The Turkish Invasion and the Israel-Kurdish Connection
By Edy Cohen
Israel Today
October 18, 2019
Hundreds of people protested Tuesday night in front of the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv demanding that the Turkish military operations against the Kurdish people in northern Syria be stopped. Protesters carrying Israeli and Kurdistan flags marched from the Turkish embassy to the US embassy urging Erdogan to leave the Kurds alone. The protesters carried signs condemning the Turkish president as well as President Trump, who is “helping the genocide” against the Turkish people, which is resulting in hundreds of deaths among the Kurdish population.
This is not the first time a pro-Kurdish rally has taken place in Israel. Just a few days ago a demonstration was held in Jerusalem against the Kurdish genocide.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was one of the first world leaders to publicly oppose the Turkish operation. “Israel strongly condemns Turkey’s military invasion of Kurdish provinces in Syria and warns against ethnic cleansing of Kurds by Turkey and its militants,” Netanyahu said. “Israel will make every effort to provide humanitarian assistance to the brave Kurdish people,” the Prime Minister insisted. Other Knesset members like Ayelet Shaked (former Minister of Justice) and Gideon Sa’ar (former Interior Minister) also condemned the Turkish aggression and expressed full support for the Kurdish people.
The people of Israel identify closely with the struggle of the Kurds. Close to 200,000 Kurdish Jews live in Israel, mainly in Jerusalem. These are mostly the descendants from nearly 50,000 Kurdish Jews who were rescued by Israel from Iraq during Operation Ezra and Nehemiah in the early 1950s. There is also a lot of common history that connects the Jewish people with the Kurds. Both peoples suffer from ongoing persecutions – the Kurds by Middle East Muslims, partly because they are not considered Arabs – and both Kurds and Jews are scattered throughout the world. The difference is that the Jewish people have a state, but until today the Kurdish people do not.
While the Palestinian “cause” continues to stir interest in the international media and gain European sympathy, the Kurdish issue does not receive nearly as much attention. Most people do not know that there are about 40 million Kurds living in the Middle East (Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran) and Europe. To this day they are fighting to have their own country because at the end of World War I the victorious powers gave assurances to the Kurds that they would be given an independent state, but that never materialized, due mainly to the violent resistance of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. A homeland for the Kurdish people has been a crucial matter as the Kurds have suffered terrible persecution and oppression in the Arab countries where they live.
The current Turkish offensive began with the withdrawal of US forces from the region. The Turks took advantage of the vacuum left by the US troops and launched a brutal campaign to end the autonomy gained by the Kurds in northern Syria. The second goal of Turkey’s operation is to occupy Kurdish territories in Syria, as well as impose its agenda on those parts of Turkey dominated by Kurdish refugees for many years. In other words, the Turks want an ethnic cleansing of the Kurds in order to “Arabize” the region and get the Kurds to join their Turkish national objectives. The Kurds are now losing their homes and becoming refugees moving around Kurdistan and Iraq for fear of their lives.
The Kurds are the largest national group in the world with no territory of their own. Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, they have achieved widespread autonomy in what is known as Kurdistan in northern Iraq, which has led to a rekindling of Kurdish aspirations for independence.
After joining the fight against ISIS in Syria in 2014, the Kurds were also granted autonomy in parts of northern Syria, but as mentioned, this dream is sinking with the withdrawal of US forces and the entry of the Syrian army into the Kurdish territories on the heels of the Turkish offensive.
Saturday, October 19, 2019
YOU GOTTA LOVE SUBARU ….. ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE A DOG
Subaru Announces National “Make A Dog’s Day”
By Jerry Reynolds
CarProUSA
October 18, 2019
I talked about this on the air last Saturday on the Car Pro radio show. As a dog lover, I applaud their actions!
Subaru of America is dedicating the month of October to its Subaru Loves Pets initiative that supports the well-being and protection of animals across the country. As in past years, Subaru says it will continue its partnership with The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), working together to help the approximately 3.3 million dogs that enter shelters annually find a safe, loving home.
National Make a Dog’s Day
This year, Subaru is also establishing the first-ever National Make A Dog’s Day on October 22. On this day, Subaru and its retailers will sponsor a nationwide effort to help the hardest-to-adopt shelter dogs find loving homes. Working closely with the ASPCA, the automaker will champion special needs dogs, specifically senior dogs, amputees, visually and hearing-impaired dogs, and dogs with birth defects and physical challenges. The automaker invites dog lovers to do something special for their loving companions on this day.
“Pets play a big role in our lives and the lives of Subaru owners. While we support efforts all year dedicated to the betterment of animals’ lives, in October, we make a concerted effort to help shelter pets – particularly the hard-to-adopt ones – find loving homes,” said Alan Bethke, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Subaru of America, Inc. “We are proud to establish the official National Make a Dog’s Day on October 22 and shine a light on the hundreds of thousands of dogs that are often times passed over including those with special needs.”
Subaru is also rolling out new dog-focused commercials throughout the month of October across broadcast and digital platforms (you can check out some of their videos on YouTube by clicking here.) The campaign includes TV spots that feature the automaker’s beloved spokesdogs, The Barkleys, on their latest adventures, as well as introduces some new faces through a set of advertising spots, entitled “The Underdogs.” These spots feature the dogs needing the most help getting adopted and debunk the myths, as well as celebrate their unique charms.
