Tag: Ukraine

The Senate Leaves Behind a Pile of Unfinished Business as It Heads Home for the Holidays

Minnesota Sun Staff
Congress at Night

The Senate has adjourned for the remainder of the year after failing to negotiate a deal to reform border security in exchange for aid to Ukraine and pass appropriations bills to fund the government.

Republicans in Congress have refused to support a $60 billion aid package to Ukraine during its war against Russia, requested by President Joe Biden unless Senate Democrats permit the passage of conservative border security priorities. After convening the Senate during its holiday recess on Monday, to give time for more negotiations, the Senate adjourned on Wednesday night for the remainder of the year without reaching a compromise, as well as without passing appropriations bills submitted by the House of Representatives to fund the government and a bipartisan railway safety bill.

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Commentary: Biden Is Not the Democrats’ Biggest Problem

Minnesota Sun Staff
Biden Bidenomics

President Joe Biden is not the Democrats’ biggest problem; they are. The greatest misperception in the 2024 presidential race is that Biden is causing Democrats’ poor performance. On the contrary, Biden is an effect. The real cause is that Democrats are wildly out of touch with America.

Biden’s bad polling numbers are well known. According to Real Clear Politics’ Dec. 18 average of national polling, Biden’s job approval rating is 40.8–56.0 percent; he trails former President Donald Trump in a head-to-head rematch 43.7 to 47.2 percent, and his favorability rating is 39.4–56.0 percent.

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EU Member Blocks Billions in Foreign Aid to Ukraine

Minnesota Sun Staff
Viktor Orban

Kyiv took a blow on Friday after an EU member single handedly blocked billions in aid to Ukraine.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stonewalled all other 26 members of the EU and voted against a $50 billion aid package for Ukraine at the European Council conference in Belgium on Friday, according to Reuters. Orban also hinted he could block attempts to bring Ukraine into the EU fold as a member after the other members voted unanimously to start negotiation talks on Thursday.

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Ukraine Is Running Out of Men to Fight

Minnesota Sun Staff

Ukrainian military planners are worried about a dwindling supply of fighting men as a failed counteroffensive and rocky Western support forebode months or years more of brutal combat with the larger Russian army, according to experts and reports.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, along with top military and defense leaders and experts largely agree the much-vaunted counteroffensive that built up throughout the summer and fall failed to culminate in the strategic achievements that were hoped for. Now, Ukraine is struggling to maintain a supply of soldiers to fight against Russia, which has a population three times that of Ukraine from which to draw troops.

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Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie Says It Is ‘Economically Illiterate and Morally Deficient’ to Send More Money to Ukraine on Episode 45 of ‘Tucker on X’

Kaitlin Housler

In episode 45 of his newest production, “Tucker on X,” host Tucker Carlson interviewed U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY-04) who is against sending more aid money to Ukraine in the country’s fight against Russia.

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Commentary: It’s Time to Unite Behind Trump If We Want to Win in 2024

Minnesota Sun Staff
Donald Trump Podium

The 2024 Presidential election is rapidly approaching. In many ways it can’t come soon enough. Americans have now spent nearly three painful years waking up every day astonished to learn that the Biden administration has outdone its previous act of insanity.

The shocking revelation, for example, that the Biden Administration is covertly flying illegals into the interior of the U.S. is quickly forgotten when new revelations emerge that the same Administration is sabotaging Texas’ efforts to secure the border—ordering federal agents to cut through the wire barriers erected by the state of Texas.

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Impeachment Inquiry Sharpens Focus on Millions in Loans to Biden Family

Just the News

There are red flags aplenty: Loan repayments between Joe Biden and his brother; millions in promissory notes between Hunter Biden and a Democrat-donating Hollywood lawyer; and debt deals from Ukraine to China. 

As the House impeachment inquiry heats up, investigators are increasingly focused on a trail of red ink that has become a recurring theme in evidence chronicling the first family’s finances.

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Glenn Greenwald Discusses War in Ukraine, 2024 Presidential Election on Episode 37 of ‘Tucker on X’

Kaitlin Housler

In episode 37 of his newest production, “Tucker on X,” host Tucker Carlson interviewed Glenn Greenwald, host of “System Update” on Rumble, on the current war in Ukraine and the 2024 presidential election.

