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Support for the Ukraine war continues because no one elected is actually in charge.

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11 minute read

From LifeSiteNews

By Conservative Treehouse

The US Intelligence Community is running foreign policy without oversight. Trump can’t stop the Ukraine war – and Putin knows it

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. Against the backdrop of multiple questions to him about the outcome of their discussion, let us first discuss the problem being avoided.

In the mind of President Vladimir Putin, and in the growing awareness of the American electorate, the president of the United States does not control the Intelligence Community (USIC). It is entirely possible for the USIC to take America deeper toward war despite the president and people of America not wanting that to happen. Putin is simply prepared for that outcome.

This reality explains a dynamic where President Trump engages with President Putin in an effort to stop the war in Ukraine, yet President Putin continues the war in Ukraine; because ultimately he knows President Trump does not control the elements that facilitate the Ukraine military.

People struggle to accept this dynamic. However, I would remind everyone that right now you are paying for the entire government of Ukraine to exist. Including the Ukraine government payroll, retirement benefits, healthcare, and operational budget of Ukraine overall.

Americans do not want to pay for that. President Trump does not want to pay for that. Yet, here we are, paying for that.

The same inertia process applies to the literal Ukraine war and conflict with Russia.

You might not want it. President Trump might not want it. Yet, here again we are providing weapons, intelligence, satellite communication, personnel, and systems for the war.

The problem for President Trump is not that this reality exists; the bigger political problem for President Trump is that people are increasingly becoming aware of this reality.

Now, many people are recently arguing against this reality. However, these are the same voices who previously stated President Trump could unilaterally declassify information within the same silo process that is designed to control his declassification authority. Empirically, and in reality, these voices are wrong.

Something needs to change. That something is generally that President Trump has to either: 1) admit publicly he does not control the U.S. Intelligence Community (very ugly); or 2) take control of that intelligence community (even uglier).

In this element of consideration you would be well served to insert the recent experience of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard; who, intentionally or not, opened the Pandora’s box containing this issue, and look what happened to her.

There was a reason Gabbard sat silently recently in the very public Cabinet meeting. I will return to this in a moment.

Side note: Those who deny this reality are likely of a disposition that reconciled advice by those who said COVID-19 virus could attack you standing at a bar, but would not approach you sitting down. The COVID virus would attack you in the paint section at Walmart, but not in the grocery aisles, etc.

Every COVID-19 mitigation pronouncement was ridiculously silly, yet people not only believed it, they followed it. The non-pretending tribe did not. For whatever reason you might attribute, the reality of that COVID-19 experience highlighted that the non-pretending tribe within America is in the minority. The pretenders included politicians, healthcare workers, most doctors, police, law enforcement, and most Americans (70 percent vaccinated).

President Trump does not have control over the USIC activity in Ukraine. If he did, he would have been fully aware of the drone strikes against the Russian strategic bomber fleet before it was carried out. By his own admission he did not know.

Prior to the increased attacks, Putin correctly noted that Ukraine does not have the military capability, the satellite communication, and guidance systems to continue carrying out strikes deep into Russia. Therefore, from the perspective of Putin, as these strikes continued they were facilitated by NATO. Ergo, NATO was factually attacking Russia, albeit using Ukraine as the proxy for it. Again, Putin with clear eyes on reality.

Into this pretending/non-pretending world, in a remarkable statement of candor we also saw Secretary of State Marco Rubio accurately – and honestly – say five months ago the Ukraine conflict was a proxy war for the U.S. against Russia.

Now, fast forward to today. The reality is the proxy war, Rubio outlined so eloquently, continues. Simultaneously, neither he nor President Trump has any control over the USIC that is carrying it out. Yet, Secretary Rubio has to sit down with Foreign Minister Lavrov and either a) be honest, or b) pretend.

Following the meeting, here are Rubio’s remarks. You decide:

Side note: Rubio brought up a good point. Germany, U.K., France and Spain all have Patriot battery’s they can spare. However, they are refusing to give them to Ukraine. I wonder why.

Again, President Trump and Secretary Rubio seem to have two options: 1) Admit their lack of control, or 2) take control.

The first option is obviously the easiest, admit the president of the United States does not have full control over the U.S. Intelligence Community. However, that comes with severe ramifications.

Flip it. Look at the dynamic from the outside. Imagine Emmanuel Macron or Abdel Fattah al-Sisi saying they no longer have operational control over their intelligence agencies, and those agencies have gone rogue. What would you think of France or Egypt?

Now imagine if the president of the U.S. made such a statement. How would the world react? What would happen to the dollar? How weak would President Trump look?

Thus, there is extreme pressure to maintain a premise.

Think about the recent experience of DNI Gabbard, and accept those types of consequences are exactly what the USIC relies upon to maintain its power and control. Open, even briefly, the Pandora’s box that hides reality and massive alarms are immediately triggered to isolate, ridicule, and marginalize the truth teller.

The people around President Trump have a vested interest in keeping that Pandora’s box closed. Which brings us to the second option: take control.

Factually, no one knows what “taking control” would look like.

