Despite President Joe Biden's sense that white supremacy is the "most dangerous terrorist threat," his administration is lifting the ban on arming a Ukrainian brigade associated with neo-Nazism since its inception whose current members now reject accusations of extremism. In June 2015, the U.S. Congress unanimously approved an amendment to the Pentagon budget prohibiting American funds under the Pentagon Appropriations Act from being used to provide arms, training, or other assistance to Ukraine's 12th Special Forces Azov Brigade, then called the Azov Battalion. Former Michigan Rep. John Conyers (D) told his fellow lawmakers that the "neo-Nazi Ukrainian militia" group founded by Ukrainian politician Andriy Biletsky had been characterized by Foreign Policy as "openly neo-Nazi" and "fascist." Biletsky, who headed the neo-Nazi groups Social-National Assembly and Patriots of Ukraine, was less than subtle about the nature of his variety of national socialism, having reportedly: criticized "Negro-love" and the "blackening" of Ukraine; reminisced about Adolf Hitler as a military leader; denied the Holocaust ever happened; defended paramilitary Nazi collaborators in his college thesis; and adopted for his militia a symbol closely resembling the Nazi Wolfsangel. 'These groups run counter to American values, and once the fighting ends, they pose a significant threat to the Ukrainian Government and the Ukrainian people.' Years after his release from prison and months after the Russian invasion in 2022, Biletsky said, "We don't identify ourselves with the Nazi ideology." "Numerous other news organizations, including the New York Times, the Guardian, and the Associated Press have corroborated the dominance of white supremacist and anti-Semitic views within the group," said Conyers. "These groups run counter to American values, and once the fighting ends, they pose a significant threat to the Ukrainian Government and the Ukrainian people," continued the Democrat. "As we have seen many times, most notably within the Mujahedin in Afghanistan, these groups will not lay down their arms once the conflict is over. They will turn their arms against their own people in order to enforce their hateful views." The same year Azov was slapped with an American arms ban, it was absorbed into the Ukrainian National Guard by which time its political and military wings had formally separated. Although the Pentagon successfully lobbied the House Defense Appropriations Committee to drop the amendment from the following year's defense budget, the amendment returned to appropriations bills in the years since. The U.S. State Department apparently also prohibited the provision of the Azov Brigade with training or American weapons. That is all set to change if it has not already. After years of urging and the publication of Azov commander Denys Prokopenko's demands to American officials in the pages of Ukrainska Pravda, the Biden State Department confirmed to the Washington Post Monday that the Biden administration has cleared the Azov Brigade to receive American weapons. The Post highlighted that the timing of the announcement comes just as "Kyiv starts the summer fighting season." "After thorough review, Ukraine’s 12th Special Forces Azov Brigade passed Leahy vetting as carried out by the U.S. Department of State," said the State Department. The "Leahy law," named after former Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), concerns two laws prohibiting the U.S. government from using taxpayer dollars to assist foreign militants "where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights (GVHR). One statutory provision applies to the State Department and the other applies to the Department of Defense." In the case of the Azov Brigade, the Biden administration maintains there is no such evidence of GVHR, contrary to what Russia has alleged on various occasions. Russia's Supreme Court declared the Azov Brigade a terrorist organization in 2022. 'This is a new page in the history of our unit.' The State Department did not inform the Post whether the ban had been lifted and if weapons had already reached Azov militants, which apparently now have Jewish-Ukrainian soldiers among their ranks. The Azov Brigade said in a statement, "We are grateful to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Command of the National Guard of Ukraine, the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States of America, and everyone who contributed to successfully passing vetting." "Eligibility for US assistance will not only increase Azov's combat effectiveness, but, most importantly, will help save the lives and health of the brigade's personnel," continued the statement. "This is a new page in the history of our unit. Azov is becoming more professional and more effective in defending Ukraine against the invaders." The Associated Press reported that current members of the brigade reject the suggestion that they're extremists or linked to "far-right movements." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

While Sen. John Fetterman has a history of gaffes almost as long as Joe Biden’s, he’s becoming more coherent by the day. In a recent appearance on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” the Democrat from Pennsylvania stunned the crowd when he dropped his party’s talking points and did what Democrats rarely ever do: make sense. “I didn’t leave the label, it left me,” Fetterman told Maher regarding where he stands politically. “After what happened on October 7, I really knew that that whole progressive stack would be blasted apart.” Fetterman went on to say that he “decided early on” that the right side of the Israel-Hamas war would be Israel, though he knew Democrats as a whole would “continue to peel away and kind of walk away from standing with Israel.” “How do you explain that?” Maher asked Fetterman. “If you can, that the people who consider themselves the most liberal have abandoned Israel, which was always a liberal darling, for the people, a terrorist organization, the people who outwardly say they want a genocide, who outwardly are the one side of this who is against the two-state solution.” “Some of the most progressive and left parts of the Democratic Party are standing, you know, for the kind of