Impeacher-Turned-War Profiteer Alexander Vindman Wants American Boots in Ukraine

Ken Silva
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Impeacher-Turned-War Profiteer Alexander Vindman Wants American Boots in Ukraine

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Retired U.S. Army LTC Alexander Vindman, who gained fame for helping Democrats impeach President Donald Trump over delaying a Ukrainian arms deal, is now a private contractor seeking to profit from having American boots on the ground in Ukraine.

Politico revealed Vindman’s war profiteering in a Feb. 2 article, reporting that he’s heading a group called Trident Support, which wants to send American military contractors to Ukraine.

“The plan is to find 100 to 200 experienced contractors who would travel to Ukraine and embed themselves with small units near the front lines,” Politico reported. “Under the project, called Trident Support, those contractors would in turn teach the Ukrainian troops how to fix their equipment on the fly.”

Vindman’s dealings were further exposed Thursday, when Human Events published internal Trident Support documents that were reportedly divulged in a court dispute. The documents show that Vindman appears to be pitching his company’s services to the Ukrainian government.

According to the documents, Vindman, who is of Ukrainian origin, is seeking $12 million for his project—$2 million for “initial operating capability” and another $10 million for “full operating capability.”

The documents also contain inflammatory rhetoric about how a Trident-Ukraine partnership would be “an overt and vital demonstration of U.S. and NATO commitment to Ukraine.”

While that may be true, it would also signify a major step towards World War III—though that’s nothing new for Vindman. The retired military official has been vocal in sparking a hot war with Russia and helping Ukraine retake Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.

As Francis P. Sempa wrote for RealClear Wire earlier this month, Vindman claims that “swift and decisive Western military support” will help Ukraine “credibly threaten” to retake Crimea, which he claims will force Putin to negotiate, withdraw from Crimea, and will supposedly reduce the risks of a wider war.

“Vindman even lays out a tactical strategy that includes tying down Russian forces in the Luhansk, Kherson, and northern Donetsk regions, severing Russia’s land route to Ukraine by pushing through to the Sea of Azov, and interfering with Russia’s military resupply route by destroying the Kerch Strait Bridge that connects Russia to the Crimea,” Sempa wrote.

“This would be followed by ‘weeks of strikes’ on Russian armed forces, including air bases, naval installations, transportation nodes, and command and control centers.”

Then, in Vindman’s own words, Ukraine would launch “land and amphibious attacks to gain a foothold in Crimea,” and move on to seize Russia’s naval installation at Sevastopol.

What Vindman doesn’t mention is that his plan would run the risk of having entire U.S. cities wiped off the map with Russian nuclear weapons.

The Biden administration knows this—its top intelligence official, Avril Haines, warned last year that Putin would launch nukes “if he perceived an existential threat to the Russian state or regime”—but has yet to comment on Vindman’s meddling in Ukraine.

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

MIT Snowflakes Faked LGBT Slurs to Protest Free Speech on Campus

Jacob Bruns
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MIT Snowflakes Faked LGBT Slurs to Protest Free Speech on Campus

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) LGBT activists at MIT staged slurs against the LGBT “community” in order to protest against the school’s impending free speech initiative on campus.

The MIT faculty resolved in December of last year to allow free speech on campus, sending the undergraduate snowflakes into an activist tantrum, the College Fix reported.

A group of student-activists, in order to protest the new policy, decided to put up anti-LGBT fliers and chalk sketches to rile up the student body.

According to the MIT Dean for Student Life Suzy Nelson and Institute Community and Equity Officer John Dozier, “the chalking and flyers that carried slurs were put up as part of a much larger set of flyers, expressing a wide range of views, many framed in provocative terms.”

They concluded that “these flyers were intended to probe the boundaries of MIT’s commitment to freedom of expression and to determine how this commitment comports with MIT policies, including those on harassment.”

Peter Bonilla, executive director of the MIT Free Speech Alliance, did not go so far as to accuse the LGBT activists of posting the messages, but suggested that they have been incredibly hostile to any sort of free speech for some time.

