Biden Admin Jacks Up Cost for Oil, Gas Companies to Drill on Fed. Lands

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Biden Admin Jacks Up Cost for Oil, Gas Companies to Drill on Fed. Lands

(Headline USA) Oil and gas companies will have to pay more to drill on federal lands and satisfy stronger requirements to clean up old or abandoned wells under a final rule issued Friday by the Biden administration.

The Interior Department’s rule raises royalty rates for oil drilling by more than one-third, to 16.67%, in accordance with the sweeping 2022 climate law approved by Congress.

The previous rate of 12.5% paid by oil and gas companies for federal drilling rights had remained unchanged for a century.

The federal rate was significantly lower than what many states and private landowners charge for drilling leases on state or private lands.

The new rule does not go so far as to prohibit new oil and gas leasing on federal lands, as many environmental groups have urged and as President Joe Biden promised during the 2020 campaign.

But officials claimed the proposal would lead to a more responsible leasing process that provides a better return to U.S. taxpayers and focuses oil and gas drilling in areas that are the most likely to be developed, especially those with existing infrastructure and high potential for oil and gas reserves.

Critics suggest that the steep regulations on drilling, which have driven up gas prices significantly and contributed to the skyrocketing inflation due to increased overhead costs for businesses, offer less return on investment than burden on the U.S. economy.

They come as the Biden administration invests billions in unprofitable green-energy proposals that further waste tax dollars while yielding returns, in many cases, for Democrat donors and lobbyists.

The new rule also will increase the minimum leasing bond paid by energy companies to $150,000, compared with the previous $10,000 established more than 60 years ago.

The higher bonding requirement is intended to ensure that energy companies meet their obligations to clean up drilling sites after they are finished drilling or cap wells that are abandoned.

The plan codifies some provisions already being enforced on an interim basis in the climate law, known as the Inflation Reduction Act.

It also includes provisions in the 2021 infrastructure law and recommendations from an Interior Department report on oil and gas leasing issued in 2021. That report recommended an overhaul of the oil and gas program to limit areas available for energy development and raise costs for oil and gas companies to drill on public lands and waters.

“These are the most significant reforms to the federal oil and gas leasing program in decades, and they will cut wasteful speculation, increase returns for the public and protect taxpayers from being saddled with the costs of environmental cleanups,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland claimed Friday.

Along with efforts to clean up so-called orphaned, or abandoned, wells, “these reforms will help safeguard the health of our public lands and nearby communities for generations to come,” Haaland claimed.

The rule also will ease pressure to develop areas that contain sensitive wildlife habitat, cultural resources or recreation sites, she said.

The new royalty rate set by the climate law is expected to remain in place until August 2032, after which it can be increased.

The higher rate would increase costs for oil and gas companies by an estimated $1.8 billion in that period, according to the Interior Department.

The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s top lobbying group, said it was reviewing the rule to ensure Biden’s Democratic administration was encouraging “fair and consistent access to federal resources” used by oil and gas companies.

“As energy demand continues to grow, oil and natural gas development on federal lands will be foundational for maintaining energy security, powering our economy and supporting state and local conservation efforts,” API vice president Holly Hopkins said in a statement. “Overly burdensome land management regulations will put this critical energy supply at risk.”

Environmental groups hailed the rule change as a way to ensure accountability from energy companies that have long had cheap access to federal lands.

“For far too long, oil and gas companies have been profiting off of giveaways to drill on our public lands,” said Josh Axelrod, senior policy advocate with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“This rule will finally curtail some of these wasteful handouts to the fossil fuel industry,” Axelrod added. “Communities, conservationists and taxpayer advocates have been demanding many of these changes for decades, and it’s great news that the Biden administration is acting on this today.”

The change in bonding rates is a key element of the new rule, officials said.

The previous rate of $10,000, established in 1960, was far too low to force companies to clean up old drilling sites and did not cover potential costs to reclaim a well, officials said. As a result, taxpayers frequently end up covering cleanup costs for abandoned or depleted wells if an operator refuses to do so or declares bankruptcy.

Hundreds of thousands of orphaned oil and gas wells and abandoned coal and hardrock mines pose serious safety hazards, while causing ongoing environmental damage.

The Interior Department has made available more than $1 billion in the past two years from the infrastructure law to clean up orphaned oil and gas wells on public lands. The new rule aims to prevent that burden from falling on taxpayers in the future.

Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone–Manning, whose agency issued the new rule, said it “will help protect critical wildlife habitat, cultural resources and recreational values” while ensuring a fair return for taxpayers. The bureau manages more than 245 million acres of public lands, mainly in the West.

Lawmakers were divided by party.

Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, called the rule an important step to rein in oil and gas companies.

