By Mike Huckabee
April 8, 2022
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Good morning! Blessings on you and your family, and from all the Huckabee staff!
Today's newsletter includes:
- 'Two wild and crazy guys' breach the Secret Service
- Confirmed: Ketanji Brown Jackson
- Russia-Ukraine war
- And much more.
Thank you again for subscribing, I hope you enjoy today's edition!
Sincerely,
Mike Huckabee
1. DAILY BIBLE VERSE
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Romans 1:20
If you have a favorite Bible Verse you want to see in one of our newsletters, please email [email protected].
2. Russia-Ukraine War
Here’s today’s link to Fox News’ continually-updated news on Russia and Ukraine:
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/ukraine-russia-live-updates-04-08-2022
The latest: Russian troops attacked a crowded railroad station in eastern Ukraine where the evacuation of civilians was taking place, and at least 39 people died and more than 100 were injured. Defense and foreign policy experts say that such atrocities by Russian troops are not the result of poor military discipline but are “100% intentional.” Australia is sending 20 armored vehicles to help Ukraine. And Congress voted to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and ban the importation of Russian oil, while the government is expediting the entry of Ukrainian refugees into the US.
3. Confirmed: Ketanji Brown Jackson
As expected on Thursday, the Senate voted to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. The vote was 53-47, with “Republicans” Mitt Romney, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voting to confirm. Some Republicans left the chamber, but Romney stayed to applaud Jackson, whom he had found unfit for a lower court post about a year ago, but whom he now thinks is highly qualified for the Supreme Court. Considering that the major news we got out of her confirmation is that she can’t define what a “woman” is, doesn’t know if Americans have God-given rights, and believes the law is too tough on pedophiles, I’m not certain what changed his mind.
Naturally, the press is making much of the fact that she’s the first black woman on the Supreme Court, which is strange considering that she herself claims not to even know what a “woman” is.
While the vote is worrisome for conservatives because she’s likely to be the most far-left Justice in history, there was never much hope that her confirmation could be stopped unless a Democrat like Joe Manchin joined with all the Republicans to say no. Just take it as a strong reminder of the consequences of not voting and letting Democrats get into office and appoint unelected, leftwing activist judges for life.
4. Federal Employee Vaccine Mandate is upheld by Appeals Court
Thursday, a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals panel voted 2-1 to reverse a lower court and uphold President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all federal employees. For more details on the case, check out this link:
https://www.foxnews.com/us/appeals-court-biden-federal-employee-vaccine-mandate
It seems strange that this is still being fought despite the COVID wave being largely over and much of the nation back to business as usual. Plus, we’re learning more every week about how questionable the effectiveness of these vaccines is. For instance, while the FDA just approved a fourth booster shot, a study in Israel found that the protection from infection from a fourth booster starts dropping after just four weeks.
And if anyone has been a fanatic about vaccines and fining people for not wearing masks, it’s Nancy Pelosi. Now, guess who has COVID:
In fact, following Saturday’s Gridiron Dinner, a number of DC bigwigs, including media members, White House staffers and liberal Congress members, all of whom are vaxxed out the wazoo, have tested positive for COVID. Pelosi wasn’t at the dinner, but she was at that Obamacare event on Tuesday, where she touched President Biden’s hand and kissed him on the cheek.
All these fully-vaxxed vax proponents coming down with COVID isn’t exactly a good look, but they’re issuing statements about how much worse it might have been if they hadn’t been vaxxed and multi-boosted. And that’s likely true. But let’s not forget that not long ago, they were banning people from social media for spreading “disinformation” if they suggested that vaccines didn’t necessarily prevent infection. They turned out to be right.
I wish them all a speedy recovery, but I hope they also recover from their serious cases of know-it-all-ism, and its most common symptom, the delusion that anyone who questions them is spreading “disinformation.”
5. 'Two wild and crazy guys' breach the Secret Service
It feels as though we’re watching a movie, just talking about this bizarre story. The Secret Service detail for the First Lady of the United States may have been infiltrated by a couple of what appear to be foreign operatives posing as Department of Homeland Security officials, their elaborate ruse uncovered by chance after two years.
As the story goes, they ingratiated themselves with at least four Secret Service agents by offering them expensive gifts such as high-end electronics, pricey weapons and other policing equipment, and even allowing at least one agent to live rent-free in a luxury penthouse apartment –- the imposters were renting five units –- claiming the tab was being covered by DHS. They said they were investigating violence connected to “the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.” These imposters carried Glocks, flashed authentic-looking DHS ID cards and drove around in an official-looking SUV equipped with flashing emergency lights. One of the agents they fooled had previously worked on Jill Biden’s security detail.
