Patriot Pony

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EDITOR’S NOTE—This section is reserved as an editorial and may not necessarily reflect the policy of this publication.

An Arizona woman indicted in 2020 on accusations of illegally collecting ballots for the 2020 Presidential election apparently ran a sophisticated operation using her status as a well-known Democratic operative in the border city of San Luis to persuade voters to let her gather and in some cases fill out their ballots, according to records obtained by The Associated Press. There are at least 60 trafficking insurgencies. Also found was Maricopa County accepted at least 20,000 mail-in ballots after election day in 2020.

***** From Paul Sperry: Congressional investigators have met with Special Counsel Durham's team concerning at least "a dozen criminal referrals including perjury" involving former Hillary Clinton campaign officials and contractors and FBI officials who've testified regarding the Russiagate probe.

There is a deep British connection to the TrumpAlfa Bank hoax.

Just hours before Sussmann reached out to FBI, Hillary's "fixer" Sid Blumenthal had delivered memo alerting her top campaign officials and campaign lawyer Mark Elias to coming New York Times "bombshell" "Trump-Russia story." Elias, in turn, forwarded it to Sussmann, who texted Baker.

Sid Blumenthal, who was working on second dossier with Cody Shearer, emailed Robby Mook on Sept 18, 2016 regarding "Trump-Russia story," proving Blumenthal was working w top Clinton campaign officials to smear Trump. (Sullivan had acted as liaison between Blumenthal and Secretary Clinton).

'Top Gun: Maverick' Stands Up to China, Fires a Warning Shot at CCP

By Randy DeSoto The Western Journal

One change made to the blockbuster film “Top Gun: Maverick” reportedly had audiences in Taiwan cheering and Americans should do the same.

As fans of the 1986 original “Top Gun” likely know, the sequel was supposed to be released in the summer of 2020, but COVID-19 scuttled those plans.

Prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, Paramount Pictures released a trailer for the movie in July 2019.

In that trailer, Tom Cruise, reprising his role as Navy aviator Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, puts on his iconic leather bomber jacket. But unlike in the original movie, a patch on it no longer shows the flags of Taiwan and Japan.

Instead, there are nonsensical symbols, the website Vice reported.

The original patch commemorated the battleship USS Galveston’s tour of Japan, Taiwan and the western Pacific in 1963 and 1964.

In the video below, the patches without the Japan and Taiwan flags can be seen at the 1:15 mark.

The change to the patch in the trailer caused quite a response, with charges that Hollywood was once again genuflecting to communist China.

Beijing does not recognize the independence of Taiwan, an island nation about 100 miles off the coast of mainland China.

The Republic of China, Taiwan’s formal name, has maintained a separate government from the communist-ruled China since 1949.

Vice’s Rachel Cheung reported audiences in Taiwan cheered when they saw their flag, along with Japan’s, had been restored in the “Top Gun: Maverick” movie.

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Having seen the film twice, I can report it is so.

The image in the tweet below shows both versions of the jacket. The one on the right shows the Japan and Taiwan flags restored.

“It is unprecedented,” Ho

Siu Bun, a film critic in Hong Kong, told Vice. “Major film studios have never been shy about pandering to the Chinese market. And even if it is a simple scene, editing is very costly. So no one knows why they changed it back.” Cheung wrote that some Taiwanese moviegoers, following the premiere of “Top Gun: Maverick,” flocked to buy copies of the bomber jacket going for $1,449 a pop.

According to Vice, a Taiwanese film writer, who goes by the moniker Knee Joint, wrote on Facebook, “To be honest, Tom doesn’t necessarily have to wear the same jacket in the opening scene. There’s no way film producers didn’t know the Republic of China flag would cross the Chinese Communist Party’s red line. But they still did it anyway.” Deadline reported Monday that the movie’s producers have not commented on the matter.

On a related note, Chinese tech company Tencent Holdings Ltd., after initially investing millions to take a 12.5 percent stake in the “Maverick,” pulled out.

“The reason: Tencent executives backed out of the $170 million Paramount Pictures production after they grew concerned that Communist Party officials in Beijing would be angry about the company’s affiliation with a movie celebrating the American military, according to people familiar with the matter,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

“Association with a proAmerican story grew radioactive as relations between the U.S. and China devolved, the people added. The aboutface turned ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ from a movie that once symbolized deepening ties between China and Hollywood into a fresh example of the broader tensions forming between the U.S. and China.” Well, it’s Tencent’s loss.