#MakeADogsDay
Subaru is also encouraging pet owners to do something special to celebrate their dogs on October 22 and share their happy dog in social posts using the hashtag #MakeADogsDay. The automaker says consumers can join the effort to help hard-to-adopt dogs by considering adopting a shelter dog, volunteering at an animal shelter, or participating in a Subaru retailer collection drive.
Pet Shelter Donations
Throughout October, select Subaru retailers across the country will collect unused pet supplies crucial to maintaining the health and well-being of shelter animals. In addition to these collection efforts, Subaru and participating retailers will donate 5,500 shelter supply kits and 4,800 new pet parent kits to local shelters. Also, more than 100 participating Subaru retailers will work in conjunction with animal shelters in their communities to host pet adoption events.
For more information on Subaru Loves Pets visit www.subaru.com/pets.
By Jerry Reynolds
CarProUSA
October 18, 2019
I talked about this on the air last Saturday on the Car Pro radio show. As a dog lover, I applaud their actions!
Subaru of America is dedicating the month of October to its Subaru Loves Pets initiative that supports the well-being and protection of animals across the country. As in past years, Subaru says it will continue its partnership with The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), working together to help the approximately 3.3 million dogs that enter shelters annually find a safe, loving home.
National Make a Dog’s Day
This year, Subaru is also establishing the first-ever National Make A Dog’s Day on October 22. On this day, Subaru and its retailers will sponsor a nationwide effort to help the hardest-to-adopt shelter dogs find loving homes. Working closely with the ASPCA, the automaker will champion special needs dogs, specifically senior dogs, amputees, visually and hearing-impaired dogs, and dogs with birth defects and physical challenges. The automaker invites dog lovers to do something special for their loving companions on this day.
“Pets play a big role in our lives and the lives of Subaru owners. While we support efforts all year dedicated to the betterment of animals’ lives, in October, we make a concerted effort to help shelter pets – particularly the hard-to-adopt ones – find loving homes,” said Alan Bethke, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Subaru of America, Inc. “We are proud to establish the official National Make a Dog’s Day on October 22 and shine a light on the hundreds of thousands of dogs that are often times passed over including those with special needs.”
Subaru is also rolling out new dog-focused commercials throughout the month of October across broadcast and digital platforms (you can check out some of their videos on YouTube by clicking here.) The campaign includes TV spots that feature the automaker’s beloved spokesdogs, The Barkleys, on their latest adventures, as well as introduces some new faces through a set of advertising spots, entitled “The Underdogs.” These spots feature the dogs needing the most help getting adopted and debunk the myths, as well as celebrate their unique charms.
#MakeADogsDay
Subaru is also encouraging pet owners to do something special to celebrate their dogs on October 22 and share their happy dog in social posts using the hashtag #MakeADogsDay. The automaker says consumers can join the effort to help hard-to-adopt dogs by considering adopting a shelter dog, volunteering at an animal shelter, or participating in a Subaru retailer collection drive.
Pet Shelter Donations
Throughout October, select Subaru retailers across the country will collect unused pet supplies crucial to maintaining the health and well-being of shelter animals. In addition to these collection efforts, Subaru and participating retailers will donate 5,500 shelter supply kits and 4,800 new pet parent kits to local shelters. Also, more than 100 participating Subaru retailers will work in conjunction with animal shelters in their communities to host pet adoption events.
For more information on Subaru Loves Pets visit www.subaru.com/pets.
553 YEARS AND 8 MONTHS TO LIFE … DAMN IT, HE WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR PAROLE IN 470 YEARS
Man Sentenced To 5 Centuries In Prison For Shooting LAPD Swat Officer In Helmet, Wounding K-9 During Shootouts
LAPPL News Watch
October 18, 2019
A Los Angeles gang member received a prison sentence of more than five-and-a-half centuries Thursday for shooting a Los Angeles Police Department SWAT officer, who was saved by his helmet, and wounding a police K-9 during a series of shootouts in 2017, authorities said.
Jose Afredo Rauda, 36, was convicted earlier this month of 12 counts of attempted murder on a peace officer, 19 counts of assault with a firearm on a peace officer, four counts of assault with a firearm, one count of assault on a police animal, shooting at an occupied vehicle and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
He returned to Los Angeles County Superior Court for sentencing on Thursday, where he received a prison term of 553 years and 8 months to life, prosecutors said in a written statement.
LAPPL News Watch
October 18, 2019
A Los Angeles gang member received a prison sentence of more than five-and-a-half centuries Thursday for shooting a Los Angeles Police Department SWAT officer, who was saved by his helmet, and wounding a police K-9 during a series of shootouts in 2017, authorities said.
Jose Afredo Rauda, 36, was convicted earlier this month of 12 counts of attempted murder on a peace officer, 19 counts of assault with a firearm on a peace officer, four counts of assault with a firearm, one count of assault on a police animal, shooting at an occupied vehicle and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
He returned to Los Angeles County Superior Court for sentencing on Thursday, where he received a prison term of 553 years and 8 months to life, prosecutors said in a written statement.
Friday, October 18, 2019
THE BEST INDICATOR OF FUTURE BAD BEHAVIOR
Is Past Bad Behavior
by Bob Walsh
A bit over two years ago a young woman named Abdulia Sanchez was live-streaming herself driving drunk along Hwy 99 when she piled in, killing her 17-year old sister in the process.
She just got out of the slammer 3 weeks ago, on felony parole. The Stockton PD attempted to stop her for no registration. She boogied, blowing two stop signs and one red light before she crashed on the on-ramp to I-5 at March Lane. There was a .45 automatic in the car. A man who was a passenger in the car beat feet, leaving her holding the bag as it were.
