==Democrats vote down investigation of Hunter Biden

"This is a nakedly partisan effort."==

House Democrats on Tuesday voted down a Republican plan to launch an investigation into Hunter Biden.

The House Oversight Committee rejected the plan from their GOP colleagues, who alleged that the Bidens offered "access to the highest levels of government to enrich themselves," according to the Epoch Times.

"It is time for President Biden to answer some questions about his participation in his family's business schemes with some of our most significant adversaries for years, including the Chinese Communist Party," Republican Tennessee Rep. James Comer said of the effort.

"If the Democrats vote against this resolution, then they are continuing in their coordinated effort to shield a potentially compromised President from necessary congressional oversight," he continued.

Republicans have long scrutinized the president's younger son over his alleged illicit activities. Among the most notable of his scandals were revelations from a laptop belonging to Hunter which contained damaging materials on the first family prior to the 2020 presidential election. That story, however, was derided as a disinformation effort and suppressed on social media.

Oversight Committee Chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said Republicans were "obsessed" with Hunter Biden. "This is a nakedly partisan effort," she asserted.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/democrats-vote-down-investigation-hunter-biden

Federal appeals court reverses ruling on Jan. 6 subpoena to RNC, dismisses case

Appellate judges went out of way to acknowledge RNC’s appeal raised important issues and also took a dig at Democrats for vacillating.

A federal appeals court has reversed a lower court ruling ordering the Republican National Committee to comply with a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 committee, poking the Democrat-led investigation for vacillating on key issues and acknowledging there were "important and unsettled constitutional questions" about whether the panel is lawfully constituted.

The U.S. Circuit Court for Appeals or the District of Columbia said it was dismissing the case because the Jan. 6 committee withdrew the subpoena to the RNC seeking records of its dealings with a digital fund-raising vendor Salesforce.

"The RNC's appeal has become moot," the appeals court ruled in dismissing the case.

You can read the full ruling here:

File

1. (09-16-2022) ORDER of USCA (certified copy) as to 35 Notice of Appeal to DC Circuit Court filed by REPUBLICAN N (1).pdf

https://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2022-09/0043.%20%2809-16-2022%29%20ORDER%20of%20USCA%20%28certified%20copy%29%20as%20to%2035%20Notice%20of%20Appeal%20to%20DC%20Circuit%20Court%20filed%20by%20REPUBLICAN%20N%20%281%29.pdf

Ordinarily, when a dispute is withdrawn, a federal appeals court issues a very brief order of dismissal. But the appellate judges went out of their way to acknowledge the RNC's concerns about the subpoena raising important issues and that the lower court's ruling needed to be reversed.

"The RNC claimed that disclosure of these documents would reveal sensitive information about its digital strategy, so it sued to prevent the disclosure," the appeals judges wrote. "The RNC argued that the Committee was not lawfully constituted and that the subpoena violated the First Amendment."

They also said: "Because the Committee caused the mootness and thereby deprived us of the ability to review the district court’s decision, and given the important and unsettled constitutional questions that the appeal would have presented, we vacate the district court's judgment."

The court also took issue with the House Democrat committee for playing essentially a game of hurry up, then wait.

"The Committee has taken various positions on whether and when it needs the subpoenaed RNC documents," the judges noted, citing a history of urgent requests followed by delay and then eventually withdrawal of the subpoena.

https://justthenews.com/government/congress/federal-appeals-court-reverses-ruling-jan-6-subpoena-rnc-dismisses-case

Videos shot by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan raise questions about conduct of 2nd Commando Regiment

The burly commando saunters down the porn-lined hallway of the accommodation block, a can of Red Bull in his hand.

Key points:

A video filmed by an Australian soldier in 2012 shows commandos in Afghanistan discussing a "quota"

Another video shows a soldier firing from a helicopter at what appear to be unarmed civilians

A third video shows two Australian commandos watching on as an Afghan soldier beats a man who is cowering on the ground

"Final thoughts while we rock out pre-job?" asks his Australian comrade holding the camera.

The commando stops, leans over, and props his elbow on a shelf. Through the green and black camouflage paint smeared on his face, his eyes lock on the camera.

