Truth and consequences: After origins of Biden laptop letter exposed, lawmakers seek penalties

Republicans float penalties for 51 letter signatories, ranging from impeachment to defunding security clearances and contracts.

Updated: May 1, 2023 - 11:21pm

Congress now has compelling evidence that a letter from 51 security experts during the 2020 election falsely portraying the Hunter Biden laptop as a Russian influence operation was in fact Joe Biden campaign propaganda. Now armed with the truth, GOP lawmakers are looking to impose consequences for the organizers and the signatories.

Several House and Senate Republicans told Just the News they are looking to impose penalties ranging from possible impeachment of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, whom former CIA Director Mike Morell testified "triggered" the effort, todefunding federal contracts and security clearance for the security and intelligence officialswho signed their name to the letter.

"Exposing the truth is certainly the first step in accountability, pretty powerful accountability," Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), the top Republican on the powerful Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said Monday on the "Just the News, No Noise" television show. "But the House can impeach those individuals who are currently serving in government. And a number of those individuals … are now serving in the Biden administration.They also ought to either resign or be impeached.

"And then we should do everything we can to revoke security clearances of every one of those individuals that sign that letter. All of them should be barred from either current or future employment with the federal government."

The issue burst into view two weeks ago when Just the News reported that Morell, in a transcribed interview with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, revealed that a call from Blinken, then a Biden campaign adviser, "triggered" his effort to draft the letter and get fellow former CIA directors and other intelligence professionals to sign it.

Morell revealed he engaged in the effort to influence the election in favor of Joe Biden and that the campaign helped distribute the letter and its message to the media. He said while Blinken did not directly instruct him to write the letter, the current secretary of state did send a USA Today article that was used to make the letter's most audacious claim: that the laptop might be a Russian disinformation operation.

In fact, the laptop had already been in the FBI's possession for months and had been authenticated. Even letter signatories have admitted they had no evidence to suggest the Russians were behind its content or the release.

Johnson's suggestions for possible penalties match similar ideas being floated in the House.

Asked by Just the News if he supported blocking security clearances or contracts to letter signatories, Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) answered: "Why wouldn't I? Especially if they knew what they were signing wasn't truthful, that they said this all just to go after Donald Trump and to protect [Biden's] son."

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said now that the House GOP caucus passed a debt ceiling increase with significant spending cuts, its members are turning their focus to imposing consequences on agencies like the FBI that meddled in elections with Russia collusion probes or Big Tech censorship or individual actors like those who signed the laptop letter. "You've got to have consequences for these people," he said.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) agreed. "If we don't like the way people have been doing their job, we can fire them in Appropriations — we can completely wipe out their salaries," Greene told the "Just the News, No Noise" television show last week. "And that's what I would like to see done.

"We had 51 members of the intelligence community lie, sign their name to a lie, saying that the Hunter Biden laptop was not real and that it was pure Russian propaganda. We know exactly why they did that, and that was to sway the 2020 election."

Calling for "real accountability" for "the Democrats and the agencies they're in control of," Greene said, "where I want to go to battle and the real fight is with budget and appropriations and make sure that we gut these agencies with these people who play politics."

Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.), a key voice on the House Appropriations and Judiciary Committees, said another important consequence lawmakers will impose later this year is warrantless spying reform that will restrict the FBI from searching Americans' phone records looking for evidence to open up Foreiugn Intelligence Surveillance Court cases, as happened with the Russia collusion probe in 2016. The Section 702 warrantless spying provision of the FISA law expires at the end of the year.

https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/truth-and-consequences-after-origins-biden-laptop-letter-exposed

2 May, 2023 18:37

Sabotage derails another train in Russia

Damage to the railroad track in Ukraine-bordering Bryansk Region has caused a train crash

A freight train with some 20 cars and an engine derailed on Tuesday outside the city of Bryansk, in a Russian region near the northern border of Ukraine. Authorities haveblamed the incident on “interference by unauthorized persons in the work of railway transport.”