So she is looking at violation of parole (driving without a license), running from the cops, maybe possession of the firearm, and conspicuous stupidity in public. Maybe she likes being in prison. She does, at the very least, habitually make really crappy decisions. At least she wasn't drunk.
by Bob Walsh
A bit over two years ago a young woman named Abdulia Sanchez was live-streaming herself driving drunk along Hwy 99 when she piled in, killing her 17-year old sister in the process.
She just got out of the slammer 3 weeks ago, on felony parole. The Stockton PD attempted to stop her for no registration. She boogied, blowing two stop signs and one red light before she crashed on the on-ramp to I-5 at March Lane. There was a .45 automatic in the car. A man who was a passenger in the car beat feet, leaving her holding the bag as it were.
So she is looking at violation of parole (driving without a license), running from the cops, maybe possession of the firearm, and conspicuous stupidity in public. Maybe she likes being in prison. She does, at the very least, habitually make really crappy decisions. At least she wasn't drunk.
SOMEBODY WASN'T DOING THEIR JOB
by Bob Walsh
The Northern Illinois Academy is a residential psychiatric treatment facility. It houses patients between the ages of 6 and 21. These patients have autism, mood disorders, developmental delays and other assorted psychiatric disorders.
Last April they went on a field trip to a public library. (They don't have their own library?) While on this trip Cody Pomrenke, 18, a resident patient of the facility lured another residential patient, a 13-year old female, into the men's bathroom and sexually assaulted her. The staff were aware that Pomrenke had taken an inappropriate interest in the girl and seemed to be 'grooming" her for sexual contact. They had directed him to stay away from the girl, but nevertheless took the two of them together on a field trip and clearly did not exercise adequate oversight.
The young girl's father is royally pissed. I expect he will sue. I don't blame him.
The Northern Illinois Academy is a residential psychiatric treatment facility. It houses patients between the ages of 6 and 21. These patients have autism, mood disorders, developmental delays and other assorted psychiatric disorders.
Last April they went on a field trip to a public library. (They don't have their own library?) While on this trip Cody Pomrenke, 18, a resident patient of the facility lured another residential patient, a 13-year old female, into the men's bathroom and sexually assaulted her. The staff were aware that Pomrenke had taken an inappropriate interest in the girl and seemed to be 'grooming" her for sexual contact. They had directed him to stay away from the girl, but nevertheless took the two of them together on a field trip and clearly did not exercise adequate oversight.
The young girl's father is royally pissed. I expect he will sue. I don't blame him.
BREXIT ACHIEVED
Yes No Maybe Kinda-Sorta
by Bob Walsh
Boris Johnson, P.M. of the United Kingdom and major Brexit proponent, announced yesterday that he has reached an accord with the E. U. to permit a more or less smooth exit of the U. K. from the E. U. on Halloween.
However.....the deal has to be approved by Parliament. By this Saturday. Or.......
The result would be another stall, or an no-deal Brexit, which everybody agrees would be an ungood thing.
Parliament has not held a Saturday session since the Falkland War. A nose count indicates that Boris will fall short by about five votes. You can bet that there is some major horse trading and arm twisting going on. A relatively small (ten seats) Irish labor party has announced that they are opposed to this particular deal, though in general they have been supportive of Brexit. It is hard to say if they are trying to get some freebies or if they really have a beef with the deal.
I wonder what John Oliver will say about it this coming Sunday on HBO. I will have to check it out.
by Bob Walsh
Boris Johnson, P.M. of the United Kingdom and major Brexit proponent, announced yesterday that he has reached an accord with the E. U. to permit a more or less smooth exit of the U. K. from the E. U. on Halloween.
However.....the deal has to be approved by Parliament. By this Saturday. Or.......
The result would be another stall, or an no-deal Brexit, which everybody agrees would be an ungood thing.
Parliament has not held a Saturday session since the Falkland War. A nose count indicates that Boris will fall short by about five votes. You can bet that there is some major horse trading and arm twisting going on. A relatively small (ten seats) Irish labor party has announced that they are opposed to this particular deal, though in general they have been supportive of Brexit. It is hard to say if they are trying to get some freebies or if they really have a beef with the deal.
I wonder what John Oliver will say about it this coming Sunday on HBO. I will have to check it out.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
by Bob Walsh
In 1931 Thomas Edison kicked the bucket.
In 1898 the United States formally took over the administration of Puerto Rico.
In 1469 Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabella of Castile, uniting Spain into arguably the major European power of the day.
In 1931 Thomas Edison kicked the bucket.
In 1898 the United States formally took over the administration of Puerto Rico.
In 1469 Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabella of Castile, uniting Spain into arguably the major European power of the day.
BOY MURDERS JANE AND IS KILLED BY COPS, TARZAN UNHURT
by Bob Walsh
Depending on how old you are Ron Ely, 81, is who you remember as being Tarzan.
On Tuesday night the local constabulary responded to the Ely house in Santa Barbara County to discover Valery Lundeen Ely, a former Miss Florida, dead of multiple stab wounds. One of the three Ely children, Cameron, 30, was shot to death by four deputies at the scene. Ely himself was taken to the hospital but was apparently uninjured.
It was not immediately clear if Cameron was a resident of the home or not.
Depending on how old you are Ron Ely, 81, is who you remember as being Tarzan.
