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Growing Number of Americans Support War on Woke

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

ANALYSIS – The war against woke is raging across the nation. From school districts to corporations and even the Pentagon, conservative Republicans are on the front lines to get America to wake up to what woke really is. 

And it’s not the dictionary definition of the term.

As Florida Governor Ron DeSantis battles Disney over its woke policies, and both he and the Texas legislature dismantle neo-Marxist Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives statewide, liberals still try to focus on the textbook description of woke, as being ‘socially conscious’ rather than the radical concept it is.

This, as a growing majority of Americans are supporting the war against woke, and saying that if you “go woke, you go broke.” Budweiser is certainly learning this lesson right now.

Bud Light is facing a massive boycott over its partnership with transgender influencer (aka man who is trying to look like a woman) Dylan Mulvaney. And thankfully, it’s hurting the company.

But it isn’t the only one – Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Miller Lite are also being hit by outrage over their woke advertising.

Still, in a Newsweek piece, the writer, Aleks Phillips, makes every effort to focus on the dictionary definition of woke, even in a report about how their recent poll shows that Millennials favor the expression “go woke, go broke.” 

Phillips writes:

The term ‘woke’ is a colloquialism that has emerged in recent years. Its definition is to be “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice),” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

That’s the thoroughly watered-down dictionary definition. More specifically woke is an adjective derived from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning being “alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.”

But that too is less than meets the eye.

It’s a call to social justice activism. And social justice is a code for socialism.

Even so, the Newsweek poll contradicts the popular narrative that millennials are the most socially conscious group who care most about so-called ‘social justice’ issues.

The poll found that of those who were aware of the phrase “go woke, go broke,” an average of 71% of 25-44-year-olds agreed with the idea.

That’s a big chunk of adult folks who don’t seem to like woke.

Phillips later adds an earlier Newsweek reference where a clueless (and lefty) Kelly O’Keefe, founding partner of Brand Federation, said it was “really a minority on the right” that was “concerned about even the term ‘woke’.”

“They’ve essentially weaponized the term ‘woke’—which has a dictionary definition that almost no one could disagree with: standing up for those who have been misrepresented, poorly represented etc.,” he added.

But neither the leftist politicians and activists forcing the new wokeness, nor those suffering under the policies, see the term in such an innocuous manner.

Being woke isn’t about simply being socially aware. Not by a long shot.

It is a simple code word for a slew of policies based on a neo-Marxist ideology.

These policies include pushing a radical transgender agenda on our children, racial preferences, and discrimination in favor of minorities, and against whites (in schools, government and businesses), and outright socialism under the guise of ‘equity.’ 

To be clear – equity is the opposite of equality. It means the forceful creation of equal results rather than equality under the law, or equal opportunity. That is the textbook definition of socialism.

And more Americans, including Millennials, are seeing through the ‘textbook definition” of woke charade, and calling it what it is – a dangerous ideology – especially damaging to your corporate bottom line.

The outrage at woke brands like Bud Light has been sold by liberals as a reaction by a small minority of conservatives. But as noted earlier, the dramatic decline in Bud Light sales suggests that the boycott has widespread support.

Newsweek‘s poll also suggests that the opposition to everything woke isn’t just a preserve of conservatives anymore, it’s an increasingly American thing.

Phillips notes that:

A majority of both those who voted for Donald Trump in 2020 and those who voted for Joe Biden agreed with the sentiment of “go woke, go broke,” it found, with 71 percent of Trump supporters agreeing and 62 percent of Biden supporters.

So even a majority of liberal Biden supporters are coming around to see woke for the extremist ideology it is. And that’s not good for Democrats leaders who still seem hell-bent on pushing that radical agenda.

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

Why Biden Justice Department Indicted Biden ‘Whistleblower’ as a China Agent

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Joe Biden via Gage Skidmore Flickr

ANALYSIS – Gal Luft, the ‘missing’ whistleblower responsible for exposing Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden’s China-related corruption, has been charged by the Biden Department of Justice (DoJ) for acting as an “unregistered agent of China.”

Luft is now hiding overseas. You really can’t make this stuff up.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer called Luft “very credible” as a whistleblower against the Bidens, but earlier alluded to him being ‘missing’ and not able to testify before his committee.  

