Deployment demands, training requirements to be reduced, Army leaders announce

The Army secretary started this year’s Association of the United States Army with a bang, announcing the service will be reducing the demands of rotational deployments and decreasing requirements for brigade- and battalion-level training.

Events over the past year have taxed the force, including a rapid deployment of paratroopers and air defense artillery to the Middle East during tensions with Iran, an unprecedented global pandemic and nationwide racial justice protests that led to the mobilization of thousands of Army National Guardsmen.

That’s on top of the regular rotations of brigade combat teams to Europe, Asia and the Middle East, as well as training exercises within the United States.

“The first step we are taking is giving time back to unit commanders to invest in their people,” Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said during the AUSA conference’s opening ceremony Tuesday. “We are removing gated training requirements and reducing the demands of rotational deployments.”

“We will focus our training on the basics of individual, squad, platoon and company-level training and key leader training while reducing the requirement to conduct brigade and battalion live-fire exercises," McCarthy added. “We will pursue options for brigade combat training centers that are a mix of in-the-box organic battalions, command post exercises and heavy-light rotations.”

The efforts are intended to give more time back to units so leaders can invest in their soldiers and families, according to McCarthy. The changes were also alluded to by Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville during an interview with Army Times last week.

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2020/10/13/deployment-demands-training-requirements-to-be-reduced-army-leaders-announce/

European intelligence agencies are deploying resources to track QAnon as the conspiracy theory spreads beyond the US, sources say

Europe's domestic intelligence and law enforcement services have apprehensively watched the QAnon conspiracy theory migrate from the US, and now consider it a significant security concern.

The assessment was given by two security officials contacted by Insider, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity given the nature of their work.

QAnon advocates claim that the US controlled by a cabal of politicians, celebrities and media figures who engage in child abuse and pedophilia.

Its supporters believe that President Donald Trump will eventually move against these people, and seek clues from an unknown government insider known as Q.There is no evidence to support the theory, none of its foretold reckonings have taken place.

https://www.businessinsider.com/europe-intel-agencies-starting-to-monitor-fear-qanon-sources-say-2020-10

Joe Biden's Anti-Segregation Crusade From Black Church Story Just Took a Punch to the Mouth

At his age, Joe Biden’s lying problems can be masked as memory problems. It still doesn’t negate the issue. If he’s lying, it’s only in keeping with his past screw-ups of exaggerating his academic credentials and plagiarizing speeches from other prominent politicians, namely former UK Labor Party Leader Neil Kinnock.

Yesterday, Biden forgot Mitt Romney’s name. He said he was elected to the Senate 180 years ago. He’s said on multiple occasions this year that he’s a candidate for the U.S. Senate. But now we have a black church problem. You see, Joey B said that he attended this black church in his teenage years. He was combating segregation, you see. The only problem is that the congregants of this church have no idea what he’s talking about because it would seem Joe was never there.

He’s no longer ‘Hidin’ Biden.’ He’s now ‘Lyin’ Biden.’ And this isn’t the first time Joe got punched in the face trying to pander to black voters. First, he said that George Floyd’s death had more of an impact than Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. That’s just absurd on its face. It’s also wrong. Second, he said that blacks who don’t vote for him, aren’t really black. At Kenosha, the site of an officer-involved shooting of a black man, which—you guessed it—sparked riots, he joked about getting shot at a campaign stop regarding revealing too much of his tax plan. The plan that will raise taxes on all of us should he win.

In the next debate, Trump should just let Joe talk a little more because the man will trip over himself. Just give him time. But it back to this story, this isn’t the first claim from Biden’s past that cannot be corroborated.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2020/10/13/waitjoe-biden-has-a-black-church-problem-n2577952

Questions raised about conflicts of interest around Biden son-in-law

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's son-in-law, Howard Krein, has continued his work at an investment firm overseeing health care solutions to COVID-19 while also advising the Biden campaign on the pandemic, sparking potential conflict-of-interest concerns, according to Politico.

In March, StartUp Health, where Krein serves as chief medical officer, announced a new initiative to invest in entrepreneurs with various "solutions for mitigating, managing, or treating coronavirus or future pandemics."

A month later, StartUp Health announced it would be investing $1 million across 10 different startups with potential public health solutions to the coronavirus.

This came around the same time that Bloomberg and the New York Times both reported Krein among those taking part in daily Biden campaign briefing calls on health policy.

As noted by Politico on Tuesday, Krein's involvement in funding for specific coronavirus-centered projects could present a conflict of interest for Biden should he win the presidency in November.

Politico hypothesized that the U.S. government could spend billions of dollars on nationwide coronavirus responses in 2021, with tens of billions of dollars already spent on COVID-19 testing and vaccine research.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/questions-raised-about-conflicts-of-interest-around-biden-son-in-law/ar-BB19ZemH

MSM turning on Joe?