Stephen K. Bannon's Blog, page 725

Biden Still Can’t Fill FCC Post

You can go back to October of last year to trace the slow-moving train wreck that has been Gigi Sohn’s nomination to the Federal Communication Commission. Lots of hearings, advocacy and lobby groups weighing in, and as this column goes to press, her nomination is about where it was when it started: In purgatory.

In case you don’t remember, Joe Biden nominated Sohn to the FCC because of her impressive résumé and progressive street cred. What didn’t get picked up in Sleepy Joe’s vetting process (Surprise!) are some of her toxic positions that have angered people with real influence in DC. They’ve raised questions about whether she can make fact-based decisions over a huge swath of the US economy.

More chilling is what Sohn’s travails say about the Biden administration’s incompetence on issues large and small. Sorry, if you can’t get a simple nomination to a regulatory agency right, there’s no way you’re going to fix what ails the $25 trillion US economy like surging inflation and a looming recession.

Like most Bidenesque fails, this one was completely avoidable. No one is questioning Sohn’s knowledge of the issues: She’s a Georgetown law professor and a longtime telecom expert who served in the Obama White House. It’s her politics that makes Sohn a near non-starter for her necessary Senate confirmation. She’s a staunch advocate of lefty edicts including net neutrality, which essentially treats Internet providers as utilities, forcing them to provide content free of charge. That puts her in conflict with at least half the 50–50 Senate who believe such oversight will stifle innovation and actually drive consumer costs higher.

Adding further doubt is Sohn’s problematic Twitter trail on some hot-button issues the Biden ­people could have found if they cared enough to do a simple ­Google search.

President Joe Biden has proven to rarely vet his nominees as long as they’re progressives.EPA/Yuri Gripas/POOLOne example: She attacked my employer, F …

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Trump Leads Biden in Hypothetical 2024 Head-to-Head Matchup

Former President Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden in a potential 2024 matchup, according to a McLaughlin & Associates poll released Friday.
The poll asked, “If the general election for President were held today, would you be more likely to vote for Donald Trump, the Republican candidate or Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate?”
Trump polled at 49 percent, while Biden slipped into the mid-40s at 44 percent, five points behind Trump. Seven percent were undecided.
Trump also bested potential 2024 Republican primary candidates. The poll asked, “Thinking ahead to the 2024 Republican primary election for President, if that election were held today among the following candidates, for whom would you vote?”
Trump received 59 percent of the vote, while Gov. Ron DeSantis ® only received 15 percent, a 44 percent differential. Former Vice President Mike Pence came in third place with seven percent.
The poll showed that if Trump decides to not run in 2024, DeSantis leads the potential field with 32 percent. Pence was marked with 17, and Donald Trump Jr. was polled in third at 12 percent.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis listens to a speaker at a press conference at Sam’s Club in Ocala, where he signed into law more than $1.2 billion in tax relief for Floridians, the la …

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U.S. Special Forces and CIA Working to Get Ukraine Weapons

Special Operations Task Force Operating To Direct Flow of Weapons in Ukraine – The United States is heading up a 20-nation task force of Special Operations Forces consisting of troops and paramilitary CIA personnel to ensure that the long-range weapons that Ukraine needs are reaching the right people. And, thus far, it seems to be working. There are widespread reports that US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems are already hitting Russian targets in occupied areas of Ukraine, the Chief of the General Staff has said.
“Artillerymen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine skilfully hit certain targets – military targets of the enemy on our, Ukrainian, territory,” Chief of Ukraine’s General Staff, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, wrote on the Telegram channel app.
About 150 mostly US Special Operations personnel were pulled from Ukraine prior to the war starting in late February. They were there to train Ukrainian troops at a base in western Ukraine. Now they’re conducting training at bases inside Britain, France, and Germany. Some CIA personnel have remained inside of Ukraine, mostly in Kyiv, and are disseminating the intelligence that the US is sharing with Ukraine.
However, other NATO SOF troops, British, French, Canadians, and Lithuanians have remained inside of Ukraine and are conductin …

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Ukraine Is Using Guerilla Warfare Tactics