On Tuesday night the local constabulary responded to the Ely house in Santa Barbara County to discover Valery Lundeen Ely, a former Miss Florida, dead of multiple stab wounds. One of the three Ely children, Cameron, 30, was shot to death by four deputies at the scene. Ely himself was taken to the hospital but was apparently uninjured.
It was not immediately clear if Cameron was a resident of the home or not.
AFTER ERDOGAN TRASHED TRUMP’S LETTER, TRUMP AGAIN TREATED THE KURDS LIKE TURDS
Turkey agrees with US to pause Syria assault while Kurds withdraw
Israel Hayom
October 17, 2019
Turkey agreed on Thursday to pause its offensive in Syria for five days to let Kurdish forces withdraw from a "safe zone" Ankara had sought to capture, in a deal hailed by Washington but which Turkish leaders cast as a complete victory.
The truce was announced by US Vice President Mike Pence after talks in Ankara with Turkey's President Tayyip Erdoğan, and was swiftly hailed by President Donald Trump, who said it would save "millions of lives"
But if implemented it would achieve all the main objectives Turkey announced when it launched the assault eight days ago: control of a strip of Syria more than 30 km (20 miles) deep, with the Kurdish YPG militia, formerly close US allies, obliged to pull out.
"The safe zone will be primarily enforced by the Turkish Armed Forces," a joint US-Turkish statement released after the talks said.
A Turkish official told Reuters Ankara got "exactly what we wanted" from the talks with the United States. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu described it as a pause, solely to allow the Kurdish fighters to withdraw.
Kurdish fighters would be forced to give up their heavy weapons and their positions would be destroyed, Cavusoglu said. He declined to call the agreement a "ceasefire", saying ceasefires could be agreed only by legitimate sides, and not by the Kurds that Turkey considers terrorists.
Pence said Washington had already been in contact with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which had agreed to withdraw and were already pulling out.
Trump tweeted: "Great news out of Turkey".
"Thank you to Erdoğan," Trump said. "Millions of lives will be saved!"
"Today the United States and Turkey have agreed to a ceasefire in Syria," Pence told a news conference after more than four hours of talks at the presidential palace in Ankara.
"The Turkish side will pause Operation Peace Spring in order to allow for the withdrawal of YPG forces from the safe zone for 120 hours," Pence said. "All military operations under Operation Peace Spring will be paused, and Operation Peace Spring will be halted entirely on completion of the withdrawal."
The deal struck with Erdoğan also provided for Turkey not to engage in military operations in the flashpoint Syrian border town of Kobani, Pence said. Cavusoglu said Turkey had given no commitments about Kobani.
Pence added that he had spoken to Trump after the talks and that Trump had expressed his gratitude for the ceasefire accord. Washington's main goal had been to halt the violence, and it had succeeded, Pence said.
The Turkish assault has created a new humanitarian crisis in Syria with 200,000 civilians taking flight, a security alert over thousands of Islamic State fighters abandoned in Kurdish jails, and a political maelstrom at home for Trump.
Trump has been accused of abandoning Kurdish-led fighters, Washington's main partners in the battle to dismantle Islamic State's self-declared caliphate in Syria, by withdrawing troops from the border as Ankara launched its offensive on Oct. 9.
Trump had defended his move on Wednesday as "strategically brilliant". He said he thought Pence and Erdoğan would have a successful meeting, but warned of sanctions and tariffs that "will be devastating to Turkey's economy" otherwise.
EDITOR’S NOTE: In five days, the Turks will resume their offensive because no one negotiated or consulted with the Kurds who are not likely surrender and give up their land. Don’t believe that shit about the Kurds agreeing to withdraw and to give up their heavy weapons. This is another betrayal of the Kurds.
__________
Turkey's Erdogan threw Trump's 'don't be a fool' letter in the trash and considered it 'the final straw' before launching his offensive in Syria
Daily Mail
October 17, 2019
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan 'thoroughly rejected' Donald Trump's letter, dated October 9, and promptly threw it in the bin, officials have revealed.
__________
Donald Trump hails five-day ceasefire deal in Syria as 'a great day for civilization' and boasts of 'incredible outcome' claiming 'great leader' Erdogan and the Kurds are happy - but Turkey hits back that they have only agreed to a PAUSE
Daily Mail
October 17, 2019
Donald Trump hailed an agreement between the U.S. and Turkey for a five-day cease fire in Syria as a 'great day for civilization' as Turkish officials down played the outcome of the deal.
'A great day for the Kurds. It's really a great day for civilization. It's a great day for civilization,' Trump said.
Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday announced the United States and Turkey reached a deal to suspend Ankara's operations in northern Syria for five days to allow Kurds time to withdraw to a 'safe zone' as part of a cease-fire agreement.
EDITOR’S NOTE: A great day for the Kurds? Trump must be out of his mind. It’s a great day for the Turks and an atrocious one for the Kurds. A great day for civilization? That one flew over the cuckoo's nest.
Israel Hayom
October 17, 2019
Turkey agreed on Thursday to pause its offensive in Syria for five days to let Kurdish forces withdraw from a "safe zone" Ankara had sought to capture, in a deal hailed by Washington but which Turkish leaders cast as a complete victory.
The truce was announced by US Vice President Mike Pence after talks in Ankara with Turkey's President Tayyip Erdoğan, and was swiftly hailed by President Donald Trump, who said it would save "millions of lives"
But if implemented it would achieve all the main objectives Turkey announced when it launched the assault eight days ago: control of a strip of Syria more than 30 km (20 miles) deep, with the Kurdish YPG militia, formerly close US allies, obliged to pull out.