But this is not fiction. One thing that’s still not clear –- or at least hasn’t been made public –- is who was footing the considerable bill for all this. The imposters had to have been lavishly financed from somewhere, and it apparently was not DHS. (Note: the Secret Service, once a part of the Treasury Department, was moved to DHS in 2003, in response to 9/11.)
On Wednesday evening, Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 36, both reportedly American, were taken into custody during a raid by more than a dozen FBI agents and U.S. Postal Service cops at their luxury apartment building, Crossing, in the high-end Navy Yard area of Washington DC. (Interesting side note: this rang a bell, and we found the original news report about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez moving into a luxury apartment building in that same area, dubbed “one of the coolest neighborhoods in the world.” The Washington Free Beacon had the story about socialist AOC’s pricey digs but did not print the name of that apartment building, citing security precautions. Let us stress: we do not know if it’s the same building, only that she lives in the same neighborhood and the amenities appear to be similar.)
https://freebeacon.com/politics/aoc-downplays-luxury-apartment-says-everyone-should-have-one/
Anyway, moving crews were seen carrying boxes out to a large truck. Especially shocking: inside the apartment, agents reportedly discovered a binder containing a list of every resident in that building, along with “guns, gas masks, tactical gear, hard drives, servers, a drone, even training manuals for the DHS and Naval Criminal Investigative Service,” according to a FOX News report. It appears they were surveilling residents of the complex.
Four Secret Service agents have been placed on leave while the investigation takes place. The two men have been charged with false impersonation of a federal officer, which could carry a prison term of up to three years plus major fines. According to prosecutors, they had Pakistani visas and one of them, Ali, also had an Iranian visa. According to FOX News, they allegedly have said they had ties to “Pakistan’s intelligence spy agency.”
An AP story identifies this as the Inter-Services Intelligence agency in Pakistan, which has affiliated itself with terrorist organizations such as the Taliban and may have provided protection to Osama bin Laden when he was hiding out in that country.
At the time of the Daily Mail report, it wasn’t yet known if either of the imposters had ever had direct contact with Mrs. Biden, who is surely the most protected woman in the United States. All we can say for now is that one of the four Secret Service agents they fooled had been assigned to the First Lady at some time.
Taherzadeh seemed particularly interested in impressing that agent, allegedly offering him a $2,000 rifle and the loan of his “government vehicle” to the agent’s wife. According to a story in The Daily Beast, that agent told investigators that this man “made it clear that he is the go-to guy” in the building.
The Daily Beast story has even wilder details. The imposters apparently conned an “applicant” (unnamed) to join a phony Homeland Security “task force” and even put him through a “recruitment process” that involved shooting him in the foot with an airsoft rifle, supposedly to evaluate his “pain tolerance.” Also, they had him “research” an unnamed person who worked as a contractor for the Department of Defense and intel community.
The discovery of these imposters was actually a fluke. After a mail carrier was reported assaulted at the apartment complex in March, residents told investigators about the two “federal law enforcement agents” who lived there and might have witnessed it. When a U.S. Postal Service Inspector showed up to talk with them, they claimed they were members of a (made-up) “U.S. Special Police Investigation Unit,” which they said was part of DHS.
That didn’t fly with the Postal Inspector after it was learned about the two men’s “official vehicle” and their relationships with the real Secret Service agents. The Inspector tipped off the DHS Inspector General, which began an FBI investigation. Those can take a long time, but in this case they acted quickly.
On Thursday’s Ingraham Angle, former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker told Laura Ingraham, that as a 40-year-veteran of law enforcement, he views this “as one of the most serious security breaches in the history of the Secret Service.” According to him, not only was one of the agents involved on the First Lady’s security detail, but another was assigned to the White House. All four agents were “thoroughly compromised.” He said it “looks like a state-sponsored operation, possibly by Iran.” One of the men has a “clearly” Iranian name, he observed. “He may be an American citizen,” Swecker said, “but the origin of that name is Iranian.” He thinks they might have associated themselves with the Pakistani spy agency as “misdirection.”
“It would be just like the Iranians to do that,” he said.
They were brazen in a seemingly amateurish way, he said, yet were extremely well financed and supplied with sophisticated equipment. He’d concluded they obviously weren’t scamming for money, as “they were doing all the giving and none of the taking.”
Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent himself, said Thursday that he’s “having a hard time untangling this.” He called it one of the craziest stories he’s heard in a long time. The Secret Service has very strict guidelines on accepting gifts, he said, meaning “you’re allowed to accept almost nothing.”
He wondered what the objective might have been, saying he has no inside information on the case. Was it information-gathering? Did they want the schedules for the First Lady and President? “Everybody’s been super-quiet about it,” he said. “When I’ve got something, I’ll tell you.”
And so will we.
6. Least Surprising Story of the Day
Mark Zuckerberg revealed the nickname that Facebook employees have for him. It’s out of “Lord of the Rings,” and it’s the name of the embodiment of evil.
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