Federal prosecutors in New York also claimed Luft, a US-Israeli citizen who headed the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a U.S. think tank, was involved in arms trafficking and violated sanctions by brokering sales of Chinese-made weapons and Iranian oil to China. 

The very same background that makes Luft credible is what Biden’s DoJ is using to prosecute him.

According to a DOJ press release:

[Gal Luft] engaged in multiple, serious criminal schemes. He subverted foreign agent registration laws in the United States to seek to promote Chinese policies by acting through a former high-ranking U.S. government official; he acted as a broker in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian oil; and he told multiple lies about his crimes to law enforcement.

Perhaps this is all true. Perhaps it’s not. But it sounds exactly like the kind of guy who would have real evidence of bribery and foreign influence peddling against the Bidens.

The bigger question is why indict him now?

The indictment was handed down by a grand jury in 2022 and yet only unsealed on Monday. 

Well, last week, the New York Post published a 14 minute video of Luft stating that in 2019 he provided evidence to the DoJ and FBI on Hunter Biden’s shady international deals which made him a target of the Bidens. In the video, made in an undisclosed location, Luft said: 

I, who volunteered to inform the US government about a potential security breach and about compromising information about a man vying to be the next president [Joe Biden], am now being hunted by the very same people who I informed [on] — and may have to live on the run for the rest of my life. 

Luft claimed that both Hunter and Jim Biden, the president’s brother, received tens of thousands of dollars a month each from the state-controlled energy company China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC) to access the Biden’s FBI connections and use the family name to promote China’s global Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

And now just days later, he is being prosecuted by the Biden’s for allegedly being in bed with China.

In last week’s video, Luft claimed to have provided this information to the FBI and DoJ during a March 2019 meeting in Brussels, but rather than pursue his claims, DoJ covered it up.

Then, he says, they went after him.

Luft was arrested in Cyprus in February this year but managed to flee after being released on bail. His arrest came after Interpol issued a warrant against him on suspicion of arms trafficking to Libya and China. In a tweet shortly afterwards, Luft claimed his arrest by Cypriot police was part of a ‘politically motivated extradition request’ by the United States.

He added that: “DOJ is trying to bury me to protect Joe, Jim & Hunter Biden.”

In his video Luft also claimed he was arrested in Cyprus to stop him from testifying before the House Oversight Committee that close Biden family members had been bribed by a source with ties to the Chinese military.

“He’s got a wealth of information. But they never followed up on that meeting. Instead, they arrested him in Cyprus to silence him,” Republican Senator Ron Johnson told Fox News, accusing the government of cover-up. 

As Douglas Andrews writes in the Patriot Post:

[when] a low-level CIA analyst and holdover from the Obama administration begins plotting to have Donald Trump removed from office just two weeks into his term, Democrats are quick to protect his identity, laud him for his “patriotism” and his status as an “apolitical civil servant,” and promote his hearsay claims as the substance for impeaching a sitting president.

But if, on the other hand, as the New York Post reports, a credible firsthand witness to corruption is poised to testify to the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee that the Biden Crime Family “received payments from individuals with ties to Chinese military intelligence and that the Bidens had an FBI mole who shared classified information with their [Chinese] benefactors,” well, then the deep-state Democrats move to indict him.

If Donald Trump’s DoJ had criminally prosecuted whistleblowers against him, there would be outrage in every media outlet. But it is Biden, so they take his DoJ’s indictment at face value and allow Team Biden to discredit and silence the whistleblower.

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

Ex-CIA Officer Proposes Using ‘Counterterror’ Measures Against ‘Right-wing’ Americans

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Gage Skidmore Flickr

ANALYSIS – Can we say dangerous left-wing intelligence hack? 

With Joe Biden and the Democrats demonizing conservatives, partisan, out-of-work former intelligence officers, without much of a ‘war on terror’ to fight anymore, and looking for new work, are now targeting Americans as their new terrorist bogeyman. 

And following the bizarre ‘underwear hammer attack’ on Nancy Pelosi’s husband in San Francisco, the Democrats are on a tear blaming Republicans for violence.

This is despite the fact that the Pelosi attacker was a crazy, life-long pot-smoking hippie, left-wing nudist, and illegal alien from Canada who only started making ‘right-wing’ social media posts a few weeks ago.

But once you designate your domestic political opponents as ‘extremists’ and ‘enemies of democracy,’ you open the door to widespread abuse and repression by the state.

