Happy Wednesday!

Today’s blend took 40 days and 40 nights to make. It’s a Turkish coffee from way, way back … in Biblical times. 

Have Researchers and Archeologists Found Noah’s Ark?

This is soooo cool. Researchers and archeologists believe they have found Noah’s Ark in the mountains of Ararat. The Stream‘s Nancy Flory talked to one of the leaders of the expedition, and got a virtual tour of the site via the wonders of drone technology.

Read about it here: “Have Researchers and Archeologists Found Noah’s Ark?”

Or watch Nancy’s video interview with Andrew Jones and look for yourself at the 300 cubit long, boat-shaped structure. You’ll wanna share this one!

Keep Up the Pressure! Yellen Backs Off Having the IRS Snooping on Every Account With $600 in Activity a Year

After outrage from citizens and civil libertarians  — well, who are we kidding … after pressure from financial institutions, Treasure Secretary Janet Yellen has backed off plans to have the IRS snoop into any bank account with more than $600 activity in a year. In other words, pretty much every bank account short of a piggy bank.

The White House claimed the $600 plot to give the IRS full access to virtually every American’s account was to ferret out tax dodges by rich people. (Who knows? Three more years of Biden-Harris turning the U.S. into Venezuela, maybe $600 a year would be rich.)

Now it’s $10,000. Here’s how the Treasury Department explains it: “Financial institutions and banks will add just two additional numbers to the information that they already supply to taxpayers and the IRS: the total amount of funds deposited into the account and the total amount withdrawn over the course of a year.”

But don’t pop the soda can yet. Yellen now wants the IRS to know about all accounts with $10,000 a year in non-payroll income. Earn a $1000 a month and have a direct deposit into savings, without the taxes taken out? That includes you.

And maybe you’re the target anyway, not the cheating billionaires. As Reason notes, “the people most likely to have their transactions newly calculated for the IRS each year are not millionaires who scatter their holdings across 100 different $10,000 accounts, but rather freelancers, small business owners, immigrants, and anyone paid/gifted banked cash exceeding four months’ worth of minimum wage work in New York.”

Hmm. FBI Raids Home of Steele-Connected Russian Oligarch

On Monday, Hulu aired a cushy documentary on former British spy turned anti-Trump dirt collector Christopher Steele. Steele was interviewed by former Clinton operative George Stephanopoulos, his first interview since the Trump-Russia hoax was revealed. After four years of silence, why did Steele do the interview now?

To get ahead of a bigger story, some theorized.

On Tuesday, the FBI raided the New York and DC homes of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

Who’s he? In 2020, the Senate Intelligence Committee laid out the connections between Steele, Fusion GPS and Deripaska, who’s described as “a key implementer of Russian influence operations around the globe.” He’s very tight with Putin.

From John Solomon in 2019: “Steele worked for the lawyers for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and tried to leverage those connections to help the FBI get evidence from the Russian aluminum magnate against Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.”

Wait, there’s more. As The Federalist reported in January 2020, buried in DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on federal surveillance abuse is mention how DOJ’s Bruce Ohr was keen to work with Deripaska because of the Trump dirt Steele was providing. An underling even asked Ohr why the U.S. DOJ would want to get so cozy with Russian oligarch tight with Putin. 

Funny. Ol’ George Stephanapoulos didn’t mention Deripaska in his documentary on Steele. And Reuters, NBC News and CNN did not mention Deripaska’s links to Steele in their stories Tuesday. Instead, they focused on his connections to Paul Manafort, who was Trump’s campaign manager for a couple months in 2016. 

Southwest Reverses Plan to Put Unvaxed on Unpaid Leave

The sickout that wasn’t a sickout that paralyzed Southwest Airlines two weekend’s back certainly caught the attention of airline management. Southwest is dropping its plan to force unvaccinated employees on unpaid leave in December. 

Democrats Growing Concerned Biden Cannot Unite His Own Party

At this point, we’ll be happy when he can unite two coherent sentences.

“The reality right now is that a lot of people are saying, ‘Where’s Joe Biden? This is his agenda, why isn’t he more involved in the negotiations?'” an anonymous House Democrat told CNN. Perhaps he’s too busy working overnights flying underage illegal immigrants around the country.

Or just wandering randomly up to microphones on the White House lawn.

A confused Joe Biden tried to awkwardly talk into microphone over blasting music. pic.twitter.com/Uri7naERti

— The First (@TheFirstonTV) October 18, 2021

Today’s Trippy Episode of “That Wacky Psaki”

Speaking of Biden flying children in the dead of night, Jen Psaki had another of her reality benders yesterday. She rejected 2:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. arrival times as “middle of the night.” No, they are “early flights.” 

DOOCY: "Why is the administration flying thousands of migrants from the border to Florida & New York in the middle of the night?"

PSAKI: "Well, I'm not sure that it's in the middle of the night…"

DOOCY: "2:30 AM, 4:29 AM…"

PSAKI: "We are talking about early flights…" pic.twitter.com/gE7elH5vAl

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 19, 2021

Being contrary is one thing. But being indifferent to the suffering of Americans? Psaki was also asked about the supply chain issues that are leading to shortages on our shelves and higher prices for goods. Specifically, a reporter asked:

It was clear in March of 2020 when COVID hit that the supply chains across the world had been disrupted. Even as as the sort of work to fight back against COVID proceeded, people — it was crystal clear that things were not improving on supply chain. People couldn’t get dishwashers and furniture and treadmills delivered on time, not to mention all sorts of other things. So why did —

She cut him off with a mocking: “The tragedy of the treadmill that’s delayed.” 

Newsflash, Jen. You’re not cute. You’re cruel. 

Let’s Go Brandon

So the “Let’s Go Brandon” chant broke out at the Atlanta Braves-Los Angeles Dodgers game the other night.

Let’s go Brandon from Atlanta! @OldRowSports pic.twitter.com/lkYH8Jz5LY

— Old Row (@OldRowViral) October 18, 2021

Florida Stepping Up to Ease Port Crisis

Florida isn’t just drawing New York and California residents. It’s drawing ships. Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that unlike the clogged ports in California and the Big Apple, Florida’s ports are open and running smoothly, and so he’s inviting shipping companies to send their idle cargo ships to the Sunshine State.

“We in Florida have the ability to help alleviate these logjams,” DeSantis said. “We’re here, we have capacity. And not only that, I’m proud to announce … that JAXPORT and some of the other ports are also stepping up even above and beyond by offering incentive packages to businesses who want to move their cargo through these ports.”

Along The Stream

Mark Judge has a wonderful article on the rise of clear-eyed, conservative journalism and his own journey in the journalism field called “‘I Serve No Man’: Thank God for the Truth-Telling Dissent Journalists.” 

A months-long battle over a passport has Stream contributor Rita Peters asking, “Big Government or Competent Government? You Can’t Have Both.”

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, chief barista for The Morning Brew and co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration. You can follow him at @StreamingAl at Gab, Parler, MeWe and now GETTR.