Rep. Comer released new information indicating that Joe Biden took three monthly payments of $1380 each directly from Hunter’s shell company. Owasca PC takes money from China and other foreign sources. It’s a direct link from China to Joe Biden. David Corn claimed it was a loan for a truck. Rep. Comer said it doesn’t […] The post Latest Evidence of Biden’s Corruption Draws Press Mockery appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

Actor Jamie Foxx made his first public appearance since a health scare in April‚ which led to him being hospitalized. The 55-year-old has been spotted in public since then but hasn’t made any formal appearances until he turned up at the Critics Choice Association’s Celebration of Cinema and Television: Honoring Black‚ Latino and AAPI Achievements event on Monday night‚ per The Hollywood Reporter. Foxx gave a speech after receiving a Vanguard Award for his performance in “The Burial.” The exact details of what happened haven’t been released to the public. Foxx said his sister‚ Deidra Dixon‚ and his daughter‚ Corinne Marie‚ quickly assisted him with getting the medical attention that he needed to save his life. The actor updated the audience on how he’s been feeling since the medical incident this spring.  “I couldn’t do that six months ago‚ I couldn’t actually walk to [the stage]. And I’m not a clone‚ I’m not a clone. I know a lot of people saying that I was cloned out there‚” Foxx told the assembled crowd‚ making reference to some conspiracy theories that have been circulating online.  CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP “It feels good to be here‚” he continued. “I cherish every single minute now‚ it’s different. I wouldn’t wish what I went through on my worst enemy because it’s tough when it’s almost over‚ when you see the tunnel. I saw the tunnel‚ I didn’t see the light. It was hot in that tunnel‚ too; I don’t know where I was going. ‘S***‚ am I going to the right place?’” The “Django Unchained” star also discussed how his brush with death helped him be more appreciative of his life and career in general. Foxx said‚ “I have a new respect for life‚ I have a new respect for my art. I watched so many movies and listened to so many songs trying to have the time go by. Don’t give up on your art‚ man‚ don’t give up on your art. When you realize that it could be over like that… I got to tell you don’t give up on your art and don’t let them take the art from you either.” Foxx previously discussed what happened in a video message to fans posted in July. “I went to hell and back‚” he said at the time. “And my road to recovery had some potholes as well. But I’m coming back and I’m able to work so I want to thank people that let me work.”

U.S. border authorities dropped off 42‚000 illegal immigrants on San Diego County streets between September and November of 2023‚ according to a new report from Cal Matters. The migrants have often been left at bus and trolley stops‚ three prominent sites for drop-off have been the Iris Transit Center San Diego; in San Ysidro‚ near the Port of Entry; and in Oceanside. In September‚ Oceanside Mayor Esther Sanchez said roughly 100 illegal immigrants arrived every day in Oceanside from San Clemente‚ where they had been processed. In October‚ the San Diego County Board of Supervisors spent $3 million for migrant support services. On Tuesday‚ the board will vote whether to spend another $3 million for a welcome center for the immigrants. “Illegal crossings topped a daily average of more than 8‚000 last month‚” AP reported in mid-October. Title 42 expired in May 2023. It had been implemented in in March 2020‚ permitting Border Patrol agents to reject illegal immigrants who might bring Covid-19 into the U.S. Two days before the policy expired‚ the Border Patrol recorded more than 10‚000 arrests. Speaking of the Biden administration letting the policy expire‚ The Wall Street Journal noted‚ “President Biden’s transition team knew illegal border crossings had started to rise after Mr. Biden’s election‚ in part fueled by the widespread notion that he would be friendlier to migrants than Mr. Trump.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP After Title 42 expired‚ one homeowner who owns 78 acres of land on the border with Mexico roughly 75 miles east of San Diego spoke to CNN‚ which reported that he claimed he saw “dozens‚ if not hundreds‚ of migrants crossing onto his land each day.” Another homeowner five miles east of that saw immigrants camping out on his 17-acre property‚ leaving discarded clothes and trash on the land. His wife commented‚ “The migrants have more rights than we do.” Commenting on the illegal immigrant influx‚ CNN added‚ “The San Diego Border Patrol Sector has reported more than 230‚000 encounters during the fiscal year that ended in September – a level of activity the agency has not seen in over two decades.