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Commentary: Americans Won’t Fight for the Globalists’ Agenda

Minnesota Sun Staff

Imagining a cascade of catastrophic escalations plunging humanity into the next world war is no longer a stretch, and it could happen fast. Israel invades Gaza to destroy Hamas, and Hezbollah goes to war. America targets Hezbollah to help defend Israel, and Iran and Syria, with Russian assistance, attack Israel. Hezbollah cells strike targets within America, and Israel and America strike targets inside Iran. Russia launches a major new offensive in Ukraine with support from Belarus. China openly supports Russia and Iran with weapons. All of this is more plausible than ever.

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Ukraine Used Long-Range Missiles Secretly Shipped from U.S.: Report

Minnesota Sun Staff

Ukraine reportedly used long-range missiles secretly shipped over from the U.S. to attack a Russian airfield on Tuesday, according to Politico and visual evidence of the strikes.

Reports in September suggested the Biden administration was coming close to sending Ukraine the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), long-range missiles formerly considered a bridge too far in giving Kyiv the capability to strike Russian territory and risk major escalation. Now it appears that the missiles arrived in recent weeks as revealed in the strike on a Russian airfield in Berdyansk, in the Russian-occupied eastern part of the country, Politico reported, citing two people familiar with the deliveries.

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Pentagon Announces Another $200 Million in Aid for Ukraine

Minnesota Sun Staff

On Wednesday, the Department of Defense announced yet another massive aid package for Ukraine, this time amounting to $200 million.

As reported by the New York Post, this will be the 48th such package sent to Eastern Europe since the start of the war in Ukraine. It will include 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), AIM-9M missiles to assist with aerial defense, and counter-unmanned drones.

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Biden Admin Considers Tying Ukraine Funding to Israel Aid Request: Report

Minnesota Sun Staff

The White House is considering tying more Ukraine funding to a request for a crucial aid package to Israel, in a bid to get Congress back on board with support for Ukraine, The Washington Post reported Monday.

The Biden administration is expected to announce a military aid package for Israel after Hamas and Palestinian militants carried out terrorist attacks against the country that killed over 1,000 Israelis and at least nine Americans. But whether the aid package is approved could depend on Congress approving further funding for Ukraine in tandem, even as support in both chambers for Ukraine aid has dropped dramatically in recent months, according to the Post.

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Ramaswamy Blasts Haley for ‘Irresponsible Reaction’ on Israel

M.D. Kittle

Divergent positions are emerging among GOP presidential candidates on U.S. involvement in Israel’s war against Iran-backed Hamas.

A day after former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley declared that it is time for Israel “finish off” the terrorist group, GOP presidential rival Vivek Ramaswamy blasted Haley for what he described as her “irresponsible reaction.”

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Haley Talking Tough in Iowa, Says U.S. Needs to Back Ukraine and Israel in Wars Brought by Thugs and Terrorists

M.D. Kittle

Asserting the U.S. must do all it can to help Israel “eliminate” the Hamas-driven terrorism that rocked Israel over the weekend, GOP presidential candidate and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley is striking an even more hawkish tone for U.S. involvement in two major theaters of war — Europe and the Middle East.

“I would tell Israel that whatever it is you need to, not just get your country back but to eliminate the terrorists, we should do because Hamas is saying, ‘Death to America,” and it is in our best interest to make sure that they are not doing anything that would harm Americans or harm our friends,” Haley told a smallish gathering of some 75 people Monday afternoon at a town hall event in Central Iowa.

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Americans’ Support for Arming Ukraine Dries Up as War Drags On: Poll

Minnesota Sun Staff

Support for arming Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression has dropped among Americans across the political spectrum, according to a Thursday poll.

Only 41% of Americans believe the federal government “should provide weapons to Ukraine,” a five-point decrease since May, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey. Though some respondents were unsure, 35% of Americans disagreed with the notion that the U.S. should be sending weapons to Ukraine.

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Pentagon Has Billions Left Over for Ukraine But Not to Replenish U.S. Stocks

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Pentagon still has billions remaining for military assistance to Ukraine after Congress’ stopgap government funding bill omitted any provisions for aid, but concerns remain about the Pentagon’s ability to replenish U.S. stocks, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing Pentagon officials.