Variety reported “Maverick” took $160.5 million during its first four days of release domestically, making it the most successful Memorial Day debut of all time.

The movie took in another $139 million overseas for a total global haul of over $300 million, according to Variety.

China has not approved the film for release in its market, according to the Journal.

Those who have seen “Maverick” love it.

It earned an “A+” CinemaScore rating from audiences, the first movie to do so in 2022.

So, hurray for Paramount Pictures and its production partner Skydance Media for releasing an unabashedly patriotic movie and not bowing to the CCP.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, China was the world’s largest movie market in 2021, with $7.3 billion in sales, so that took courage.

However, the decision was consistent with the message of “Maverick” itself: America is at its best when it courageously stands for freedom!

Arizona AG prosecutes ballot harvesters, as GOP state lawmakers push to ban drop boxes

"We are making some progress, but it's not fast enough, and I want to see more," said Arizona GOP Senate primary candidateBlake Masters.

ByNatalia Mittelstadt Just The News

In Arizona, Republican politicians are continuing to investigate irregularities that marred the 2020 presidential election as state Attorney General Mark Brnovich prosecutes ballot harvesters and state legislators vow to ban ballot drop boxes.

Brnovich announced Thursday that Guillermina Fuentes, a former Democratic mayor of San Luis and current school board member, has pled guilty to ballot harvesting during the August 2020 primary election.

Fuentes, who serves on the board of the Gadsden Elementary School District, was part of a ballot harvesting scheme in Yuma County in which early ballots were collected from voters and dropped off at a ballot box on primary election day.

Fuentes "knowingly collect[ed] ballots from another person, and those early ballots belonged to individuals for whom I am not a family member, household member, or caregiver," she admitted, according to the attorney general's office.

Ballot harvesting is a class 6 felony in Arizona, meaning that Fuentes will lose her ability to vote and must leave elected office.

The former mayor was indicted in December 2020 with Alma Juarez, who pled guilty in March to ballot harvesting. Fuentes admitted to later providing the early ballots to Juarez.

As part of the plea agreement with Fuentes, prosecutorsdroppedthree additional felony charges —one each of conspiracy and forgery and another for ballot harvesting —that were added last October.

According to investigation records obtained by the news wire from the attorney general's office, less than a dozen ballots could be linked to the former mayor.

Fuentes is due to be sentenced on June 30, and Juarez's sentencing is scheduled for June 16.

"The crime carries a presumptive sentence of 1 year," according to the plea agreement, with a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 18 months (or 2 years, if the trial judge finds "exceptional circumstances").

Arizona GOP Senate primary candidate Blake Masters, who was endorsed on Thursday by former President Donald Trump, said in an interview Friday on the "Just the News, Not Noise" TV show that he doesn't believe Brnovich —one of his opponents in the primary race —is serious enough about election fraud.

"Brnovich gave this woman a plea deal," said Masters, referring to Fuentes. "She's gonna get off light, they downgraded it to like the lightest felony, it will be treated as a misdemeanor. And it's like, why is Attorney General Brnovich not serious about prosecuting election fraud, right?

"Why can't we get the state Legislature to even have a vote on very commonsensical election laws, you know, that would tighten up the early voting and a lot of the known vulnerabilities? And so I'm very frustrated. We are making some progress, but it's not fast enough, and I want to see more —the American people, the people of Ari(Continued on page 16)

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zona here, demand to see more."

In his endorsement of Masters, Trump also slammed Brnovich, calling him "such a disappointment."

"The Arizona State Senate gave him overwhelming evidence of fraud and irregularities, issued a report which was damning, and he did nothing about it," Trump lamented. "In other words, all talk and no action!"

Fuentes' guilty plea comes the same week as election integrity group True the Vote gave a presentation to Arizona state legislators on ballot harvesting.

True the Vote founder and president Catherine Engelbrecht and election investigator Gregg Phillips on Tuesday explained their findings of ballot trafficking in Maricopa and Yuma counties.

Using cellphone tracking data, True the Vote found that alleged ballot traffickers visited ballot drop boxes in those two counties at least 5,700 times over the course of the 2020 election, The Epoch Times reported.

The group, whose work was the focus of Dinesh D'Souza's "2000 Mules" documentary, said that they learned through the cellphone tracking data which nonprofit organizations the alleged ballot traffickers were involved with in their operation.

"When you have the level of accuracy that we do, you can assess what address you're talking about and what organization is at that address," Engelbrecht said during the presentation, according to Right Side Broadcasting Network.