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has reportedly set up several large water pumps inside Gaza to flood Hamas’ underground terror tunnels with water from the Mediterranean Sea. The Wall Street Journal reported that the pumps could move “thousands of cubic meters of water per hour into the tunnels” and would completely flood the hundreds of miles of tunnels under Gaza within a matter of weeks. Israel has not made a final decision on whether to go forward with flooding the vast underground network‚ and the reaction from the Biden administration was mixed. Using the pumps would force Hamas terrorists‚ and potentially some of the hostages that they kidnapped and are holding hostage‚ out of the tunnels. “We are not sure how successful pumping will be since nobody knows the details of the tunnels and the ground around them‚” a person familiar with the plan reportedly said. “It’s impossible to know if that will be effective because we don’t know how seawater will drain in tunnels no one has been in before.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP Israel said that it was committed to completely dismantling the tunnel network through “various ways‚” one of which has included using “sponge bombs.” Jon Alterman‚ senior vice president at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies‚ said it’s hard to predict how flooding the tunnels would impact things above ground‚ including the stability of buildings. “It’s hard to tell what pumping seawater will do to the existing water and sewage infrastructure‚” he said. “It is hard to tell what it will do to groundwater reserves. And it’s hard to tell the impact on the stability of nearby buildings.”

In 1990‚ when I was on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange‚ Saddam Hussein sent his 300‚000 man army across an invisible surveyor’s line to annex his oil-rich neighbor‚ Kuwait. The thought of Saddam Hussein controlling Kuwait’s oil wells was unacceptable. So‚ President George H. W. Bush cobbled together an international coalition of military power not seen since Vietnam to expel the invaders. Within six months‚ the decimated Iraqi army was hightailing it out of Kuwait‚ leaving behind some 35‚000 dead soldiers baking in the desert sun. The coalition victory was heralded as a triumph. I recount these events in my new book “Life In The Pits: My Time as a Trader on the Rough and Tumble Exchange Floors.” For me‚ watching them unfold in real time from the constant news feed scrolling across the digital chyrons that hovered over the chaotic Crude Oil trading rings‚ the question I wrestled with was‚ why did we care at all? It certainly couldn’t have been humanitarian concerns alone. To be sure‚ Saddam was a terrible man. Yet‚ during the same time period the world had many other reasons to be outraged‚ but we were focused on Kuwait. Why? The answer was as simple then as it is now: The reason the plight of a tiny‚ wealthy emirate on the Persian Gulf mattered to the point of mobilizing the world to protect it was that Kuwait had oil. The quest for oil as a catalyst to global upheaval is nothing new. Why did mighty Japan gamble on going to war with the U.S.? Answer: Oil. For Japan‚ a nation that imported 90% of its energy‚ the U.S.-led oil embargo in protest of Dai Nippon’s brutality in China was crippling. Thus the need to strike south into the oil-rich Dutch East Indies to secure their dwindling energy reserves. To accomplish this‚ the Imperial Navy tried neutralizing its greatest threat to Japanese expansion: the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Four years later‚ her cities were smoldering ruins‚ her navy at the bottom of the sea‚ and U.S. warships were anchored in Tokyo Bay. Why did Hitler send his Sixth Army surging into southern Russia one year after Pearl Harbor? He wanted to seize the oil fields of the Caucuses. Instead‚ he watched in a helpless rage as his largest formation in the Wehrmacht was surrounded inside the ruined city of Stalingrad and wiped off the face of the frozen steppe. After Stalingrad‚ Hitler’s Third Reich was doomed. Once again‚ the lack of energy independence led to a nation’s ultimate destruction. And China’s current economic outreach in Africa is a scheme to grab the energy resources they do not have within their borders. Indeed‚ the epicenter of so many modern conflicts‚ and a source of constant tension and strife to this day‚ is the global scramble to secure energy. Which brings us to the continued importance of the Middle East. The reason America remains so involved in a region that a century ago was barely on our radar — and into which we pour tens of billions of U.S. tax dollars each year — is because of the black sludge beneath the Arabian desert and Iranian hills. We see Putin’s undue influence over powerful NATO members like Germany stemming from Russia being the source of so much natural gas to the E.U.