This evening, Israel received, via the mediator, the Hamas response. In its response, Hamas has rejected the proposal for a hostage release that was presented by President Biden,” the Israeli official says, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official adds that Hamas has changed the main parameters of the proposal. The Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad response to Israel’s latest hostage-ceasefire proposal reportedly includes amendments to the offer, including a new timeline for the hostage release and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza (Time of Israel).

ICE Arrests Eight Illegal Immigrants With ISIS Ties

Entered over the southern border. National Review: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested eight foreign nationals with ties to the terrorist group ISIS-K, an Afghan branch of the Islamic State, over the past week. ICE arrested the ISIS-K-linked Tajikistani nationals in Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia this week. FBI director Christopher Wray warned of potential threats from ISIS-K in April, specifically saying that, “increasingly concerning is the potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, akin to the ISIS-K attack we saw at the Russia concert hall a couple weeks ago.” ISIS-K carried out an attack at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall in March, which killed 145 people. Wray has also cautioned that ISIS-affiliated groups have exploited the U.S.’s weak southern border to smuggle terrorists into the country (National Review). Jennie Taer: Part of the investigation featured a wiretap which revealed one of the now-arrested individuals was talking about bombs, the sources said (New York Post).

Hunter Biden Found Guilty

Wall Street Journal: Hunter Biden was found guilty of falsely claiming to be drug-free when applying to buy a handgun six years ago, adding to his family’s personal turmoil as his father President Biden campaigns for re-election. Biden, 54 years old, was convicted by a federal jury in a case that exposed a dark period of betrayal and substance abuse in the Biden family. The jury found that when Hunter bought a .38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver in October 2018, he lied on a federal form by checking a box to say he wasn’t addicted to or using drugs at the time (Wall Street Journal). Townhall: Hunter Biden found GUILTY on all three counts (X)! Mia Cathell: A mega-thread of all the evidence admitted thus far in the Hunter Biden gun trial (X).

Hamas Leader Sinwar Actively Encourages Civilian Deaths Because Each One Helps Hamas

Wall Street Journal: For months, Yahya Sinwar has resisted pressure to cut a ceasefire-and-hostages deal with Israel. Behind his decision, messages the Hamas military leader in Gaza has sent to mediators show, is a calculation that more fighting—and more Palestinian civilian deaths—work to his advantage. “We have the Israelis right where we want them,” Sinwar said in a recent message to Hamas officials seeking to broker an agreement with Qatari and Egyptian officials. Fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas units in the Gaza Strip’s south has disrupted humanitarian-aid shipments, caused mounting civilian casualties and intensified international criticism of Israel’s efforts to eradicate the Islamist extremist group. For much of Sinwar’s political life, shaped by bloody conflict with an Israeli state that he says has no right to exist, he has stuck to a simple playbook. Backed into a corner, he looks to violence for a way out. The current fight in Gaza is no exception. In dozens of messages that Sinwar has transmitted to cease-fire negotiators, Hamas compatriots outside Gaza and others, he’s shown a cold disregard for human life and made clear he believes Israel has more to lose from the war than Hamas (Wall Street Journal).

AG Garland Writes Op-Ed, Claims Questioning the DOJ is Dangerous

Daily Wire: Attorney General Merrick Garland is responding to what he says are “unfounded attacks” that are endangering Department of Justice (DOJ) employees and, by extension, the state of democracy in the United States as the GOP pushes back against what they see as partisan law fare. The Washington Post published an op-ed on Monday in which Garland called for an end to a wave of conspiracy theories, lies, intimidation and threats of violence that he said have escalated against public servants under his charge. Garland made reference to the myriad prosecutions against former President Donald Trump as he runs another campaign for the White House (Daily Wire). AG Garland: The Justice Department makes decisions about criminal investigations based only on the facts and the law. We do not investigate people because of their last name, their political affiliation, the size of their bank account, where they come from or what they look like. We investigate and prosecute violations of federal law — nothing more, nothing less. Continued unfounded attacks against the Justice Department’s employees are dangerous for people’s safety. They are dangerous for our democracy. This must stop (Washington Post).

