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Yoda

Arizona GOP chair Jeff DeWit RESIGNS over bombshell audio bribing Kari Lake to stay out of office

Kari Lake  Jeff DeWit
Kari Lake and Arizona Republican chair Jeff DeWit
Jeff DeWit resigned as the chair of the Arizona Republican Party Wednesday, 24 hours after DailyMail.com published leaked audio of him offering Kari Lake a plum job or money to step out of politics.

In the tape, he can be heard explaining that powerful people would offer her a job or money if she sits out of politics for two years.

In his resignation statement he accused Lake of setting him up by recording a private conversation.

'This morning I was determined to fight for my position,' said DeWit, 51. 'However a few hours ago I received an ultimatum from Lake's team: Resign today or face the release of a new, more damaging recording.'

He said he was resigning in the hope that it would end her attacks on him.

Comment: More from the Gateway Pundit, where DeWit claims he was framed:
Arizona GOP Chairman RINO Jeff DeWitt announced on Wednesday that he will resign from his position over a leaked audio recording of him attempting to bribe Kari Lake out of fighting against Arizona's rigged elections and running for office in 2024.

He used the opportunity to attack Lake and play the victim card, claiming she "cannot be trusted to engage in private and confidential conversations." He then represented himself as an innocent person in an "unpaid role that demands the amount of time of roughly two full time jobs."

[...]

In the statement, DeWit accuses Kari Lake of releasing "a selectively edited audio recording of our private conversation," calling it a "deceptive tactic."

This is the same excuse he used when an audio tape of DeWit declaring that he is "off the Trump Train" and supporting Ron DeSantis' failed presidential campaign surfaced. The Gateway Pundit reported on the tape and DeWit's claims that it was "fake" or "chopped up."

DeWit, in an attempt to distance himself from his own remarks, even told The Gateway Pundit that he was lying to the person in the recording.

DeWit also told Kari Lake, "I'm not sure Trump can win again." He continues, "I think what it comes down to for a lot of people, it's not about like control or agenda, it's just about the ability to raise money to win... and even on their end, what makes them the most money."

At one point, DeWit appears to ask Kari Lake to name a price at which she can be bought, and Kari responds, "This is not about money. This is about our country."

However, DeWit now claims the statements were "taken out of context."

And it gets worse. According to DeWit, he is resigning because he faces the possible "release of a new, more damaging recording." As if the bribery scandal wasn't already so damning to his reputation and integrity.

The statement concludes, "This is all such a distraction to that mission that I am doing as Ms. Lake wishes and am stepping down as Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party."

Kari Lake gave the following statement to The Gateway Pundit:
The tape speaks for itself: The Arizona GOP Chairman Jeff DeWit attempted to bribe Kari Lake. Thankfully Kari is an extremely ethical person who rejected DeWit's multiple attempts to offer her money and corporate board seats in exchange for Kari not running for public office. She will be an incredible Senator for Arizonans.

No one from the Kari Lake campaign threatened or blackmailed DeWit.

It is unfortunate that Dewit hasn't recognized how unethical his behavior was and still hasn't apologized to Arizona Republicans.

DeWit's false claims are just par for the course. The Arizona GOP must be relieved to have his resignation. Now we can focus on getting ethical leadership and win big in 2024.
He should reveal who sent him to bribe Kari Lake if he wants redemption. "Forget the who. Let me just tell you the what," says DeWit in the damning audio recording.


"It's time for him to name names," said Benny Johnson:





Eye 2

Israeli tanks open fire on hundreds of Gazans waiting for aid; Egypt's President exposes IDF blocking critical deliveries

gaza aid hunger food
© Mohammed Zaanoun/Middle East Images/AFP via GettyHours after opening fire at a UN shelter housing thousands of Palestinians, Israeli tanks killed dozens lining to receive aid supplies
At least 20 Palestinians were killed, and 150 injured on 25 January after Israeli tanks opened fire at Gazans lined up to receive humanitarian aid at the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City, north of the strip.

"The Israeli occupation committed a new massacre against ... hungry [Gazans] who were waiting for humanitarian aid at the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza, resulting in 20 martyrs and the injury of 150," Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.

"The number of martyrs is likely to increase as a result of dozens of serious injuries that arrived at Al-Shifa Medical Complex, which lacks medical capabilities," Qudra said.