‚ without which they would be plunged into a cold dark winter. And so it goes. Those who have their hands on the crude oil and natural gas spigots exercise disproportionate influence over the world. With friendly energy producers along both borders‚ and the oceans as a buffer‚ the United States is better positioned than any other country on earth to achieve not just energy independence but total self-sufficiency. When that happens‚ entire priorities regarding foreign affairs will be upended in favor of the interests of the American people over those seeking perpetual war‚ living under the jackboots of authoritarian regimes. Regardless of short-term environmental impact‚ the quest for sustainable energy self-sufficiency should be the goal of any administration or political party that claims to have the interests of the citizenry at heart. This means building new refineries better suited to the new grades of crude coming from the shale revolution. We currently export this sweeter grade and must import a lot of the sour crude. As I see it‚ being truly energy independent is more than just importing less than we export. It means not needing to import any at all. With Canada and Mexico sitting atop 174 billion barrels of crude and 88.4 TCF of natural gas‚ North America need never import another gallon or MMBtu again. Thanks to the shale boom which began in earnest in the early 2000s‚ by 2019 the U.S. actually produced more energy than it consumed for the first time since the 1940s. By 2022‚ even more so‚ with the U.S. producing 2.5% more than it consumed. This is no fairy tale vision. We simply need the political will to sustain it.  Shale has provided the keys to unshackle our chains tying us to the Middle East‚ a region that allegedly prefers we not be there at all. Fine with me. Perhaps we would be better served with our military patrolling the Rio Grande and Gulf of Mexico rather than the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf. As with so many terror attacks‚ Hamas’ brutality in Israel — which should repulse all civilized people without any qualifiers — was financed by money gushing from oil-dependent nations to Qatar‚ the UAE‚ Saudi Arabia‚ and‚ of course‚ Iran. In Ukraine‚ Putin’s military is funded by money flowing through his natural gas pipelines into the E.U. Speaking before the U.N. in 2018‚ President Trump warned the Western powers‚ Germany in particular‚ of the dangers of dependency on energy courtesy of a potentially hostile foreign power‚ such as Putin’s Russia. The German diplomats literally laughed at his concerns. They are not laughing now. The first Gulf War should have been a wake-up call to the U.S. It should have prompted us to embark on a program of complete energy self-sufficiency‚ so that the plight of ungrateful‚ duplicitous oil sheiks‚ maniacal dictators‚ and fanatical mullahs waging their oil-funded proxy wars against the West should have no influence over our own national security and foreign policy. Iraq. Afghanistan. Iran. All are flashpoints that continue to steer our nation’s inept foreign policy‚ while dragging us into one quagmire after another‚ mostly due to our drive to secure commodities of which we have more than we need literally right under our feet.  The U.S. has been given the gift of nearly 70 billion barrels in proven oil reserves as well as 368 TCF of natural gas. These are resources in abundance the other great powers‚ save Russia‚ do not have. CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP If a young clerk on the floor of a hectic commodities exchange three decades ago could have the clarity to see our way out of these horrible wars in the Middle East‚ what prevents us from moving forward now when we are far better positioned to make my pipe dream a reality? One must ask. Had the U.S. never been dependent on foreign oil‚ would we have needed to ever be involved in one Mideast disaster after another? How much better would our lives be‚ and the state of this nation‚ were we to slip free of the yoke of energy dependence? In time‚ technology will make green solutions a reality. But until that happens‚ we must do what is best for the U.S. As history has shown‚ at least before oil became a factor‚ what is best for the U.S. ultimately is best for the world. And certainly best for the average American who should never again salute a flag-draped coffin‚ courtesy of the latest unnecessary war in a far-off land that‚ but for oil‚ we should have little use for in the first place. * * * Brad Schaeffer is a commodities trader and author. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal‚ New York Daily News‚ National Review‚ The Federalist‚ The Hill‚ The Daily Wire‚ and Zerohedge among others. His newest book Life In The Pits: MyTime As A Trader On The Rough-And-Tumble Exchange Floors is now on sale everywhere. The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.