Category: Prison

Mask Mandates Return to California With Fines and Prison for Violations

  • by Carolyn Hendler, JD

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Mask Mandates Return to California With Fines and Prison for Violations

Mask mandates have been reinstated in California’s San Francisco Bay area and, depending upon the county, will include health care workers in medical settings, patients and visitors with fines and prison time for violations. Beginning on Nov. 1, 2024 and through the spring of next year, masks will be required in health care settings, including but not limited to, hospitals, dialysis centers, infusion centers and skilled nursing facilities. Santa Clara, Alameda, Napa, San Mateo and Contra Costa counties have issued the mask mandate.

While the mandate only applies to health care workers, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties will require visitors to wear masks, and Santa Clara will also require patients to wear masks. Santa Clara will exclude children under the age of two and those with certain medical conditions from the mask mandate.1

All other counties will require all people, including very young children and those with medical conditions, to wear masks. California’s initial mask mandate which extended until March 2024, was the third longest in the country.2

Health officials who ordered the mask mandates claim the mandates are intended to halt the spread of influenza, SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses. Alameda County’s health order reads:

The fall and winter of 2023-2024 saw substantial waves of RSV, flu and COVID-19, and a similar pattern is expected this year.3

The order added that any violation of the order “constitutes an imminent threat and menace to public health, constitutes a public nuisance, and is punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both.”4

Other Counties Across America May Mandate Masking If CDC Issues Warnings

Currently, California counties are the only areas in the country to set mask mandates at this time. Other states, however, may follow suit should the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issue warnings that COVID cases are rising. In August 2024, counties in Massachusetts and Arizona issued mask mandates due to rising cases of the disease.5

According to the CDC:

Generally, masks can help act as a filter to reduce the number of germs you breathe in or out. Their effectiveness can vary against different viruses, for example, based on the size of the virus. When worn by a person with a virus, masks can reduce the chances they spread it to others.6

Critics of mask mandates argue that mask wearers may be more likely to infect themselves with the SARS-CoV-2 virus by transferring infectious material from their hands to their face when adjusting their mask.7

A 2023 study by the independent non-profit organization Cochrane, which reviewed 78 studies, concluded that there was “little to no” evidence that SARS-CoV-2 infections were reduced by masking at the population level and that there was “uncertainty about the effects of face masks.”8

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Click here to view References:

1 Pandolfo, C. Mask mandates return for health care facilities in deep blue states. Fox News, Oct. 13, 2024.
2 Schrupp K. Limited healthcare mask mandates return to California’s Bay Area. Washington Examiner, Oct. 12, 2024.
3 Philips J. Mask mandates set to return in several California areas. Signal Oct. 15, 2024.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Higham A. Mask Mandate Map Shows Where They Are Coming Back. Newsweek, Oct. 15, 2024.
7 Anderson JH. Masks Still Don’t Work. City Journal, August . 8, 2022 p.m.
8 Tayag, Y. A New Turn in the Fight Over Masks. The Atlantic, Feb. 13, 2023.

NYC Releases Entire Migrant Gang From Prison~City Moves Homeless Migrants Out of Expensive Apartments to make room for thousands of new people

Although the vast majority of asylum seekers have come to NYC to pursue the American dream, recent high profile crimes have been committed by criminals possibly linked to gangs that have infiltrated our shelter system. Complicating matters is NYC's status as a sanctuary city, with what critics say are soft on criminal laws that allow dangerous criminals to be released and not held in jail, regardless of where they're from...

NYC Starts Paying Migrants $4,000 Each... To Leave

NYC has a controversial new plan to help families move out of its shelter system, and it involves paying $4000 of their moving related expenses. Although the program isn't yet open to single adult asylum seekers, it is also limited to only families who have federal work permission... the very thing many economists said people needed to leave the shelters on their own, which isn't happening as fast as NYC would like.

NYC Just Evicted 40,000 Migrant Families…

NYC just decided to evict every family living in its shelter system. The shelters are at capacity, and the city claims evictions must happen to make room for new arrivals, who will also be evicted after their shelter stay expires...

NYC Destroys Park… Moves in Homeless People

NYC has plans to replace a community garden with an affordable housing complex, with 40% of the units going to homeless individuals. Although most new yorkers want to help the homeless, there are always protests and lawsuits whenever the city tries to follow through on that desire... and this time, it's happening in one of New York's most expensive neighborhoods.

Squatters Break Into NYC Mansion… Refuse To Leave

Squatting in NYC just got worse... and properties from apartments to houses are being taken over by those who refuse to pay for them, even after a recent law meant to stop squatters was passed just last month.

Police Confirm Ultra-Violent Venezuelan Prison Gang Operating in Dallas

Dallas Police have confirmed the presence of the Venezuelan prison gang, Tren de Aragua, in North Dallas. The notorious gang has spread across the U.S., particularly in sanctuary cities, with activities reportedly linked to human trafficking and violent crime. A viral video has recently surfaced, but police clarified that the footage, despite claims, is from an isolated, year-old incident. The rise of Tren de Aragua in the U.S. highlights the broader issue of unvetted migration, exacerbated by current border policies. Critics argue that the Biden-Harris administration's failure to secure the southern border has allowed dangerous criminal elements to establish operations in American cities, including Dallas. The spread of such violent gangs directly correlates to weak immigration enforcement, putting public safety at risk. Conservatives are calling for stricter border policies to prevent further gang infiltration.

Trump Will Be Sentenced to Prison on Sept. 18, 2024~Trump takes extended Q&A from reporters after news conference at Bedminster, N.J.

Another body blow to the idea that America is a free republic.

by

SEE: https://www.frontpagemag.com/trump-will-be-sentenced-to-prison-on-sept-18/; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:

[Order a copy of Robert Spencer’s forthcoming book, "Muhammad: A Critical Biography, by clicking here.]

Donald Trump is going to be sentenced to prison. It’s absurd, it’s unjust, and it’s another body blow to the idea that America is a free republic where dissent is not just tolerated, but welcomed, and any man can get justice, no matter the color of his skin, contents of his wallet, or nature of his political opinions. All that is dead now, or dying, and even though Trump is unlikely to serve time, the sentence is coming as inevitably as fall follows summer.

This is because Juan M. Merchan, the unassailable source of impartial justice, on Wednesday denied Trump’s third request to recuse himself from the Stalinist show trial he is overseeing in Manhattan. Trump, convicted of thirty-four felonies that are misdemeanors when anyone else commits them, pointed out that Merchan, whose brazen unfairness and rabid partisanship have been obvious since the beginning of these proceedings, has ties to Kamala Harris. Merchan, however, dismisses these as “stale and unsubstantiated claims,” and that’s that. No one else’s opinion was solicited or necessary. And that means that in a few weeks, Trump’s prison sentence will come.