Comment: Middle East Monitor reports:
Egypt Sisi accuses Israel of impeding aid deliveries to Gaza

Egypt's President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, accused Israel on Wednesday of holding up aid deliveries for the Gaza Strip as a pressure tactic, the latest sign of friction between the two countries that have maintained a blockade on the enclave, Reuters reports.

"This is a form of pressure on the Gaza Strip and its people over the conflict and the release of hostages. They are using this as a pressure tool on the people of the Strip," Sisi said in comments to mark Egypt's national police day.


Indeed, either the people of Gaza flee, or Israel intends to ravage its concentration camp with starvation and disease: Vaccines begin flowing into Gaza amidst soaring childhood disease infection rates



However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

Israel's response has left more than 25,000 dead and caused a severe humanitarian crisis, with most of Gaza's 2.3 million people left homeless and acutely short of food, water, medicine and fuel. More than 1.2 million people are crammed in the south of Gaza in and around the city of Rafah, raising fears in Egypt that Palestinians will be displaced across the border into its Sinai Peninsula.

Egypt, along with Qatar, has been negotiating with Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza, efforts that Sisi said in separate comments later on Wednesday were being intensified.

Limited amounts of aid have been delivered through the Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza and, since December, through the Israeli-controlled Karm Abu Salem Crossing.

"We used to send Gaza 600 trucks a day. But, for the past two to three days, we are not delivering more than 200 to 220 trucks (of aid) per day. How are these people (in Gaza) living?" Sisi said.

"Egypt's Rafah Crossing is open 24/7 every day of the month. But the procedures taking place on the Israeli side for us to send in the aid without it being blocked by anyone, they are the reason (for holdups)."

Data from UN agency, UNRWA, shows fewer than 200 trucks entering Gaza daily since 24 January.

Border security

Israel says its role is only to inspect aid going into Gaza for security reasons, and has denied holding up or rejecting humanitarian supplies.

"Our inspection process is efficient, with us scaling up our capacities to maximise inspection capabilities," COGAT, an Israeli Defence Ministry agency that coordinates aid deliveries with the United Nations and humanitarian groups, said on social media platform X on Wednesday.

"There is no limit to the amount of aid that can enter Gaza."

Israel and Egypt, which have been at peace for more than four decades and deepened security and energy ties in recent years, have maintained a blockade on Gaza since Hamas took control there in 2007.

Earlier this week, Egypt issued a lengthy rebuttal of Israeli statements suggesting that the Egypt-Gaza border was not secure.

"These false allegations do not serve the peace treaty that Egypt respects, and it demands that the Israeli side to show its respect for it also," Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt's State Information Service, said in a statement, asserting that weapons had, instead, been smuggled into Gaza from Israel, the West Bank and the Mediterranean.

Earlier this month, Egypt twice announced that it had thwarted drug smuggling attempts on its north-eastern border, including one close to an inspection point for aid being sent to Gaza.
See also: IDF tells Egypt to evacuate its forces from Rafah border, Israel will not be 'responsible' safety of Cairo troops


Cheeseburger

'October 7' restaurant allegedly named after Hamas's massacre opens in Jordan

october 7 restaurant
© Screenshot: XA restaurant named 'October 7,' apparently celebrating Hamas's massacre in southern Israel, in the Southern Mazar district, south of the city of Kerak, Jordan, in a clip posted on January 24, 2024.
The restaurant offers pizza and two types of shawarma, according to Jordanian media.

A new eatery in Jordan that allegedly celebrates Hamas's massacre of 1,200 people in Israel has gone viral on social media, eliciting praise in Arab circles.

According to Jordanian media, the "October 7" restaurant opened in Karak Governorate, located southwest of the capital Amman, offering pizza and two types of shawarma to hungry Jordanians.

Dollar

City of Seattle settles BLM protesters' lawsuit for $10 million

seattle police demonstrators
© Amanda Snyder / The Seattle Times, 2020Seattle police push back demonstrators after objects were thrown at them in downtown Seattle during a march May 29, 2020.
The city of Seattle has agreed to pay $10 million to settle a lawsuit from a group of demonstrators injured by police during the 2020 uprising in protest of George Floyd's murder.

The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court nearly three years ago, had cost the city millions of dollars in defense and expert witness fees, according to the Seattle law firm of Stritmatter Kessler Koehler Moore, which represented the protesters.