"I believe we're going to get the quota," he says calmly.

"Woo!" cheers another commando behind him as two others holler in the background. "The quota! The quota must be met," says the soldier holding the camera.

It is late 2012, and the Taliban enemy shows no sign of wavering. Unlike the Australian commandos, the Taliban insurgents do not adhere to the laws of armed conflict.

They wear no uniforms and hide among civilians. It seems no matter how many of their fighters are killed on the battlefield, more emerge to take their place.

Heavy toll

In the 11 years of conflict to this point, the Taliban have already taken a heavy toll on the Australians. During this rotation, the 39th Australian will die in Afghanistan.

By the time Australian special forces leave Afghanistan a year later, special forces soldiers will account for about half of all Australian casualties.

On this rotation, the men of the 2nd Commando Regiment have been targeting one of the main weapons used by the Taliban to fund its insurgency – opium.

Together with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and soldiers from Afghanistan's National Interdiction Unit, they have hit drug lab after drug lab.

On one mission, they torch more than a tonne of Taliban opium.

In the video obtained by ABC Investigations, these commandos are once again preparing to head outside the wire on another dangerous mission and capture their preparations on camera for posterity.

Neither the platoon commander nor any officers appear to be present.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-20/australian-commandos-in-afghanistan-filmed-discussing-quota/101432000

Former soldiers sentenced for transporting undocumented citizens

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/former-soldiers-sentenced-transporting-undocumented-citizens

Illegal Venezuelan Migrants File Class Action Lawsuit Against DeSantis – Claim Flight to Martha’s Vineyard was as Cruel as Treatment by Maduro’s Marxist Regime – HAHA!

The Venezuelan illegal aliens filed a lawsuit on Tuesday.

NOT against the lying hypocrites from Martha’s Vineyard who deported them from their exclusive island, but against Governor Ron DeSantis.

You really can’t make this up!

In their lawsuit with far left organizers, the illegal migrants claim the trip to Martha’s Vineyard was similar to the treatment they received by the Marxist tyrant Maduro in Venezuela!

HaHa!

The Miami Herald reported:

Three migrants who were part of a group that was flown from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard last week by the state of Florida are suing Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials, alleging they were duped into traveling to an isolated island in the northeast as part of a scheme to benefit the governor’s political career.

The suit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, alleges that DeSantis, Florida’s Transportation Department secretary and others tricked migrants into leaving Texas by offering them McDonald’s gift cards and other items to board the flights, and by promising them assistance and employment. The plaintiffs include three anonymous Venezuelan migrants and Alianza Americas, a transnational organization that advocates on behalf of immigrants rights.

The lawsuit names five other people as defendants for allegedly participating in the scheme. Two defendants, identified by migrants as “Perla” and “Emanuel,” are believed by attorneys to have been the people recruiting migrants in San Antonio to board the planes.

“These immigrants, who are pursuing the proper channels for lawful immigration status in the United States, experienced cruelty akin to what they fled in their home country,” the lawsuit alleges.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/09/breaking-illegal-venezuelan-migrants-file-class-action-lawsuit-desantis-claim-cruelty-flight-marthas-vineyard-similar-maduros-regime-haha/

FBI Responds to Whistleblower Saying Child Abuse Cases Being Dropped in Favor of Jan. 6

The FBI responded Tuesday after alleged bureau whistleblowers came forward and accused it of moving agents from child abuse cases to “domestic violent extremist” cases.

On Monday evening, House Judiciary Republicans wrote on Twitter that an unnamed whistleblower came forward and told them that the FBI is moving agents from child sexual abuse cases to pursue investigations relating to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

The whistleblower, according to Republicans and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), “told that child sexual abuse material investigations were no longer an FBI priority and should be referred to local law enforcement agencies.” Jordan sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray asking why there is a purported shift in focus from the child abuse cases to Jan. 6.

When contacted by The Epoch Times for comment on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the FBI said that “the FBI is charged with protecting the American people from a wide variety of threats, from terrorism, cyber threats, and violent crime to public corruption, hate crimes, and crimes against children.”