The sentencing is set to come on Sept. 18. Former prosecutor Andrew McCarthy points out that Sept. 18 is “two days after early voting in the 2024 election begins in Pennsylvania.” Merchan’s goal, according to McCarthy, is “to enable Vice President Harris and the media-Democratic complex to label Trump ‘a convicted felon sentenced to prison’ just weeks before Election Day, at a time when Americans will already have started voting in many states, not least the potentially decisive Pennsylvania battleground.” Hey, it’s easier than lining up the record of the Trump administration and the Biden regime and showing that it was a grand thing that Old Joe started pretending to be president on Jan. 20, 2021.

The whole idea is just to give the Harris campaign a powerful talking point when it’s crunch time. “The New York prosecution of Trump,” McCarthy points out, “was politics, not justice." That’s why we call it ‘lawfare.’ The prosecutors and judge are not concerned about whether convictions ultimately get thrown out on appeal.” It’s all just a stunt, put on from start to finish for political purposes.

And so Merchan will sentence Trump to prison. The former president doesn’t have to be apprehended and forced behind bars for the gambit to work. McCarthy explains, “And it’s not like Merchan is actually going to put Trump in prison; it is virtually certain that Trump will get bail pending appeal, so Merchan can appear to impose a stiff incarceration sentence without any real incarceration — at least for now, and probably ever.” We can hope for the sake of what remains of the concept of impartial justice in the United States that McCarthy is right about this, but many analysts were saying that Trump would never be subjected to the indignity of a mugshot as well. It is entirely possible, given the authoritarian bent of the Biden-Harris regime and its incandescent hatred for Trump, that he will indeed go to prison.

Trump behind bars may be the left’s last resort, short of another assassination attempt. They’ve tried framing him for crimes, including a bogus “insurrection.” They impeached him twice. They’ve convicted him in court on charges that were concocted to give them a pretext to say that a court had found him guilty of wrongdoing. The prison card could be the last one they’re holding.

If Trump were in prison, leftists could say that this convicted and imprisoned felon could not possibly become the nation’s Chief Executive. How could he carry out acts of state? Would he conduct affairs of state from a prison cell? Would visiting heads of state have to be escorted into a penitentiary in order to meet with the president of the United States? Why, it would make a mockery of the nation in the eyes of the world! Never mind that old Joe Biden has been bumbling around on the global stage for three and a half years now, demonstrating the depth of his dementia and the endless credulity of a sizable segment of the American electorate. We’ll be told that as prisoners, Trump cannot possibly serve as president. There would even be calls for the Republicans to replace him with someone acceptable to the political establishment — say, Nikki Haley.

And so Merchan, according to McCarthy, “admonished the parties to prepare for the court to move ahead with the imposition of sentence on Sept. 18.… If we may read the tea leaves, Merchan has already decided that he will deny Trump’s immunity motion. There is, moreover, a high likelihood that he will impose a prison sentence against Trump right after that.” And then watch for the calls that, in the name of supposedly impartial justice, the left’s Emmanuel Goldstein must serve his time behind bars.

Trump takes extended Q&A from reporters after news conference at Bedminster

Donald Trump answered questions from reporters at his news conference on the economy and inflation Thursday. The news conference was held at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

 

 

Biden Nominates Activist Judge Who Put Trans Rapist in Women’s Prison; State Judiciary Hearing Erupts

By

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2024/05/biden-nominates-activist-judge-who-put-trans-rapist-in-womens-prison-state-judiciary-hearing-erupts; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:

The radical left agenda, fully adopted by the Biden administration and Biden’s cronies, is an increasing danger to Americans. According to the group Citizens Renewing America, Netburn is a radical leftist judge who “has a history of inserting her radical gender ideology in the court room.” The group further reported about Netburn being questioned at a Senate Judiciary hearing:

When questioned by Senators during the hearing, Judge Netburn was not able to answer why she recommended that a male serial rapist who was convicted of molesting a 9-year boy and sexually assaulting a 17-year old girl and was later convicted of possessing and sending child pornography, be sent to a women’s prison.

The Courthouse News Service described the Senate Judiciary Committee as descending “into a screaming match.”

Watch Senator Cruz question Netburn:

Netburn became Biden’s 200th federal court nominee, “putting the White House well on track to surpass the number of lifetime judges appointed by former President Donald Trump.”

That’s not all Netburn is known for. In 2020, after Biden was declared president but while Trump was still in office, Netburn signed an order “that compelled Google to secretly hand over to criminal investigators information from the email account” of the Project Veritas journalist “who had obtained Ashley Biden’s diary.” At the same time, Netburn forbade Google from letting the journalist know anything about the order, thus preventing Project Veritas “from fighting the move.”

Now Netburn gets nominated for the lifetime position.


“Biden nominates judge who put transgender rapist in women’s prison,” by Susan Ferrechio, Washington Times, May 28, 2024:

Judge Sarah Netburn, nominated by President Biden to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, faces a rocky path to confirmation after Republicans exposed her decision to move a sex offender from a transgender woman to a women’s prison.

Judge Netburn, who has served as a magistrate judge for 12 years, disregarded the recommendation of the Bureau of Prisons and ordered prison officials to move July Justine Shelby, who was imprisoned under the name William McClain, to a women’s prison.

Republicans tore into her decision at a heated hearing this month, labeling Judge Netburn a political activist who twisted the Constitution to justify moving the prisoner and put vulnerable women in danger.

Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, scoffed at Judge Netburn’s reasoning for moving the prisoner, who she said had “serious medical needs” that were not being met at the men’s facility.

“The Board of Prisons said, ‘What planet did you parachute in from?" "You're going to a male prison with this kind of record," Mr. Kennedy said in response. “And you sent him to a female prison, did you? You said that the Board of Prisons was trying to violate Ms. Shelby, former Mr. McClain’s, constitutional right, didn’t you?”

Judge Netburn’s nomination now hinges on a Senate committee vote that hasn’t been scheduled and, if she clears that hurdle, a Senate floor vote…..

“That’s something that the voters need to make clear that this is something that they’re going to hold them accountable for, that we’re not going to allow judges to be activists and staff men into women’s prisons under the guise of the Constitution,” May Mailman, director of Independent Women’s Law Center, told The Washington Times.