“Whatever the content of the messages, whatever was being said, the point they seem to be making was that they should not have the right to say it,” Bonilla noted.

He also suggested that based on MIT policy, the signage in any case should be “protected under MIT’s policies.”

MIT spokesperson Kimberly Allen said that the campus officials are attempting to foster a place where students can learn to effectively exercise their freedom of speech.

Campus leaders “are working on creating a range of different opportunities to engage and inspire individuals across campus to learn about, practice and model the skills to confidently, constructively, respectfully express ourselves – and listen to each other – across differences.”

WaPo Admits Biden’s Loan Scheme Is Illegal, but So What?

Molly Bruns
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WaPo Admits Biden’s Loan Scheme Is Illegal, but So What?

(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) A recent article from the editorial board of the Washington Post concluded that President Joe Biden’s executive order partially forgiving student debt is indeed illegal, but the Supreme Court should allow the order to pass nonetheless.

According to the National Review, the WaPo piece, titled “Biden overreached on student loans,” is followed by the byline “but the court shouldn’t stop him.” The piece rails against Biden’s order, then opined that the Court “lack[s] standing” to challenge the law.

The article described Biden’s order as “expensive and ill-targeted,” “egregious,” and a “regressive and expensive mistake,” despite their support of the initiative.

They also mentioned the low likelihood that the authors of the law the order is based on “were envisioning a future president issuing audacious, across-the-board student loan relief, as opposed to, say, pausing loan payments while soldiers are deployed in a foreign war or helping hurricane survivors rebuild.”

They concluded that the law’s intended purpose and straightforward meaning “is that it permits aid targeted at those who would struggle to repay their loans as a direct result of a serious emergency.”

Despite the concern over the $800 billion expense of the bill, the editorial board argued that the Court could not step in because the “administrations opponents, which include several states and tow individuals, ‘lack standing’ —that is, a direct, concrete stake in the outcome — to challenge the law.”

The piece argued more that the Supreme Court taking action against the Executive branch designating hundreds of billions of dollars to a system that not everyone partakes in without Congressional approval than about President Biden’s ludicrous overreach, which would cost taxpayers thousands of dollars.

Biden stated his confidence in the matter, responding to the Supreme Court hearing arguments against the plan.

“I’m confident the legal authority to carry that plan is there,” Biden said.

The White House asked the court to reject legal challenges from conservatives attempting to fight the order.

50% of Murders in U.S. Went Unsolved in 2020

Molly Bruns
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50% of Murders in U.S. Went Unsolved in 2020

(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) A data analysis from the FBI found that about half of the murders in the United States in 2020 went unsolved.

Since 1980, the number of closed cases continually dropped from 71%, landing around 50% in 2020. No data has been released since 2020.

There is no public database that allows citizens to track whether cases go unsolved, but the Murder Accountability Project and the Marshall Project performed an audit of the data released by the FBI, the Post Millennial reported.

“About 1 of every 2 murders was solved,” in 2020, according to the Marshall Project.

“We’re on the verge of being the first developed nation where the majority of homicides go uncleared,” Thomas Hargrove, fonder of the Murder Accountability project, said.

Not all law enforcement agencies have the same criteria for closing cases, but generally a suspect must be arrested, charged and prosecuted in order for a case to be considered “cleared.”

The FBI data also includes the “exceptional means” for case clearing in the statistic, meaning if a suspect died, cannot be extradited or prosecutors did not press charges, a case is considered cleared.

Hargrove is of the mind that “declining homicide rates are the result of inadequate allocation of resources—detectives, forensic technicians, crime laboratory capacity and adequate training of personnel.”

This news comes in the midst of revelations of dropped standards and hiring crises in police departments across the country.

In the wake of the Black Lives Matter riots, police departments faced an extreme hiring crisis, causing them to drop their standards for education and physical training. Many departments departments even started offering jobs to ex-felons.

Scandals among police departments continue to crop up as well. The city of Oakland recently fired their seventh police chief for two decades of misconduct.

Questions of police qualifications are pronounced as departments continue to hire woke to “promote diversity” and increased sensitivity, while the Left’s pushing to defund the police has exacerbated the problem.