“When Big Oil uses our public lands, it stands to reason they should be giving American taxpayers a fair return for the privilege,” he said. “That’s why Democrats worked so hard to pass reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act to return some balance to a leasing system that has favored polluters for far too long.”

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources panel, said the rule imposes unfair costs on energy companies that will result in less drilling, fewer jobs and more dependence on oil from the Middle East.

“As a candidate, Joe Biden recklessly threatened to end oil and natural gas production on federal lands,” Barrasso said. “As president, he is doing all he can to make it economically impossible to produce energy on federal lands.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Del. State Trooper Could Face Prison Time for Assaulting Teens over Doorbell Prank

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Del. State Trooper Could Face Prison Time for Assaulting Teens over Doorbell Prank
Editor’s note: Videos contain graphic violence and language that may be unsuitable for some audiences. 

(Headline USA) A suspended Delaware state trooper is facing prison time after pleading guilty to criminal charges involving a brutal assault on a teenager who targeted the trooper’s house in a prank and another incident involving one who was innocent.

Dempsey Walters, 30, pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree assault and deprivation of civil rights, both felonies, authorities said.

He also pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor assault and two counts of official misconduct. Prosecutors plan to recommend that Walters be sentenced to 1½ years in prison.

“We do not recommend prison sentences lightly, but there is no question that justice demands it here,” Attorney General Kathleen Jennings said in a prepared statement. “The defendant’s rampage against two kids, and his subsequent attempt to conceal his misconduct, was brutal, dishonest, and unacceptable.”

The case marked the first use of a state civil rights law that lawmakers passed unanimously in 2022.

Walters was indicted in September 2023 for assaulting a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old, whose eye socket was fractured.

Authorities said Walters was off duty and returning to his home in Elsmere last August when he and the 17-year-old got into an argument. Walters contacted Elsmere police, who took the teenager to his home and turned him over to his mother. The following day, authorities said, Walters looked him up on Delaware’s state law enforcement database.

Three days later, Walters was on duty when the 15-year-old and three friends, who were walking past Walters’s home, decided to play a doorbell prank.

The teen ran up to Walters’ house and kicked the door before running off.

In home security camera footage, the teen’s face appears to be covered. Walters’s girlfriend called him and gave him a description of the teen. Walters drove to the neighborhood and called other troopers and police departments for help.

While searching for the person who came to his doorstep, Walters was told by a witness that several juveniles had just run down the street where the 17-year-old lived.

Walters drove to the area, looked up the 17-year-old again on the state database, and went to his house with two Newport police officers.

When the officers arrived at the teen’s house, he and a friend came to the front door. Walters grabbed the 17-year-old and forced him to the ground, injuring him, authorities said.

The teen, who was not part of the group that played the doorbell prank, was handcuffed and detained but never formally arrested during the encounter, which was captured on Newport police body cameras and Walters’s body camera.

Walters then heard that the group involved in ringing his doorbell had been found and detained. When he arrived at their location, the 15-year-old was face-down on the ground with a trooper attempting to handcuff him.

Almost immediately upon arriving, according to investigators, Walters dropped his knee onto the back of the teen’s head and neck area, which can be seen on a police vehicle camera and Walters’ body camera.

As the 15-year-old was arrested and put in a police vehicle, Walters confirmed with another trooper that the person in custody was the same person who had kicked his door. He then turned off his body camera and walked to the police vehicle.

While the teen was handcuffed in the back of the vehicle, Walters punched him in the face, fracturing his right eye socket. Walters then walked around the vehicle and turned his body camera back on.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Biden Admin to Give $6.4B Samsung to Make Computer Chips in Texas

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Biden Admin to Give $6.4B Samsung to Make Computer Chips in Texas

(Headline USA) The Biden administration has reached an agreement to provide up to $6.4 billion in direct funding for Samsung Electronics to develop a computer chip manufacturing and research cluster in Texas.

“The Texas business community is greatly enhanced by Samsung’s announcement of a new $44 billion investment into cutting edge semiconductor technology and advanced packaging in our state,” said a statement from the Texas Association of Business. “This investment will create thousands of great paying jobs, provide huge amounts of revenue to local governments, and ensure Texas’ continued leadership in semiconductor fabrication and advanced packaging.”

The funding announced Monday by the Commerce Department is part of a total investment in the cluster that, with private money, is expected to exceed $40 billion. The government support comes from the CHIPS and Science Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022 with the goal of reviving the production of advanced computer chips domestically.

“The proposed project will propel Texas into a state-of-the-art semiconductor ecosystem,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on a call with reporters. “It puts us on track to hit our goal of producing 20% of the world’s leading edge chips in the United States by the end of the decade.”

