Pacific races bode well for Republicans in 2024 election



The Legislature of Guam, comprising 15 senators of whom nine are presently Democrats and six are Republicans, has been under Democratic control since March 2008 — but will be no longer.

According to the unofficial results released Tuesday and finalized early Wednesday by the Guam Election Commission, Republicans will control the legislature come January.

The Pacific Daily News noted that while Democrats clinched three of the top five spots in the race for the legislature, Republicans ultimately secured a majority with all precincts counted, such that in January, the territory's Senate will be flipped 9-6 in their favor.

Extra to flipping the legislature, Republican James Moylan, a member of Congress representing Guam's at-large congressional district, defeated his Democratic challenger, Ginger Cruz, 52.69% to 46.81%.

'The winds of change are blowing.'

While the residents of Guam cannot vote in American presidential elections, they nevertheless conduct a straw poll. In the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden beat President Donald Trump in the straw poll 55.38% to 41.91%. This time around, Trump nearly closed the gap. Kamala Harris beat him in the straw poll Tuesday 49.56% to 46.22%.

Former CNN contributor Ryan Girdusky suggested that a "political realignment" appears to be under way, highlighting that in 2012, Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney in the straw poll by roughly 46 percentage points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton beat Trump in the poll by 47 points. In this election, the Republican candidate was within three points.

Conservative filmmaker Robby Starbuck appeared to agree, writing, "While meaningless for electoral votes, the winds of change are blowing."

Republican gains in the Pacific are not limited to Guam. Kimberlyn King-Hinds appears to have successfully beat Democrat Edwin Propst to represent Northern Mariana Islands' at-large congressional district.

According to the Saipan Tribune, Propst conceded the race early on Wednesday and congratulated King-Hinds, writing, "I wish you the very best."

At the time of publication, King-Hinds had secured 40.34% of the vote, whereas Probst netted only 33.27%.

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Texas woman who allegedly stole $103 million from Army got to retire with full benefits



A 57-year-old San Antonio woman allegedly stole over $103 million from from the U.S. Army by regularly drawing funds via a fake children's development entity that she controlled. Janet Yamanaka Mello reportedly blew the funds on herself, buying 80 high-end vehicles, 100 head of cattle, 31 homes, and various luxury items.

Although Mello was indicted last month and slapped with 10 charges related to the alleged fraud scheme, she was permitted to retire with full benefits from the Army.

The con

Mello, a native of Guam, worked as a civilian Army employee at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston where she supposedly helped administer the 4-H initiative via the Army's Child and Youth Services Division, according to court documents.

Sidelong to her work for the Army, she created a shell company called Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development in 2016. She included CHYLD in her 2017 personal tax forms, indicating she earned a profit of $483 on a revenue of $2,152 for training consultations, reported the San Antonio Express-News.

Court documents indicate that Mello "used her knowledge of funding procedures and her ability to approve the distribution of funds to various entities to direct funds from CYS program fund accounts to be paid to CHYLD, an entity MELLO formed and controlled. Without disclosing the fact that she owned and controlled CHYLD, MELLO approved the payment of government funds to CHYLD."

The Defense Finance and Accounting Service reportedly sent over 40 payments to Mello's outfit over the course of the alleged scam. Mello allegedly spread the ill-gotten gains through various bank accounts she controlled, failing to report any of this income on her tax returns for tax years 2017 through 2022.

While Mello claimed that CHYLD provided 4-H services to military personnel and their families, the Department of Justice indicated the company did not provide any services. Instead, Mello has been accused of using over $103 million on "high-end retail goods, jewelry, luxury automobiles, air travel, and high-end real estate throughout the country."

ArmyTimes reported that Mello's purchases included a roughly $3.1 million, eight-bedroom, 55-car garage 58-acre estate in Maryland as well as a $1.1 million home in San Antonio.

Mello allegedly managed to buy a fleet of vehicles, including a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS, a '66 Chevrolet Chevelle SS, a '66 Ford Mustang, a '54 Chevrolet Corvette, a 1935 Plymouth Sedan, and various cars that usually run upward of $100,000 to $200,000.

Extra to cars and mansions, Mello allegedly bought various luxury condos, spent $24.3 million on "retail," took trips around the globe, and purchased 100 head of cattle.

Caught

The Express-News indicated that upon noticing a discrepancy between Mello's multimillionaire lifestyle and what would otherwise be affordable on her under $130,000 annual salary, the IRS began digging. The agency soon launched a criminal probe in concert with Army investigators, resulting in her December indictment.

Mello was arrested in December and charged with five counts of mail fraud, four counts of engaging in a monetary transaction over $10,000 using criminally derived proceeds, and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to the DOJ.