According to local media, an explosion damaged the tracks near the Snezhetskaya station, located southeast of Bryansk city. A freight train was transiting the non-electrified portion of the line at the time. Russian Railways said the incident happened at around 7:47pm local time.

Preliminary reports did not indicate any casualties. First responders have been dispatched to the scene, along with recovery equipment, the railway company said.

This is thesecond instance of railway sabotage in Bryansk Region this week. On Monday, a portion of the track was blown up near Unecha, closer to the border with Ukraine. A freight train derailed and caught fire as a result. Snezhetskaya, where Tuesday’s incident took place, is about 120 kilometers away from the border.

Ukrainian forces have stepped up artillery attacks and sabotage on Russian territory this week, possibly in connection with the much-heralded offensive prepared with the help of NATO. Four civilians were killed and two wounded in a rocket attack on the border village of Suzemka in Bryansk on Monday. Multiple artillery attacks were also reported in Kherson, Zaporozhye and Donetsk regions.

On Tuesday, the deputy police chief of Melitopol in Zaporozhye was injured when a bomb planted at the gate of his house went off. Later in the day, Russian security services detained three people suspected of killing another police official last week.

https://www.rt.com/russia/575676-bryansk-train-sabotage-derail/

2 May, 2023 17:53

Support for Ukraine depends on counteroffensive – top US Republican

The House Foreign Affairs Committee chair has outlined Washington’s plan for ending the conflict

The success or failure of the upcoming Ukrainian attack will decide the future of Western aid to Kiev, US Congressman Michael McCaul has told Bloomberg. The Texas Republican also offered a scenario for what might happen afterward. (They are trying to get Ukraine to get more violent and aggressive)

“You’re going to see a counteroffensive very soon now,” McCaul, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Bloomberg TV on Monday. “I think there’s going to be a lot riding on the line with this counteroffensive. If Ukraine is successful in the eyes of the American people and the world, I think it will be a game-changer for continued support. If they are not, that will also have an impact, in a negative way, though.”(American’s do not support Ukraine, stop this insanity)

Republicans currently have a small majority in the House of Representatives, while Democrats hold the Senate and the White House. While some members of the party have criticized the amount of weapons, ammunition and money sent to Kiev, McCaul is part of the group that favors sending even more, and faster.

Ukraine has been trumpeting the start of a major attack for weeks, though multiple officials have complained about a lack of ammunition, weapons, and even the weather. Speaking to Bloomberg’s ‘Balance of Power’ show, McCaul ventured a guess as to where the fighting might happen. (Propaganda, they are trying to get Russia to act first)

“My prediction is they will try to go down andhit the land bridge in Crimeaand have a very dramatic bold strategy that then would push back Russian aggression,” he said, adding that afterward Kiev could possibly “call for a ceasefire, after which we can then maybe have negotiations, to finally resolve this.” (If this happens, it will certainly be WWIII, Russia will not tolerate this. McCaul is a war criminal, and he loves war, he doesn’t care about the consequences to any innocent Ukrainian or Russian)

Such a scenario was outlined last month by Politico, in a story alleging the US government was skeptical of Kiev’s chances in battle and pushing for an open-ended truce that would enable Ukraine to catch a break.

Last week, the US general commanding NATO forces in Europe told Congress that Kiev’s forces had already received 98% of the promised armored vehicles from the West. President Vladimir Zelensky’s top adviser, Mikhail Podoliak, disagreed on Ukrainian TV, calling the estimate “much too large.”

The Russian Defense Ministry estimated that the US and its allies had delivered more than $100 billion worth of weapons, equipment and ammunition to Ukraine as of December 2022. Multiple Western governments have pointed out that their stockpiles are now running low and gearing up production to meet Kiev’s needs would take years.

https://www.rt.com/news/575671-congress-ukraine-funding-offensive/

2 May, 2023 18:02

Finland mulls allowing US troops – media

American soldiers could soon be allowed to deploy to bases in the Russia-bordering country, senior diplomat claims

Helsinki is allegedly already in talks with Washington on a Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) that would allow US troops to freely deploy to the newly admitted NATO state, a Finnish foreign-affairs official, Mikael Antell, has told the Helsingin Sanomat (HS) newspaper.