“She says that the Constitution requires men to be housed with women, which is just absurd,” Ms. Mailman said….

Trump Blasts Biden For Conviction Of J6 ‘Praying Grandma’~Trump Says He Doesn’t Support National Abortion Ban, Would Instead ‘Let States Decide’

Trump Says He Doesn’t Support National Abortion Ban, Would Instead ‘Let States Decide’

Former President Donald Trump arrives for a rally on April 02, 2024 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. At the rally, Trump spoke next to an empty lectern on the stage and challenged President Joe Biden to debate him. The Wisconsin primary is being held today. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

OAN’s Brooke Mallory
6:20 PM – Monday, April 8, 2023

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/trump-says-he-doesnt-support-national-abortion-ban-would-instead-let-states-decide/; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:

Former President Donald Trump has stated that he does not support a federal ban on abortion and instead believes that individual states should set their own abortion limits.

The statement contradicts what Democrats have been claiming about him over the last few months.

Nevertheless, many detractors of the former president have still gone as far as to say that Trump is “lying” and that he is only claiming this in order to “get more votes.” 

“At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people,” Trump said in a video posted to Truth Social.

“My view is, now that we have abortion where everybody wants it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land,” Trump said.

In a video released on Monday, Trump also reaffirmed his total support for exceptions in situations of rape, incest, and to preserve the mother’s life.

The former GOP president went on to say that he believes every state should pass its own abortion legislation, but he did not name the specific laws that he is in favor of. This goes against the views of some notable Republican officials, who want a federal law that restricts or outlaws reproductive rights nationwide.

Trump’s “division between federal and state laws,” according to President Joe Biden and his allies, is “meaningless.” Biden has elevated abortion to a significant political issue in the presidential election, attempting to instill fear in Democrat voters that if they do not vote “blue,” then their “abortion rights,” in Biden’s own words, could be taken away indefinitely.

Democrats further claimed that Trump had long been a threat to abortion rights since he had “appointed justices to the Supreme Court who had reversed the historic Roe v. Wade decision.”

“President Trump supports preserving life but has also made clear that he supports states’ rights because he supports voters’ right to make decisions for themselves,” said Brian Hughes, a Trump senior adviser. He added: “President Trump thinks voters should have the last word.”

Meanwhile, Susan B. Anthony, Pro Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser expressed her “deep disappointment in President Trump’s position” on the issue. Dannenfelser has lobbied Republicans to accept a nationwide ban that is based on weeks.

“Saying the issue is back to the states’ cedes the national debate to the Democrats, who are working relentlessly to enact legislation mandating abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy,” she said. “If successful, they will wipe out states’ rights.”

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Biden Threatens to Veto Bill That Would Send 3,000 Criminals Back to Prison

RICK MORAN | 1:49 PM ON DECEMBER 01, 2023
SEE: https://pjmedia.com/rick-moran/2023/12/01/biden-threatens-to-veto-bill-that-would-send-3000-criminals-back-to-prison-n4924406;Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File
When the pandemic was at its height, the Trump administration allowed around 13,000 non-violent federal prisoners to serve their sentence from home, largely because COVID-19 deaths spiked in prisons as a result of the close quarters and generally unhealthy condition of many prisoners.

Before Trump left office, his Justice Department released a memo demanding that the inmates be returned to serve the rest of their sentences in prison once the pandemic emergency was over.

It didn't work out that way. The Biden Justice Department issued an order that allowed the prisoners to serve the rest of their sentences in home confinement.

Admittedly, most of the prisoners were convicted of non-violent drug offenses. "It would be a terrible policy to return these people to prison," Attorney General Merrick Garland said, "after they have shown that they are able to live in home confinement without violations."

But Senate Joint Resolution 47, introduced by Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn and co-sponsored by 28 Republicans, disagreed. Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton wrote that the proposed veto by Biden "betrays victims and law-enforcement agencies that trusted the federal government to keep convicted criminals away from the neighborhoods that the offenders once terrorized." 

The administration issued a statement of policy defending the president's action.

"Of the over 13,000 people released to home confinement under the CARES Act, less than one percent have committed a new offense—mostly for nonviolent, low-level offenses—and all were returned to prison as a result," the statement says. "Moreover, since home confinement is less than half the cost of housing someone in prison, this program has saved taxpayers millions of dollars and eased the burden on BOP staff so they can focus on the higher risk and higher need people in Federal prison."

Reason.com:

Criminal justice advocacy groups began pressing the Biden administration to reverse that decision, arguing that the program had been an unqualified success and that it would be bizarre and cruel to send back people who had thrived on the outside. The White House initially declined to do so, instead announcing a clemency initiative that would have targeted only nonviolent drug offenders, leaving thousands of others, such as white-collar offenders, to return to prison regardless of their conduct. But last December, the Justice Department reversed course and issued a new memo finding that the BOP had the discretion to leave them under house arrest for the remainder of their sentences.

Not that it matters much to the left, but allowing these prisoners to remain in home confinement weakens the rule of law and makes a mockery of individual responsibility. Instead of a blanket ruling for all released convicts, shouldn't it be on a case-by-case basis? Some of the offenses these criminals are serving time for may be considered "non-violent" by the criminal justice system but by definition are outside the bounds of behavior in a civil society.

I'm with Sen. Cotton. Biden's veto "betrays victims and law-enforcement agencies," and the president shouldn't do it.

NYC: Muslims enraged, call judge ‘racist’ for giving Muslim who brutally beat Jewish man seven years prison

  BY 

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/11/nyc-muslims-enraged-call-judge-racist-for-giving-muslim-who-brutally-beat-jewish-man-seven-years-prison;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

In the world Mahmoud Musa’s angry supporters come from, Musa should have been congratulated, not punished.

“NYC Palestinian man sentenced in brutal antisemitic beating before judge ejects angry supporters from court,” by Michael Ruiz, Fox News, November 23, 2023:

NEW YORK – A large group that turned out to support a Palestinian-American man convicted of taking part in a hate crime beating of a Jewish man in a Times Square protest was ejected from a Manhattan courthouse Tuesday after shouting at the judge during his sentencing.

Mahmoud Musa was among a group of men who brutally beat Joseph Borgen after spotting him in public wearing a yarmulke in 2021. They set out that morning “to attack Jewish people,” according to prosecutors, and they found Borgen, who was headed to a pro-Israel rally.

They pummeled him to the floor, kicked him while he was down, and doused him with pepper spray.