Officials said they were not sure how much longer the funding would last, but that the $5.2 billion remaining for drawing down from U.S. weapons stockpiles loosely reflects the amount sent over the past six months, according to the WSJ. However, an account that provides for replenishment of U.S. stocks has just $1.6 billion left, and officials are concerned it will run out before Congress appropriates more funds.

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Second GOP Presidential Debate Turns Into a Rhetorical Brawl as Candidates Jockey for Position in Trump-Dominated Race

M.D. Kittle

In a second GOP presidential debate that often seemed more like a disorderly reality TV show, the Babylon Bee’s satirical news headline may have best captured the mood of viewers: ‘Mute Button’ Wins GOP Debate.

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GOP Presidential Candidates Prepare for Critical Second Debate Without Trump

M.D. Kittle

If Wednesday’s second GOP presidential primary debate proves to be anything like the first, we’re in for a night of political punches and maybe a rhetorical gang fight or two as the candidates look to score points in another Trump-less bout.

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House GOP Leadership Sends Lawmakers Home After Spending Vote Fails

Just the News

Republican leadership has told House lawmakers they can leave Washington, D.C., following a botched vote on a defense spending package that upended the legislative agenda that was set through Saturday.

The announcement follows a group of dissident House conservatives breaking ranks to stop a procedural vote on a Pentagon funding bill, preventing its consideration on the floor, The Hill reported. Conservatives did so on Tuesday as well in a bid to secure deeper spending cuts and to block additional aid to Ukraine.

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Report: Young Cubans Are Being Lured to Russia for Work and Forced to Fight in Ukraine Instead

ADN America

An anonymous Russian army officer has reported the presence of entire battalions comprising mainly Cubans and Serbians fighting alongside Russia in Ukraine. This revelation comes in the wake of recent news regarding young Cubans in the island who were misled into believing they were signing up for construction work, only to find themselves sent to fight for Russia.

The soldier told The Moscow Times that it was surprising to find “only Cubans and Serbians” who speak little or no Russian in these units deployed by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

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Vivek Ramaswamy Condemns Ukraine’s Zelensky for Pressuring Ally Countries to ‘Cough Up’ More Aid Money

Kaitlin Housler

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy released a statement on Tuesday condemning Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after the foreign leader said elections in his country during wartime would only take place if allied countries shared the cost.

Zelensky, according to Reuters, said his country would only hold elections next year “if the US and Europe provide financial support,” adding, “I will not take money from weapons and give it to elections.”

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Commentary: The Third World Revolt

Minnesota Sun Staff

Back in my high-school debating days, policy debate teams frequently concluded their arguments with an extreme and somewhat absurd parade of horribles. This was a testament to their intelligence and creativity, plus being dead wrong carried few consequences. Through convoluted chains of logic, they argued that some small change in environmental or trade policy would lead to nuclear war or America’s domination by the “global south.”

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Feds Urged Biden to Give Aid to Ukraine Before He Held Back to Force Burisma Prosecutor’s Firing

Just the News

Just weeks before then-Vice President Joe Biden took the opposite action in late 2015, a task force of State, Treasury, and Justice Department officials declared that Ukraine had made adequate progress on anti-corruption reforms and deserved a new $1 billion U.S. loan guarantee, according to government memos that conflict with the narrative Democrats have sustained since the 2019 impeachment scandal.

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Biden Probe Shifts to National Archives with Discovery of Private Emails from Joe to Hunter

Just the News

In a dramatic shift in the Biden family corruption probe, House investigators on Thursday demanded full access at the National Archives to Joe Biden’s communications as vice president with son Hunter and his business partners.

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New GOP Group Launches Campaign to Encourage Continued Support for Ukraine

Minnesota Sun Staff

Republicans launched an organization Tuesday to advocate for continued financial support of Ukraine in the war against Russian aggression, according to a press release.

GOP Strategist Sarah Longwell and commentator Bill Kristol will head Republicans for Ukraine, which unveiled its $2 million campaign to encourage party voters and politicians to stand with the nation, according to the press release. The organization will run digital ads of Republican voters’ testimony about why they believe the party should continue providing aid to Ukraine on cable, television and YouTube throughout the remainder of 2023.