FBI Retaliates Against Employee for Showing Conservative Leanings

Daily Wire: An employee of the FBI had his security clearance revoked after the bureau investigated his support for former President Donald Trump and opposition to COVID vaccines, according to a complaint made public on Monday after it was recently filed against the Justice Department. The complaint, sent to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz by the government watchdog group Empower Oversight, claims that an FBI employee was punished by the bureau over his politically conservative views. According to documents included in the complaint, the FBI interviewed people familiar with the employee about his stances on Trump, COVID, and January 6 (Daily Wire). Empower Oversight: Our client served the FBI honorably for 12 years, receiving cash awards and positive performance evaluations. Then-FBI Executive Assistant Director (“EAD”) Jennifer Leigh Moore suspended our client’s security clearance in March 2022, which led to an indefinite suspension without pay. Shortly thereafter, our client confidentially made protected disclosures to the House Judiciary Committee, alleging politicization and abuses of the security clearance process in this case and others (Empower Oversight).

Nancy Pelosi Claims “Revisionist History” Reason She is Blamed for Jan 6 Despite New Video Emerging of Her Taking Responsibility

Washington Examiner: Despite being heard directly on video talking about it, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) blamed former President Donald Trump and his supporters for trying to make “revisionist history” over the lack of security during the Jan. 6 Capitol protest. Pelosi responded to newly unearthed video that was shot by her daughter that day for a documentary of her saying “I take responsibility,” referring on Jan. 6, 2021, to not having more security at the Capitol ahead of the protest. Trump has insisted that Pelosi turned down an order for 10,000 troops on Jan. 6, claiming that this would have prevented the violent protest. Pelosi then claimed that Trump chose to not send in the National Guard “for hours” and has since tried to deny that “any of it happened.” She proceeded to call for unity across the country to honor the founders of the United States (Washington Examiner). Oversight Committee: Since January 6, 2021, Nancy Pelosi spent 3+ years and nearly $20 million creating a narrative to blame Donald Trump. NEW FOOTAGE shows on January 6, Pelosi ADMITTED: “I take responsibility” (X).

Biden Works to Grant Legal States to Thousands of Illegal Immigrants

CBS: President Biden’s administration is weighing a far-reaching move that would unlock temporary legal status and potentially a path to American citizenship for hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, five people familiar with the internal discussions told CBS News. The plan under consideration by the White House would give work permits and deportation protections to certain unauthorized immigrants through the immigration parole authority, as long as they have spouses who are American citizens, the sources said. The policy, known as “parole in place,” could also make beneficiaries eligible for permanent U.S. residency and eventually even citizenship, by helping them clear hurdles in U.S. law (CBS). Daily Wire: The Biden administration secretly instructed U.S. Border Patrol agents last week to release illegal aliens into the U.S. from all but six of the more than 100 countries in the Eastern Hemisphere rather than deport them (Daily Wire).

Issue of Abortion Is Powerful Enough to Reset the Political Landscape

Cover story in the Economist: In its ruling on Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022, America’s Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, which had established a federal right to abortion for the previous half century. “We do not pretend to know how our political system or society will respond,” wrote Justice Samuel Alito for the majority. People infuriated by the decision have channeled their anger into political action. Since the Dobbs decision, six states have held referendums on abortion—some seeking greater protections for women, others greater restrictions. Some were initiated by citizens, others by legislatures. In all six, the abortion-rights side prevailed. In November, referendums could be held in as many as 16 more states (Economist). Albert Mohler: So The Economist is really clear about its interest in this. It sees the issue of abortion as so important, so salient, that it could determine the White House. It could determine control of Congress, it could determine the future of American politics in this regard.… This really is sending a signal, and the signal here is that the issue of abortion in the United States, particularly in the United States, is such a powerful political issue that it is upending the political calculation. It’s resetting the political game (Breifing).

10.

Four American Professors Stabbed in China; None in Critical Condition

Associated Press: Chinese police have detained a suspect in a stabbing attack on four instructors from Iowa’s Cornell College who were teaching at a Chinese university in the northeast city of Jilin, officials said Tuesday. Jilin city police said a 55-year-old man surnamed Cui was walking in a public park on Monday when he bumped into a foreigner. He stabbed the foreigner and three other foreigners who were with him, and also stabbed a Chinese person who approached in an attempt to intervene, police said. A police statement did not give any indication of the motive for the attack. The instructors from Cornell College were teaching at Beihua University, officials at the U.S. school said. The injured were rushed to a hospital for treatment and none was in critical condition, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a daily briefing Tuesday. He said police believe the attack in Jilin city’s Beishan Park was an isolated incident, based on a preliminary assessment (Associated Press).