Russian Territorial Control in Ukraine Challenged by Ukrainian Partisans and Guerilla Warfare – While Russia has been able to gain control over roughly 20% of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory (by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s estimate) since its invasion of the country in February 2022, it has had significant trouble imposing its own order in those same areas.While much of southern Ukraine fell under Russian control in the opening days and weeks of the war, partisan attacks such as the assassination of a leading collaborator in the Russian-imposed “civil-military” administration of the Ukrainian city of Kherson on June 24 demonstrate the limits of Russian rule.
Russian Efforts to Integrate Newly Occupied Ukrainian Territories
Russian control over Ukrainian territory stretches from the southwestern city of Kherson on the Black Sea, to southern Ukrainian cities like Melitopol, Berdyansk, and Mariupol before arcing up to include most of the eastern region of Donbas. Russian media sources are awash with reports that municipalities controlled by Moscow seek annexation by Russia.
Russian occupation authorities have effectively already begun integrating the region through a variety of underhanded means, such as forcing local economic activity to be conducted in Rubles, broadcasting Russian TV channels into Ukraine, and setting up supposedly “humanitarian” links between Russia’s ruling United Russia party and occupation areas in Ukraine.
United Ru …

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Supplies nuke-capable missiles to Belarus…

Putin told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting in St. Petersburg the missile systems “can use both ballistic and cruise missiles, both in conventional and nuclear versions,” according to the Kremlin.Russia launched its February 24 invasion in part from Belarusian territory, which borders Ukraine to the north. Throughout the war, Moscow has used Minsk as a satellite base including for many of Russia’s air operations in Ukraine, according to intelligence collected by NATO surveillance planes.On Saturday, Ukraine claimed Russian forces had fired multiple missiles on the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions from Belarus. In a transcript of the meeting, Lukashenko expressed to Putin his “stress” over what he alleged are flights by United States and NATO planes “training to carry nuclear warheads” close to Belarus’ border.He asked Putin to consider “a mirrored response” to the flights or to convert Russian fighter jets, which are currently deployed to Belarus, to “carry nuclear warheads.“Putin replied that “there is no need” to match the US flights and suggested Belarus could modify its own Su-25 aircraft to be nuclear-capable instead. “This modernization should be carried out at aircraft factories in Russia, but we will agree with you on how to do this. And accordingly, start training the flight crew,” Putin said.What is the Iskander‑M?The Iskander‑M is a Russian-built short-range ballistic missile system that can carry conventional or nuclear warheads with a maximum range of up to 500 kilometers (310 miles), according to Janes Defense. The weapon uses both optical and inertial guidance systems to strike its targets, hitting them with a range of warheads, such as cluster munitions, vacuum bombs, bunker-busters, and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) warheads, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. The Iskander‑M was first used in 2008 during the Russia-Georgia conflict, when the Russian Army used it to hit targets in Gori, according to the Alliance.CNN has reached out the Pentagon for comment on Lukashenko’s claims.G7 and NATO summitsThe meeting between the Russian and Belarusian strongmen came ahead of a week of summits in Europe, where the grinding war in Ukraine — entering its fifth month — will be front and center. The leaders of Japan, Canada, the US, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the European Union and host Germany will meet for the Group of 7 on Monday. US President Joe Biden hopes to announce new sanctions and military assistance alongside European allies during his visits to Germany and Spain. Both the G7 and NATO summits will hear from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who continues to appeal to the US and other countries for more help.During his nightly address on Saturday, Zelensky said, “sanctions packages against Russia are not enough” and called on the western partners to provide Ukraine with more “armed assistance.” “The air defense systems — the modern systems that our partners have — should be not in training areas or storage facilities, but in Ukraine, where they are now needed,” he said. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military on Saturday confirmed it had started using an advanced Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) supplied by the US to strike Russian targets. Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi posted a video that he said showed the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, launching its missile at night at an unspecified location.CNN reported on Thursday that HIMARS had arrived in Ukraine, citing the cou …

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Airlines aim to shift blame for flight problems to FAA…

DALLAS (AP) — Airlines under scrutiny for widespread flight disruptions are renewing their criticism of the government agency that manages the nation’s airspace, saying that understaffing at the Federal Aviation Administration is “crippling” traffic along the East Coast.Airlines for America, which represents the largest U.S. carriers, said Friday it wants to know FAA’s staffing plans for the July Fourth holiday weekend, “so we can plan accordingly.”The comments from the industry group could serve as a pre-emptive defense in case airlines again suffer thousands of canceled and delayed flights over the holiday weekend, when travel is expected to set new pandemic-era highs. “The industry is actively and nimbly doing everything possible to create a positive customer experience since it is in an airline’s inherent interest to keep customers happy, so they return for future business,” Nicholas Calio, president of the trade group, said in a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.ADVERTISEMENTCalio sai …

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Summer travel misery ahead as industry workers revolt…

Issued on: 25/06/2022 — 07:04Modified: 25/06/2022 — 07:02

Paris (AFP) – A spiral of worker strikes in Europe’s crucial aviation sector and cancelled flights at a time when millions of travellers are looking to escape for the summer, threaten the sector’s tentative recovery.