“I felt a liquid being poured on my face, and at first I thought I was getting urinated on, but it turned out I was getting maced and pepper sprayed,” Borgen told the New York Post shortly after the 2021 attack. “My face was on fire. That pain was worse than the concussion and all this other stuff that followed.”

Video of the attack also showed his assailants berating him with antisemitic slurs as they left him with a concussion and needing a neck brace.

“If the cops did not come, if they did not save my life, I would have died,” Borgen said during his victim impact statement….

About 30 minutes into the hearing, Musa’s supporters arrived. His defense wanted a minimum, of three and a half years, but prosecutors had asked for a six-year sentence.

After Judge Felicia Mennin told Musa he would be spending seven years behind bars, his side of the crowd erupted, calling it “unfair.”

The Post reported that journalists in the back of the courtroom overheard them calling Judge Mennin a “racist” for the sentence, which is less than half of the maximum punishment of 15 years.

Court officers removed them from the building. It was another 20 minutes before the courthouse was cleared and Borgen’s supporters and members of the media were told they could safely head outside….

Hamas Wants to Trade CAIR Leader in Federal Prison for U.S. Hostages

“Only recently, it did one with Iran. Why wouldn't it conduct a prisoner swap with us?”

 by 

SEE: https://www.frontpagemag.com/hamas-wants-to-trade-cair-leader-in-federal-prison-for-u-s-hostages/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.


[Make sure to read Daniel Greenfield’s contributions in Jamie Glazov’s new book: Barack Obama’s True Legacy: How He Transformed America.]

There are an estimated 14 American hostages being held in Gaza. (This number may rise or fall as Hamas continues to release videos of the hostages and Israel continues identifying bodies, some of which have been charred beyond recognition, by using DNA samples from family members.) As of this time, there are 20 Americans missing and bodies are being tested.

Biden spoke with some family members on a Zoom call. “It’s my personal commitment to do everything possible, everything possible to return every missing American to their families,” he said,  “we’re working around the clock to secure the release of Americans held by Hamas.”

But the Biden administration has currently ruled out sending rescue forces, instead it is using Hamas allies, Qatar and Turkey, to conduct negotiations with the Islamic terrorist organization.

While Israel has refused to trade hostages for terrorists, Biden may be more willing to do so.

Senior Hamas leader Ali Baraka told Russia’s RT propaganda network, “There are also prisoners in the U.S. We want them. Of course. There are Hamas members sentenced to life in the U.S. We want them too. Of course. We demand that the U.S. free our sons from prisons. The U.S. conducts prisoner swaps. Only recently, it did one with Iran. Why wouldn’t it conduct a prisoner swap with us?”

Barakeh went into more specifics about which Hamas members he meant in another interview.

“There are Palestinians held in America. We will ask for their release. There are Palestinians who are detained by the United States on charges of supporting the resistance in Palestine. They were detained in America because they were accused of running charity organizations that support the people besieged in Gaza.”

This almost certainly refers to the Holy Land Foundation case in which key figures in the largest Islamic charity in America were convicted of helping to send millions to Hamas.

Hamas would have a special interest in at least one of the terror convicts. Mufid Abdulqader, the half-brother of Hamas leader Khaled Mashal, is currently serving out his 20 years of prison sentence in a low-security federal prison in Seagoville, Texas. Funding terrorists and a history of chanting terrorist threats apparently netted Abdulqader an easy ride at a low-security prison.

Islamists in the United States had lobbied for his release during the pandemic by claiming that the 60-year-old is an “elderly” man facing imminent death at a “virus-ravaged prison”. Abdulqaderf was denied early release, he got COVID, survived it, and he’s set to be out in 2025.

Qatar, acting once again as an intermediary for Islamic terrorists, will be likely to argue that Mufid Abdulqader is only a few years away from being released anyway.

Perhaps the Hamas family member will resume his musical career in which he toured America to sing to Muslim communities cheerful ditties such as, “With Koran and Jihad, we will gain our homes back… the agony of death is precious, killing Jews … Death to Jews, is precious.”.

But it’s another of the Holy Land Foundation terror funders who is far more explosive.

Ghassan Elashi was a founding board member for CAIR in Texas. CAIR’s D.C. office was funded by money from the Holy Land Foundation and the trial led to CAIR being named “an unindicted co-conspirator” in terror funding. It’s a label that the group is still trying to shake off.

But the FBI stated that “evidence was introduced that demonstrated a relationship among CAIR, individual CAIR founders (including its current President Emeritus and Executive Director) and the Palestine Committee. Evidence was also introduced that demonstrated a relationship between the Palestine Committee and Hamas, which was designated as a terrorist organization in 1995.”

CAIR founder and executive director Nihad Awad responded to the Hamas attacks by posting, “a unique Palestinian day. Never say ‘impossible.'” And Awad reacted to Biden’s speech condemning those atrocities by posting, “there is no moral equivalence between the occupied and the occupier. You must condemn the occupier not the occupied.”

Awad had previously stated, “I am in support of the Hamas movement more than the PLO.”

Ghassan Elashi was sentenced to 65 years in prison. At the age of 69, he’s serving out a sentence that would only see him released in 2068.

Senior Hamas leader Ali Baraka mentioned that the Hamas terrorists he wants to be freed are serving life sentences. While Elashi isn’t technically serving a life sentence, he is currently scheduled to spend the rest of his life at McCreary Federal Prison in Kentucky (it’s unclear if he’s in the maximum or minimum security part of it) before beginning an even more hellishly extended sentence in a much more secure facility that offers neither parole nor virgins.

Only two of the Holy Land Foundation terror fundraisers received sentences this long making it almost certain that Hamas wants to trade the former CAIR board member for a U.S. hostage.

A Hamas proposal to trade a CAIR leader for a hostage would reopen the question of CAIR’s terror ties again and would be particularly awkward for the Biden administration which welcomed CAIR so enthusiastically that it was assigned to help with security for its antisemitism strategy. Furthermore, the statements by the senior Hamas leader that the men it’s trying to extricate are Hamas members would overturn over a decade of lies put out by CAIR and its Islamist allies that the HLF terror fundraisers were innocent victims of ‘Islamophobia’.

Such a request would also establish that a Hamas member had served on a CAIR board.

CAIR had already advocated for Mufid Abdulqader, claiming that the half-brother of a Hamas leader who had called for the murder of Jews was an innocent victim of ‘Islamophobia’. The terrorist fundraiser was seen on video in a skit in which he “plays a Hamas member who kills an Israeli after saying, ‘I am Hamas, O dear ones.’” Good thing he’s in a low-security prison.

