Meta recently took “what appears to be the largest known cross-platform covert influence operation in the world,” off its platforms, according to the company’s quarterly Adversarial Threat Report released this week.’
The social media accounts that made up the covert influence operation — collectively dubbed “Spamouflage” — were active all over the world, including in America, major U.S. allies, Taiwan, and the Chinese diaspora.
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As more foreign nationals are caught attempting to illegally enter Florida and are repatriated to their country or port of origin, a new method to bypass law enforcement efforts by sea is underway by air: hang gliders.
On Saturday, two Cuban nationals landed at the Key West International Airport using a powered hang glider. They were taken into custody by Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies, who then turned them over to U.S. Border Patrol. No injuries were reported, the sheriff’s office said.
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Many Americans today assume that the threat of Communism subsided with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. But “We continue to see Communist and socialist regimes pop up and spread not only in Latin America – for example, in Venezuela and Nicaragua – but around the world,” says Ambassador Andrew Bremberg, president and CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC). “These regimes regularly kill their own citizens and have a devastating effect on human rights and their national economies.” In fact, over 1.5 billion people – including those living in Laos, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, and, of course, China – currently live under oppressive Communist and socialist governments.
Founded in 1993 by a bipartisan, unanimous Act of Congress, VOC is “devoted to commemorating the more than 100 million victims of communism around the world and to pursuing the freedom of those still living under totalitarian regimes.”
Before coming to VOC, Bremberg served as the Trump administration’s Representative of the United States to the Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva. During his time there, which he describes as a “profound and life changing experience,” he “became aware of the challenge of China,” which was “far worse” than he had realized. He notes that the U.N. International Human Rights Council made investigating the United States’ record on racism during the summer of 2020 its highest priority – putting it above China’s appalling human rights violations against Uyghurs, among other ethnic groups within its borders.
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Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) asked President Joe Biden and his Secretary of State Antony Blinken to resign due to the chaos unfolding in Afghanistan. Under Biden’s leadership and against the warnings of intelligence and top generals, U.S. troops were withdrawn from the country, leaving the Taliban to take over as the remaining Afghan army was unable to stop them on its own. The U.S. failed to withdraw all of the Americans from the country before the takeover, resulting in the deaths of 13 American soldiers on August 23 by a suicide bomber at the Kabul airport. Although the U.S. sent several thousand troops back into Afghanistan to evacuate the remaining Americans as well as Afghans who had worked with the U.S., they were unable to evacuate all of them by the Taliban’s deadline of August 31.
“After numerous intelligence briefings and reviewing the situation on the ground, it is clear that someone must be held accountable for the chaos that has unfolded in Afghanistan and led to the loss of American lives,” Lesko said in a statement. “From the outset, it has been apparent that the Biden Administration had no plan for a safe and effective withdrawal of U.S. military personnel, American citizens, and Afghan allies from Afghanistan.”
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A Democratic senator compared the scene in Kabul as the U.S. rushed to evacuate embassy personnel and Afghan allies to the fall of Saigon in 1975 on Monday.
“Sad. My father was our next-to-last ambassador in Saigon, and our ambassador when ‘peace deal’ was negotiated in Laos,” tweeted Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. “How that all ended deserved more attention.”
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Arizona State Rep. Martin Quezada (D-Maryvale), who is also the campaign manager for Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, tweeted on July 9 that fellow legislator, Vietnamese-American Quang Nguyen (R-Prescott), is a “white nationalist” for tweeting Governor Doug Ducey’s announcement of Arizona’s new law banning critical race theory. Nguyen, who is Vietnamese, fled Vietnam with his brother during the Vietnam War as a refugee, living in refugee camps until they were reunited with their parents four months later.
Nguyen tweeted a news release from the governor’s website, “Governor Ducey, Legislature Take Strong Action to Stop Critical Race Theory” with a link. Quezada copied the tweet and wrote, “This is what #WhiteNationalism looks like,” with an arrow pointing at Nguyen’s tweet.
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Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio to discuss the media’s exaggeration of the coronavirus death toll in relation to mail-out voting.
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Vietnam has shipped nearly half a million protective suits to the United States, marking a quick turnaround in bilateral talks to deal with the significant U.S. shortage in medical equipment, and resulting in a tweet of thanks from the U.S. president.