Montana Bill Would Ban the Vaccinated From Donating Blood

Ezekiel Loseke
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Montana Bill Would Ban the Vaccinated From Donating Blood

(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) The Montana House of Representatives is considering a bill that would prohibit people who have received the coronavirus vaccination from donating blood.

House Bill 645 would prohibit individuals who have received the coronavirus vaccine from donating blood, according to the Daily Montanan. Violators of this bill would be guilty of a misdemeanor and face a $500 fine.

The bill also bans donors who have been diagnosed with “Long COVID.” Long COVID is defined as “postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 due to chronic 27 SARS-CoV-2 viral infection.”

The bill’s sponsor, Montana Rep. Greg Kmetz, R-Miles City, explained why he introduced the legislation. He said that his constituents told him that they didn’t want “vaccinated blood making a patient’s health situation even worse.”

Former Montana Rep. Krayton Kerns, R-Laurel, played a large role in drafting the bill. He explained the urgency of the situation.

“An immediate effective date would fit this building emergency,” he said in a January email.

Montana Rep. Lola Sheldon-Galloway, a supporter of the bill, and also vice-chair of the House of Human Services Committee, made arguments that parallel the documentary Died Suddenly.

She said the vaccine caused issues with blood flow, citing the experiences of her brother, who is a mortician.

Another supporter, Jo Vilhauer from Miles City, Mont., said the prohibition was necessary to have a just medical system.

“I’m one of many who believe in the God given right of medical freedom, which is having access to genetically unmodified blood during a time of need,” he said. “This is a vital part of health autonomy.”

Cliff Numark, the senior vice president of blood collection nonprofit Vitalant, said he opposed the policy and didn’t like the legal penalty, but he did admit it would be possible to screen donors for their vaccination status.

Opponents of the bill expressed concerns that it would vastly shrink the number of eligible blood donors.

Biden Takes Fire after Vowing to ‘Ban Assault Weapons’

Wire Editor
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Biden Takes Fire after Vowing to ‘Ban Assault Weapons’

(Casey Harper, The Center Square) President Joe Biden pledged in a speech late Wednesday to ban “assault weapons,” but critics were quick to push back.

Biden made the statement during his remarks at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference.

“I know I make some of you uncomfortable, but that little state above me, in Delaware, is one of the — has the highest rate — one of the highest rates of gun ownership,” Biden said. “But guess what? We’re going to ban assault weapons again come hell or high water.”

Biden also called out “high-capacity magazines.” Those comments sparked pushback from critics who pointed to their Second Amendment protections.

“The loss of life is a tragedy whenever it occurs,” U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., told The Center Square in response to Biden’s comments. “At the same time, the Second Amendment is not subject to interpretation by bureaucrats in Washington and cannot be taken away by Congress. Rather than confiscating firearms from law-abiding Americans, our priorities should be to protect and equip our police and crack down on violent crime.”

Biden has taken a series of executive actions pushing the boundaries of his Constitutional authority, such as the eviction moratorium and COVID mandates, leading to legal challenges and rulings pushing back on Biden’s agenda.

The U.S. Supreme Court has recently bolstered gun rights. Last summer, the high court struck down a New York gun law that required residents to prove they had “proper cause” to receive a permit to carry a firearm outside the home.

As The Center Square previously reported, the court ruled 6-3 with Chief Justice John Roberts writing the opinion. Roberts wrote that the court “recognized that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right of an ordinary, law-abiding citizen to possess a handgun in the home for self-defense.”

Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., in January introduced the “Assault Weapons Ban,” which would “ban the sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and other high-capacity ammunition feeding devices.”

“It’s time we stand up to the gun lobby and remove these weapons of war from our streets, or at the very least keep them out of the hands of young people,” Feinstein said in a statement.

A companion bill has support from more than 200 Democrats but has not passed either Chamber this Congress.

“President Biden didn’t have the votes in Congress to get this ineffective and patently unconstitutional measure passed even when Democrats controlled the House,” Amy Swearer, Heritage senior legal fellow, told The Center Square.