Other Holy Land Foundation defendants whose release Hamas may demand include Shuri Abu Baker, scheduled to be released from a high-security prison in Eastern Texas in 2064, whom CAIR had also defended. Abdulrahman Odeh and Mohammad El-Mezain, who had received shorter sentences, were already released in 2021. This did not stop CAIR from signing on to a petition next year to have them set loose even though they were already out of prison.

If Hamas were to request the release of Abdulqader, Abu Baker, and Elashi, it would put the Islamist terror group enlist in the same effort as not only CAIR but also other pro-terrorist organizations that signed the petition like Human Rights Watch, the National Lawyers Guild, Jewish Voice for Peace, ICNA and the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network which has been designated as a terrorist organization by Israel. Individual signatories include Ramzi Kassem, a Gitmo terror lawyer who once threw stones at Israel, and was named by the Biden administration as a Senior Policy Advisor for Immigration at the White House Domestic Policy Council.

By holding Americans hostage, Hamas has more leverage to free its members than the Muslim Brotherhood front groups that operate by pretending to be civil rights organizations.

Will Biden make such a trade? After making similar deals with Russia and Iran, it seems possible. But with Iran, Biden could argue that he wasn’t directly negotiating with terrorists, there is no such argument when it comes to Hamas. We will be negotiating with terrorists.

Trading for hostages creates a market for them. Biden’s deal with Iran encouraged Hamas to take Americans hostage and try to trade for them. And the more hostages we trade for, the more hostages Islamic terrorists will launch attacks to try to take.

Americans Freed From Iran In Controversial Prisoner Swap

Americans Freed From Iran In Controversial Prisoner Swap

US citizens Siamak Namazi (C-back), Emad Sharqi (bottom-L) and Morad Tahbaz (bottom-R) disembark from a Qatari jet upon their arrival at the Doha International Airport in Doha on September 18, 2023. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)
US citizens Siamak Namazi (C-back), Emad Sharqi (bottom-L) and Morad Tahbaz (bottom-R) disembark from a Qatari jet upon their arrival at the Doha International Airport in Doha on September 18, 2023. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN’s Stephanie Stahl
12: 12 PM – Monday, September 18, 2023

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/americans-freed-from-iran-in-controversial-prisoner-swap/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Five Americans who were detained in Iran for several years have now been released as part of a prisoner swap for five Iranians being held in the United States. 

On Monday, the five US citizens were flown out of Tehran and landed in Qatar. According to U.S. and Iranian officials, the five Iran nationals have also been released. Two of them have reportedly arrived in Doha and the other three opted not to return to Iran.

The complex transfer deal included the Biden administration giving Tehran access to $6 billion in oil revenue that had been held in South Korea since 2018.

“Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement, adding that he is “grateful to our partners at home and abroad for their tireless efforts to help us achieve this outcome, including the Governments of Qatar, Oman, Switzerland, and South Korea.” 

It remains unclear whether the exchange could pave the way for advancements on issues that separate the two nations, including Iran’s nuclear program, its backing of regional Shi’ite militias, the presence of U.S. troops in the Gulf, and the ongoing U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Shortly before the release of the American detainees, Republican lawmakers criticized the agreement, characterizing it as a “ransom” payment that could potentially incentivize Iran to detain more Americans in the future. 

Biden announced on Monday that he was sanctioning former Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence under the Levinson Act “for their involvement in wrongful detentions. And, we will continue to impose costs on Iran for their provocative actions in the region,” Biden said.

He also issued a warning to U.S. citizens about the risks involved in traveling to Iran: “American passport holders should not travel there.”

While the return of these Americans is cause for celebration, it also serves as a reminder that some have not returned and may still remain behind bars in Iran. Bob Levinson, a former DEA and FBI agent, was imprisoned in Iran in 2007 and is believed to have died sometime before March 25, 2020. 

“I call on the Iranian regime to give a full account of what happened to Bob Levinson,” President Biden said, adding that “The Levinson family deserves answers.” 

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Biden Admin Agrees To Prisoner Swap Deal With Iran, Releases $6 Billion In Frozen Iranian Funds

Biden Admin Agrees To Prisoner Swap Deal With Iran, Releases $6B In Frozen Iranian Funds

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 11: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a joint press conference of the Quad Foreign Ministers meeting at the Park Hyatt on February 11, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. The foreign ministers of Australia, the United States, Japan, and India are meeting to discuss the countries cooperation in areas including the economy, security, and the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a joint press conference of the Quad Foreign Ministers meeting at the Park Hyatt on February 11, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

OAN’s James Meyers
3:32 PM – Monday, September 11, 2023

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/biden-admin-agrees-to-prisoner-swap-deal-with-iran-releases-6b-in-frozen-iranian-funds/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

The Biden Administration announced on Monday that they have agreed to a deal with Iran to swap prisoners and in exchange release $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds. 

In the deal, Iran will release five American citizens detained in Iran and the U.S. will release five Iranian citizens who are being held in the U.S. 

Additionally, the deal will create a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without fear of U.S. sanctions.

This comes after Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the sanctions waivers last week, which was a month after U.S. and Iranian officials said an agreement in principle was in place. 

However, Congress was not informed of the waiver decision until Monday, according to the notification obtained by The Associated Press. 

The transfer of the $6 billion was the key part of the deal, which saw four of the five American detainees transferred from Iranian jails into house arrest last month. 

Several European countries stayed away from the deal, due to multiple U.S. sanctions on foreign banks that engage in transactions aimed at benefiting Iran. 

According to Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who focuses on Iranian security, he said that this new deal “will only feed Tehran’s appetite to keep taking hostages.” 

“And as the case of the recently revealed Swedish diplomat illustrates, dual-nationals and foreign citizens are not the only targets. Tehran even intends to extort foreign government officials!” Taleblu said. 

Experts of the deal anticipate that the detainees will be released sometime next week. 

The American prisoners involved in the deal include Siamak Namazi, who was detained in 2015 and was later sentenced to 10 years in prison on internationally criticized spying charges. Emad Sharghi, a venture capitalist sentenced to 10 years, and Morad Tahbaz, who was arrested in 2018 and given a 10-year sentence, and the fourth and fifth prisoners were not identified in the deal. 

“To facilitate their release, the United States has committed to release Iranian nationals currently held in the United States and to permit the transfer of approximately $6 billion in restricted Iranian funds held in (South Korea) to restricted accounts in Qatar, where the funds will be available only for humanitarian trade,” Blinken wrote. 