Raimondo said she expects the project will create at least 17,000 construction jobs and more than 4,500 manufacturing jobs.

Samsung’s cluster in Taylor, Texas, would include two factories that would make four- and two-nanometer chips. Also, there would be a factory dedicated to research and development, as well as a facility for the packaging that surrounds chip components.

The first factory is expected to be operational in 2026, with the second being operational in 2027, according to the government.

The funding also would expand an existing Samsung facility in Austin, Texas.

Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Samsung will be able to manufacture chips in Austin directly for the Defense Department as a result. Access to advanced technology has become a major national security concern amid competition between the U.S. and China.

In addition to the $6.4 billion, Samsung has indicated it also will claim an investment tax credit from the U.S. Treasury Department.

The government has previously announced terms to support other chipmakers including Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. in projects spread across the country.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

EXCLUSIVE: FBI Records Link OKC Bomber to Bank Robbers, Suggesting Case is Still Unsolved

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EXCLUSIVE: FBI Records Link OKC Bomber to Bank Robbers, Suggesting Case is Still Unsolved

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) This Friday marks the 29th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed at least 168 people, including 19 children in the deadliest domestic terrorist event in U.S. history.

While that attack may seem like ancient history for some, one attorney in Utah continues to pursue lawsuits against the Justice Department for records about it. The attorney, Jesse Trentadue, thinks that others helped the supposed “lone wolf,” Timothy McVeigh. Specifically, Trentadue has implicated the Aryan Republican Army, or ARA, a gang of neo-Nazi bank robbers who were operating around the same time as McVeigh.

Contrary to Trentadue’s theory, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who helped prosecute McVeigh, continue to insist that the bomber acted alone—receiving only minor help in gathering explosives material from accomplice Terry Nichols.

Murrah Building
Politicians continue to use the OKC bombing as a prop to bash conservatives. But records suggest that the DOJ is covering up what really happened on April 19, 1995. PHOTO: Screenshot from 2023 congressional hearing

Garland and the other officials insist there was no link between the ARA and McVeigh. Their media mouthpieces, such as the Washington Post, have said the same. Amidst the ARA and McVeigh’s criminal proceedings in 1997, the Post declared there was “no proof that McVeigh knew the Aryan robbers.”

But the records provided by Trentadue indicate otherwise. Those records show that the FBI also thought McVeigh and the ARA were in cahoots.

One set of previously unpublicized records provided by Trentadue even shows that the FBI directed its field offices to investigate potential McVeigh-ARA links within days of the April 1995 attack. The records are briefly referenced in an epic biography of McVeigh, but have otherwise remained hidden for the last nearly 29 years—until now.

OK Bomb Rob

According to the records provided by Trentadue, the FBI launched a nationwide investigation into ARA-McVeigh links on April 27, 1995, directing field offices across the country to review their unsolved bank robberies to see if see whether McVeigh was involved.

The FBI was investigating McVeigh’s involvement in bank robberies because, among other reasons, his accomplice Nichols was found with $5,000.

Furthermore, investigators obtained a letter McVeigh wrote to his sister on Dec. 14, 1993, saying that he had a friend who “knocks over banks” and orchestrates credit scams. In that letter, McVeigh said, “We have to fund out war efforts with sometimes, covert means. We operate no different than the American underground in Nazi Germany.”

McVeigh’s description was the exact modus operandi as the ARA, which committed at least 22 bank robberies in the mid-90s—all with the goal of funding a right-wing revolution. The ARA even engaged in the credit scams described by McVeigh, with ARA leader Richard Lee Guthrie using false identification to rack up charges on stores cards from JC Penny’s, Sears, Montgomery Ward and others.

Over the next several months, FBI field offices across the country looked at their unsolved bank robberies and generated reports for the OKC bombing investigators.

Most of the reports downplayed any potential involvement by McVeigh or his associates. San Francisco’s FBI office, for example, found that five of its recent robberies were committed by a long-actor who “only began [robbing banks] after his wife left him for her lesbian lover.” The FBI Norfolk office, meanwhile, had two unsolved robberies that were both committed by an unidentified black man—ruling him out of a neo-Nazi conspiracy.

However, other offices produced potential hits on their search for a link between McVeigh, bank robberies and the ARA. One office went as far as to name McVeigh as a suspect in a string of robberies in Sioux Falls.

An FBI memo identifies OKC bomber Tim McVeigh as a suspect in a series of bank robberies
An FBI memo identifies OKC bomber Tim McVeigh as a suspect in a series of bank robberies

“TIMOTHY MC VEIGH SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A POSSIBLE SUSPECT IN THREE UNSOLVED MINNEAPOLIS BANK ROBBERIES. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT NO BANK SURVEILLANCE PHOTOGRAPHS: ARE AVAILABLE FROM ANY OF THE ROBBERIES, ALL OF WHICH OCCURRED IN SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA,” a May 3, 1995, teletype from the FBI’s Minneapolis office stated.