Who exactly would enforce compliance and bring the USIC to heel? Gabbard was burned just nibbling around the edge of it. What would be the reaction from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and more importantly what would be the response from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; ironically the former silo chaired by Rubio?

Would President Donald Trump reach the same fate as President John F. Kennedy? Perhaps not, if a very public process was instituted where President Trump said exactly what the situation was. However, that approach simply goes back to point #1.

See the problem?

Let’s talk about Tulsi Gabbard’s silence at the Cabinet meeting, and role play for a moment as a Gordian Knot cutter.

Imagine a journalist who says: “Mr. President, thank you for the transparency you provide in allowing us to be with you and your Cabinet during these meetings. If I may ask a question with a brief follow up?”

[Question]: “Mr President, do you feel you have full control over the intelligence agencies of our government?”

[Anticipated Response]: “I think so, at least I would hope that is the case” (or something similar).

[Question]: “Thank you. With that in mind, what specifically provides you with the sense of assurance you do have full control over the USIC?” … and… “Would you also permit DNI Tulsi Gabbard to answer that question?”

Imagine what would follow that brief line of questioning. If the imaginary journalist were so inclined, he/she could also follow up with simple examples, like President Trump having no prior knowledge of the Ukraine drone strikes into Russia, etc.

My point is that absent of President Trump taking some action that begins the process – against the interests and advice of his protective advisors – it is going to take an external element in this dynamic to trigger a change in the situation; for better, for uglier, or for worse.

The people around the office of the president are not going to want to touch this issue…

…. Just ask Tulsi.

Reprinted with permission from Conservative Treehouse.

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Addictions

More young men want to restrict pornography: survey

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From LifeSiteNews

By Andreas Wailzer

Nearly 64% of American men now believe online pornography should be more difficult to access, with even higher numbers of women saying the same thing.

A new survey has shown that an increasing number of young men want more restrictions on online pornography.

According to a survey by the American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Lifenearly 7 in 10 (69 percent) of Americans support the idea of making online pornography less accessible. In 2013, 65 percent expressed support for policies restricting internet pornography.

The most substantial increase in the support for restrictive measures on pornography could be observed in young men (age 18-24). In 2013, about half of young men favored restrictions, while 40 percent actively opposed such policies. In 2025, 64 percent of men believe accessing online pornography should be made more difficult.

The largest support for restriction on internet pornography overall could be measured among older men (65+), where 73 percent favored restrictions. An even larger percentage of women in each age group supported making online pornography less accessible. Seventy-two percent of young women (age 18-24) favored restriction, while 87 percent of women 55 years or older expressed support for less accessibility of internet pornography.

Viewing pornography is highly addictive and can lead to serious health problems. Studies have shown that children often have their first encounter with pornography at around 12 years old, with boys having a lower average age of about 10-11, and some encountering online pornography as young as 8. Studies have also shown that viewing pornography regularly rewires humans brains and that children, adolescents, and younger men are especially at risk for becoming addicted to online pornography.

According to Gary Wilson’s landmark book on the matter, “Your Brain on Porn,” pornography addiction frequently leads to problems like destruction of genuine intimate relationships, difficulty forming and maintaining real bonds in relationship, depression, social anxiety, as well as reduction of gray matter, leading to desensitization and diminished pleasure from everyday activities among many others.

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Crime

Sweeping Boston Indictment Points to Vast Chinese Narco-Smuggling and Illegal Alien Labor Plot via Mexican Border

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Sam Cooper's avatar Sam Cooper

Case details a pipeline from China through Mexico, trapping trafficked illegal migrants as indentured workers in a sweeping drug network.

In a sweeping indictment that tears into an underworld of Chinese narco infiltration of North American cities — including the smuggling of impoverished Chinese nationals across the Mexican border to work as drug debt slaves in illegal drug houses — seven Chinese nationals living in Massachusetts stand accused of running a sprawling, multimillion-dollar marijuana trafficking and money laundering network across New England.

The backdrop of the human smuggling allegations stretches back to 2020, as an unprecedented wave of illegal Chinese migrants surged across the U.S. border with Mexico — a surge that peaked in 2024 under the Biden administration before the White House reversed course. This explosive migration trend became a flashpoint in heated U.S. election debates, fueling concerns over border security and transnational organized crime.

Six of the accused, including alleged ringleader Jianxiong Chen of Braintree, were arrested this week in coordinated FBI raids across Massachusetts. The border exploitation schemes match exactly with decades-long human smuggling and Chinese Triad criminal pipelines into America reported by The Bureau last summer, based on leaked intelligence documents filed by a Canadian immigration official in 1993. A seventh suspect in the new U.S. indictment, Yanrong Zhu, remains a fugitive and is believed to be moving between Greenfield, Massachusetts, and Brooklyn, New York.

The case paints a striking portrait of China-based criminal organizations operating behind the quiet facades of upscale American suburban properties. Prosecutors allege the defendants owned or partnered with a network of sophisticated indoor grow houses hidden inside single-family residences in Massachusetts, Maine, and beyond, producing kilogram-scale shipments of marijuana. According to court documents, the marijuana was sold in bulk to distributors across the Northeast, and the profits — amounting to millions — were funneled into luxury real estate, cars, jewelry, and further expansion of their illicit operations.