The outlet reported that Antell, who serves as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ deputy director-general for political affairs, is leading the bilateral negotiations and that the latest round of discussions took place in the Finnish capital last week.

According to Antell, the agreement is meant to augment Finland’s current NATO membership, which it was granted in April, and to solidify the country’s deterrent and defense capabilities through US presence and advance stationing of defense equipment.

“The most important thing is that the agreement enables smooth cooperation with the United States in all security situations and also at short notice,” he told HS.

He explained that the DCA would enable the entry and stay of US troops, the advance storage of materials and possible infrastructure investments through funds granted to the Pentagon by the US congress.

Antell noted that while the agreement could create investment opportunities in Finland, it was “too early to speculate” on specific investments. He did, however, suggest that this could be something like the funding of a maintenance hub for F-35 fighter jets.

The senior diplomat also stressed that the US is not currently aiming for a permanent presence in the country, but is seeking to operate on the principle of rotation, as in moving troops in and out for various durations.

It was also noted that the DCA does not cover nuclear weapons.

According to the outlet, the official-level negotiations between Finland and the US are expected to run into next year, after which a draft of the agreement will undergo parliamentary considerations.

The US is currently pursuing similar DCAs with Denmark and Sweden. State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated back in January that such agreements would “deepen” Washington’s security partnership with these countries and “strengthen transatlantic security.”

https://www.rt.com/news/575670-finland-us-troops-deployment/

2 May, 2023 16:27

‘Half of Europe’ wants better ties with Russia – Polish deputy PM

Piotr Glinski criticized those who desire a quick end to the Ukrainian conflict and better relations with Moscow

Polish Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Glinski has lamented the fact that there is still a “threat” that relations between Russia and EU countries could return to the way they were before the current rift. He blasted opposition parties in Poland, as well as “half of Europe,” for harboring hopes of improving ties with Moscow.

Speaking to the Kurier Lubelski news outlet, Glinski was asked if he believed that Warsaw was “in danger” of returning to “naive” politics when, for example, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was invited to meet with Polish ambassadors in Warsaw in 2010 in an effort to improve bilateral relations.

“Unfortunately, the threat of a return to these relationships still exists,” he replied.

Glinski claimed that the government’s “political rivals” as well as their voters are “hostage to interest groups that only think about ending the war in Ukraine as soon as possible and continue to be a client of Russia and do business with it,” adding that “half of Europe is like that, waiting for it.”

The deputy prime minister’s comments come as Polish Secretary of State Marcin Przydacz also told the Financial Times on Tuesday that Warsaw plans to demand World War II reparations from Russia, just as it has done from Germany, from which it is requesting some €1.3 trillion ($1.43 trillion).

“We treat Berlin and Moscow in a different-civilization way,” Przydacz told the outlet, noting that once there is “success” in squeezing cash out of Germany, the next step would be to “launch such a discussion with the other oppressor.”

Brussels, meanwhile, has accused Poland of sliding towards authoritarianism under its current leadership, while Jana Puglierin, the head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, suggested that the right-wing PiS party is prioritizing electoral success rather than focusing on establishing constructive relationships.

Moscow has responded to the recent comments from Warsaw by stating that “nothing good” can be expected in Russian-Polish relations in the near future. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noted on Tuesday that “Russophobia,” which has “gripped” the minds of Polish authorities “absolutely deprives them of sobriety in their approach to everything related to Russia” and prevents them from taking “intelligible or thoughtful steps.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/575669-poland-russia-improving-ties-glinski/

2 May, 2023 14:34

Pornhub blocks access for US state

Utah’s new age verification law presents significant privacy concerns, critics say

The adult streaming companyPornhub suspended its services in the US state of Utahon Monday inprotest at a new lawthat requires pornography websites toverify a user’s agebefore granting access to their content. (Holy shit, why wasn’t this happening forever?)

