50 Top Dems Against Biden 2024? Kansas Woman Trained Child Suicide Bombers, (The Five for 06/12/22)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
Thanks for reading…this issue in particular, highlights huge stories that are somehow being ignored by most of the corporate press.
Let’s dive into the news.
[one]
A couple of notes before we dive into this story.
A. Normally, I wouldn’t consider Newsmax to be a source credible enough for The Five
and
B. Normally, a comedian commenting on the news would be reserved for the Friday issue (Culture & Commentary).
However, this is a unique situation, and Newsmax covered the story quite well (and Bill Maher summed up the hypocrisy brilliantly).
After an assassination attempt on Justice Brett Kavanaugh by a pro-choice, gun control advocate who was trying to change the verdict of upcoming Supreme Court cases (by murdering one of the nine), the New York Times buried the story, hardly mentioning it on the front page.
Newsmax reports:
While the story was shared as a teaser, which directed readers to page A-20, the prominent stories running on the front page included mentions of Jan. 6, the recall of left-wing San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin, an update on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and how the word "woman" is being struck from the abortion debate.
Earlier this week, a man traveling from California to Washington D.C., armed with a gun and a knife, allegedly set out to murder the Supreme Court justice in the hopes of overturning Roe v. Wade after its Supreme Court draft opinion was leaked.
The man, Nicholas John Roske, was arrested outside the justice's home and charged with attempted murder. But the Times kept the story from the front page.
On Friday night, during his panel discussion, Maher criticized the Times, calling its response a case of "media bias."
"The New York Times buried this," Maher stated. "If this had been a liberal Supreme Court justice that someone came to kill, it would have been on the front page.
"And that's what's so disappointing about a paper like The New York Times, because they just wear their bias on their sleeves. And if it's not part of something that feeds our narrative, f--- it, we bury it."
I’m not going to completely throw the baby out with the bathwater here, as the NYT still has solid international reporting, and journalists on the ground all over the world.
But this is beyond the pale for journalism, and the kind of unethical reporting that helps drive the continually downward spiral of the average American trusting institutions less and less.
UPDATE: According to MSN, the alleged assassin’s sister convinced him not to go through with the attempted murder, just moments before the assailant would have forcibly entered Kavanaugh’s home.
[two]
For the first time in my lifetime, a sitting President may face significant opposition from his own party when seeking re-election.
An increasingly vocal segment of Democrats — rattled by Biden's middling approval ratings, concerned about his age, worried about the lack of voter enthusiasm heading into the 2022 midterms — are questioning whether the president should seek reelection in 2024, according to The New York Times.
Many Democratic lawmakers are pondering Biden's standing in the party, with the base deeply appreciative of the 79-year-old former Delaware senator and two-term vice president for defeating Trump at the ballot box in 2020.
But there also appear to be questions about his ability to lead a hyper-polarized country — especially as Republicans currently remain in a strong position to regain control of one or both houses of Congress.
Democrats have a wafer-thin majority in the House and Senate and have struggled to pass major pieces of legislation outside of last year's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.
And the GOP is looking to 2024 to win back control of the White House, particularly if Trump decides to run again.
The Times spoke with 50 Democratic officials — from local party leaders to members of Congress, along with deflated voters who backed Biden in 2020 — to assess the president's standing.
Top Democrats mostly declined to go on the record to discuss Biden's future as the party leader, but the perception among the party's base that he has not always maximized the bully pulpit of his position and has suffered in the polls accordingly has left some reeling, per the report.
Your guess is as good as mine as to what will happen in 2024, but there’s no doubt we’re entering uncharted territory.
[three]
From a live video posted to Twitter:
“We have a culture where the difference is: Guns can be used for hunting or for sport shooting in Canada – and there are lots of gun owners, and they’re mostly law-respecting and law-abiding – but you can’t use a gun for self-protection in Canada. That’s not a right that you have in the Constitution or anywhere else.”
So, if a gun isn’t legal for self-protection in Canada, what about a baseball bat? If a guy breaks in with a gun, and you hit him with a bat, are you guilty of murder?
That’s not whataboutism. It’s a journalistic question worth asking…is all self defense in Canada now murder?
[four]
A woman from Kansas (who obviously experienced a conversion to the most radical sect of Islam) pled guilty to terrorism for her actions training child suicide bombers in the Middle East.
USA Today reports:
A U.S. woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to organizing and leading a female military battalion in Syria, which experts said is rare.
Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, a former resident of Kansas, traveled overseas and engaged in terrorism-related activities in Syria, Libya and Iraq from September 2019 through May 2019, according to prosecutors.
She eventually served as leader and organizer of a military battalion known as Khatiba Nusaybah, where she trained women to use AK-47 assault rifles, grenades and suicide belts, according to prosecutors. More than 100 women and children as young as 10 were trained by Fluke-Ekren.
Fluke-Ekren pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema set sentencing for Oct. 25, when she faces 20 years in prison.
International terrorism charges against women are extremely rare, according to experts, because men tend to dominate the misogynistic groups such as al-Qaida, the lslamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, and related groups in Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world.
[five]
A story that should be major news…but somehow isn’t, a retired four-star general is being accused of espionage for a nation in the Middle East.
The FBI has seized the electronic data of a retired four-star general who authorities say made false statements and withheld “incriminating” documents about his role in an illegal foreign lobbying campaign on behalf of the wealthy Persian Gulf nation of Qatar.
New federal court filings obtained Tuesday outlined a potential criminal case against former Marine Gen. John R. Allen, who led U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan before being tapped in 2017 to lead the influential Brookings Institution think tank.
It’s part of an expanding investigation that has ensnared Richard G. Olson, a former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan who pleaded guilty to federal charges last week, and Imaad Zuberi, a prolific political donor now serving a 12-year prison sentence on corruption charges. Several members of Congress have been interviewed as part of the investigation.
One more time for the people in the back…the leader of the forces in Afghanistan may be a spy, and if he’s convicted he’ll be the third major spy caught this year.
Until the next one,
-sth