Mello was charged with identity theft because Mello allegedly forged her supervisor's digital signature, reported the Express-News. She also appears to have invented a "financial analyst/reimbursable coordinator" named Kathy Johnson to lend greater credibility to the alleged fraud scheme.

The alleged con-woman faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each fraud charge, up to 10 years in prison for each spending statute charge, and a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for the identity theft charge.

Cushy retirement, notwithstanding

Despite allegedly ripping off the Army and squandering taxpayer money for her own amusement, Mello was allowed to retire with full benefits.

A spokeswoman for the Army's Installation Management Command told the Express-News that Mello was permitted to retire during the investigation into her alleged fraud scheme.

"The command has no authority to impact Ms. Mello's retirement," said the spokeswoman. "In accordance with 5 U.S. Code Section 8312, an individual may be denied an annuity or retired pay on the basis of the service of the individual, if the individual is convicted of treason, rebellion or insurrection, or other similar offenses. There is no similar statutory authority for denying retired pay based on a conviction of other offenses."

Albert Flores defended Mello's decision to retire and collect additional benefits from the taxpayer, claiming, "She earned it."

"I don't see how one thing is related to the other," added Flores.

Although Mello pleaded not guilty in December, her lawyer indicated Mello has blown and or possessed the stolen assets.

"We expect a large portion of the assets will be recovered," said Flores. "In other words, a lot of the money was spent on tangible assets that the government can (recoup) — real estate, cash, vehicles, properties, things of that nature. We're being very cooperative in anything we can to turn that over."

The DOJ is now working to seize 31 parcels of land Mello acquired in various states along with cash and 78 personal cars, trucks, and motorcycles.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas reportedly is awaiting a decision on whether the alleged fraudster will strike a plea deal or go to trial.

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This Means Cyber War: Chinese Hackers Target Critical U.S. Infrastructure

If the Chinese Communist Party invades Taiwan, Chinese military-affiliated hackers will likely disrupt critical infrastructure in the U.S.

State-sponsored Chinese hackers are targeting critical American infrastructure, possibly preparing for conflict with US: Microsoft



Microsoft has uncovered efforts by the Chinese communist regime to undermine critical American infrastructure. These attacks — using malicious computer code that enables remote access to various devices — appear to be a pre-emptive attempt by the genocidal state to develop the upper hand should the two nations soon come to blows.

According to Microsoft, Volt Typhoon, a state-sponsored outfit in China often tasked with espionage and information gathering, "is pursuing development of capabilities that could disrupt critical communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia region during future crises."

Volt Typhoon has reportedly hit critical infrastructure in Guam and other American regions, affecting communications, manufacturing, transportation, government, maritime, and other sectors.

"Observed behavior suggests that the threat actor intends to perform espionage and maintain access without being detected for as long as possible," Microsoft noted in a blog post.

Since 2021, this group of Beijing-sponsored hackers has been compromising American systems, in part by stealing credentials from local and network systems and blending "into normal network activity by routing traffic through compromised small office and home office (SOHO) network equipment, including routers, firewalls, and VPN hardware."

The U.S. National Security Agency, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI, and various allied cybersecurity agencies in the Anglosphere corroborated Microsoft's claims Wednesday with a report indicating that "one of the actor’s primary tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) is living off the land, which uses built-in network administration tools to perform their objectives."

"This TTP allows the actor to evade detection by blending in with normal Windows system and network activities, avoid endpoint detection and response (EDR) products that would alert on the introduction of third-party applications to the host, and limit the amount of activity that is captured in default logging configurations," said the report. "Some of the built-in tools this actor uses are: wmic, ntdsutil, netsh, and PowerShell."

"For years, China has conducted aggressive cyber operations to steal intellectual property and sensitive data from organizations around the globe," CISA director Jen Easterly told the Associated Press.

This initiative does not appear to be a simple matter of private data theft, but rather one of many pre-emptive geostrategic moves to undermine the U.S. — not unlike the unanswered invasion of U.S. airspace earlier this year, when a Chinese communist spy balloon flouted American sovereignty and flew over sensitive nuclear sites.

Beijing has made no secret of its hegemonic ambitions, and Chinese dictator Xi Jinping has telegraphed his intent to displace the United States, notwithstanding President Joe Biden's desperate efforts to "thaw" their ostensibly icy relationship.

Despite its politicization in recent years, the Pentagon has not similarly downplayed China's goals, noting in a 2021 report that the Chinese Communist Party's aim is to "achieve 'the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation' by 2049 to match or surpass U.S. global influence and power, displace U.S. alliances and security partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region, and revise the international order to be more advantageous to Beijing's authoritarian system."

The communists will reportedly undertake "far-ranging efforts" to see this geopolitical goal realized.