As of Tuesday, anyone with a Utah-based IP address who attempts to visit the Pornhub website will instead be shown a video of adult performer Cherie DeVille, who explains why the website – which is operated by parent company MindGeek – is no longer available.

“As you may know, your elected officials in Utah are requiring us to verify your age before allowing your access to our website,” DeVille says in the video clip. She adds that Pornhub’s creators believe that “giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform” is an ineffective method to protect users and “will put children and your privacy at risk.” (How is that not protecting children, these people are satanic.)

In March, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed into law a bill entitled ‘Online Pornography Viewing Age Requirement’, which came into effect on Tuesday. The legislation mandates that “reasonable age verification methods” must be adhered to by adult websites available in the state that “distribute material harmful to minors.”

Cox in 2021 signed into law another bill which requires developers of smartphones and tablets to add content filters to such devices sold in the state. (Good every state should adopt this)

Utah’s legislature declared pornography to be a “public health crisis” in 2016, which officials said was “harming the citizens of Utah and the nation.” This came seven years after thepredominantly Republican state was declared the “online porn capital” of the United States, following a study conducted by Harvard researcher Ben Edelman in 2009.

In 2021, it was reported by Utah’s The Salt Lake Tribune that people representing the conservative-leaning Church of the Latter Day Saints – informally known as the Mormon Church – hold nine out of every ten seats in the state’s legislature.

Digital experts have sided with Pornhub and its peers in the age verification debate. Jason Kelley, the associate director of strategy at digital rights watchdog Electronic Frontier Foundation, believes that moves to restrict underage viewers – while sound in theory – come in parallel to a secondary risk of websites people visit. Their viewing habits “can be tracked and connected to their identity,” he said in March, and “companies don’t necessarily have a system in place to protect that data.”

https://www.rt.com/news/575658-us-pornhub-blocked-utah/

2 May, 2023 13:34

Tinder swipes left on Russia

The dating app is joining an exodus of Western firms from the sanctioned country

Match Group, owner of the dating app Tinder, has announced plans to leave Russia more than a year after Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing the company’s annual impact report.

“We are committed to protecting human rights,” Match said, explaining the move, adding: “Our brands are taking steps to restrict access to their services in Russia and will complete their withdrawal from the Russian market by June 30, 2023.” A number of digital services providers, including Spotify and Netflix, quit Russia last year.

Tinder saw 1.16 million visits per month in Russia during the first months of this year, half the number that its local rival Mamba registered in the same period, according to data tracked by Mediascope, as quoted by business news portal Inc. Russia.

The outflow of Russian users occurred in spring 2022 after the company’s decision to cut them off from Tinder’s fee-based services.

Match, whose brands include dating apps Tinder, Hinge and PlentyOfFish, has made few public statements about Russia, but flagged negative impacts on its European business in March 2022.

In July 2022, a Moscow court fined Tinder along with several social media platforms, such as Snapchat and WhatsApp, for refusing to localize the data of Russian users in the country.

Hundreds of international businesses, from clothing brands and carmakers to food producers and energy companies, have decided to withdraw from Russia due to pressure over Ukraine-related Western sanctions. Dating services Badoo and Bumble stopped working in the country in April 2022, and blocked downloads of their mobile applications along with payment for additional services.

https://www.rt.com/business/575652-tinder-quits-russia-ukraine/

2 May, 2023 15:06

Bomb blast injures top police official in Russian city – authorities

A deputy police chief was hit in a presumed assassination attempt in Zaporozhye Region

A bomb attack has injured a senior police official in Russia’s Zaporozhye Region, the country’s law enforcement authorities reported on Tuesday. The deputy head of the regional office of the Interior Ministry was taken to a hospital after being wounded by animprovised explosive device, the Investigative Committee said in a statement. The bomb was placedat the gateof his home in the city of Melitopol and went off when the official opened it in the morning heading to work, the agency said.