“He certainly doesn’t have the votes now, when the most recent polls show support for this type of law is lower now than it was in previous years. Unless the president plans on stripping Americans’ Second Amendment rights via executive fiat (a real ‘come hell, high water, or constitutional crisis’ scenario), then it’s difficult to see this as anything more than the President once again blowing smoke on behalf of Gun Control, Inc.”

ESG That Is Dangerous In Theory, Will Prove Meek In Reality

Wire Editor
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ESG That Is Dangerous In Theory, Will Prove Meek In Reality

(John Tamny, RealClear Wire) It was reported in the New York Times the week before last that the U.S. hedge funds at the top of the proverbial heap had reaped gains for their owners of over $22 billion in 2022. Contrast the previous number with losses in the total hedge fund space that exceeded $200 billion.

That “billionaire” is so often associated with hedge funds in the popular imagination speaks to how few there are relative to the total amount of hedge fund managers. That billions can be made is a reminder that many billions more can be lost. We hear a lot about the vital few in the hedge fund space, but comparatively very little about the silent, 99%+ majority who fail in their pursuit of billions. There’s cause for optimism in this truth.

The actual, empirical reality about how incredibly difficult it is to succeed in hedge funds is what should have us seeing the future of finance in a positive light, and also the economy in general. While the pundit class would have us believe that the future is bleak thanks to so many money managers allegedly embracing ESG over returns, it’s the desire among all money managers to be elite that reminds us we perhaps don’t have much to worry about.

So what is ESG? In short, it’s a desire within companies to expand the definition of success beyond simple profits. ESG-driven companies are said to factor environmental and societal aims beyond mere profits. Notable here is that some of the largest money managers in the world, including BlackRock, are making ESG a key consideration in how they allocate capital across companies.

These developments understandably have some in our midst worried. What does it mean for the U.S. economy and future prosperity if profits take a backseat to theories about “global warming,” along with gauzy notions of “woke,” “social justice,” and other ideas that have nothing to do with profits? Worse, what will businesses and investors distracted by feel-good notions of governance mean for a nation populated by 401(k) owners? If profits take a backseat to “woke capitalism,” we’ll all lose. True enough.

To be clear, ESG is on its face rather nonsensical. Businesses are owned by shareholders, and there won’t be shareholders if businesses and investors place their political views above those of investors in pursuit of returns.

At the same time the acquisition of talented employees has everything to do with making money for shareholders. Since people power progress and prosperity, it’s perhaps understandable that corporations in a constant war for talent might embrace what, at least on its face, doesn’t naturally correlate with creating wealth for shareholders.

Which hopefully helps explain the increasingly sanctimonious pose among gargantuan money managers like BlackRock. They can embrace ESG as a way of luring talent inside BlackRock’s headquarters, but they can also embrace it simply because companies focused on ESG are attractive to talented individuals. Think about it.

Once again, the first glance notion of ESG is properly negative precisely because it has everything to do with feel-good notions, and little to do with success. Except that company CEOs are in that position because they’re expected to oversee rising share prices. A failure to do so will speed up their exit. Which seems to suggest that they embrace what’s inimical to profits on the surface in order to attract the talent that once again makes profits possible.

What’s true for corporations is similarly true for money managers. Anyone who has spent any time on Wall Street understands this truth well. Hedge fund managers and portfolio managers are among the most competitive people on this earth. The very notion that they would sacrifice returns in pursuit of feel-good truly beggars belief. That is so because managers who oversee subpar returns are soon enough not managers, and they’re surely not on the path to billionaire status.

So while ESG is yet again on its face an assault of common sense, common sense similarly requires us to think deeply about the incentives that drive company CEOs and the investors who back them with capital. We’re talking about incredibly competitive people, which is a reminder that the ESG we fear in theory will prove rather meek in reality.

Record Apprehensions Continue Off Florida Coast

Wire Editor
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Record Apprehensions Continue Off Florida Coast

(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) A record number of foreign nationals attempting to enter Florida illegally by sea continue to be apprehended by federal, state and local law enforcement agents who are breaking up violent altercations, rescuing people from overloaded and sinking boats, and arresting MS-13 gang members and child sex offenders – the majority of whom are single military age men.

