TheFrontPageCover
~ Featuring ~
The Asylum Seeker Racket
Tom McLaughlin
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Trump Admin to Sanction
Iran’s Last European Lifeline
by Adam Kredo
{ freebeacon.com } ~ The Trump administration is considering new sanctions on Iran to stop it from using backdoor financial methods as a means to skirt U.S. economic sanctions on its business dealings with leading European nations... according to multiple U.S. officials who told the Free Beacon that Tehran is operating a "nuclear racket." The new sanctions would directly target Iran's Special Trade and Finance Institute (STFI), an alternate financial body established by Tehran to ensure it can continue engaging in lucrative trade deals with Europe in the face of heavy U.S. sanctions. The STFI was meant to replace the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (ISTEX), which France, Germany, and the United Kingdom created in January to facilitate trade with Iran. The Trump administration is already said to be examining sanctioning the STFI, which it views as a front for the Central Bank of Iran, an entity sanctioned by the United States for its role in Iran's nuclear program and the funding of regional terror operations, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Administration allies in Congress are working toward a similar goal, with Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) having already filed a new measure that would, in addition to any potential White House action, formally sanction the STFI vehicle and make it impossible for Europe to continue engaging in business with Iran, congressional sources confirmed to the Free Beacon. The issue of these financial bodies has emerged as a crucial tension point in the debate over Iran, as traditional American allies such as Germany, France, and Britain seek to use the STFI to skirt Trump's sanctions. With Iran giving Europe a 10-day deadline provide it with cash windfalls from the landmark nuclear deal or face increased uranium enrichment, any new sanctions would disrupt Europe’s efforts to keep the door open to future business with Tehran... https://freebeacon.com/national-security/trump-admin-to-sanction-irans-last-european-lifeline/?utm_source=Freedom+Mail&utm_campaign=28274fd79f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_06_17_08_41_COPY_204&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-28274fd79f-45611665 .
New Photos Are ‘Smoking Gun’ Proving
Iranian Involvement in Tanker Attack
by Sam LaGrone
{ news.usni.org } ~ New imagery released by the U.S. on Monday makes the strongest case yet that sectarian Iranian forces attacked at least one petrochemical tanker in the Gulf of Oman... a long-time naval analyst told USNI News on Monday. Taken from a Navy MH-60R Seahawk, the new photographs show a similar scene as a grainy black and white video U.S. Central Command released on Thursday. In them, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy fast attack craft come alongside the Japanese-owned petrochemical tanker M/V Kokuka Courageous and removed what CENTCOM said is a limpet mine. “Limpet mines are attached to a vessel via magnets and/or nails and detonated by a timer,” read a statement from U.S. Central Command. “Following the attack, sailors from the Kokuka Couragous discovered a second, unexploded, limpet mine on their vessel and abandoned ship.” After the crew left the ship, CENTCOM said a Gashti Class patrol boat approached the Kokuka Courageous and recovered the unexploded mine. Additional detailed images shot from alongside Kokuka Courageous taken from the crew of USS Bainbridge (DDG-96), show a greenish-grey base attached to the hull, what CENTCOM says is the remains of the removed mine....