And targeting American citizens as if they were ISIS is the result.

As I noted earlier, we should expect to see a host of these former ‘counter-extremism’ hacks try to parlay their experiences against al-Qaeda to use against their fellow citizens.

This is the old Cold War ‘Red Scare’ in reverse.

And this is just the latest example. A partisan former CIA officer proposing we illegally use ‘counterterror’ measures against Americans.

As Fox News reports:

Former Senior Intelligence Service officer at the CIA, Marc Polymeropoulos published a Sunday piece declaring that technique once used to fight radical Islam should be turned against the right-wing in America.

Polymeropoulos’ piece for NBC News Think warned that propagandists, whether Islamic terrorists or Republicans, should be subject to counterterrorism and counter-radicalization techniques.

“I worked in counterterrorism operations for nearly my entire career at the CIA before retiring in 2019. The battle we engaged in with international terrorist groups like Al Qaeda wasn’t just with their legions of foot soldiers but with their highly effective propaganda arms as well,” he wrote. 

“The U.S. and our allies considered those propagandists fundamental cogs in a terror group’s machinery, and just as culpable as any other terrorist. So we held them accountable when innocent civilians were killed.”

Polymeropoulos suggested that the attack of Paul Pelosi was evidence that the American government needs to take a firmer approach to its own citizenry.

This type of thinking is outrageous on so many levels. Simply un-American. Unconstitutional. And extremely dangerous.

Polymeropoulos, who sounds more like a left-wing extremist than an intelligence officer, is also either willfully ignorant or outright deceptive when he claims that the American right has some sort of monopoly on violent rhetoric. 

He laughably states that there is “nothing equivalent being done on the other side of the aisle” as far as promoting violence against their political opposition. 

“Democratic politicians and leaders may not like Trump, but they don’t call for violence against him, let alone his execution,” he outrageously claimed.

Of course, this is outright false.

As Fox Notes: “He neglected to mention multiple incidents of left-wing calls to arms and violence against Republicans…”

Fox added examples:

In 2017, a far-left former Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer named James T. Hodgkinson fired upon on a group of Republican lawmakers as they practiced for the annual Congressional Baseball Game, critically injuring House Republican Whip Steve Scalise.

Democrats didn’t equate their own hyper-aggressive anti-GOP rhetoric with his violent actions.

And let’s be clear Democrat politicians do incite violence against their GOP opponents.

Fox continues:

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., endorsed harassing political opposition in public in 2018. “They’re not going to be able to go to a restaurant, they’re not going to be able to stop at a gas station, they’re not going to be able to shop at a department store,” Waters proclaimed at the time. “The people are going to turn on them, they’re going to protest, they’re going to absolutely harass them.”

Polymeropoulos also ignores left-wing activists protesting in front of the houses of Supreme Court justices, firebombing crisis pregnancy centers, and doxing (posting the addresses of public figures online). 

Not to mention the assassination attempt against Justice Brett Kavanaugh by a heavily armed man at his home.

Recall that in 2020, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh that they “will pay the price” for rulings against abortion and “You won’t know what hit you.”

Can we say “incitement to violence” against Justices?

This ex-CIA hack also overlooks a full year of left-wing politically motivated riots in cities, often encouraged and enabled by Democrat politicians and ‘community’ leaders.

But facts, consistency, and fairness aren’t needed when you are a political hack trying to get the all-powerful government to use your now unneeded skills to target your fellow Americans who disagree with you.

All you need is your own extremist leftist rhetoric.

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

Amanda Head: Stanford Bans The Words ‘American,’ ‘Grandfather’ And Others!

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Is this truly the beginning of the end?

Standford University, which costs undergraduates nearly $20,000 per quarter, wants to police students’ language…

The university has released guide on offensive language students should avoid using on campus or in their own personal lives.

Watch Amanda explain the latest controversy below:

Trump Family Member Reveals Why She Will ‘Never’ Get Into Politics

While politics might run in the family, one Trump is staying far away…

President Donald Trump’s granddaughter, Kai, who is slated to play college golf next fall at the University of Miami, said she has no interest in following in her grandfather’s footsteps.