Another FBI office, this one in Louisville, responded to the FBI’s directive with a June 1995 report on a bank robbery that had happened on May 10, 1995. McVeigh was already in jail by that time, but the May 10 robbery was committed by the ARA.

Along with reviewing unsolved robberies for evidence of McVeigh’s involvement, the FBI also mapped McVeigh’s travels around the country to compare when and where he was during the ARA’s various robberies.

An FBI map documents the movements of the ARA, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols
An FBI map documents the movements of the ARA, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols

While the FBI map didn’t show McVeigh being in any city during an ARA robbery, criminologist Mark Hamm has shown that he and the ARA were in various locations at the same time throughout 1993 and 1994.

“It is highly improbable—if not statistically impossible—for nine men with such violent predispositions and such deep connections within the white power movement … to randomly come together at the same time in the same geographical area,” Hamm has argued, referring to McVeigh, Nichols, Guthrie, Langan and five other Aryan members.

ARA Arrests

In January 1996, the FBI arrested ARA leaders Guthrie and Peter Langan. Other members, including Kevin McCarthy, Scott Stedeford and Mark Thomas, were also arrested around that time.

However, none of them were charged for being involved in the OKC bombing.

Members of the ARA bank-robber gang were arrested in early 1996.
Members of the ARA bank-robber gang were arrested in early 1996. PHOTO: FBI

Shortly after the arrests, ARA leader Langan began implicating his former associates. During his criminal proceedings, Langan subpoenaed ARA member Thomas to testify about McCarthy’s role in the bombing.

Unfortunately for Langan and those seeking the truth, Thomas was indicted in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania a week before he was set to testify, thus cancelling his appearance at the Langan trial.

“With that, Kevin McCarthy became a protected government asset, and the FBI abandoned the entire McVeigh-ARA connection,” noted criminologist Hamm in his book on the ARA, In Bad Company.

Langan was convicted of five bank robbery-related charges in 1997, and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. His cohorts received lighter sentences: 30 years for Stedeford, five years for McCarthy (as part of a plea deal where he testified against Langan), and 57 months for Brescia.

Guthrie, for his part—the person who purportedly told Langan about the other ARA members’ connections to OKC—was found hanging dead in his prison cell in July 1996.

All that didn’t stop Langan from trying to reveal the ARA-OKC connections about six years later, this time in the state trial of Terry Nichols, who helped McVeigh construct the Ryder Truck bomb but wasn’t in Oklahoma on the day of the attack.

Prosecutors objected to Nichols using Langan as a defense witness to testify about the ARA-OKC connections. At a hearing over the matter, FBI agent John Hersley testified that it was impossible for McCarthy to be involved in the bombing because he was in Iowa on April 19, 1995.

In doing so, Hersley contradicted McCarthy’s own alibi that he was with Langan in Kansas. Nevertheless, the judge accepted the FBI agent’s testimony and rejected Langan from testifying for Nichols.

Langan tried once more to introduce evidence about the ARA’s connections to the OKC bombing in his aforementioned sworn court statement in a lawsuit by Utah attorney Trentadue. But Trentadue’s case, too, was dismissed in 2010.

Since then, Langan has transitioned from trying to reveal information about the OKC bombing to championing transgender rights. As Headline USA has extensively reported, Langan became the first federal inmate in history to receive a sex change last year.

Hamm and others have speculated that the FBI never prosecuted the ARA for the OKC bombing because the group was infiltrated with government informants, including Langan and another member named Shawn Kenny.

“The real problem for the government … was the embarrassing fact that the Secret Service had sprung [Langan] from jail back in 1993; after that, of course, he went on to form the Aryan Republican Army. And the weight of the evidence suggests that the Aryan Republican Army did, in the final analysis, play a direct role in the plot to bomb the Oklahoma City federal building,” Hamm wrote in his book.

The Investigation Continues

Meanwhile, Trentadue continues his investigation into the ARA’s involvement.

Like Hamm and others, the Utah attorney believes the DOJ is whitewashing the ARA’s involvement in OKC because of the criminal activity from the government’s own informants. Trentadue has gone as far as alleging in court records that the ARA was an FBI front group.

“Timothy McVeigh participated in some of those robberies and is reported to have used money obtained from these crimes to help fund the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. Members of the ARA also assisted McVeigh in carrying out the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building,” he said in a lawsuit filed in February.