Engelbrecht said that while she "would love to put that list out and let the chips fall where they may ... we also need law enforcement to be able to do their jobs"

True the Vote recommended to state legislators that they clean up voter rolls with real-time technology, end the mass mailing of ballots, and get rid of ballot drop boxes, or, if unable to eliminate drop boxes, then at least secure them with video surveillance, the Epoch Times reported.

"The exploitation targets the most vulnerable communities," Engelbrecht said. "This is voter abuse. This is not about Republicans or Democrats. This is about securing the vote."

The Republican lawmakers who attended the presentation expressed their support for moving forward with HB-2289, which would make ballot drop boxes illegal in Arizona.

‘Trying To Intimidate Me’: Peter Navarro Rips January 6 Committee, DOJ After Indictment

Former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro made a defiant statement outside a Washington, D.C., courthouse on Friday after he was arrested by the FBI for contempt of Congress.

A grand jury indicted Navarro on Friday on two charges of contempt of Congress for allegedly failing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 last year. Navarro said FBI agents arrested him as he was boarding a plane to Nashville. gating for punitive purposes.” Navarro repeatedly criticized his treatment by the January 6 committee, President Joe Biden’s Justice Department, and the FBI. Navarro said that the FBI had disregarded his attempts and offer to cooperate with agents on legal issues stemming from the committee’s subpoena. Instead, the agents intercepted him as he was boarding a plane to Nashville to appear on former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s television show.

“Today the punishment which was inflicted upon a man presumed innocent and innocent until proven guilty demonstrates the utter disregard for the Constitution and the law that the Department of Justice has,” Navarro said.

“They intercepted me getting on the plane and they put me in handcuffs, they bring me here, they put me in leg irons, they stick me in a cell,” he said. “They just came with the full force of the federal government and put the hammer down trying to intimidate me.” Navarro is apparently representing himself in the court over his indictment. “Part of the Democrats strategy is to engage in what is called ‘lawfare,’ which is they use the legal system for effectively coercion and illicit ends. I do not want to spend several hundred thousand dollars on lawyers.” Each count of contempt of Congress carries a penalty of up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. The committee subpoenaed Navarro in February for documents and a deposition based on the committee’s belief that he possessed “information relevant to the committee’s investigation” the subpoena said, according to the indictment.

GOP to go on offensive, portray Jan. 6 probe as 'unconstitutional and illegitimate'

“Congress has weaponized the investigatory powers of congress in a way which is unconstitutional,” Navarro said Friday after a court hearing on the indictment. “The people of America need to understand, Congress has the right to investigate, but only for nonpunitive, legislative purposes. What that committee is doing is investi-

Focus of counteroffensive will be on Pelosi failures to secure the Capitol prior to riots, Rep. Elise Stefanik says.

By John Solomon Just The News

As Democrats ramp up hearings and secure a second Trump advisor's arrest for contempt, Republicans are finally launching a counteroffensive to the Jan. 6 committee designed to portray the investigation as "unconstitutional and illegitimate" and to put a focus on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's failures in protecting the Capitol.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, RN.Y., the third ranking lead in the House gave a preview of the strategy during a radio interview with Breibart News on Saturday.

“We’re working very closely with President Trump and his team with Leader Kevin McCarthy, with Jim Jordan, and really all of the House Republicans will be pushing back in a rapid response fashion,” Stefanik said. “You will see us all over the airwaves, we will be setting the record straight. We will be telling the truth to the Americanpeoplesharingthe facts and also really pointing out how unprecedented and unconstitutional and illegitimate this committee is,” she added.

With little fanfare Republicans have gathered significant evidence about the Democrats' failure to pre-emptively protect the Capitol, turning down an offer the weekend before the riots from the Trump Pentagon for National Guard troops and failing to react to intelligence warnings. Stefanik said that will be a key focus.

Republicans will be "prosecuting the case against how much Speaker Pelosi, Democrats, and Liz Cheney have failed this country, and they’ve failed to focus on the issue. If they want to talk about securing the Capitol, which they refused to, they have failed to do that job,” she said.

Democrats plan to begin a new round of Jan. 6 panel hearings on Thursday. Over the weekend they got mixed news when former Trump adviser Peter Navarro was indicted and arrested for contempt for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena.

But two other key aides to former President Donald Trump that the committee referred for prosecution, Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino, were informed they won't be charged by the Justice Department. “I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time —when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what is true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness. The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), the lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.—Carl Sagan in 1995.