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U.S. Aid to Ukraine Amounts to $900 Per American Household, Economist Says

Minnesota Sun Staff

Congressionally approved aid for Ukraine has cost each U.S. household hundreds of dollars, Heritage Foundation budget expert Richard Stern says.

“The formal aid packages alone amount to a staggering $113 billion—roughly $900 per American household and almost 12 times the spending cuts promised by House leadership in the annual spending bills,” Stern, director of The Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, said in an email to The Daily Signal, Heritage’s news outlet.

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Biden Wants Another $24 Billion for Ukraine, Just $4 Billion for the Border

Just the News

The White House on Thursday outlined a $40.1 billion funding request in a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that includes $24 billion for Ukraine-related expenses but just $4 billion to bolster security at the southern border.

Specifically, the White House wants $13.1 billion for the Pentagon to send military aid directly to Kyiv and replenish its own stocks. It further seeks $8.5 billion for the State Department to provide humanitarian and economic support. Lastly, it seeks $2.3 billion for the Treasury to provide financial programs for the country in place of Chinese or other adversarial sources.

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Biden Admin Secretly Encouraged Overthrow of Leader Who Wasn’t Pro-Ukraine Enough, Leaked Cable Reveals

Minnesota Sun Staff

President Joe Biden’s administration’s diplomats encouraged Pakistani political leaders to remove former Prime Minister Imran Khan from office after he hesitated to criticize Russia for its war against Ukraine, according to a new report on Wednesday.

Imran Khan was removed from office in April 2022 after a controversial vote of no-confidence by the Pakistani National Assembly. On March 7, 2022, officials from the Department of State met with Pakistan’s then-Ambassador to the United States Asad Majeed Khan and encouraged Imran Khan’s removal from office after he visited Russia shortly after it began hostilities in Ukraine, according to a diplomatic cable that was published by The Intercept.

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Commentary: A Second Trump Term Can Walk Us Back from the Brink of War

Minnesota Sun Staff

Voters should remember that a President’s role is primarily foreign affairs, which includes trade and border security. In 2016, and today, President Trump is the only candidate that has consistently focused on what the actual job of the president is, rather than what those with outsized influence want it to be.

President Trump is the first president to start no new wars since Jimmy Carter. Like Carter, he also affected a Middle East peace deal with Israel – not just one of them, but four. Arguably the first realist president since Richard Nixon, Trump’s combination of unpredictability enforced by blunt and brutal talk, credible military deterrence reinforced through a more robust military that was less used and overstretched, and a genuine and authentic desire to be a peace-maker created a moment in time for cooperation and peace through strength. Unfortunately, under Biden, the promise of peace has become a Shakespearean tragedy when considering our present dilemma in Europe and East Asia.

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: The Biden Presidency Is Unsustainable

Minnesota Sun Staff

Imagine if Gavin Newsom was currently Vice President amid the final meltdown of the Biden family consortium.

Does anyone doubt that Biden would then either be forced to resign by Democratic politicos (for reasons in addition to his escalating dementia), or would be impeached and perhaps abdicate Nixon-style?

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Commentary: Defense Survey Reveals Age, Gender, Party Divides

RealClearWire

Although Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has dominated worldwide headlines for more than a year and refocused the attention of U.S. policymakers on NATO and Eastern Europe, Americans are much more worried about China’s emerging power.

In an open question asked by RealClear Opinion Research, 53% of registered voters named the People’s Republic of China as “the greatest threat to the United States.” Russia was cited by 29% of respondents, while 4% named North Korea – the same percentage who answered that America’s biggest threat was the United States itself.

