By Mike Huckabee
April 13, 2022
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Good morning! Blessings on you and your family, and from all the Huckabee staff!
Today's newsletter includes:
- A New York State of Mind
- Who were DHS imposters targeting, and why?
- Leftist Policies are driving them away
- And much more.
Sincerely,
Mike Huckabee
1. DAILY BIBLE VERSE
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:3
If you have a favorite Bible Verse you want to see in one of our newsletters, please email [email protected].
2. A New York State of Mind
New York state Lieutenant Gov. Brian Benjamin has surrendered to authorities on multiple charges, including bribery, over an alleged plot to get campaign contributions in exchange for a state grant.
Benjamin was appointed to the office last year by Gov. Kathy Hochul after she replaced Andrew Cuomo, who had to step down amid accusations of sexual misconduct and killing nursing home patients with his COVID policies. It’s also the latest in a string of New York politician scandals that engulfed Sheldon Silver, Anthony Weiner, Eliot Spitzer and more.
It’s no wonder New York’s politicians can’t get crime under control. They can’t even stop themselves from committing crimes.
3. Who were DHS imposters targeting, and why?
Last week, the jig was up for a couple of men who'd passed for at least 18 months as officials of the Department of Homeland Security. They’d been living at an apartment complex called simply “Crossing,” in the upscale, trendy Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, DC, and had fooled at least four Secret Service agents into thinking they were legit, impressing them with official-looking trappings and offering them expensive gifts. We brought you the story of how they were accidentally discovered as phonies and taken into federal custody, but the big question remained: What was their goal?
According to investigative reporter Lee Smith, author of THE PERMANENT COUP and THE PLOT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT, court filings and press reports suggest that they might have been part of an Iranian assassination team whose mission was to kill former high-ranking U.S. officials. We mentioned former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week as someone they might be targeting, but Smith says there could be others from the Trump years, including Special Envoy for Iran Brian Hook and, especially, National Security Adviser John Bolton. In fact, all three have been threatened in Iranian media.
Here’s why Smith suspects they were after Bolton: Pompeo and Hook, as former State Department officials, have security details provided by the Diplomatic Security Service. But Bolton, a former White House official, had his security detail provided by the Secret Service. In fact, because of reports of him being targeted, he has had round-the-clock Secret Service protection, perhaps even as far back as late 2021. These two imposters were trying to get in good with...the Secret Service.
Some media reports have said both men, Arian Taherzageh and Haider Ali, are American citizens; others say just Taherzageh is. Ali reportedly told witnesses he had links to Pakistani intelligence. He has a visa to visit Iran and has traveled to that country twice in recent years.
It was obvious from the start that these two men were very well funded. They had a large collection of arms, along with sophisticated electronics and cash, which they used to impress their new acquaintances in the Secret Service. Those four agents --- thoroughly compromised, it would seem --- have been placed on leave pending investigation.
If you don’t know the story up to this point, including the apparently random event that led to the discovery of the imposters, Smith’s article will catch you up. We can thank an on-the-ball U.S. Postal Service Inspector for their apprehension. Smith asks the obvious question: In a building full of federal law enforcement officials, how did these guys manage to hang around, hiding in plain sight, for so long without being found out? One of them even had a recognizably Iranian name, at a time when we’ve known Iran wanted to take revenge for the assassination of their chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp, Qassem Soleiman.
Apparently, Taherzageh told a Homeland Security employee in the building that he had a list of all the residents in the apartment complex, and codes to give him access from the elevators to every floor. He said he could access all the security video footage from every floor, and even the cell phones of everyone who lived there.
To his or her credit, the DHS employee went into the internal database and tried to verify that the two men worked for the agency. Of course, their names didn’t come up, but when he was asked about this, Taherzageh had an explanation: that their names were redacted due to their undercover status. But a real undercover agent would not have discussed his undercover work at all, and he probably wouldn’t have shown off all his weapons and tactical gear. It’s not known if this unusual behavior is what tipped off the DHS employee.