"The safe zone will be primarily enforced by the Turkish Armed Forces," a joint US-Turkish statement released after the talks said.
A Turkish official told Reuters Ankara got "exactly what we wanted" from the talks with the United States. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu described it as a pause, solely to allow the Kurdish fighters to withdraw.
Kurdish fighters would be forced to give up their heavy weapons and their positions would be destroyed, Cavusoglu said. He declined to call the agreement a "ceasefire", saying ceasefires could be agreed only by legitimate sides, and not by the Kurds that Turkey considers terrorists.
Pence said Washington had already been in contact with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which had agreed to withdraw and were already pulling out.
Trump tweeted: "Great news out of Turkey".
"Thank you to Erdoğan," Trump said. "Millions of lives will be saved!"
"Today the United States and Turkey have agreed to a ceasefire in Syria," Pence told a news conference after more than four hours of talks at the presidential palace in Ankara.
"The Turkish side will pause Operation Peace Spring in order to allow for the withdrawal of YPG forces from the safe zone for 120 hours," Pence said. "All military operations under Operation Peace Spring will be paused, and Operation Peace Spring will be halted entirely on completion of the withdrawal."
The deal struck with Erdoğan also provided for Turkey not to engage in military operations in the flashpoint Syrian border town of Kobani, Pence said. Cavusoglu said Turkey had given no commitments about Kobani.
Pence added that he had spoken to Trump after the talks and that Trump had expressed his gratitude for the ceasefire accord. Washington's main goal had been to halt the violence, and it had succeeded, Pence said.
The Turkish assault has created a new humanitarian crisis in Syria with 200,000 civilians taking flight, a security alert over thousands of Islamic State fighters abandoned in Kurdish jails, and a political maelstrom at home for Trump.
Trump has been accused of abandoning Kurdish-led fighters, Washington's main partners in the battle to dismantle Islamic State's self-declared caliphate in Syria, by withdrawing troops from the border as Ankara launched its offensive on Oct. 9.
Trump had defended his move on Wednesday as "strategically brilliant". He said he thought Pence and Erdoğan would have a successful meeting, but warned of sanctions and tariffs that "will be devastating to Turkey's economy" otherwise.
EDITOR’S NOTE: In five days, the Turks will resume their offensive because no one negotiated or consulted with the Kurds who are not likely surrender and give up their land. Don’t believe that shit about the Kurds agreeing to withdraw and to give up their heavy weapons. This is another betrayal of the Kurds.
__________
Turkey's Erdogan threw Trump's 'don't be a fool' letter in the trash and considered it 'the final straw' before launching his offensive in Syria
Daily Mail
October 17, 2019
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan 'thoroughly rejected' Donald Trump's letter, dated October 9, and promptly threw it in the bin, officials have revealed.
__________
Donald Trump hails five-day ceasefire deal in Syria as 'a great day for civilization' and boasts of 'incredible outcome' claiming 'great leader' Erdogan and the Kurds are happy - but Turkey hits back that they have only agreed to a PAUSE
Daily Mail
October 17, 2019
Donald Trump hailed an agreement between the U.S. and Turkey for a five-day cease fire in Syria as a 'great day for civilization' as Turkish officials down played the outcome of the deal.
'A great day for the Kurds. It's really a great day for civilization. It's a great day for civilization,' Trump said.
Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday announced the United States and Turkey reached a deal to suspend Ankara's operations in northern Syria for five days to allow Kurds time to withdraw to a 'safe zone' as part of a cease-fire agreement.
EDITOR’S NOTE: A great day for the Kurds? Trump must be out of his mind. It’s a great day for the Turks and an atrocious one for the Kurds. A great day for civilization? That one flew over the cuckoo's nest.
VLAD STEPS INTO VOID CREATED BY TRUMP
Putin's growing Middle East influence is on display
Israel Hayom
October 16, 2019
President Vladimir Putin signaled Moscow's growing Middle East clout on Monday on his first visit to Saudi Arabia in over a decade, buoyed by Russian military gains in Syria, strong ties with Riyadh's regional rivals and energy cooperation.
Moscow accrued power in the Middle East in 2015 by sending troops to Syria, where it and Iran have been key backers of President Bashar Assad amid civil war, while the United States pulled back. Saudi Arabia sided with Syrian rebels.
On the eve of Putin's trip, US troops abruptly retreated from northern Syria as Russian-backed government forces deployed deep inside Kurdish-held territory under a deal to help fend off a Turkish cross-border offensive.
Russia has also strengthened ties with both Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran, which are locked in a decades-old contest for influence that veered toward open conflict after a recent spate of attacks on oil assets in the Gulf that Riyadh and Washington blame on Tehran. Iran denies the charges.
Tensions with Iran, which is locked in several proxy wars with Saudi Arabia, have risen to new highs after Washington last year quit a 2015 international nuclear accord with Tehran and reimposed sanctions.
The Russian president met King Salman and de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with whom Putin says he has friendly relations.
In televised remarks, Putin and the king said bilateral relations were important to regional security and stability.
After discussions that touched on joint investments as well as conflicts in Syria and Yemen, Prince Mohammed said Saudi-Russian cooperation on energy would achieve stability.
Ahead of the visit, Putin, who offered to provide Russian defense systems to the kingdom after Sept. 14 attacks on its oil facilities, said he could also play a positive role in easing tensions with Tehran given good ties with both sides.