“The ARA was actually a front group created by the FBI in which the Bureau had embedded at least one informant.”

Former FBI agents who investigated the OKC bombing have also linked the ARA to McVeigh. Danny Coulson, who headed the FBI’s hostage rescue team and worked on the OKC case, recently said that McVeigh had, in fact, visited the ARA’s hideout at Elohim City—debunking the Post’s earlier claim that there was “no proof” linking the two. Coulson has publicly called for the case to be reopened.

Coulson, and possibly Trentadue, are expected to be seen in an HBO documentary about the bombing that premiers Tuesday.

A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that McVeigh was found with $2,000 cash when he was arrested. That information came from an FBI report that turned out to be false.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

Pentagon Absolves Itself of Blame in 2021 Kabul Airport Bombing: ‘Not Preventable’

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Pentagon Absolves Itself of Blame in 2021 Kabul Airport Bombing: ‘Not Preventable’

(Headline USA) The Defense Department’s latest internal review of its 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal fiasco reached much the same conclusion as previous reports: that nobody in charge was to blame for the situation that left 13 U.S. servicemembers and an estimated 170 Afghan civilians dead in its wake, while marking a turning point in public perceptions of U.S. military capabilities during the Biden administration.

According to the new review by U.S. Central Command, the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport in August 2021 was not preventable, and the “bald man in black” spotted by U.S. service members the morning of the attack was not the bomber.

The findings, released Monday, refuted assertions by some service members who believed they had a chance to take out the would-be bomber but did not get approval.

And, for the first time, the U.S. military confirmed that the bomber was Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an Islamic State militant who had been in an Afghan prison but was released by the Taliban as the group took control of the country that summer.

The Abbey Gate bombing during the final chaotic days of the Afghanistan withdrawal triggered widespread debate and congressional criticism, fueled by emotional testimony from a Marine injured in the blast, who said snipers believed they saw the possible bomber but couldn’t get approval to take him out.

Retired Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas–Andrews told the House Foreign Affairs Committee last March that Marines and others aiding in the evacuation were given descriptions of men believed to be plotting an attack. Vargas–Andrews, who was injured in the blast but not interviewed in the initial investigation, said he and others saw a man matching the description and might have been able to stop the attack, but requests to take action were denied.

In a detailed briefing to a small number of reporters, members of the team that did the review released photos of the bald man identified by military snipers as a potential threat and compared it with photos of al-Logari. The team members, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public, described facial recognition and other analysis they used that they said confirmed those were not the same man.

“For the past two years, some service members have claimed that they had the bomber in their sights and they could have prevented the attack,” claimed one of the anonymous military officials. “We now know that is not correct.”

They said they also showed the photo of the bald man to service members during the latest interviews, and that the troops again confirmed that was the suspicious man they had targeted.

The review notes that the bald man was first seen around 7 a.m. and that troops lost sight of him by 10 a.m. The bombing was more than seven hours later, and the U.S. says al-Logari didn’t get to Abbey Gate until “very shortly” before the blast took place. They declined to be more specific about the timing, saying details are classified.

Family members of those killed in the blast received similar briefings over the past two weekends and some are still unconvinced.

“For me, personally, we are still not clear,” Jim McCollum, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, told the Associated Press. “I believe Tyler saw what Tyler saw and he knows what he saw. And it was not the guy that they were claiming was the man in black.”

the team went into “pretty good detail, not trying to discredit Tyler, but effectively saying he was wrong. However, that ended up being as clear as mud to us,” McCollum said.

Mark Schmitz, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, questioned the photo itself.

“They kept saying this is who Tyler Vargas–Andrews was looking at, and we were thinking to ourselves, ‘well, that’s interesting. Why is this a picture of a picture from a Canon camera?’” he said. “To me it felt like they were trying to find the guy in those cameras that may have come close to looking like somebody of interest that they can try to sell to us.”

The families, however, also said they were relieved to get more details about their loved ones’ deaths, saying the initial briefings were not as good.

Schmitz said that Army Gen. Eric Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, was part of the latest briefing and apologized for how the families were treated during the initial probe.

This time around officials were able to share with Schmitz for the first time exactly where his son was when the bomb went off and that he was unconscious almost immediately, and therefore did not feel the impact of the shrapnel that went through his left torso, hitting a primary artery.

“That to me was, first and foremost, the best news I could have gotten,” Schmitz said. “That gave me a little bit of closure that my son didn’t suffer, which made me feel really good.”

Team members said they also were planning to speak with the troops who were interviewed this time, to share the results of the report.

They said the review also could not completely rule out claims that militants did a test run of the bombing several days earlier. But after reviewing photos and other intelligence, the team concluded it was unlikely that three men seen carrying a large bag—which troops deemed suspicious—were doing a trial run.