Among the 50 plaintiffs were a woman who had a heart attack when she was struck in the chest by an SPD blast ball, a man who was hospitalized in a coma after his arrest and a veteran who uses a cane and was "gassed and tackled because he didn't retreat fast enough," according to the attorneys.

Comment: See also:


Cut

Texit time? How Greg Abbott's border fight bolsters calls for an independent Texas

texas flag draped
© Mark A Paulda/Getty/Mark A Paulda/GettyThe Supreme Court decision to allow federal officials to remove parts of a razor-wire barrier Texas had erected along the border with Mexico has sparked further calls for the Lone Star State to declare independence, in a movement called Texit.
The Supreme Court decision to allow federal officials to remove parts of a razor-wire barrier Texas had erected along the border with Mexico — a case of D.C. overruling Governor Greg Abbott — has sparked further calls for the Lone Star State to declare independence from the United States, in a movement called Texit.

"Texas' razor wire is an effective deterrent to the illegal crossings Biden encourages. I will continue to defend Texas' constitutional authority to secure the border and prevent the Biden admin from destroying our property," said Abbott. The concertina wire was installed on his order as a key part of his effort to control illegal immigration.

The de facto leader of the Texit movement, Daniel Miller, remembers as though it were yesterday when he concluded Texas should leave the United States: Saturday, August 24, 1996, at approximately 2 p.m., in the hall of a hotel in the eastern Texan city of Tyler. Such was the impact of that moment that the technology consultant compares it to the "line in the sand" that lore recalls was drawn by his fellow Texan, William Travis, at the Alamo, shortly before it was stormed by Mexican troops in 1836. That legendary siege led to the Republic of Texas, an independent state for nine years before joining the American Union in 1845. Miller, now 50 and the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM), is hoping to reverse that transition.

Comment: If the current skirmish between the feds and the Governor over the current state of the Mexican border, we may see more serious talk of secession. Indeed, if things really heat up, it might not be such a peaceful transition.

See also: UPDATE:



No Entry

Aaaand, it's back: Texas installs more razor wire at border as GOP rages over SCOTUS ruling

texas razor wire
Less than a day after the Supreme Court ruled that federal Border Patrol agents had the legal authority to cut through state-installed razor wire along the border, Texas National Guard soldiers were in Eagle Pass installing more as the fallout between state and federal governments escalated.

National Guard soldiers laid out more fencing and concertina wire despite the rain that swept through the region Tuesday, according to video.


Comment: It seems this tit-for-tat confrontation has the potential to escalate. What that could mean is hard to say, but remember that "The Lone Star State" has always harbored aspirations of secession. Just give them an excuse.

See also:


Monkey Wrench

The German establishment wants to ban a popular right-wing party. Here's how it could backfire

Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel
© Adam Berry / Getty Images/FileTino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel, co-lead candidates for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, acknowledge supporters at an AfD campaign rally on August 10, 2021 in Schwerin, Germany.
Attempts to prohibit the AfD, a growing thorn in the government's side, are unlikely to work - and if they do, it'll cause more harm than good

With really bad ideas, you can often ask two pertinent questions. First, why will it not work? Second, why would it be harmful if it did? That rule holds in Germany, where the really bad idea of banning the party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is currently getting much debate.

The background of this debate is simple. Founded a decade ago, the AfD has established itself as a lasting feature of the political landscape. A populist right-wing party (roughly comparable to, for instance, the Austrian FPÖ), it brings together politicians and voters across a spectrum of positions. In the AfD, this spectrum ranges from very solidly conservative to far right.

Comment: While the attempt to introduce legislation against AfD/Alternative für Deutschland/Alternative for Germany may backfire, it is very likely not a sufficient reason not to be tried. After all, it may rally and mobilize the voters who support the current government and divert their attention away from pressing issues, of which there are several: The US Government would probably not mind a backfire situation either, judging from previous policies: No matter what happens in the sphere of politics, are there also other small, seemingly innocuous signs?