Any progress on long-mulled Saudi plans to purchase the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems would cause disquiet in Washington, which is sending 3,000 troops and additional air defense systems to Saudi Arabia.
US President Donald Trump has resisted pressure to sanction Riyadh over human rights abuses, including the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, calling that a "foolish" move that would only benefit competitors Russia and China.
Asked about concerns Riyadh was cozying up to Moscow, senior foreign ministry official Adel al-Jubeir said he saw no contradiction.
"We don’t believe that having close ties with Russia has any negative impact on our relationship with the United States," he told reporters on Sunday. "We believe that we can have strategic and strong ties with the United States while we develop our ties with Russia."
Israel Hayom
October 16, 2019
President Vladimir Putin signaled Moscow's growing Middle East clout on Monday on his first visit to Saudi Arabia in over a decade, buoyed by Russian military gains in Syria, strong ties with Riyadh's regional rivals and energy cooperation.
Moscow accrued power in the Middle East in 2015 by sending troops to Syria, where it and Iran have been key backers of President Bashar Assad amid civil war, while the United States pulled back. Saudi Arabia sided with Syrian rebels.
On the eve of Putin's trip, US troops abruptly retreated from northern Syria as Russian-backed government forces deployed deep inside Kurdish-held territory under a deal to help fend off a Turkish cross-border offensive.
Russia has also strengthened ties with both Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran, which are locked in a decades-old contest for influence that veered toward open conflict after a recent spate of attacks on oil assets in the Gulf that Riyadh and Washington blame on Tehran. Iran denies the charges.
Tensions with Iran, which is locked in several proxy wars with Saudi Arabia, have risen to new highs after Washington last year quit a 2015 international nuclear accord with Tehran and reimposed sanctions.
The Russian president met King Salman and de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with whom Putin says he has friendly relations.
In televised remarks, Putin and the king said bilateral relations were important to regional security and stability.
After discussions that touched on joint investments as well as conflicts in Syria and Yemen, Prince Mohammed said Saudi-Russian cooperation on energy would achieve stability.
Ahead of the visit, Putin, who offered to provide Russian defense systems to the kingdom after Sept. 14 attacks on its oil facilities, said he could also play a positive role in easing tensions with Tehran given good ties with both sides.
Any progress on long-mulled Saudi plans to purchase the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems would cause disquiet in Washington, which is sending 3,000 troops and additional air defense systems to Saudi Arabia.
US President Donald Trump has resisted pressure to sanction Riyadh over human rights abuses, including the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, calling that a "foolish" move that would only benefit competitors Russia and China.
Asked about concerns Riyadh was cozying up to Moscow, senior foreign ministry official Adel al-Jubeir said he saw no contradiction.
"We don’t believe that having close ties with Russia has any negative impact on our relationship with the United States," he told reporters on Sunday. "We believe that we can have strategic and strong ties with the United States while we develop our ties with Russia."
TUNISIA’S PRESIDENT-ELECT NOT EXACTLY A FRIEND OF ISRAEL
Kais Saied says normalization with the Zionist entity is treachery
Kais Saied, won the election for Tunisian president with 73 percent of the vote. In a televised interview on Monday, he said:
“This is my view on the Zionist entity and it will not change. If one day I change my mind, remind me about the things I said now. We are in a situation of war with Zionism, and normalization is treachery.”
And on Friday he said:
“The Jews visit Tunisia; we protected them in the Second World War. But whomever normalizes relations with the Zionist entity that stole the land of the Palestinian people and exiled them from their land is a traitor.”
Kais Saied, won the election for Tunisian president with 73 percent of the vote. In a televised interview on Monday, he said:
“This is my view on the Zionist entity and it will not change. If one day I change my mind, remind me about the things I said now. We are in a situation of war with Zionism, and normalization is treachery.”
And on Friday he said:
“The Jews visit Tunisia; we protected them in the Second World War. But whomever normalizes relations with the Zionist entity that stole the land of the Palestinian people and exiled them from their land is a traitor.”
$92 MILLION WORTH OF COCAINE WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE TO GO UP THE NOSES OF SNORTERS
Coast Guard Offloads $92 Million Worth Of Smuggled Cocaine In San Diego
LAPPL News Watch
October 17, 2019
The Coast Guard offloaded more than 6,800 pounds of cocaine — worth an estimated $92 million — in San Diego on Wednesday, contraband that the military branch seized in international waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Between late July and early October, crews from three Coast Guard cutters, a term used to describe a Coast Guard vessel at least 65 feet long, intercepted the drugs from four suspected smuggling vessels off Mexico and Central and South America.
The crew aboard the cutter Alert was responsible for two cases, seizing about 4,000 pounds of cocaine, according to the Coast Guard. Alert is a 210-foot medium-endurance cutter based in Astoria, Ore.
The crew on Robert Ward, a 154-foot fast-response cutter based in San Pedro, seized about 1,500 pounds of cocaine during one incident.
Seneca, a 270-foot medium-endurance cutter based in Boston, seized about 1,400 pounds of cocaine in one case.
LAPPL News Watch
October 17, 2019
The Coast Guard offloaded more than 6,800 pounds of cocaine — worth an estimated $92 million — in San Diego on Wednesday, contraband that the military branch seized in international waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Between late July and early October, crews from three Coast Guard cutters, a term used to describe a Coast Guard vessel at least 65 feet long, intercepted the drugs from four suspected smuggling vessels off Mexico and Central and South America.