More broadly, the team said the review brought some new details to light, including more discussion about the possible bombing test run. But they said overall it confirmed the findings of U.S. Central Command’s initial investigation into the bombing: that it was not preventable and that reports of threats prior to the bombing were too vague.

As an example, the new review noted that threat reports talked about a possible bomber with groomed hair, wearing loose clothes, and carrying a black bag. That description, the review said, could have matched anyone in the enormous crowd desperately trying to get into the airport.

The team said they conducted 52 interviews for the review—adding up to a total of 190 when the previous investigation is included. Service members were asked about 64 questions, and the sessions lasted between one hour and seven hours long.

A number of those questioned weren’t included in the original investigation, many because they were severely wounded in the attack. The new review was ordered last September by Kurilla, largely due to criticism of the initial investigation and assertions that the deadly assault could have been stopped.

Members of the team said the ISIS group put out the bomber’s name on social media, but U.S. intelligence was later able to independently confirm that report.

U.S. Central Command’s initial investigation concluded in November 2021 that given the worsening security situation at the airport’s Abbey Gate as Afghans became increasingly desperate to flee, “ the attack was not preventable at the tactical level without degrading the mission to maximize the number of evacuees.”

Critics have slammed the Biden administration for the catastrophic evacuation, and they’ve complained that no one was held accountable for it. And while the U.S. was able to get more than 130,000 civilians out of the country during the panic after the Taliban took control of the government, there were horrifying images of desperate Afghans clinging to military aircraft as they lifted off.

One chilling image showed 19-year-old Zaki Anwari drop out of the sky after takeoff, plunging to his death—a fate that several others clinging to the wheel of the U.S. Air Force plane also were presumed to have met.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Doctors Amputate Perfectly Good Fingers of Mentally Ill ‘Body Dysphoria’ Patient

Jacob Bruns
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Doctors Amputate Perfectly Good Fingers of Mentally Ill ‘Body Dysphoria’ Patient

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Canadian doctors operated on and removed the fingers of a young man who claimed to be afflicted by “body dysphoria,” Harbinger’s Daily reported.

According to a case study published last month, the man had several fingers removed in an “elective amputation” in order to address his “substantial” distress. Researchers called the elective amputation a “viable and highly satisfying intervention, aligning the individual’s physical self with their perceived identity.”

The report suggested that the 20-year-old had “body integrity identity disorder,” and was caused “profound distress” by his ring and pinky fingers of his left hand.

Doctors, despite initially being concerned about ethical considerations, proceeded with the surgery “based on the patient’s sustained desire, potential risks of self-harm, and the distinct presentation involving two fingers rather than a complete limb.”

Researchers concluded by claiming that the patient was relieved to have his fingers removed, and said that his nightmares about those fingers have ended.

They suggested further that the case might shed light “on the unique challenges faced by affected individuals and emphasizing the importance of understanding, support, and inclusive healthcare practices.”

The surgery may be an early warning sign that a new transhumanist trend is growing: transableism, or, the belief of some people that they were meant to be born into disabled bodies.

Effectively, the “transabled,” or those diagnosed with “body integrity identity disorder,” will have elective surgeries in order to remove limbs or otherwise render useless or dysfunctional some part of their bodies.

With the proliferation of transgenderism and shifts in the psychiatric field from healing to validating many identity-based mental disorders, some expressed concerns that transableism will soon receive similar support from medical activists.

If doctors were to get on board with transableism, it would come as no surprise. According to a recent Daily Mail report, the majority of doctors are in bed with Big Pharma, collecting massive paydays from the industry.

One Twitter user, Danish medical doctor Anastasia Maria Loupis, expressed her concern in a tweet last year reacting to a Fox News report on the transableist trend.

“Like I’ve said all along. It’s called mental illness,” she wrote.

 

FBI Opens Criminal Investigation into Baltimore Bridge Collapse

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FBI Opens Criminal Investigation into Baltimore Bridge Collapse

(Headline USA) The FBI is conducting a criminal investigation into the deadly collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge that is focused on the circumstances leading up to it and whether all federal laws were followed, according to someone familiar with the matter.

The person was not authorized to discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity to the Associated Press.

The FBI was aboard the cargo ship Dali conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity, the agency said in a statement Monday. It didn’t elaborate and said it wouldn’t comment further on the investigation, which was first reported by the Washington Post.

Meanwhile, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott on Monday announced a partnership with two law firms to “launch legal action to hold the wrongdoers responsible” and mitigate harm to city residents.

The massive Dali left Baltimore’s port in the early hours of March 26, laden with cargo and headed for Sri Lanka, when it struck one of the bridge’s supporting columns, causing the span to collapse into the Patapsco River and sending six members of a roadwork crew plunging to their deaths.