“To be honest with you, I stay out of politics completely. I would never run, I don’t want anything to do with politics,” Trump said during an appearance on Logan Paul’s podcast. “I feel like politics is such a dangerous thing, and I think if both sides met in the middle, everyone would be so much more happier.”

Trump said people have gotten “too extreme” on both sides of the coin, and social media has driven people to hone in on their beliefs.

“There’s not a lot of things on social media where you’re very much in the middle. And I think that kind of makes some people crazy and some people buy into it too much,” Trump added. “I think that’s like the best way to say it. There’s no bad blood. I’m very much in the middle and kind of like, it is what it is. They ran against each other [Trump and Kamala Harris]. Obviously, I’m gonna support my grandpa, my family member, but that’s pretty much it.”

The closest Trump has dove into the political waters was when she spoke at the Republican National Convention just days after her grandfather was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania.

In an interview with Fox News Digital in October, Trump said she was “proud” of her grandfather after he brokered the historic ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

“Always will support him. I think he’s doing amazing things,” she said.

White Kai Trump may not be interested in politics the same can’t be said for her father, Donald Trump Jr., who has been floated as a future presidential contender. Don Jr, the eldest of the two sons Trump had with Ivana, channels his father’s combative style and is viewed by many as a bridge between Trump’s base.

The Independent reports:

Back in August, a McLaughlin & Associates survey had Vance sitting pretty at 36 per cent, with Donald Trump Jr a distant second at 16 per cent. By October, that gap had narrowed, with [VP] Vance at 38 per cent and Trump Jr at 20 per cent (Rubio was in third place at 7 per cent). Then came the November poll, which probably sent shockwaves through Vance’s inner circle: the vice president’s support had slipped to 34 per cent, while Trump Jr had surged.

“I’m a Second Amendment person, and I don’t know anything about Vance’s position on it,” says Liz Mair, veteran Republican strategist. “For a real Second Amendment voter, the only people I would truly be comfortable supporting right now would be Donald Trump Jr or Ron DeSantis. And I’d probably be more comfortable with Donald Trump Jr. It depends on each state, but for diehard gun voters, it’s a significant issue, and it was one reason Trump Sr had challenges in 2016.”

Trump Jr has played his hand with characteristic bravado, dismissing speculation in one media organisation that he intends to run. “I’m actually glad you’re printing this bulls**t,” he wrote on X, “because at least now the rest of the press corps will see how s****y your ‘sources’ are and how easily you’re played by them. Congrats, moron.”

Yet, as is often the case in this family, denials are never absolute. In May 2025, when asked at a panel in Qatar if he would “pick up the reins” after Trump leaves office, he replied: “I don’t know. Maybe one day, you know, that calling is there.” Junior wields that ambiguity like a political weapon – a constant reminder that another Trump is waiting in the wings.

Biden’s Disgraced ‘Non-Binary’ Nuke Official Led Anti-Christian Hate Group

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ANALYSIS – Yes, all this transgender stuff is related. First, we have the Los Angeles Dodgers inviting, disinviting, and then re-inviting, the drag-queen, anti-Christian hate group ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’ (SPI) – to be honored at their June opening game. 

The Dodgers and Major League Baseball (MLB) caved to the intense pressure to re-invite them by far-left Democrat groups. 

Second, we have Sam Brinton, a cross-dressing, self-identified “nonbinary” man, with an open bondage ‘pup play,’ fetish, who I have also written about herehere, and here, due to his numerous arrests for airport luggage and designer women’s clothes theft. 

Brinton served as Joe Biden’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition before his first couple of arrests made him resign from his sensitive position last year. 

But this is where it all gets even weirder. Or maybe expected.

The flamboyant group of gay men who dress garishly as caricatures of Catholic nuns, regularly mocks and ridicules Catholics, and Christianity in general. 

They often perform lewd semi-nude pornographic shows displaying their anti-Christian hate.

This includes pole-dancing on a cross with a man on it representing a crucified Jesus. The group’s mission is to attack Christianity and Christians. It has very little to do with LGBT ‘Pride.’

Yet, the ‘City of Angels’ baseball team will now present this ‘demonic’ hate group with a “Community Hero Award” for LGBT ‘Pride’ month.

This has created a firestorm of protest. You can go to my earlier article to see how you can show your outrage. 

Meanwhile, Team Biden initially hailed the pick of Brinton for the sensitive nuke position as a pioneering move for ‘nonbinary gender-fluid’ people (i.e., totally made up, nonexistent, genders).