The sanctions waiver applies to banks and other financial institutions in South Korea, Germany, Ireland, Qatar, and Switzerland.

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Leftist Gets Five Years for Killing Republican Teen With Car

Your ‘Justice’ System at Work: Leftist Who Ran Over and Killed ‘Republican Extremist’ Teen Gets Just Five Years in Prison

By Robert Spencer 9:08 AM on September 10, 2023
Your ‘Justice’ System at Work: Leftist Who Ran Over and Killed ‘Republican Extremist’ Teen Gets Just Five Years in Prison
Shannon Brandt (Stutsman County Jail)
Two-tier justice system? Absolutely. Joe Biggs, a member of the Proud Boys who dared to shake a fence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has just been sentenced to seventeen years in prison for doing so. And on Friday, a leftist thug named Shannon Brandt was also sentenced. Brandt ran over and killed a teenager, Cayler Ellingson because he thought Ellingson was a “Republican extremist.” For that, Brandt will serve five years in prison, minus almost a year that he has already served under house arrest. It would be fitting if Brandt and Biggs could be sentenced to the same prison so that Brandt could say goodbye to Biggs when he gets freed and thank his lucky stars that another “Republican extremist” is safely behind bars.

Fargo, N.D.’s KVRR reported that after Brandt completes his ridiculously light sentence, or whatever portion of it he actually does serve before some leftist judge springs him, “he will then serve a period of supervised release.” Presumably, this will include supervision while he is driving, in case any other “Republican extremists” dare to venture out onto the streets while this maniac is behind the wheel.

Brandt, according to KVRR, was “initially charged with intentional homicide in the case,” which was altogether fitting and proper, as it was based upon “a state trooper’s report that Brandt and Ellingson had gotten in a political argument which escalated.” However, “that report was later discounted, but not before conservative political figures, including former President Donald Trump, and some media outlets seized on it to advance a narrative of left-wing violence.”

Why was this report discounted? Was that decision also politically motivated? After all, court documents note that “Brandt stated that the pedestrian called some people and Brandt was afraid they were coming to get him. Brandt admitted to State Radio that he hit the pedestrian and that the pedestrian was part of a Republican extremist group.” That certainly sounds like left-wing violence, unless you’re a fellow leftist who wants to pretend that this sort of thing doesn’t happen. “The State Medical Examiner’s Office,” KVRR continues, “later concluded it was an accident and that Brandt was trying to escape a confrontation with Ellingson when he ran him over.”

What a coincidence, that Brandt would be involved in an accident involving someone with whom he had just had a political argument. Brandt’s attorney, Mark Friese, insists that his man “stayed on the scene” after hitting Ellingson, but according to a Sept. 2022 report in Fox News, Brandt fled the scene. If that is accurate, it is odd behavior if the whole thing was an accident. Why wouldn’t he stick around, so as to emphasize that he was horrified at the accident, sorry that it happened, and ready as a good citizen to take responsibility?

Even worse, State’s Attorney Kara Brinster “alleged that Brandt’s statements to investigators didn’t align with the evidence in the case and that he didn’t take sufficient accountability for Ellingson’s death.” Nevertheless, she was responsible for the slap on the wrist Brandt received, as she “requested five years incarceration with credit for time served and three years of supervised release.” Good thing he just killed a patriot with his car and then may have left the scene; Brandt didn’t have the poor judgment to do something serious, like shake a fence.

Related: Animal Who Ran Over, Killed Teen He Thought Was a ‘Republican Extremist’ Walks Out of Jail Days later

The light sentence Brandt received was partly based on the fact that he was diagnosed with autism, “which the experts said impacted his ability to interpret social situations and prompted an exaggerated reaction and response to the confrontation with Ellingson.” But wait a minute: if the whole thing is supposed to be an accident, what “exaggerated reaction and response” did Brant have after his “confrontation with Ellingson”? He was also drinking.

Judge Bradley Cruff didn’t explain that anomaly as he addressed Brandt: “You didn’t intentionally run him over. I acknowledge that. I understand what the experts in this case are saying about how your mind works. And you didn’t intentionally kill Cayler. But he did die. And that’s a result of your alcohol consumption. You recklessly pushed Cayler to the ground with your SUV, you recklessly ran him over, and you recklessly killed him.” That’s an awful lot of recklessness to be an accident. Ellingson’s mother “asked Cruff not to follow the plea agreement and to give Brandt the maximum sentence for manslaughter, which is ten years,” but to no avail.

Brandt addressed the courtroom, professing to be full of contrition and saying, among other things, “I am truly devastated by the impact this has had on the entire community.” And he wasn’t even talking about the impact of our two-tier justice system.

Minnesota Prison On Lockdown After Nearly 100 Inmates Refused To Return To Cells

Minnesota Prison On Lockdown After Nearly 100 Inmates Refused To Return To Cells

Stock Image. (Photo by Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

OAN’s Brooke Mallory
12:58 PM – Sunday, September 3, 2023

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/minnesota-prison-on-lockdown-after-nearly-100-inmates-refused-to-return-to-cells/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

After around 100 convicts in one housing unit refused to return to their cells, a Minnesota prison has been placed on emergency lockdown, and members of a crisis negotiation team have been activated, according to the state Department of Corrections on Sunday.

The situation is “currently stable,” and the reason convicts “are refusing to return to their cells remains unclear.” The Special Operations Response Team was also sent in “out of an abundance of caution,” according to a spokesperson for the facility.

However, Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB) spokesman Michelle Gross claimed in an interview that the incident was brought on by the fact that jailers had been without access to fresh water, ice, and even showers for many days due to understaffing.

“They’re saying it’s hotter than hell in there, and the water in the cells is brown,” Gross said. “The inmates have been melting ice for drinking water, but with short staffing, there’s not enough to go around.”

Sunday’s “incident is endemic and highlights the truth behind the operations of the [Minnesota] Department of Corrections with chronic understaffing,” said the head of the union representing staffers and corrections officers at Stillwater.

Correctional facilities, according to the union, “cannot have transformational offender programming without sufficient facility security.”

“Without more staffing in our correctional facilities with talented people, we will continue down this unacceptable road of staff assaults, offenders controlling sections of our prisons, and more,” said Bart Andersen, interim executive director of AFSCME Council 5.

Two officers at the Stillwater Correctional Facility who spoke to the press assured that they were safe in a secure control room and in contact with facility personnel. No recorded injuries have been reported.