Divers have recovered three of the six bodies from the wreckage.

National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said last week that investigators were focusing on the ship’s electrical power system. The ship experienced power issues moments before the crash, as is evident in videos that show its lights going out and coming back on.

Homendy said information gleaned from the vessel’s voyage data recorder is relatively basic, “so that information in the engine room will help us tremendously.”

In his statement announcing the partnership with law firms, Scott said the city “will take decisive action to hold responsible all entities accountable for the Key Bridge tragedy, including the owner, charterer, manager/operator, and the manufacturer of the M/V Dali, as well as any other potentially liable third parties.”

He said with the ship’s owner already seeking to limit the company’s liability, the city needs to act quickly to protect its own interests.

The investigation comes amid concerns about the safety of thousands of U.S. bridges and days after more than two dozen river barges broke loose and struck a closed span in Pittsburgh.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Media Outlets Beg Biden to Commit to Presidential Debates

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Media Outlets Beg Biden to Commit to Presidential Debates

(Headline USA) Twelve news organizations on Sunday urged presumptive presidential nominees Joe Biden and Donald Trump to agree to debates, saying they were a “rich tradition” that have been part of every general election campaign since 1976.

While Trump, who did not participate in debates for the Republican nomination—citing the Republican National Committee’s demand that participants pledge to support the primary winner as one of the principle reasons—he has indicated a willingness to take on his 2020 rival.

Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a letter this past week that “we have already indicated President Trump is willing to debate anytime, any place and anywhere—and the time to start these debates is now.”

They cited the seven 1858 Illinois Senate debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, saying “certainly today’s America deserves as much.”

Biden, however, has not committed to debating him again. Instread, Democrats have tried to use their central campaign message of invalidating the views and legitimacy of Trump and his supporters to suggest that debates with the former president would be beneath the office of the presidency.

Asked on March 8 whether he would commit to a debate with Trump, Biden said, “it depends on his behavior.”

Yet, many suspect that Biden, 81, simply isn’t capable of performing up to speed on the debate state, and that the forum would almost certainly give Trump an advantage.

The incumbent president has frequently fumbled in public appearances when not supplied with pre-scripted talking points and pre-vetted media questions. In fact, some suspect that he wore an earpiece during the 2020 debates, although his mental acuity has deteriorated even further since then.

Trump, by contrast, frequently speaks off the cuff during his regular rallies, which can last for hours in some cases. He has not only supported the idea of debating Biden, but wants it to be earlier than scheduled.

Although invitations have not been formally issued, the news organizations said it was not too early for each campaign to say publicly that it will participate in the three presidential and one vice presidential forum set by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.

“If there is one thing Americans can agree on during this polarized time, it is that the stakes of this election are exceptionally high,” the organizations said in a joint statement. “Amidst that backdrop, there is simply no substitute for the candidates debating with each other, and before the American people, their visions for the future of our nation.”

ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, PBS, NBC, NPR and the Associated Press all signed on to the letter. C-SPAN, NewsNation and Univision also joined the letter calling for debates. Only one newspaper, USA Today, added its voice. The Washington Post declined a request to join.

Certainly the broadcasters could use the juice that debates may bring. Television news ratings are down significantly compared with the 2020 campaign, although there are other factors involved, such as cord-cutting and the pandemic, that increased interest in news four years ago.

There were no Democratic debates this presidential cycle, and Trump’s refusal to participate in the GOP forums depressed interest in them since he was already regarded as the de-facto frontrunner and party leader.

Biden and Trump debated twice in 2020. A third debate was canceled after Trump, then president, tested positive for COVID-19 and would not debate remotely.

The Republican National Committee voted in 2022 to no longer participate in forums sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The Trump campaign has not indicated it would adhere to that, but did have some conditions.

The campaign managers said the commission selected a “demonstrably anti-Trump moderator” in then-Fox News host Chris Wallace in 2020 and wants assurances the commission debates are fair and impartial.

The Trump campaign also wants the timetable moved up, saying that many Americans will have already voted by Sept. 16, Oct. 1 and Oct. 9, the dates of the three debates set by the commission.

The Biden campaign declined comment on the news organizations’ letter, pointing to the president’s earlier statement. There was no immediate response from the Trump campaign.

But on Saturday, Trump held a rally in northeast Pennsylvania with two lecterns set up on the stage: one for him to give a speech, the other to symbolize what he said was Biden’s refusal to debate him. The second lectern had a placard that read, “Anytime. Anywhere. Anyplace.”

Midway through his campaign speech, Trump turned to his right and pointed to the second lectern.