“Our commitment to one does not come at the expense of another,” the spokesperson added, disputing House Republican’s key assertion. “The threat posed by domestic violent extremists is persistent, evolving, and deadly. The FBI’s authority to investigate a case as domestic terrorism requires the existence of a potential criminal federal violation, the unlawful use or threat of force or violence, and ideological motivation of any type.”

The spokesperson added that the bureau does “not investigate ideology” and only “investigates individuals who commit or intend to commit violence and other criminal activity that constitutes a federal crime or poses a threat to national security.”

“We are committed to upholding the constitutional rights of all Americans and will never open an investigation based solely on First Amendment activity,” the FBI said.

Letter

The Monday letter from House Republicans alleged that the FBI is breaking its own rules and miscategorizes files to create the impression that domestic violent extremism cases are emerging across the United States.

“New whistleblowers have come forward with concerning information about how the FBI is deliberately manipulating the way case files related to Jan. 6 investigations are maintained in order to create a false and misleading narrative that domestic violent extremism is increasing around the country,” the letter said. “The whistleblower alleged ‘the F.B.I. has not followed regular procedure’ with respect to Jan. 6 cases.”

It added that task force members in the FBI’s Washington bureau identify possible cases and subjects before it “disseminates information packets with instructions to open full investigations to [local] Field Offices around the country.”

Then, the Washington bureau tells field office agents to “open the case” in their location before the Washington office approves “all of the investigative work and paperwork for the casefile.”

Describing it as a “scheme,” House Republicans claim it allows the FBI “to continue to support on paper your assertion that ‘[t]he FBI is a field-based law enforcement organization, and the vast majority of our investigations should continue to be worked by our field offices,’ while actually running the investigation from Washington.”

https://www.ntd.com/fbi-responds-to-whistleblower-saying-child-abuse-cases-being-dropped-in-favor-of-jan-6_843763.html

=CVS, Walmart Reach $147.5 Million Opioid Settlement With West Virginia

CVS Health Corp. and Walmart Inc. have agreed to pay $147.5 million to settle West Virginia’s claims over their alleged roles in the state’s opioid crisis, state attorney general Patrick Morrisey said Tuesday.

West Virginia had been prepared to proceed to trial on Sept. 26 against those two companies and Walgreens Boots Alliance.

The state had accused the pharmacy chains of fueling the deadly opioid epidemic through their allegedly lax oversight of prescription pills sold in the state.

Walgreens has not settled, and a trial has been rescheduled for June 2023.

“We believe that we have a very strong case against Walgreens,” Morrisey said at a news conference. “We’re going to pursue that quite vigorously.”

The state has been particularly hard hit by the epidemic, with a per capita opioid mortality rate over three times the national average in 2020, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

https://www.ntd.com/cvs-walmart-reach-147-5-million-opioid-settlement-with-west-virginia_843744.html

Cancer Researcher, Fire Lieutenant, Kona Ice Franchisee Accused Of Trying To Meet Kids For Sex

TAMPA, Fla. – he Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has arrested three individuals for Human Trafficking after a week-long undercover operation.

On September 12, 2022, Human Trafficking Squad detectives began an undercover operation within parts of Hillsborough County. Their goal was to identify individuals that exploit children for commercial sexual acts.

On September 13, 2022, Jay Saxe, 33, was arrested when he arrived at a trailer to meet and pay for sex with who he believed was a 14-year-old girl. Saxe is the owner of a Kona Ice in Lakeland.

On September 15, 2022, Brian Streeter, 50, was arrested after he arranged to meet with who he believed was a 14-year-old female to have sexual intercourse for $60. Streeter is a Lieutenant with the Pinellas Park Fire Department.

On the same day, September 15, 2022, Martial Boutchueng Djidjou, 44, a cancer researcher at Moffit Cancer Center was arrested after he traveled to meet with who he believed was a minor and wanted to pay for sex with the minor.

https://breaking911.com/cancer-researcher-fire-lieutenant-kona-ice-franchisee-accused-of-trying-to-meet-kids-for-sex/