As Smith notes, the U.S. and Iran are currently in negotiation to re-establish the nuclear deal from which Trump withdrew in 2018. Apparently nothing is going to get in the way of this, even Iran’s attempts to infiltrate our government and revenge-kill American officials. In order to get this deal done, the Biden administration seems okay with Iran’s stated targeting of officials from the previous one. Smith puts it this way: “As depraved as that may sound to ordinary Americans, it is the reality that U.S. negotiators have brought about in their decade-long attempt to give international legitimacy, and U.S. protection, to Iran’s nuclear program.”
And, yes, it does sound depraved. Crazy, actually. Our administration seems to want Iran to have its nuclear program just as much as Iran does. What’s wrong with this picture?
We happened upon a story from about a year ago that might help explain, as it describes in detail Obama’s plan to create a new Middle Eastern order centered on Iran, a strategy that might be called “the Realignment.” If Obama were in the White House now, the administration would be doing just the same as Biden is regarding the nuclear deal with Iran. Biden’s even got much of Obama’s foreign policy team in place. Writers Michael Doran and Tony Hadran make the case that, certainly where Iran is concerned, this might as well be the third term of Obama, and “the worst is yet to come.” As they say, “...the Israelis have yet to absorb the full scope and magnitude of Biden’s accommodation of Iran.”
As we outlined a couple of days ago, we even wonder if Obama might not be working behind the scenes to oust both Harris and Biden and make that third term official. But as much as this might please Iran, I’m afraid they’d still insist on their revenge, so the Secret Service had better shape up and stay on alert, especially if they’re guarding former Trump officials.
The article picks apart what’s in the Iran deal --- and what isn’t. Notably missing is any provision that would block all pathways to Iran getting a nuclear weapon. Any obstacles exist as “sunset provisions” that disappear as early as 2025. “By 2031,” these writers say, “the Islamic Republic will have, with international protection and assistance, an unfettered nuclear weapons program resting on an industrial-scale enrichment capability.”
They call Obama’s Iran policy “a Trojan horse designed to recast America’s position and role in the Middle East.” And, “in practical terms, America will use its influence to elevate the interests of Iran over those of other U.S. allies in key areas...” Yes, the article is quite long and detailed, but for when you have time, it’s an eye-opener. The lack of transparency and the deceptions involved are stunning.
A year ago, these writers called Obama “either the most powerful man in Democratic politics or a very close second.” I think if they were writing this today, seeing Biden as feeble and unpopular as he is, they’d say Obama is far and away the most powerful, and, by way of his former staffers still working at the State Department, is the one pulling the strings on foreign policy now.
4. Leftist Policies are driving them away
I’ve long predicted that the day stock traders and other high-powered types in New York City realized that they could do the same job over the Internet from a mansion in a warm, safe, tax-free state like Florida, that would spell the beginning of the end of New York’s financial dominance. The pandemic supercharged that process, as did the disastrous “leadership” of socialist Mayor Bill DeBlasio. And that could spell big trouble for the state’s finances.
https://nypost.com/2022/04/09/millionaires-fleeing-south-from-new-york-tax-smack/
As Charlie Gasparino reports, the taxes, rampant crime, COVID lockdowns, dangerous homeless people and other side effects of leftwing rule have spurred a mass exodus of the rich people who were picking up the tax tab for all that government New York's leftist elites love. From 2018 to 2019, the number of New Yorkers with adjusted gross incomes of over $1 million dropped by 3.7%, even as the number of millionaires nationwide rose by 2.4%. AOC might be thrilled to know that leftist policies are driving all those evil rich people away, but as Gasparino explains, this is a very bad omen for New York when it comes to selling bonds to fund its government. Who's going to buy them?