U.S. Coast Guard crews have apprehended a record number of Cubans attempting to enter Florida illegally. Since Oct. 1, 2022, they’ve apprehended 5,740 Cubans. That’s nearly as many as they did in all of fiscal 2022 – 6,182.

Recent key apprehensions include Border Patrol agents, working with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, arresting an MS-13 gang member and Nicaraguan national in Fort Myers, Florida, on Feb. 21. He’d recently been convicted of trespassing and criminal mischief, Miami Border Patrol Sector Chief Patrol Agent Walter N. Slosar said.

Just a week before, Border Patrol agents “arrested a previously deported Mexican national with an extensive rap sheet that includes a sex offense against a child,” Slosar said.

On Monday, U.S. Custom and Border Protection Air & Marine Operations reported that CBP agents, working with Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Coast Guard Southeast, interdicted a vessel near Lake Worth that was overloaded with 50 foreign nationals on board. CBP-AMO said, “Overloaded and non-seaworthy vessels often lead to tragedy for migrants on the seas. AMO crews work together with local, state, and federal partners to identify and stop dangerous maritime human smuggling events like the one below.”

On Sunday, Feb. 26, USCG Cutter Isaac Mayo’s crew repatriated 64 Cubans after interdicting them off of Florida’s coast. “Taking to the sea may disqualify you for the new parole programs,” USCG Southeast tweeted, instead encouraging foreign nationals to “use safe and legal means of coming to the U.S.”

On Saturday, USCG Station Islamorada’s crew stopped single, military-aged men from “illegally landing on Siesta Key,” it reported.

On the 24th, USCG crews patrolling the Florida Straits and Windward and Mona Passes prevented over 235 foreign nationals from entering the U.S. illegally by sea in one week from Feb. 17 to 24, the USCG announced.

Last week, USCG Cutter Charles David Jr.’s crew repatriated 38 Cubans; on Thursday, they repatriated 29 Cubans. Also on Thursday, USCG Station Marathon’s crew apprehended foreign nationals on a rustic vessel about 2 miles off Key Colony Beach.

“Our crews patrol around the clock to do our best to be there when the weather changes and you don’t lose your life,” Lt. Peter Hutchison, Coast Guard District Seven, said.

On Feb. 23, a Marathon, Florida-based 41’ Coastal Interceptor crew and a USCG Southeast crew stopped a vessel carrying foreign nationals who were involved in a “violent confrontation.” Agents “de-escalated the dangerous situation,” transferred 17 people to U.S. Coast Guard teams and provided medical care to two individuals, CBP-AMO said.

Also on Feb. 23, Border Patrol agents and law enforcement partners responded to 22 Cubans landing at Dry Tortugas National Park who’d arrived on a rustic vessel.

On the 17th, Border Patrol agents and law enforcement partners responded to 18 Cubans landing in Key West near Ft. Zachary Taylor State Park who’d arrived on a rustic vessel. In another instance, CBP-AMO crew rescued foreign nationals from a sinking homemade vessel.

“The weather in the Florida Straits is grossly unpredictable,” USCG Southeast said. “Weather reports from your local news outlet or app doesn’t necessarily report offshore conditions. The people rescued below were fortunate our [CBP-AMO crew] partners got to them right before their vessel sank.”

Biden’s Economic Approval Rating at 34%

Wire Editor
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Biden’s Economic Approval Rating at 34%

(Casey Harper, The Center Square) President Joe Biden’s approval on the economy is at 34%, a new poll shows.

The rating comes as inflation remains elevated, driving up the costs of all kinds of goods and services for Americans, particularly food and energy costs. Biden has touted unemployment rates, which have remained relatively low.

Gallup released the polling data this week showing that Biden’s overall approval rating sits at 42%, much lower than the 57% approval rating he held upon taking office.

Biden’s work on the pandemic is seen in a better light with a 53% approval rating.