CISA director Easterly noted, "Today's advisory highlights China's continued use of sophisticated means to target our nation's critical infrastructure, and it gives network defenders important insights into how to detect and mitigate this malicious activity."

The New York Times reported that while the Volt Typhoon attacks on the U.S. presently amount to a likely espionage campaign, "the Chinese could use the code, which is designed to pierce firewalls, to enable destructive attacks, if they choose."

In war exercises simulating a hot conflict with China, one of the communist regime's first anticipated moves would be to sever American communications and hamper the U.S. response time to threats, indicated the Times.

A 2022 Pentagon report noted that China "presents a sophisticated, persistent threat of cyber-enabled espionage and attack to military and critical infrastructure systems through its efforts to develop, acquire, or gain access to information and advanced technologies" and that it "seeks to create destructive effects to shape decision-making and disrupt military operations at the initial stages and throughout a conflict.'

That Guam was a target for this cyberattack is unsurprising in light of the escalating tensions over nearby Taiwan. After all, Andersen Air Force Base on Guam would be the U.S. Air Force's launching point to defend both Guam and Taiwan.

While Beijing's hackers work ardently to chip away at America's cyber defenses and the nation continues its unprecedented military build-up, China continues to target the U.S. with intimidation and coercion campaigns; deadly fentanyl; and threats.

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Guam Elects First Republican Representative Since 1993

Moylan filed his candidacy for delegacy in June...

How The United States Needs To Start Deterring China From Taking Over Taiwan

Deterring Chinese aggression against Taiwan is realistic and must be the commitment of any U.S. leader who refuses to accept American decline. Americans agree that China poses a serious threat to the United States, but there is disagreement about the ways China poses a problem and to what degree we can and should do something […]

CNN’s Brianna Keilar Presses Democratic Guam Delegate On ‘Political Stunt’ With National Guard: ‘Why Put Them In This Position?’

'I don’t think we put them in that position at all'

Guam's Democratic delegate rebuked for dragging National Guard soldiers to GOP lawmaker's office to make political point



Guam's congressional delegate, Michael San Nicolas (D), sparked backlash Monday after using National Guard soldiers to make light of a recent blunder by Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R).

What is the background?

While speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month, Greene referred to Guam as a foreign land.

"I'm a regular person. And I wanted to take my regular-person, normal, everyday American values, which is, we love our country. We believe our hard-earned tax dollars should just go for America, not for what? China, Russia, the Middle East, Guam, whatever, wherever," she said, Business Insider reported.

However, Guam has been a U.S. territory since 1899 following the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish-American War. The people of Guam are full U.S. citizens and pay federal taxes, though they are excluded from paying federal income tax.

Guam also has one non-voting congressional delegate, which is currently San Nicolas.

What did San Nicolas do?

San Nicolas lead a delegation of Guam National Guard soldiers to Greene's office on Capitol Hill.

Guam Rep. Michael F.Q. San Nicolas and members of the Guam National Guard visited the office of Rep. Marjorie Taylo… https://t.co/0pu0wQKxvY
— The Hill (@The Hill)1615822876.0

Unfortunately for San Nicolas, Greene was not present in her office at the time of his visit.

Last week, San Nicolas promised to visit Greene and engage in "cookie diplomacy" to help the new congresswoman better learn about American territories.

"Congresswoman Greene is a new member, and we will be paying a visit to her and delivering delicious Chamorro Chip Cookies as part of our ongoing outreach to new members to introduce them to our wonderful island of Guam," San Nicolas told the Guam Daily Post.

Not only did San Nicolas bring cookies, but he also gave Greene educational materials about Guam sent from Guam Gov. Lourdes Aflague Leon Guerrero (D).

What was the response?

San Nicolas was criticized and accused of further politicizing the U.S. military.

Politicization of the military became a hot-button issue last week after senior military leaders, along with rank-and-file soldiers, publicly bashed Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who voiced controversial opinions about new uniform accommodations being made for women serving in the military.

"I don't know if military should go chasing after members of congress? In general, a lot of weird things happening with the military lately where if you switched who was president we'd be getting some stern TV monologues about," progressive journalist Zaid Jilani said.

"What uniformed military leader thought this use of their forces as political props was a good idea?" retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness reacted.

"What in the hell is going on with our military?! Who's in charge of these troops and why are they being used as political props? I never thought I'd see this," retired Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson said.

Guam National Guard Members March To Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Office After She Called The Territory Foreign Land

The move follows a fallacious claim Greene made

Trump’s year of living dangerously: How the US came scarily close to war with North Korea in 2017

In the first year of the Trump presidency, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis would sleep in his gym clothes to save critical minutes in the event that he was awakened to news of an incoming missile from North Korea.