Sadly, in this case, ‘gender fluid’ also meant liking to steal women’s clothing.

Brinton was recently arrested as a fugitive from justice in Maryland following similar larceny in Minneapolis and Las Vegas. A lawyer for a Tanzanian fashion designer said the theft dated back to 2018 and was related to his client’s baggage that contained custom designs.

But what makes it all come together in an even more concerning manner, is that Brinton was also apparently a leader of the D.C. chapter of the ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.’ He used the nuclear-themed name ‘Sister Ray Dee O’Active.’ 

This, according to tax filings reviewed by Fox News.

National Review reports:

As the head of the D.C. Sisters, Brinton reportedly organized various events, including drag brunches, White House protests, and even a “high heel race.” He was also present at a San Francisco Easter gathering of the Sisters in 2019. As described in a Mission Local report, the event included children among the attendees, raising questions about the appropriateness of exposing them to the group’s provocative activities.

In 2015 Brinton also wrote an op-ed that defended a ‘Rent boy’ website after it was shut down by federal agents. ‘Rent boy’ refers to young boys who are paired up with older men for sexual services, so the website essentially trafficked young, vulnerable boys as escorts.

So, yes, this cabal of bizarre, Christian-hating, transgender sexual fetishists who have Easter-themed drag shows for children, and are ok trafficking young boys for sex, are apparently a growing force in Democrat politics now. 

One big remaining question is – how did this guy pass a background security check?

Fox News contributor Joe Concha and host Rachel Campos Duffy each asked on a recent show how being the leader of the ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’ DC chapter could have been ‘overlooked’ when Brinton underwent a background check for the sensitive, and fairly high level, nuclear-waste job.

Being part of an extremist hate group and being a borderline sex trafficker should disqualify you from a clearance. 

But apparently under Team Biden only traditional Catholics are considered extremists. Catholic-hating cross-dressers and pedophiles are just fine.

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

Amanda Head: Celebrity Abandons Woke Pronouns!

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Amanda Head screenshot

It’s about time.

Watch Amanda explain the situation below:

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

Should the Government Regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Less is Best

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Image via Pixabay free images.

ANALYSIS – Artificial Intelligence (AI) is basically self-learning software (algorithms) that grows smarter over time using the entire world’s ever-growing library of data as its teacher. It can learn to do myriad complex tasks in a fraction of the time humans could.

It will revolutionize and upend entire economies, and dominate future warfare. It is also developing at an unprecedented rate. 

Many are concerned AI will take away entire career fields and tens of millions of American jobs. AI advancements could eliminate up to 300 million jobs globally, according to Goldman Sachs.

Fox News reported: “Up to 30% of hours currently worked across the U.S. economy could become automated by 2030, creating the possibility of around 12 million occupational transitions in the coming years, according to a McKinsey Global Institute study.”

Others worry that it will make a few corporations extremely rich and powerful. 

And then, many worry that Al may supersede human intelligence in just a few years and eventually make humans redundant.

Few would deny that whoever dominates AI may dominate the world. China certainly believes this and is forging ahead to become the world leader in AI.

The Pentagon is also looking closely at how it can use AI to more quickly make strategic or battlefield assessments and technologically leapfrog over our enemies.

But what about our government? Should it regulate AI?

Democrats tend to favor regulating everything. And they have shown the danger of doing so with social media. I recently wrote on how Joe Biden is already using executive power to weaponize Artificial Intelligence to be woke.

I noted that: “The American Accountability Foundation (AAF), a government watchdog group, recently warned that Team Biden is actively using the federal government’s vast power to regulate AI to promote a “woke” ideology in the basic architecture of this revolutionary, powerful, and dangerous new technology.”

“That ‘woke’ ideology promotes affirmative action under the guise of ‘anti-racism,’ and transgenderism as gender ‘equity.’”

And that is a huge concern.

Republicans tend to be more skeptical of regulation in general, especially in a dynamic, fast-moving technology that few lawmakers understand.

“Let a bunch of guys up here that are wearing JCPenney leisure suits that still have 8-track tape players in their ’72 Vegas start talking about technology, then you got some problems,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News when asked about regulation keeping pace with the AI sector.