“We have a little, look at this, it’s for him,” he said. “See the podium? I’m calling on Crooked Joe Biden to debate anytime, anywhere, any place. Right there. And we have to debate because our country is going in the wrong direction so badly and while it’s a little bit typically early we have to debate. We have to explain to the American people what the hell is going on,” Trump said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Swampy Politicians in Red States Block Sound Money Reforms

Money Metals News Service
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Swampy Politicians in Red States Block Sound Money Reforms

(Clint Siegner, Money Metals News Service) Money Metals Exchange does more than just talk about sound money. Our public policy initiative, the Sound Money Defense League, is leading the growing ranks of citizens seeking to advance the cause across the country.

Have a look at the latest grassroots victory for sound money in Kentucky: the 45th state sales tax exemption for gold and silver investors.

But sound money isn’t winning in our home state of Idaho, at least not yet.

Of course, sound money is not a highly partisan issue. We have allies on both sides of the aisle – with Wisconsin and New Jersey being recent examples.

However, the challenge in Idaho is not uncommon across some of the “reddest” states. I’ll explain…

Money Metals was founded with a single employee in Eagle, Idaho, back in 2010. We now employ about 100 people.

Our clients like us for a variety of reasons. Among them are our educational and public policy efforts. We also support candidates and groups working to advance the cause of sound money everywhere – and that includes our home state of Idaho.

Idaho – like Wyoming, Montana, and a few other red states – has a problem with big-government politicians that masquerade as something else. The state legislature and the governor’s office are still dominated by these sorts of politicians.

In reality, Governor Brad Little and his liberal allies in the legislature serve the interests of big business lobby (here it is called the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry) as well as government union bosses.

This year’s sound money bill would have allowed the Idaho state treasurer to hold physical bullion as a reserve asset and diversify away from the declining U.S. dollar and bonds backed by the insolvent U.S. government.

A similar bill just became law in our neighboring state of Utah, but Governor Little vetoed it in Idaho.

The sad consequence is that Idaho remains “all-in” on fiat dollars and other failing assets. The veto wasn’t good for Idahoans, but that isn’t how Gov. Little and his ilk make their decisions.

The point of all this is that the effort to “drain the swamp” must extend to your own state capitol. It is hard to imagine winning the battle to reform the federal government or restore honest money nationwide unless more victories accrue at the state level.

Clint Siegner is a Director at Money Metals Exchange, a precious metals dealer recently named “Best in the USA” by an independent global ratings group. A graduate of Linfield College in Oregon, Siegner puts his experience in business management along with his passion for personal liberty, limited government, and honest money into the development of Money Metals’ brand and reach. This includes writing extensively on the bullion markets and their intersection with policy and world affairs.

National Guard Whistleblowers to Testify about Jan. 6 this Wednesday

Ken Silva
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National Guard Whistleblowers to Testify about Jan. 6 this Wednesday

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Whistleblowers from the DC National Guard will testify to Congress on Wednesday about how military officials prevented them from promptly responding to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill uprising.

The House Administration Committee recently posted a notice of the hearing, which is titled, Three Years Later: D.C. National Guard Whistleblowers Speak Out on January 6 Delay. According to an exclusive from the Daily Mail, the whistleblowers will tell Congress that Donald Trump wanted them deployed during the Capitol riot, and that the Army delayed telling them to mobilize.

“The hearing will aim to further prove that Acting Defense Secretary at the time Christopher Miller did give advance approval of D.C. National Guard deployment at the direction of then-President Donald Trump,” the Daily Mail reported Friday.

“A person familiar with the review by the House Administration Committee’s Oversight Subcommittee said the whistleblowers will provide testimony that then-Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy delayed by at least two hours providing official notice to D.C. National Guard Commander William Walker to deploy troops to the Capitol.”

The impending congressional hearing follows a transcript from the anti-Trump Jan. 6 Committee being released last month by House Republicans, showing that Trump demanded the National Guard deploy at least 10,000 men to the Capitol.

Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Anthony Ornato told the Jan. 6 Committee about his recollections of discussions within the White House regarding this potential deployment. Regrettably for Trump, Ornato’s testimony remained unreleased for years.

According to the transcript, Ornato recounted that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows explicitly offered D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser the National Guard deployment.

“‘[Trump is] willing to ask for 10,000,’” Ornato informed the Jan. 6 Committee, quoting Meadows’s conversation with Bowser. However, Bowser declined the offer, insisting on deploying only a few hundred individuals.

Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund and DC National Guard leader Maj. Gen. Walker have also reportedlysaid that Army Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt (ret.), who was Army Staff Director on Jan. 6, delayed or ignored Sund’s request for National Guard support.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

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