Additionally, aerial footage from a FOX helicopter revealed a sizable emergency response, including police, ambulances, and firefighters, waiting outside the facility.

Seven residential units are located inside the building, while a minimum-security unit is located outside the main perimeter.

Department data reported that there are over 1,200 convicts altogether at the institution, which is southeast of Stillwater.

According to its website, the Stillwater Correctional Facility was founded in 1914 and is the largest male close-security facility in the state of Minnesota.

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Trump To Turn Himself In On Thursday~Trump’s Bond Set At $200K In Georgia Election Case

Trump To Turn Himself In On Thursday

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump looks on before delivering a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting on January 26, 2018 in Davos, eastern Switzerland. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP) (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN’s Roy Francis
8:06 AM – Tuesday, August 22, 2023

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/trump-to-turn-himself-in-on-thursday/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

45th President Donald Trump has stated that he plans to turn himself in at the Fulton County, Georgia jail on Thursday.

Taking to Truth Social, Trump said that this indictment and arrest are all a “witch hunt” in “coordination with Crooked Jo Biden’s DOJ.”

 

On Monday, Trump’s defense team met with the Fulton County District Attorney in order to come to a bond agreement. The agreement that was made will have Trump facing a $200,000 bond.

An order signed by Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee listed the prohibitions that Trump will also be facing after his bond is paid. If he is to break any of the limits that have been placed on him, his bond could be revoked.

“The Defendant shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice,” the order read. “The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media.”

The Fulton County case is the first case that the release conditions for Trump have included a cash bond and certain prohibitions. The case is the fourth brought against the 45th president this year, with the other three having release conditions that have been minimal.

Trump is facing 13 charges in Fulton County, including violation of the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

18 other individuals have been charged in the same case in Fulton County, all have been given until noon on Friday to turn themselves in.

Trump has maintained his innocence and pled not guilty to all the charges that have been levied against him.

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Trump’s Bond Set At $200K In Georgia Election Case

American Conservative Union Holds Annual CPAC Conference In Orlando ORLANDO, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 26: Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at The Rosen Shingle Creek on February 26, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. CPAC, which began in 1974, is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

OAN’s Abril Elfi
4:03 PM – Monday, August 21, 2023

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/trumps-bond-set-at-200k-in-georgia-election-case/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Former President Donald Trump and his legal team have agreed to post a $200,000 bond on the Georgia 2020 election case.

On Monday, Trump’s attorneys met with the Fulton County District Attorney’s office and came to an agreement on a $200,000 bond among other release conditions.

According to the terms of the consent bond order, the 45th president cannot perform any acts of witness intimidation nor communicate about the facts of the case with any co-defendants, except through his lawyers.

This also includes not violating any federal laws. 

Bond agreements were also met with two of Trump’s co-defendants, John Eastman and Scott Hall. 

Eastman had a bond order of $100,000. According to the bond, every 30 days, he must report to pretrial supervision, which he may do by phone. He is also prohibited from communicating with any other co-defendants from the case. 

Eastman also faces nine counts for allegedly helping form the strategy that allowed Trump to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to throw out electors on January 6th, 2021.

Hall is facing seven charges related to an alleged connection with a local elections office breach in Coffee County, Georgia. His bond is reportedly set at $100,000. 

The former president and all other 18 co-defendants are expected to surrender themselves due to the Friday deadline given by District Attorney Fani Willis.

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Pro-Lifers Indicted by Biden Admin May Face up to 11 Years Jail

By Catherine Salgado 11:23 AM on August 10, 2023

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/catherinesalgado/2023/08/10/pro-lifers-indicted-by-biden-admin-may-face-up-to-11-years-jail-n1717872;Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Pro-Lifers Indicted by Biden Admin May Face up to 11 Years Jail
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Dozens of violent pro-abortion activists who attacked crisis pregnancy centers faced no consequences, but pro-lifers charged by the Biden administration could face up to 11 years of jail time. As always, the Biden administration is targeting the wrong “problem.”Americans peacefully protesting abortion and waiting to counsel women willing to listen outside abortion clinics have been charged by the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ), LifeNews reported on August 9. For instance, last year, pro-life atheist Herb Geraghty was indicted for supposed violations of the FACE (Freedom to Access Clinic Entrances) Act. Since then, 11 other peaceful pro-life protesters have been charged with FACE Act violations for an alleged “blockade” of a Mount Juliet, Tenn., abortion clinic in 2021.

A federal indictment alleges that the pro-life defendants “engaged in a conspiracy to prevent the clinic from providing” and patients from receiving abortion services and violated the FACE Act by “using physical obstruction to intimidate and interfere with the clinic’s employees and a patient”…Attorneys for the defendants argued in a motion to dismiss that post Dobbs v. Jackson-the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe vs. Wade- there is no federally protected right to abortion. Judge Kollar-Kotelly denied the motion…

Handy and the other defendants have insisted that their intention was not to deny rights but to prevent federal crimes from taking place, most notably instances of infanticide and partial birth abortion which are prohibited under the Born Alive Infant Protection Act and the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.

At least one of the individuals charged for peacefully protesting at the clinic could be looking at 11 years in jail, three years of supervised release, and up to $350,000 in fines. Another target of the Feds is Eva Edl, “who is a German survivor of a communist prisoner-of-war concentration camp during World War II” and a human rights advocate, LifeNews reported.

The defendants had reason to believe these crimes were taking place based on undercover footage of an abortionist filmed in 2012…Further evidence of Santangelo’s crimes against born alive infants surfaced in March of 2022 when Handy and her colleague Terrisa Bukovinac, founder of PAAU, recovered a box labeled “medical waste” outside Washington Surgi-Center containing the remains of 115 abortion victims including 5 post viability babies. Three of the five appeared to be victims of federal crimes.

The FACE Act hasn’t been much used against pro-lifers since its 1994 inception, but under Biden, at least 22 peaceful pro-lifers were indicted by the DOJ under FACE in 2022 alone.

Terrisa Bukovinac, the founder of the liberal pro-life group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), claimed uneven application of the law.

“In addition to prohibiting blocking access to abortion centers, the FACE Act includes similar protections for churches and pro-life pregnancy centers. Since the enactment of the FACE Act in 1994, 126 pro-life activists have been charged under the law as opposed to fewer than 3 pro-abortion advocates,” she said, noting that Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) has called for repealing FACE because of this unequal application.

“This is despite the more than 70 instances of violence committed against churches and pregnancy centers—including firebombings since the overturning of Roe vs. Wade,” Bukovinac added.