“The problem with AI is that it’s advancing so fast,” Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina said. “It’s very difficult to regulate because you don’t know what the next thing is going to be.”

Republicans, like Burchett and Mace, also worry government regulation will stifle AI innovation and put the U.S. at a strategic disadvantage, especially vis a vis China.

“I don’t know that we need regulation,” Burchett said. “You want to stifle growth; you start putting laws on it.”

“If you overregulate, like the government often does, you stifle innovation,” Mace told Fox News. “And if we just stop AI, nothing is stopping China. We want to make sure that we are No. 1 in AI technology in the world and that it stays that way.”

But we may be losing that race. As Time reported:

“The country that is able to most rapidly and effectively integrate new technology into war-fighting wins,” Alexandr Wang, the CEO of Scale AI, told lawmakers on a House Armed Services subcommittee. China is spending three times more than the U.S. on developing AI tools, Wang noted. “The Chinese Communist Party deeply understands the potential for AI to disrupt warfare, and is investing heavily to capitalize,” he said. “AI is China’s Apollo project.”

But Republicans in Congress aren’t doing anything to take away Biden’s power to regulate AI himself. And time is of the essence.

As a former Democrat Senator, Kent Conrad, and ex-Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss wrote recently in Fox News:

This comes at a pivotal moment. We are on the precipice of a new tech revolution—one in which a collection of next-generation capabilities—such as AI, quantum computing, and biotechnology—promise to fundamentally upend every facet of society.

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

False AP Report About Russian Missiles Hitting Poland Could’ve Triggered WWIII

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Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kyiv, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

ANALYSIS – Last week the world was hit by the purported news of a Russian missile strike into NATO member country, Poland. 

And now the award-winning AP reporter who wrote it has been fired.

Based only on a single, unnamed ‘senior U.S. intelligence official,’ the initial Associated Press (AP) story by James LaPorta, a former U.S. Marine who served in Afghanistan, was widely disseminated and quickly caused a barrage of other reporting.

Most of it was alarmist and panic-causing, with many in the news media and blogosphere quickly demanding harsh action against Russia.

As the Blaze reports:

Fox News and the Daily Mail similarly carried the AP reporter’s suggestion, the former running a piece entitled, “Russian missiles cross into NATO member Poland, kill 2: senior US intelligence official,” and the latter stating, “‘Russian bombs’ kill two in POLAND.”

CBS Evening News tweeted “RUSSIAN MISSILE STRIKE: Two Russian missiles crossed over the Ukrainian border into Poland, a NATO country, killing two civilians.”

A Russian attack on Poland could have triggered articles 4 and 5 of the NATO charter, potentially putting the U.S. into direct conflict with nuclear power.

Article 4 requires full consultation at the North Atlantic Council, the alliance’s political decision-making body, while Article 5 requires joint NATO action to repel an attack.

As MSN explains: “Article 5 states that the parties to the NATO treaty ‘agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.’”

Article 5 also states that each NATO member must take “such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.”

This of course would make the U.S. a direct combatant in this war and could escalate to a nuclear exchange.

As such, I wrote about the ‘errant’ strike the same day, albeit in more careful ways.

My headline was more matter-of-fact and far less alarming, and it didn’t mention a direct Russian missile strike: “Escalation in Russia-Ukraine War Leads to Emergency Crisis Meeting.”

In the piece I did note the ramifications of any foreign missiles crashing into Poland, writing: “In what might be the greatest (albeit perhaps accidental) escalation since Russia invaded Ukraine, the war just crossed the border into a NATO country.”

And, yes, I like to say ‘albeit.’

added:

According to a senior U.S. intelligence official, as Russia pounded Ukraine’s energy facilities Tuesday with the largest barrage of missile strikes to date, some reportedly ‘stray’ Russian missiles crossed into NATO member Poland and struck a site in Poland about 15 miles from the Ukrainian border.

The allegedly errant strike killed two persons in the Polish village of Przewodów and provoked an emergency crisis meeting of Poland’s national security team, which will be held Tuesday evening.

While I did refer to a Ukrainian Air Force spokesman who said Russia used X-101 and X-555 cruise missiles in the latest attacks against Ukraine, and reports that expressed the belief that “one or more of these cruise missiles were the ones that struck Poland,” I was very careful in how I reported all this.