“Biden’s approval ratings for his handling of the seven issues are politically polarized, much like his overall job rating,” Gallup said. “Solid majorities of Democrats approve of the job Biden is doing overall and on all of the issues measured, ranging from 62% on immigration to 85% on the coronavirus.”

Biden also received poor marks on his relationship with China and immigration, with 32% and 33% approval ratings, respectively.

Gallup argues Biden’s approval rating figures are too low for Biden to win re-election.

“Although Biden has not formally announced that he will seek reelection, he is expected to do so and would likely need higher approval ratings to win another term,” Gallup said.

Trans San Fran. Pastor Claims Anti-LGBT Bigotry after Being Fired for Racism

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Trans San Fran. Pastor Claims Anti-LGBT Bigotry after Being Fired for Racism

Note: Headline USA’s policy is not to use pronouns in stories involving transgender individuals whose preferred pronouns differ from their biological ones.

(Headline USA) The Rev. Megan Rohrer, who was elected as the first openly transgender bishop of one of the largest Christian denominations in the country in May 2021, has filed a lawsuit alleging that Rohrer was forced out from Rohrer’s post after enduring several months of discrimination and harassment.

The denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, declined comment, according to an email from spokesperson Candice Buchbinder.

Rohrer, of San Francisco, resigned in June as bishop of the ELCA’s Sierra Pacific Synod amid allegations of racism after Rohrer fired the pastor of a predominantly Latino, immigrant congregation in Stanton, California, on the Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, for which the community had planned elaborate festivities.

In his lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Rohrer accuses the denomination of discriminating against Rohrer for being transgender and deliberately misgendering Rohrer and creating a “hostile work environment.”

Rohrer is seeking monetary damages.

Rohrer, who now works as a senior communications specialist with a black nondenominational church in San Francisco, said Thursday that Rohrer always felt the support of Lutherans in the pews, but not from the higher echelons of the national church. On Rohrer’s first day as bishop, during a video call, Rohrer said Rohrer was misgendered and ridiculed for featuring drag queens at Rohrer’s ordination.

Rohrer alleges in the lawsuit that Rohrer was scapegoated and “publicly shamed as a racist.”

“All my life, I’ve been an ally for racial justice and to people from marginalized groups,” Rohrer said, adding that Rohrer chose to remain silent after Rohrer’s removal from office last year so the predominantly white denomination could recognize its shortcomings and pass racial justice reforms. The intent of Rohrer’s lawsuit is not to minimize or undermine any other marginalized group, Rohrer claimed.

Rohrer also accuses the denomination of retaliating against Rohrer for blowing the whistle on labor violations in the denomination when Rohrer reported to synod officials that they were categorizing employees as independent contractors to avoid paying them a salary, which is a violation of federal and California labor laws.

“Similarly, when Rohrer separately revealed the transgender harassment he [sic] had been suffering since beginning his [sic] job, the Church terminated him [sic], and falsely accused him [sic] of ‘weaponizing’ his [sic] own identity as a trans person to ‘avoid being held accountable,’” says the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Rohrer by the Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP law firm of Burlingame, California.

In August, the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, the denomination’s presiding bishop, issued a public apology at the 2022 Churchwide Assembly in Ohio, to members of the Iglesia Luterana Santa Maria Peregrina, describing the events that transpired as “a sharp assault on your dignity.” After the pastor’s firing, the congregation lost the denomination’s financial backing, and was forced to vacate their building and worship in the parking lot.

Rohrer resigned in June and the next day became the target of a church disciplinary process.

“I was pushed out of the church for following the directives of superiors,” Rohrer said. “And cast as a racist publicly.”

Rohrer hopes the lawsuit will force the church to follow its own policies to treat LGBT people fairly and with dignity within the church. Rohrer said Rohrer has never wanted to pit two marginalized groups against one another.

“The church is big enough for everyone,” Rohrer said, adding that it is important to acknowledge the “tragic history of racism and discrimination” in the church.

The lawsuit states that in addition to enduring “nearly-daily hate mail” including death threats as a result of the denomination’s conduct, Rohrer, because of Rohrer’s firing, cannot work as a bishop of an synod or even as a pastor in the denomination.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

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