Incidentally, it’s also probably not a good idea to drive away the taxpayers with the most money when your Governor wants to spend an extra $220 million to provide Medicaid to illegal immigrants over 65. There are an estimated 20,000 to whom it would apply, but once word gets out that New York is giving free taxpayer-paid health care to older illegal immigrants, I have a feeling that number would soon go way up.
https://nypost.com/2022/04/11/nyers-buy-medicaid-for-illegal-migrants-in-hochul-dems-budget/
5. A case for nuclear power over wind power
My two writer/researchers, Pat and Laura, are bird lovers with a backyard full of bird feeders and a house full of rescued parrots. So I’ve been hearing from them ever since the push for “wind energy” that all those spinning wind turbine blades are “bird Cuisinarts” that are slaughtering millions of birds. Ironically, when this is pointed out to the greenies who claim to love nature so much, they dismiss it as a minor problem. The Obama Administration’s “solution” was to exempt wind farms from laws against killing endangered birds for 30 years. Problem solved!
Except it isn’t. Check out this article from the New American about a renewable energy company that was fined $8 million for killing over 150 bald and golden eagles – without a permit. The company claimed it didn’t think the government required a permit. Which is understandable.
This article also points out that nuclear power plants (which provide greater and more reliable energy 24/7 with no CO2 emissions) not only don’t kill birds, but “wind turbines, surprisingly, kill more people than nuclear plants.” Yale University professor Steven Novella said, “Nuclear power is the safest form of energy we have, if you consider deaths per megawatt of energy produced.”
And unlike wind farms, nuclear power plants don’t require the clear-cutting of massive tracts of forest land, further decimating the habitats of birds and other animals.
But then, to the green left, destroying the forests and all those animals and birds is worth it to save Mother Nature.
6. 10 Years worth of material
Victor Davis Hanson examines how the fringe left somehow gained control of the government and virtually every aspect of American culture, from Hollywood to sports to schools – and how they immediately pushed their most radical anti-American agenda at the expense of middle class Americans, who have realized to their horror just how awful these people are. In short, everything I’ve been telling you over the past 10+ years, but condensed into a handy recap. Definitely worth a read.
https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=14111
7. So sad, you have to laugh
Twitter employees are enjoying an allegedly previously-scheduled “day of rest,” which a Bloomberg reporter described as “well-timed” because they’re been “super-stressed” by Elon Musk buying all that Twitter stock and the terrifying rumors that he might force them to respect users’ free speech rights again.
I hope their jangled widdle nerves were soothed. I also hope they spent that time contemplating the possibility of Musk buying 51% of Twitter’s stock and firing every last one of these snowflake dilettantes. Perhaps in their next job, if they ever find one, they’ll learn in most workplaces, temper tantrums aren’t tolerated and employees don’t tell their bosses what to do, nor do they banish thousands of customers for saying things they disagree with. If they think Musk was a shock to their delicate systems, imagine what they’d feel if they actually had to cope with reality.
8. Praying for the victims
Please join me in praying for the victims of tornadoes that struck Tuesday, mostly in Texas and Iowa. The worst damage was in Bell County, Texas, north of Austin, where at least 23 people were injured (12 hospitalized) and there was extensive damage to buildings and power lines. Authorities say everyone is accounted for, and miraculously, there were no deaths.
https://www.kcci.com/article/tornadoes-touch-down-in-texas-april-2022/39710055
Also please pray for the victims of the mass shooting on a subway train and platform Tuesday morning in Brooklyn, New York, where a man wearing a gas mask threw smoke grenades and opened fire. At least 29 people were injured, including ten who suffered gunshot wounds. Some were children on their way to school. The shooter was described as a heavy-set, 5-foot-5 black male.
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/brooklyn-subway-shooting-4-13-2022
At this writing, police are searching for a “person of interest,” identified as Frank R. James, although they stressed that they aren’t sure he was the shooter. James has a history of posting violent, threatening, racist, anti-white and anti-Trump memes and rants on social media. He was on the FBI’s terrorist radar, but they cleared him in 2019 after multiple interviews.
Some conservative news outlets are predicting that the liberal media will quickly bury this story because the alleged shooter is a black anti-white extremist, which doesn’t fit their preferred narrative.
Instapundit has a good round-up of articles on this, including a handy chart to predict what the media will focus on after any shooting, depending on which identity groups the shooter and the victims fall into.
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