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Commentary: Who’s Up, Who’s Down, and Who’s Out After Tucker Carlson’s Blow-Out Interviews in Iowa

Minnesota Sun Staff

Who won the Republican blow-out interview lalapalooza with Tucker Carlson in Iowa Friday night? Besides Tucker himself—who was on the Q side of this extended Q & A—the participants were South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Let me say straight off that the biggest beneficiary was probably Tucker himself. He is a master interviewer, outgoing and friendly in manner, informed about the issues, unrelenting in his questioning. Some of his hosts at the Family Leadership Summit, which with Blaze Media sponsored the event, were so impressed with his performance that they suggested to the audience that Tucker himself should run for president. It’s an idea that has been in circulation for a while and it got a notable “trending” uptick as the evening unfolded. Tucker himself has dismissed the idea in no uncertain terms, but it is worth noting how widespread his support is among the politically mature.

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DeSantis and Haley Well Received by Evangelical Christians at Iowa Faith and Leadership Summit

M.D. Kittle

In closing the nationally watched Family Leadership Summit late Friday afternoon, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ratcheted up the political rhetoric and sounded more fired up than he’s been at some of his previous campaign trips to Iowa.

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Tucker Carlson Grills GOP Candidate Senator Tim Scott on War in Ukraine, Biden’s Cluster Bombs

M.D. Kittle

U.S Senator Tim Scott said there shouldn’t be American military “boots on the ground” in Ukraine. But the South Carolina Republican campaigning for president remains supportive in the U.S., providing the weapons and resources Ukraine needs to push back Russia’s invasion.

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NATO Can Consider Membership for Ukraine After War with Russia Ends, Biden Says

Just the News

President Joe Biden says that Ukraine is not ready to join NATO because the country’s war with Russia must end before the military alliance can consider allowing Kyiv to join. 

“I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war,” Biden told CNN in an interview aired Sunday. “We’re determined to commit [to] every inch of territory that is NATO territory. It’s a commitment that we’ve all made no matter what. If the war is going on, then we’re all in war. We’re at war with Russia, if that were the case.”

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Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson Calls on Biden to Urge NATO Allies to Meet Their Defense Spending Commitments

M.D. Kittle

As President Joe Biden prepares for this weekend’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) is asking the president to hold NATO accountable.

Johnson joined 34 of his Republican colleagues in sending Biden a letter asking that he remind NATO allies to honor their commitment to spend at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense.

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Pence Says Trump and DeSantis Are Wrong on Ukraine and America’s Role as Arsenal of Democracy

M.D. Kittle

Former Vice President Mike Pence says his “former running mate,” among others in the Republican Party presidential nomination chase, are missing the significance of the U.S. coming to the aid of Ukraine.

Pence said he recently paid a call on the war-torn European nation and its president to see firsthand “the results of the extraordinary, unprovoked invasion by Russia” as well as the “tenacity and toughness” of the Ukrainian military.

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With Scandal Revelations, Joe Biden Couldn’t Get a CIA Security Clearance, Intel Experts Say

Just the News

A pressure campaign to get communist China energy executives to pay money. Classified memos improperly stored in an insecure garage, An FBI informant’s allegation of bribery in Ukraine. A false claim of Russian disinformation to sway an election.

The swell of scandalous evidence engulfing Joe Biden’s family right now is raising a tantalizing question: if he weren’t president could he still get a security clearance if he applied for a job at the CIA or FBI?

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IRS Whistleblower: Hunter Biden Hasn’t Paid Taxes on 2014 Money from Ukrainian Oligarch’s Firm

Just the News

Federal agents secured evidence that Hunter Biden engaged in a “pretty classic tax evasion scheme” that allowed him to avoid paying taxes on millions of dollars in income since at least 2014, and the deal he ultimately got would not have been afforded to other Americans facing such serious charges, an IRS whistleblower who supervised the investigation tells Just the News.

“If these facts were from the local businessman or the neighbor next door, they would have been charged, they would have already probably had their entire sentence,” IRS Supervisor Agent Gary Shapley said during a 45-minute interview aired Thursday on the John Solomon Reports podcast.

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YouTube Repeatedly Censors RFK Jr. as Democratic Leaders Demand Reinstatement of 2020 Censorship

Just the News

The disputed 2020 election now appears in the rearview mirror for YouTube, which is now determining what users can see relevant to the next election.

The Alphabet-owned, video-sharing site and Google sibling has censored at least two videos, and may be throttling a third, featuring Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shortly after ending a two-and-a-half-year ban on questioning the “integrity” of the last presidential election, saying it accomplished little relative to the potential harm it caused.

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