side that have kinds of organizations like Hamas, or these kind of nations that there are no rights for women, and they certainly don’t embrace the LGBTQ kinds of lifestyle,” Fetterman said. Fetterman then explained that even in Philadelphia, Queers for Palestine blocked the Pride parade. “I never saw that on the bingo card,” he added, as the crowd — and Maher — erupted in laughter. While Dave Rubin knows that none of what Fetterman said is shocking to those who already believed it, he is shocked that a Democrat said it. “It is good that a Democrat, who, as Bill is saying, is sort of an old school Democrat, is saying the progressives really are bananas now.” Want more from Dave Rubin?To enjoy more honest conversations, free speech, and big ideas with Dave Rubin, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Microsoft and Xbox were dragged through the mud after revealing a reboot of their beloved Perfect Dark franchise that featured a very different looking main character.The original game was released on the Nintendo 64 in 2000 as a spiritual follow-up to the massively successful James Bond Goldeneye game that sold more than eight million copies.The original Perfect Dark, which sold a reported 3.2 million copies, featured one of the most iconic female protagonists in video game history, Joanna Dark.After years of development, Microsoft, Xbox, and their studio decided to reboot the franchise and revealed the never-before-seen gameplay during a 2024 showcase.What fans saw was a far more androgynous-looking and far less feminine-looking lead character. Their reactions were less than positive."Perfect Dark transforms you into the ultimate secret agent. Joanna Dark's perfectly symmetrical, masculine jawline makes her the ideal candidate for disguising herself as a man on the most dangerous missions. One day, she's Joanna; the next, she's Jonathan," an account with 20,000 followers wrote.The X post compared the female character's face with a strikingly similar male character."I will never forgive them for this, Joanna Dark gets the 'modern audience' treatment. The disrespect," wrote Melonie Mac, a gamer with 250,000 followers on X.'I think Joanna offers a lot of modern opportunities.'Many viewers have begun labeling woke character reboots as giving them the "modern audience" treatment, which has essentially meant taking once feminine characters and making them uglier or more masculine.In fact, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer revealed that this may have been the plan all the way back in 2021. During an interview with IGN, Spencer said that character offered an opportunity to focus on a female lead."I think it's awesome for us. We can focus on a female protagonist in our lineup. We don't have a lot of that in our first-party [lineup]," Spencer explained. "I think Joanna offers a lot of modern opportunities that I love to see the team kind of focusing on, having a strong protagonist," he added.The treatment of Joanna Dark, who was originally a feminine, Eastern European-looking woman, mirrors a pattern in the gaming industry among major studios that appears to be weeding out femininity in major characters.This was no more true than in the latest Star Wars game Outlaws, which was widely criticized for turning its character model into a product of "activism."'It's not enough to make the female models look plainer, they have to be 'buffed up' and made to look more like men.'Inversely, a South Korean developer behind the game Stellar Blade was accused of making his main character a sexist stereotype of a female, despite the character being a body scan of a real person."There is a trend to make older games more 'realistic' in updates and remakes. Unfortunately, they have taken this to mean that women should be dialed back from their stylized ideals, something they never seem to do to the male characters," said game designer Mark Kern."It even goes to an extreme. It's not enough to make the female models look plainer, they have to be 'buffed up' and made to look more like men. This is from the mistaken belief that in order to have equality, women must be painted to have male physical virtues, to be able to do everything a man can do in fighting or physical strength. But this is not the fantasy that female or male gamers want," he continued.The new Perfect Dark game is being developed by Crystal Dynamics, a studio known for giving the "modern audience" treatment to its own female hero, Lara Croft.As for the reason why studios are doing this, Kern added:"I believe there is a secondary reason for the remaking of so many female characters into male analogs, and it is the current war on defining what a woman is, and giving the trans community something more in between. Redefining the standards of feminine beauty to suit modern definitions of what a women can look like."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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I have a terrible memory. Even though I try to ensure that I write everything down, whether it be in the form of a note, a reminder, or a calendar event, I still commonly lose those things in the chaos of each day — especially when it comes to communicating about any of those things with family and friends. People have commonly pointed out to me that I forgot to reach out to them about something. Sometimes, it's as innocent as following up about making plans for the next weekend. Other times, however, it's because I missed wishing them a happy birthday. It's not good. Continue reading... The post iMessage scheduling in iOS 18 will save me from forgetting people’s birthdays appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Best Apple Watch deals for June 2024 Today’s deals: Amazon Father’s Day sale, $714 Apple Watch Ultra 2, $23 Fire TV Stick 4K, more Today’s deals: $89 AirPods, $19 Roku, $307 Apple Watch S9, $500 off Husqvarna robot lawn mower, more Today’s deals: $20 Amazon credit, $79 AirPods, $20 Echo Pop, $899 M3 MacBook Air, $289 iScooter, more

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., received a $1,000 campaign contribution from ex-convict and left-wing domestic terrorist Susan Rosenberg, for whom he helped obtain a presidential pardon 20 years earlier, The Washington Free Beacon reported.