Dominoes

Revelation that U.K. climate target is based on one windy year's data threatens to unravel net zero credibility

wind power
In October the Daily Sceptic reported on a paper written for the Royal Society led by Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith of Oxford University that concluded batteries were not the answer to the huge storage requirements of intermittent 'green' electricity power. Despite the prestigious academic fire power on parade, the paper died a death in the popular prints, presumably because of its unwelcome message about the much-touted battery solution. But recent revelations suggest the report could act as a loose thread that helps unravel the collectivist Net Zero agenda in the U.K. The Royal Society analysed decades of local wind speeds and found the electricity system needed the equivalent of at least a third of green energy to be stored as backup. Such a cost would be astronomical. Now it appears that the Government's Climate Change Committee (CCC) fudged the issue by using just one year of high wind data in persuading Members of Parliament in 2019 to donkey-nod through Theresa May's insane legislative rush to Net Zero by 2050.

Sir Chris's report showed that wind could fall away for days at a time during periods of intense cold dominated by high atmospheric pressure. It also found wind speeds varied between years, all of which is in fact known and has been studied widely by other scientists. The Telegraph has reported on remarks made by Sir Chris after the paper was published in which he noted that the CCC has "conceded privately" that reliance on one year's data was a "mistake". It appears that the information given to MPs committing to 2050 Net Zero assumed there would be just seven days when wind turbines would produce less than 10% of their potential electricity output. According to Net Zero Watch that compares with 30 such days in 2020, 33 in 2019 and 56 in 2018.

In reporting that the CCC has conceded the "mistake", the Telegraph noted that Sir Chris said the committee was still saying it doesn't differ much from Sir Chris's calculations. "Well that's not quite true," observed the Oxford Emeritus Professor. Asked by the newspaper if it disputed the account of Sir Chris, a CCC spokesman said it had "nothing further to add".

Of course the 'Noble Lie' that Net Zero must be foisted on an unwilling population whatever the economic and societal cost will need to be preserved. Nothing to see here, move along please, is likely to guide most mainstream media in covering these latest revelations. The investigative science and Net Zero writer Paul Homewood is less inclined to ignore the serious matter. "It is now clear that Parliament authorised Net Zero without any proper assessment, whether financial or energy, and the whole Net Zero legislation must now be suspended until a full independent assessment is carried out." He goes further and states that current and past members of the CCC must be held to account, and "excluded from any further influence over the country's energy policy, or indeed on any issue of public policy".

Comment:




Eye 1

Self-Censorship in the US and Germany is increasing, studies find

AI Picture in the original article
We know that large percentages of academics and students refrain from expressing their views on certain topics for fear of being denounced, mobbed or formally sanctioned. Self-censorship on campus is frequently discussed in the media - and rightly so. But what's the situation in the population at large? And how has it changed over time?

Recently, two relevant studies came to my attention. The first is from the United States. In a paper published last year, James Gibson and Joseph Sutherland collated all the surveys they could find that had asked Americans a simple question: "What about you personally? Do you or don't you feel as free to speak your mind as you used to?"

Comment: As long as it corresponds to the general narrative, you can speak freely in both countries. As soon as you express a critical opinion or go against the opinion spread by the mainstream, you can come under fire (almost literally). No wonder the Green voters feel free to express their opinions, they live in a bubble inhabited only by fellow brainwashed morons.

See also:


Dollars

Russia seizes over $145 million worth of cocaine

cocaine bricks, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Russian customs officials have confiscated over 1.2 metric tons of cocaine that had arrived at the Port of St Petersburg, Russia's Federal Customs Service (FTC) reported on Wednesday. The incident marks the second time this month that authorities have thwarted an attempt to ship a large amount of cocaine into the country.

According to the FTC report, the cocaine was discovered in a shipment of coffee, in a container that had arrived from the Belgian port city of Antwerp. Employees of the North-Western Customs Administration as well as the Federal Security Service (FSB) scanned the container and discovered a large number of rectangular briquettes of pressed white powder.

Further examination revealed and confirmed that the white powder was cocaine. The FTC put the black-market value of the narcotics at over 13 billion rubles ($146.9 million).

In its Telegram post announcing the seizure of the drugs, the FTC posted a picture of a cat drinking coffee with the caption "what an invigorating Belgian coffee."

Russian authorities have opened a criminal case in response to the drug bust; those found responsible could face life in prison and a fine of up to 1 million rubles.

Two weeks ago, another shipment of cocaine was discovered at the same port; a thousand briquettes of cocaine weighing over a metric ton and worth more than 11 billion rubles ($123.2 million) were discovered in a container that arrived on ship hailing from Nicaragua. Customs officials dedicated another cat meme to the seizure.

Comment: Was Hunter Biden planning on visiting Russia in the near future?