The crew aboard the cutter Alert was responsible for two cases, seizing about 4,000 pounds of cocaine, according to the Coast Guard. Alert is a 210-foot medium-endurance cutter based in Astoria, Ore.
The crew on Robert Ward, a 154-foot fast-response cutter based in San Pedro, seized about 1,500 pounds of cocaine during one incident.
Seneca, a 270-foot medium-endurance cutter based in Boston, seized about 1,400 pounds of cocaine in one case.
SECOND FOUL UP WITH MOUNT SURIBACHI FLAG RAISING CORRECTED
Marines admit second hero is misidentified in Iwo Jima flag-raising photo
By Kenneth Garger
New York Post
October 16, 2019
A new hero has been named as one of the six Marines famously photographed raising the American flag over Iwo Jima during WWII — as the Marines Corps on Wednesday admitted it misidentified a second member of the group, according to a report.
An investigation by the Marines and the FBI’s Digital Evidence Laboratory confirmed what three historians already suspected — that Cpl. Harold “Pie” Keller, not Pfc. Rene Gagnon, was one of the jarheads captured in the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph, NBC News reports.
“Without the initiative and contributions of both private historians devoted to preservation of our history and the FBI’s Digital Evidence Laboratory, the Marine Corps would not have this opportunity to expand on the historical record of the second flag raising on Mount Suribachi,” the Marine Corps told the outlet in a statement.
“Regardless of who was in the photograph, each and every Marine who set foot on Iwo Jima, or supported the effort from the sea and air around the island is, and always will be, a part of our Corps’ cherished history,” the Marines’ statement continued.
The picture was taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal on Feb. 23, 1945. It shows the Marines raising the American flag atop Japan’s Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
The mishap comes three years after the misidentification of a different flag-raiser was corrected by the Marine Corps.
Historians Stephen Foley, Dustin Spence and Brent Westemeyer concluded that Keller was among the Marines in the iconic photo by using film footage from atop Mount Suribachi and photos taken by other soldiers, the report said.
Keller, who died of a heart attack in 1979 at the age of 57, never revealed that part of his history to his family.
“We knew he fought in the war, we knew he was wounded in the shoulder at one point … But he didn’t tell us he helped raise the flag on Mount Suribachi,” Keller’s daughter, Kay Maurer, 70, told NBC News. “He never spoke about any of this when we were growing up.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: In 2016 the Marine Corps acknowledged it had misidentified one of the six men in the Iwo Jima flag raising photo. Instead of Navy corpsman John Bradley, it was Pvt. 1st Class Harold Schultz who was actually in the photo. Schultz died in 1995 without publicly claiming he helped raise the flag.
There were two flag raisings on Mount Suribachi and Bradley was in a photo of the first raising. But the photo circulated by the Marine corps was the one of the second raising which was staged to be photographed.
Bradley’s son James Bradley and co-author Ron Powers wrote the best-selling book Flags of our Fathers which was made into the movie directed by Clint Eastwood.
By Kenneth Garger
New York Post
October 16, 2019
A new hero has been named as one of the six Marines famously photographed raising the American flag over Iwo Jima during WWII — as the Marines Corps on Wednesday admitted it misidentified a second member of the group, according to a report.
An investigation by the Marines and the FBI’s Digital Evidence Laboratory confirmed what three historians already suspected — that Cpl. Harold “Pie” Keller, not Pfc. Rene Gagnon, was one of the jarheads captured in the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph, NBC News reports.
“Without the initiative and contributions of both private historians devoted to preservation of our history and the FBI’s Digital Evidence Laboratory, the Marine Corps would not have this opportunity to expand on the historical record of the second flag raising on Mount Suribachi,” the Marine Corps told the outlet in a statement.
“Regardless of who was in the photograph, each and every Marine who set foot on Iwo Jima, or supported the effort from the sea and air around the island is, and always will be, a part of our Corps’ cherished history,” the Marines’ statement continued.
The picture was taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal on Feb. 23, 1945. It shows the Marines raising the American flag atop Japan’s Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
The mishap comes three years after the misidentification of a different flag-raiser was corrected by the Marine Corps.
Historians Stephen Foley, Dustin Spence and Brent Westemeyer concluded that Keller was among the Marines in the iconic photo by using film footage from atop Mount Suribachi and photos taken by other soldiers, the report said.
Keller, who died of a heart attack in 1979 at the age of 57, never revealed that part of his history to his family.
“We knew he fought in the war, we knew he was wounded in the shoulder at one point … But he didn’t tell us he helped raise the flag on Mount Suribachi,” Keller’s daughter, Kay Maurer, 70, told NBC News. “He never spoke about any of this when we were growing up.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: In 2016 the Marine Corps acknowledged it had misidentified one of the six men in the Iwo Jima flag raising photo. Instead of Navy corpsman John Bradley, it was Pvt. 1st Class Harold Schultz who was actually in the photo. Schultz died in 1995 without publicly claiming he helped raise the flag.
There were two flag raisings on Mount Suribachi and Bradley was in a photo of the first raising. But the photo circulated by the Marine corps was the one of the second raising which was staged to be photographed.
Bradley’s son James Bradley and co-author Ron Powers wrote the best-selling book Flags of our Fathers which was made into the movie directed by Clint Eastwood.