China Continuing Cyberattacks
on Government, Private Networks
by Bill Gertz
{ freebeacon.com } ~ China is continuing cyberattacks against government and private sector networks aimed at obtaining intellectual property to support China's military buildup and economic modernization... White House National Security Adviser John Bolton says. Bolton said that as a result, the United States is going on the attack against Chinese and other foreign hackers using new authorities outlined in a recently signed presidential memorandum. Asked if China has lessened intellectual property theft through cyberattacks, Bolton said: "No. I think this is one of the reasons why one of our priorities here was to replace PPD-20 with what we call NSPM-13, National Security Presidential Memorandum-13, which dramatically changed the oversight and approval process for offensive cyber operations." The scumbag/liar-nObama administration directive, Presidential Policy Directive-20, was signed in October 2012 and made public by renegade National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. The 20-page order, labeled "top-secret," created a restrictive approval process for conducting cyberattacks, such as requiring presidential approval and obtaining foreign government approval for operations. Bolton said the new order gives greater authority to operators in the military and intelligence community and will help establish deterrence against foreign cyberattacks. "You can't get to a system of deterrence, in cyberspace or anywhere else, unless you convince your adversaries that they will pay a higher price for engaging in their offensive cyber operations than they ever hope to gain," Bolton said in an interview in the White House West Wing. "And we have started that in late 2018 when we got NSPM-13 adopted."... https://freebeacon.com/national-security/bolton-china-continuing-cyberattacks-on-government-private-networks/?utm_source=Freedom+Mail&utm_campaign=28274fd79f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_06_17_08_41_COPY_204&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-28274fd79f-45611665 .
China: The Perfect High-Tech Totalitarian State
by Judith Bergman.
Private Firms Not Bound by First Amendment
by Charles Fain Lehman
{ freebeacon.com } ~ A private corporation that runs a public "forum" is not bound by the First Amendment, the Supreme Court ruled Monday morning... The case, which nominally concerns a public access channel in New York, has attracted attention as a potential vector for regulation of social media firms facing charges of viewpoint bias. The basic details of Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck are mundane. New York City designated Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN), a private nonprofit corporation, operator of a public access channel. Respondents DeeDee Halleck and Jesus Papoleto Melendez produced a film critical of MNN, which MNN agreed to air. The corporation subsequently removed their film and suspended the pair, claiming that they had made threats against MNN employees. Halleck and Melendez sued, claiming that MNN had violated their free speech rights under the First Amendment. The case made its way to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which is where it got interesting. Normally, to assess a First Amendment claim, a court would first determine whether or not the alleged violator was a state actor. But in this case, taking its cues from an opinion of now-retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, the Second Circuit instead ruled that, while MNN was a private entity, its fulfillment of certain roles made it a "public forum," and therefore subject to the requirements of the First Amendment.The question before the Supreme Court, then, was whether or not what the Second Circuit had done was legitimate. Or, as Halleck and Melendez put it in their initial filing, "whether the Second Circuit erred in rejecting this Court's state actor tests and instead creating a per se rule that private operators of public access channels are state actors subject to constitutional liability." "Under what circumstances," they ask, "can a private entity here a private operator of a public access channel be deemed a state actor, subject to claims under the First Amendment?"... https://freebeacon.com/issues/scotus-private-firms-not-bound-by-first-amendment/?utm_source=Freedom+Mail&utm_campaign=28274fd79f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_06_17_08_41_COPY_204&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-28274fd79f-45611665 .
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The Asylum Seeker Racket
Tom McLaughlin
{tommclaughlin.blogspot.com} ~ It says: “Comments are disabled on some stories about sensitive topics” at the bottom of articles about hundreds of African “asylum seekers” coming into Portland, Maine on buses from San Antonio, Texas. That tells me The Portland Press Herald, Maine’s largest newspaper, knows illegal immigration is unpopular with Mainers and millions of other Americans across the country. The paper wants only its view presented and restricts opposing views.
A Swiss journalist named Urs Gehriger tried to interview these “asylum seekers” on the streets of San Antonio about how they got there. According to Fox News: “…he met hostility from people who didn’t want to share details about their experiences … and had rolls of $100 bills. They offered conflicting answers and contradicted each other.” They had crossed the Rio Grande illegally but immediately became “legal” after asking border officials for asylum because of the federal law congressional Democrats refuse to change. So, we can expect “asylum seekers” to just keep coming and they’re not illegal aliens; they’re “asylees.” Gehriger believes the illegals were coached on giving answers to authorities. “I had the impression that somebody told them not to speak about it,” and acting like “now we’re here, you have to help us, give us money,” he said.
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