The committee released footage from the scene of the attack, which showed a car – presumably used by the unnamed official – with its backdoor windows shattered. There was also a hole in the ground next to the gate of the suburban house and some debris from the property’s outer wall.

The Zaporozhye Region was part of Ukraine and joined Russia last year after voting for the move in a referendum. Kiev has rejected the ballot, calling it a “sham.” The historic capital of the region, Zaporozhye, remains under Ukrainian control, and Melitopol was chosen by the new government as its new administrative center.

Kiev considers regional officials who accept Russia’s sovereignty to be traitors. There were a number of assassination attempts against such targets over the months of the conflict, which Kiev neither claims credit nor denies masterminding.

Also on Tuesday, three people suspected of killing another security official in Zaporozhye Region were arrested, according to the regional branch of the Federal Security Service (FSB).They were described as a “saboteur group” consisting of one Ukrainian national and two Russian citizens.

The FSB alleged that they were involved in theApril 27 murder of Aleksandr Mishchenko, a regional police deputy chief, and were preparing another targeted assassination against a local official in the near future.

https://www.rt.com/russia/575662-zaporozhye-bomb-police-chief/

2 May, 2023 15:10

Three Ukrainian military jets downed in a day – Moscow

Russian missiles destroyed two MiG-29s and one Su-25 warplane, the Ministry of Defense has claimed

Russian forces haveshot down three Ukrainian warplanes in a single day, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow said on Tuesday. (RT doesn’t give the day on any of these incidents, they normally do, are they recycling?)

The ministry claimed that air defense systems had destroyed two Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets over Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Kherson Region, where a Ukrainian Su-25 close-support aircraft was also brought down.

The Russian military alsointercepted eight US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System(HIMARS) missiles and disabled six Ukrainian drones, the ministry added.

Russian forces have, according to the ministry, destroyed a total of 416 warplanes, 230 helicopters, and almost 4,000 unmanned aerial vehicles since the start of the conflict with Kiev in February of last year.

While sustaining losses, Ukraine has received a number of Soviet-era MiG-29 jets from its Western backers, most notably Slovakia and Poland. The two countries have pledged to support Kiev with around two dozen jets, with the first deliveries already beginning to arrive.

Ukraine has on numerous occasions called for its allies to deliver modern warplanes such as F-16s, although its requests have thus far not been granted.

Russia has repeatedly warned the West that arms deliveries to Ukraine will only prolong the conflict. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted in early February that Western deliberations about sending warplanes to Kiev not only highlight their “growing involvement” in the hostilities, but also lead to rising tensions.

https://www.rt.com/russia/575659-ukraine-jets-downed-russia/

1 May, 2023 15:55

NATO member theorizes on Ukraine military’s key problem

Western-supplied weapons turn into “warehouse goods” due to lack of ammo, Czech President Petr Pavel says

A shortage of ammunition limits Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russian forces or successfully launch its mulled counteroffensive, Czech President Petr Pavel has said.

Pavel talked to the media on Sunday after his return from a three-day visit to Ukraine, during which he held talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Vladimir Zelensky, and other officials in Kiev. He also traveled to the city of Dnepr, located not far from the frontline, becoming the first foreign leader to go to the eastern part of the country since the outbreak of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev more than a year ago.

The Czech president said that his many discussions with Ukrainian officials made it “quite clear that what Ukraine needs most of all for successful defense today is ammunition.” “Of course, equipment is also lacking, but the critical shortage of ammunition not only limits Ukraine’s ability to defend itself effectively, but also to some extent limits its ability to launch a successful counteroffensive,” he told the Czech outlet Ceske Noviny.

According to Pavel, who has a background in intelligence and served as chairman of the NATO Military Committee between 2015 and 2018, theRussian forces have the upper hand in both the quality and quantity of their ammunitionand can fire four or five times more rounds on a daily basis than Ukrainian troops.