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President Donald Trump says he is optimistic about his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, over U.S. efforts to end the threat of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons arsenal. “We both expect a continuation of the progress made at first Summit in Singapore. Denuclearization?” Trump said in a Twitter message Sunday. Very productive talks yesterday with China on Trade. Will continue today! I will be leaving for Hanoi, Vietnam, early tomorrow for a Summit with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, where we both expect a continuation of the progress made at first Summit in Singapore. Denuclearization? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2019 After their first meeting last June, Trump boasted as he returned to Washington, “Everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.” But as he meets Wednesday and Thursday with Kim in Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, there is little concrete evidence that progress has been made to set the specific terms of North Korea’s promised denuclearization. ‘No change’ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNN on Sunday “there is no change” in U.S. economic sanctions targeting North Korea until it agrees to…
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Left-wing agitator Nathan Phillips, the 64-year-old Native American man who confronted several Kentucky high school students from Covington Catholic this past weekend in Washington, D.C., is not a Vietnam veteran, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, correcting an earlier report in which the iconic liberal newspaper, now owned by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, said he was, in fact, a Vietnam veteran. The Post made its stunning correction on Tuesday at the bottom of an article about Phillips’ interactions with the Catholic high school students, where it admitted its error. “Earlier versions of this story incorrectly said that Native American activist Nathan Phillips fought in the Vietnam War. Phillips said he served in the U.S. Marines but was never deployed to Vietnam,” The Post story read. Phillips had a well-publicized encounter last weekend with a group of teens from Covington Catholic wearing “Make America Great Again” hats in Washington, D.C. Phillips’ military credentials matter a lot, according to National Review writer and Columbia, Tenn. resident David French. “Much of the continued progressive hatred for the Covington Kids depends on taking Nathan Phillips at his word,” French wrote on his Twitter page. “No one should.” Several other publications have incorrectly reported previously that…
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged North Korea on Sunday to replicate Vietnam in forging a new relationship with the United States, much like Hanoi has done five decades after the Vietnam War against the U.S. ended. The top U.S. diplomat, visiting the Vietnamese capital after two days of talks in Pyongyang aimed at dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, said 23 years of normalized U.S. relations with Vietnam should be proof to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that the U.S. can create new ties with former foes. “We know it is a real possibility because we see how Vietnam has traveled this remarkable path,” Pompeo said. Pompeo downplayed North Korea’s accusation that the U.S. had made “gangster-like” demands that it abandon its nuclear program and that their talks were “regrettable.” “If those requests were gangster-like, the world is a gangster,” Pompeo said, as he noted that the U.N. Security Council has demanded numerous times that the North dispose of its nuclear weapons and end its ballistic missile program. He said the fact that the U.S. is “cooperating— and not fighting” with Vietnam “is proof that when a country decides to create a brighter future for itself alongside…
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U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is “very proud” of his five-nation, 12-day trip to Asia, asserting lots of progress was made on issues such as security and trade. In remarks delivered behind closed doors Tuesday at the East Asia Summit in Manila, Trump reiterated that North Korea remains a major global military threat. “North…
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The U.S. Air Force said two Guam-based B-1B bombers, accompanied by fighter jets from South Korea and Japan, flew Thursday in an exercise in the area of the Korean Peninsula. While the exercise came a day before President Donald Trump was scheduled to leave on a 12-day trip to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the…
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U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to five Asian countries early next month, looking to ramp up pressure against North Korea’s nuclear weapons development, but also promote American economic interests in the region. The White House said Monday that Trump’s trip from November 3 to 14 will include visits to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and…
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Dear Tennessee Star, I spent ten years serving this nation in uniform. My dad served four years when he was young. My son retired from the Air Force, serving honorably with multiple tours in the Middle East. I have friends who made careers serving in the military. One in particular served over thirty years earning several medals, including three purple hearts and the Bronze Star. Another friend served 28 years, and lost her husband in combat while he served in Afghanistan. Other friends served in WWII, saving the world from fascism. Some came home maimed while others buried their friends on foreign soil. Back in the ’60’s, soldiers returned from Vietnam only to be met by protesters who berated and spat on them. While the protesters were protected by the First Amendment, their actions were deplorable. As far as I’m concerned, professional athletes who refuse to stand for our National Anthem not only disrespect our flag, they are figuratively spitting on every man and woman who served this nation in uniform. Athletes play their sport because they’re talented. We served our country because of our principles: Duty, Honor, Country. I’m a strong advocate for the Constitution. I’m a firm believer…
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