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Airports and airlines are buckling under the pressure of demand pent up during the pandemic that has been unleashed on understaffed and stretched operations across Europe.Cabin crewA coordinated strike by Ryanair flight attendants in five European countries has thrown a spotlight on volatile labour relations at low cost airlines. “It’s June and colleagues are already exhausted,” said Damien Mourgues, SNPNC trade union representative at Ryanair. “Our basic salary is 854 euros ($900) with variables of 8.50 euros per hour” flown, he said. In Spain, “we have a basic salary of only 950 euros” and “when you don’t fly, you earn 950 euros, that’s all,” complained Pier Luigi Copellon, a steward based in Barcelona for 14 years. At France’s Transavia and Spain’s Volotea the prospect of summer strikes is a growing possibility. At Brussels Airlines, which is on strike on Friday, “a crew member works between 50–60 hours over five days on average,” said Claudia de Coster, a cabin purser and a representative of Belgium’s Setca-FGTB union. Airport security officersFrontline airport security is suffering more than any other aviation workforce from understaffing as traffic picks up. Baggage and passenger screening officers at inspection points are being forced to manage massive footfall with fewer hands on deck than before. “We end up with two or three instead of five per security checkpoint,” said Said Abdou, a Securitas employee at Paris Orly airport and a representative of the CGT union. “The pace is so fast. Securitas had hired 17 people recently, they did a day and they didn’t come back — it was too hard,” he said. Eight of his colleagues suffered burn-out, he said, because they were refused leave this summer. Said Abdou earns 1,500 euros after taxes and deductions, paid 13 times a year, and an individual performance bonus of 500 euros per year after 18 years of service. On Monday, a strike by security staff at Brussels’ Zaventem airport led to the cancellation of all the day’s flights. Baggage handlers“Among the baggage handlers, there are those who put the luggage on the carousel, those who are squatting in the aircraft hold to pack it up, it’s very tiring,” said Luc Atlan, an organiser in the airport branch of France’s Unsa union. Baggage handling companies, which depend on major contracts from the likes of Air France, massively r …

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Biden Signs “Bipartisan” Gun Control Bill

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Hunter Biden Met With Russian Oligarch Now Wanted for Murder in 2012

When his father was the second most powerful man in the world, Hunter Biden met in Russia with at least four oligarchs closely aligned with Vladimir Putin — including one who is now wanted for murder in the country, The Post has learned.

The meeting with Telman Ismailov took place on Feb. 17, 2012 at the Moscow headquarters of AST Group, his vast holding company which once owned a publishing house, a tour company, and had a telecom division, according to the Moscow Times.

Ismailov was accused in 2017 by Russian authorities of paying $2 million for the murder of two entrepreneurs a year earlier, Agence France-Presse reported. Vladimir Savkin, a shopping mall magnate and Yury Brilev, founder of Lyublino Motors, were both bumped off on the Novorizhskoye highway in Moscow, allegedly over a business dispute with Ismailov, according to the Investigative Committee of Russia, the country’s primary federal investigations agency.

Telman Ismailov is accused to paying for th …

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FDA’s Ban on Juul e‑Cigarettes Halted by Appeals Court

Cato Institute Senior Fellow Jeffrey Singer joins ‘Kennedy’ to discuss the FDA ordering the electronic cigarette company Juul to pull its product from the U.S. market.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia temporarily delayed the FDA’s ban on Juul devices on Friday after the e‑cigarette giant called the agency’s order “extraordinary and unlawful” in a court filing, the Wall Street Journal reports.  The FDA said Thursday that it has not “received clinical information to suggest an immediate hazard associated with the use of” Juul devices, but that there is “insufficient evidence to assess the potential toxicological risks” of using the products. Packages of Juul e‑cigarettes are displayed for sale in the Brazil Outlet shop on June 22, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.  (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images / Getty Images)Juul hit back on Friday, arguing that it will “suffer significant irreparable harm.” FDA BANS JUUL E‑CIGARETTE PRODUCTS“In our applications, which we submitted over two years ago, we believe that we appropriately characterized the toxicological profile of JUUL products, including comparisons to combustible cigarettes and other vapor products, and believe this data, along with the totality of the evidence, meets the statutory standard of being ‘appropriate for the protection of the public health,’” Juul said.  A shopkeeper demonstrates smoking a Juul brand vaping pen to customers. (REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/File Photo / Reuters Photos)GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HEREThe Wall Street Journal reported that Juul is considering a bankruptcy filing and other options if it is unable to avoid the FDA’s ban. Juul did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. Reuters contributed to this report.  …

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