LifeNews reported that the government accused the pro-life advocates of “a conspiracy to prevent the clinic from providing” abortion services and a FACE violation of “using physical obstruction to intimidate and interfere with the clinic’s employees and a patient.” The event was mostly singing and praying from pro-lifers doing a peaceful sit-in. It “was so lawful and peaceful that local police let them go after minor misdemeanor charges,” LifeNews added.

But not the Biden administration. The weaponized DOJ continues its biased persecution of pro-life advocates.

Biden Administration Buys Back Five U.S. Hostages from Iran

Biden Admin Reportedly Set to Buy Back Five U.S. Hostages From Iran for $6 Billion

By Rick Moran 2:39 PM on August 10, 2023
Biden Admin Reportedly Set to Buy Back Five U.S. Hostages From Iran for $6 Billion
Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP
The Iranian terrorist regime has reportedly sold five U.S. citizens back to America in exchange for some Iranian nationals who violated U.S. sanctions and $6 billion in cash.The New York Times reports the deal was two years in the making. As with any deal made with Iran, we shouldn’t believe the agreement is a done deal until the Americans are back on U.S. soil.

“The move by Iran of the American hostages from Evin Prison to house arrest is an important development,” said Jared Genser, the lawyer for Siamak Namazi, one of the Americans released on Thursday.

Namazi will be taken to a Tehran hotel along with Emad Sharghi and Morad Tahbaz, who had all been imprisoned on unsubstantiated charges of spying. There are two other Americans whose families have requested their names not be released. One of the unnamed Americans is a scientist, and the other is a businessman.

The Americans will be held under guard for “several weeks” at the hotel while, if past experience holds true, the Iranians will try to extract additional concessions from Biden.

“While I hope this will be the first step to their ultimate release, this is at best the beginning of the end and nothing more,” Genser said in a statement. “But there are simply no guarantees about what happens from here.”

Maybe Joe will offer Hunter to the Iranians. He certainly has international bribery connections.

The United States will also transfer nearly $6 billion of Iran’s assets in South Korea, putting the funds into an account in the central bank of Qatar, according to the people familiar with the deal. The account will be controlled by the government of Qatar and regulated so Iran can gain access to the money only to pay vendors for humanitarian purchases such as medicine and food, they said.

So Qatar, one of Iran’s only friends in the Middle East, is going to be in charge of making sure that Tehran only makes “humanitarian” purchases with the ransom money.

Why am I not comforted by that?

NBCNews:

The movement of the Americans out of prison is only the first step in a protracted process that could last weeks. The funds to be unfrozen in South Korea will have to be converted into different currencies as requested by Iran, a lengthy process due to the provisions of U.S. sanctions.

As part of the swap, an unknown number of Iranians detained in the United States will be transferred from U.S. custody to Iran. The timing of that step remained unclear.

It should be noted that even if the money is used to only buy food and medicine, it frees up other Iranian funds that could be used to buy just about anything,

I’m glad the Americans are combining home. No one should be imprisoned in that hellhole Evin Prison. But why isn’t Biden bringing pressure to bear on the entire civilized world to force the barbarians in Tehran to stop taking hostages?

Thomas Jefferson had the right idea. Gunboat diplomacy.

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SEE ALSO: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/08/biden-regime-gives-2350000000-in-taxpayer-money-to-taliban-controlled-afghanistan

DOJ attempts to imprison major Hunter Biden witness before congressional testimony

DOJ tries to jail key Hunter Biden witness Devon Archer on eve of congressional testimony

Devon Archer has ‘first-hand knowledge’ of Biden family business

BY Brooke Mallory

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/doj-attempts-to-imprison-major-hunter-biden-witness-before-congressional-testimony/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

According to newly released court records, the Justice Department is pressing for Devon Archer to report to prison only days before the former Hunter Biden business partner’s highly anticipated congressional appearance.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan sent a letter on Saturday demanding that a court set a date for Archer to begin his one-year sentence in a fraud case separate from Hunter’s numerous scandals and illegal activities.

Archer’s 2018 conviction on two felony charges for his involvement in a conspiracy to defraud a Native American tribe was upheld last Tuesday by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Archer, who is scheduled to testify about the president’s son before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, has been contesting the conviction.

His attorney, Matthew Schwartz, said he would file a formal response to the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s request by Wednesday and that his client would continue to testify as scheduled, despite charges that the DOJ letter was an intimidation technique.

“We are aware of speculation that the Department of Justice’s weekend request to have Mr. Archer report to prison is an attempt by the Biden administration to intimidate him in advance of his meeting with the House Oversight Committee,” Schwartz said in a statement.

“To be clear, Mr. Archer does not agree with that speculation,” Schwartz continued. “In any case, Mr. Archer will do what he has planned to do all along, which is to show up on Monday and to honestly answer the questions that are put to him by the Congressional investigators.”

Schwartz has claimed that setting a detention date was “premature” as he considers his appeal options.

Archer, Biden, and Christopher Heinz co-founded Rosemont Seneca Partners in 2009, which the first son purportedly utilized as a vehicle for many of his shady business ventures abroad.

Archer is likely to testify that during numerous meetings with international partners, Hunter Biden would phone in his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, the Washington Post outlet revealed.

This is a significant milestone in the GOP-led investigations into Biden family crimes since it could link the president to his son’s business dealings.

“I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings,” Biden claimed previously.

The White House now claims that the president “was never in business with his son,” an obvious shift in verbiage that press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has dismissed.

For months, Biden administration officials have also slammed Republicans for their investigation into the First Family’s economic practices, emphasizing that the president has not been personally involved.

“Just last week, his fellow GOP colleague on the Oversight Committee said this on camera for all to see: ‘I’ve heard over and over that President Biden has not been implicated or proven for any wrongdoing here, and I acknowledge that,'” White House spokesperson Ian Sams said.

In June, Comer subpoenaed Archer and described the timing of the prison request letter as “odd.”

“I don’t want to put words in Devon Archer’s mouth,” Comer said. “But I’ll say this: He has an opportunity to come tomorrow to the House Oversight Committee and tell the truth.”

Florida’s Republican representative, Matt Gaetz, also decided to chime in and speak on the suspicious timing.

Hunter Biden’s proposed plea deal with federal prosecutors went up in flames last week as a Trump-appointed judge raised constitutional issues and identified distance between the two parties.

Hunter subsequently pleaded not guilty to two tax misdemeanor counts, which the majority of the public assumed he would plead guilty to.

Both parties’ attorneys anticipate going back to the drawing board to iron out their disagreements.

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