Note the extensive use of the words “accidental,” “allegedly,” “reportedly,” “errant,” and “stray” missiles in my report. I also explained that the incident had provoked an “emergency crisis meeting” in Poland.

The rest of my piece focused on the confirmed, massive Russian barrage of missile strikes against Ukrainian energy and infrastructure targets throughout the country.

In the end it appears that the missile that struck Poland was a Russian-made Ukrainian air defense missile that missed its mark and fell back to earth rather than self-destructs.

And even after its country of manufacture was known, outlets like CNN kept calling it a ‘Russian-made missile’ without adding that Ukraine uses lots of Russian-made missiles.

Of course, in my view, Russia is still to blame for this, albeit indirectly, since no one would be firing armed missiles near a NATO country if it weren’t for the unprovoked Russian invasion, and its reckless and dangerous strikes near NATO’s borders.

The Blaze added that:

After having updated the initial report several times, the AP indicated [November 16] that a new assessment from three U.S. officials “contradicts information” in the original article. Shortly thereafter, the article was reportedly taken offline.

The AP issued a retraction later that day…

On Nov. 21, LaPorta was fired.

But let’s use this incident as a teachable moment. 

Lesson one – as sophisticated news consumers, be circumspect with the news you read until it is fully verified.

Lesson two – be wary of reports using only one or two anonymous sources.

And lesson three – journalists, and social media posters, should use words like ‘reportedly’ a lot more, and make it clear that there is room for doubt or questions when the reports are still fresh and early.

The most important rule I’ve learned in journalism, and in intelligence, and also during my stint on Wall Street, is that – it’s never as good (or as bad) as first reported. 

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

Is One of America’s Most Powerful Liberal Groups Illicitly Lobbying for this Foreign Billionaire?

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Image via Pixabay free images

Members of Congress want to know if one of America’s most powerful liberal political groups is evading federal laws requiring them to report lobbying on behalf of foreign billionaires.

U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Paul Gosar (R-AZ) want League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski to answer questions about LCV’s fundraising, lobbying, and political activities, and whether it is complying with the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The League of Conservation Voters, a radical environmentalist group, is one of the nation’s most powerful political organizations.

OpenSecrets reports the LCV donated $15,129,989 to federal political candidates in 2020.  They also spent $42,272,125 on ads supporting or opposing federal candidates in 2020, making them the nation’s 15th-biggest political spending.

But members of Congress want to know if the LCV is lobbying lawmakers at the behest of Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, a radical leftist who opposes American energy independence.

The members write:

“Following ‘intense lobbying’ from LCV and related groups that led to passage of the [Inflation Reduction Act,] you met then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi who told you Democrats ‘passed what you wanted’ and asked whether LCV would ‘have our backs’ in the 2022 election. Following the election, in an end-of-year memo on December 19, 2022, LCV detailed how the ‘LCV Victory Fund and affiliated entities invested more than $100 million’ to elect Democrat candidates that align with LCV’s eco-agenda agenda in the 2022 elections. Previously, in the 2018 cycle, LCV spent $80 million on candidates that support its eco-agenda.  

“LCV has registered to lobby on several activities within the jurisdiction of the Committee, including issues like opposing offshore drilling plans, supporting a ‘pause and review of the federal oil and gas program,’ and supporting the restoration and expansion of a number of national monuments. The Committee is concerned that LCV’s relationship with foreign donors, such as Swiss national Mr. Wyss, who are prohibited from contributing, either directly or indirectly, to domestic political campaigns may impact LCV’s political and lobbying activities relating to America’s ability to achieve energy independence. As you are aware, such political and lobbying activities may require compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act.   

“The central purpose of FARA is to ‘promote transparency with respect to foreign influence within the United States by ensuring that the United States government and the public know the source of certain information from foreign agents intended to influence American public opinion, policy, and laws.’ Hence, FARA requires any person or entity, including non-profits, to register with the Department of Justice (DOJ) if they act as an agent or at the request ‘of a foreign principal or of a person any of whose activities are directly or indirectly, supervised, directed, controlled, financed, or subsidized in whole or in major part by a foreign principal.’ Registration under FARA is also required for any entity that attempts, on behalf of a foreign principal, to influence any section of the U.S. public or a U.S. government official in ‘formulating, adopting, or changing the domestic or foreign policies of the United States.'”

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