Kiev’s Western backers have been supplying the country with “effective equipment,” including main battle tanks such as German-made Leopard 2s and British Challengers, butthey come with a limited supply of ammunition, he said.

The Ukrainians can only deploy these weapons in the field for a few days and after that – without ammo – “they basically become warehouse goods,” the president said, adding that the situation “really doesn't make much sense.” According to Pavel, Prague will keep looking for “creative ways” to increase its supply of ammunition to Ukrainian forces from its own sources and by cooperating with its allies.

In his interview with Nordic media outlets on Friday, Zelensky assured the outlet that the “counteroffensive will happen” and expressed hope that it would be successful. However, a report by Politico last week claimed that Ukraine’s prime backer, the US, has been concerned that the impact of the much-hyped counteroffensive could fall short of expectations.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who now serves as deputy head of the country’s Security Council, has insisted that if the counteroffensive really does happen, Russian forces would squash it whileinflicting a “maximum military defeat” on the Ukrainian military. (Scott Ritter said that Medvedev is sent out to say the things Putin can’t get away with, and when Russia does do the final attack, it will be maximum. To some extent Russia has been patient and conservative to only get into needed battles, and not use up their energy and forces that will not have any effect.

Moscow has argued that the West’s military shipments to Kiev only prolong the conflict. The Kremlin has also repeatedly warned NATO that delivering more advanced systems to Ukraine makes it more deeply involved in the conflict, thereby potentially risking a direct confrontation with Russia.

https://www.rt.com/news/575612-pavel-czech-ukraine-ammunition/

1 May, 2023 18:44

‘Godfather of AI’ issues warning and quits Google

Geoffrey Hinton says ‘bad actors’ could harness artificial intelligence for ‘bad things’ (What he’s saying, is bad actor’s have already harnessed AI for “bad things” and it’s Google)

Turing Award-winning scientist Geoffrey Hinton resigned from Google last month, where he had spent much of the past decade developing generative artificial-intelligence (AI) programs, and warned of the risks that his life’s work may present to humanity.

Hinton is credited with being a foundational figure in the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), but told the New York Times in a lengthy interview published on Monday that he took the decision toexit amid a de-facto arms racein Silicon Valley between Google and Microsoft.

The controversial technology has formed the basis for generative AI software such as ChatGPT and Google Bard, as tech-sector giants dip their toes into a new scientific frontier, one they expect to form the basis of their companies’ futures.

Hinton’s told the NYT hismotivation for leavingGoogle was sohe could speak without oversight about technologythat he now views as posing a danger to mankind. “I console myself with the normal excuse: If I hadn’t done it, somebody else would have,” he told the US newspaper.

Public-facing chatbots such as ChatGPT have provided a glimpse into Hinton’s concern. While they are viewed by some as just more internet novelties, others have warned of the potential ramifications as they relate to the spread of online misinformation, and of their impact on employment.

The latest version of ChatGPT, released in March by San Francisco’s OpenAI, prompted the publication of an open letter signed by more than 1,000 tech-sector leaders – including Elon Musk – to highlight the “profound risks to society and humanity” that the technology poses.

And while Hinton didn’t add his signature to the letter, his stance on the potential misuse of AI is clear:“It’s hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things.”

Hinton maintains that Google has acted “very responsibly” in its stewardship of artificial intelligence but eventually, he says, the technology’s proprietors might inevitably lose control. This could lead to a scenario, he says, where false information, photos and videos are indeterminable from real information, and lead to people not knowing “what is true anymore.”

“The idea that this stuff could actually get smarter than people – a few people believed that,” Hinton told the NYT. “But most people thought it was way off. And I thought it was way off.I thought it was 30 to 50 years or even longer away. Obviously, I no longer think that.”

https://www.rt.com/news/575620-godfather-of-ai-sounds-warning/