“During a search of [ringleader Chen’s] home in October 2024, over $270,000 in cash was allegedly recovered from the house and from a Porsche in the driveway,” the indictment alleges, “as well as several Chinese passports and other identification documents inside a safe.”

According to the indictment, Chen’s cell phone data confirmed his personal role in orchestrating smuggling logistics and controlling workers. Additional searches of homes where co-defendants lived yielded over 109 kilograms of marijuana, nearly $200,000 in cash, and luxury items including a $65,000 gold Rolex with the price tag still attached.

A photo from the indictment, humorously but damningly, shows alleged ring member Hongbin Wu, 35, wearing a green “money laundering” T-shirt printed with an image of a hot iron pressing U.S. dollar bills on an ironing board — a snapshot that encapsulates the brazenness of the alleged scheme.

Key to FBI allegations of stunning sophistication tying together Chinese narcos along the U.S. East Coast with bases in mainland China is a document allegedly shared among the conspirators.

“The grow house operators maintained contact with each other through a list of marijuana cultivators and distributors from or with ties to China in the region called the ‘East Coast Contact List,’” the indictment alleges.

Investigators say the conspiracy reveals a human smuggling component directly tied to China’s underground migration and debt bondage networks, mirroring exactly the historic intelligence from Canadian and U.S. Homeland Security documents reported by The Bureau last summer.

The alleged leader, 39-year-old Jianxiong Chen, is charged with paying to smuggle Chinese nationals across the Mexican border, then forcing them to work in grow houses while withholding their passports until they repaid enormous smuggling debts.

“Data extracted from Chen’s cell phone allegedly revealed that he helped smuggle Chinese nationals into the United States — putting the aliens to work at one of the grow houses he controlled,” U.S. filings say.

“This case pulls back the curtain on a sprawling criminal enterprise that exploited our immigration system and our communities for personal gain,” said U.S. Attorney Leah Foley. “These defendants allegedly turned quiet homes across the Northeast into hubs for a criminal enterprise — building a multi-million-dollar black-market operation off the backs of an illegal workforce and using our neighborhoods as cover.”

The arrests come amid a surge of Chinese migrants entering the U.S. through Mexico, part of a pattern previously exposed in Canadian diplomatic and intelligence reporting. In 1993, a confidential Canadian government study, “Passports of Convenience,” warned that Chinese government officials, in collusion with Triads and corrupt Latin American partners, were driving a multi-billion-dollar human smuggling business. That report predicted that tens of thousands of migrants from coastal Fujian province would flood North America, empowered by Beijing’s tacit support and organized crime’s global reach.

It also warned that mass migration from China in the 1990s came during a time of political upheaval, a trend that has apparently re-emerged while President Xi Jinping’s economic and political guidance has been increasingly questioned among mainland citizens, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic crisis and lockdowns inside China.

The 1993 report, obtained and analyzed exclusively by The Bureau, described how the Triads — particularly those connected with Chinese Communist networks in Fujian — would leverage human smuggling to extend their influence into American cities. The migrants, often saddled with debts of $50,000 or more, became trapped in forced labor, prostitution, or drug networks, coerced to repay their passage fees.

“Alien smuggling is closely linked to narcotics smuggling; many of the persons smuggled in have to resort to prostitution or drug dealing to pay the smugglers,” the 1993 Canadian immigration report says.

Citing legal filings in one U.S. Homeland Security case, it says a Triad member who reportedly smuggled 150 Fujianese migrants into New York stated that if fees aren’t paid “the victims are often tortured until the money is paid.”

Supporting these early warnings, a 1995 U.S. Department of Justice report echoed the Canadian findings, stating that “up to 100,000 Chinese aliens are smuggled into the United States each year,” with 85 percent originating from Fujian. The DOJ report also cited allegations of “negotiations between the Sun Yee On Triad and the Mainland Chinese Government,” suggesting that smuggling and criminal infiltration were tolerated — if not orchestrated — to extend China’s economic and political influence abroad.

That report added American investigators and immigration officials concluded it was nearly impossible to counter waves of illegal immigration from China with deportation orders, and the government should focus on “the larger menace working its way into U.S. cities: Chinese transnational criminal organizations.”

“To combat the growing threat of Asian organized crime in the West,” it says, “law enforcement officials must tackle this new global problem through an understanding of the Triad system and the nature of its threat to Western countries.”

In New England, the Braintree indictment shows how those old predictions have not only materialized but scaled up.

These networks operate by embedding Chinese nationals into illicit industries in North America, from black-market cannabis cultivation to high-end money laundering. Once inside, they channel profits back through complex underground banking channels that tie the North American drug economy to China’s export-driven cash flows and, ultimately, to powerful actors in Beijing.

In recent years, Maine has emerged as a strategic hotspot for illicit Chinese-controlled marijuana operations. As The Bureau has reported, the state’s vast rural areas, lax local oversight, and proximity to East Coast urban markets have made it a favored location for covert grow houses.

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