CARTEL PUNISHES RAPIST-MURDERER BY SHATTERING HIS HEAD, CUTTING OFF HIS DICK AND RAMMING A BROOMSTICK UP HIS ASS
Nuevo Cartel de Juárez aka La Línea avenge a woman's brutal murder
By Sol Prendido from La Polaka
Borderland Beat
October 16, 2019
Jiménez, Chihuahua - A criminal arrested by the State Prosecutor for cruelly killing a woman, was released to be slaughtered in the same way by La Linea Cartel. The man died with gunshots to the head and a broomstick embedded in his anus.
Octavio Rubio Rosselot, 34, aka El Guero, was arrested on suspicion of brutally killing Margarita Mendez, 34, two days ago. The woman was severely beaten and had a broomstick buried in her genitals in revenge for infidelity.
The body was left on a dirt road near the Torreón road.
Yesterday morning, the arrest of the murderer was known, who had been seen with the woman in recent hours.
Although evidence of the crime against the lady was found, authorities let him go and he later appeared brutally impaled, beheaded and tortured.
A video released by the Nuevo Cartel de Juárez shows the tortured and confessed individual of Margarita's crime. The gangsters in revenge killed him the same way he killed the woman, they shattered his head and cut off his genitals.
[A] Manta [left with his body] reads as follows: For being such a fuck up and a rapist. This will be the fate of every rapist. Sincerely, La Línea
EDITOR'S NOTE: I strongly suspect that in that area of Mexico, there won't be any rapes for some time to come.
By Sol Prendido from La Polaka
Borderland Beat
October 16, 2019
Jiménez, Chihuahua - A criminal arrested by the State Prosecutor for cruelly killing a woman, was released to be slaughtered in the same way by La Linea Cartel. The man died with gunshots to the head and a broomstick embedded in his anus.
Octavio Rubio Rosselot, 34, aka El Guero, was arrested on suspicion of brutally killing Margarita Mendez, 34, two days ago. The woman was severely beaten and had a broomstick buried in her genitals in revenge for infidelity.
The body was left on a dirt road near the Torreón road.
Yesterday morning, the arrest of the murderer was known, who had been seen with the woman in recent hours.
Although evidence of the crime against the lady was found, authorities let him go and he later appeared brutally impaled, beheaded and tortured.
A video released by the Nuevo Cartel de Juárez shows the tortured and confessed individual of Margarita's crime. The gangsters in revenge killed him the same way he killed the woman, they shattered his head and cut off his genitals.
[A] Manta [left with his body] reads as follows: For being such a fuck up and a rapist. This will be the fate of every rapist. Sincerely, La Línea
EDITOR'S NOTE: I strongly suspect that in that area of Mexico, there won't be any rapes for some time to come.
Thursday, October 17, 2019
WINNERS AND LOSERS IN DEMOCRATIC DEBATE
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard comes out on top in Drudge poll but pundits claim Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg are the winners of the 2020 Democratic debate where Joe Biden faded into the background
By Marlene Lenthang
Daily Mail
October 16, 2019
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard came out on top in the first online poll of the night following Tuesday's Democratic Debate.
The 38-year-old Congresswoman decided last minute to attend the debate despite earlier threats to boycott it and spoke on her veteran experience serving in the Middle East and called for Donald Trump's impeachment, winning 29,242 votes (39.44%), according to a Drudge poll.
In her time on the stage alongside 11 other Democratic candidates, she gave an impassioned speech on U.S. presence in Syria - calling it a 'regime change war' - and sparred with Mayor Pete Buttigieg over removing American troops there.
However, other political pundits claimed Bernie Sanders came out on top, securing the endorsements of Congress 'Squad' members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes and Ilhan Omar.
Sanders, who is usually criticized for his aggressive and angry front, appeared to be in good spirits on the stage, just weeks after suffering a heart attack. When Sen. Cory Booker joked' Senator Sanders is in favor of medical marijuana', he quipped, 'I'm not on it tonight.'
Sen. Elizabeth Warren was also crowned a winner of the debate and deemed a frontrunner in the race after she fielded relentless attacks from her rivals on her healthcare plans and taxes throughout the three-hour joust.
And the attacks from her more moderate counterparts aren't unwarranted, as the Massachusetts senator continues to rise in the polls.
'Warren was the focal point, with the other candidates all but taking their focus completely off Biden. It wasn’t completely smooth sailing for Warren (which we’ll get to), but it was an affirmation that she is viewed as perhaps the frontrunner now,' the Washington Post's Aaron Blake said.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar was praised as a winner for her surprisingly aggressive front in this debate where she repeatedly attacked Warren, calling her out for failing to answer if she'll raise taxes on the middle class for her Medicare-for-all healthcare proposal.
The moderate candidate called her out saying: 'I'm sorry Elizabeth. You are making Republican talking points in this room. Bernie is being honest. We owe it to the American people to tell them where we will send the invoice.'
Some criticized this very point - her healthcare plan - as Warren's loss of the night. Despite being asked four times if her Medicare-for-all proposal would increase taxes on the middle class, she failed to give a direct answer, leading Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke to push back against her.
Buttigieg was a surprise winner of the night, according to CNN's Chris Cillizza, for hitting Warren hard on her Medicare-for-all plan.
He also sparred with Rep. Gabbard's call to end U.S. wars in the Middle East, marking a tense moment between the two military veterans where he clapped back and said: 'Respectfully, congresswoman, I think that is dead wrong. The slaughter going on in Syria is not a consequence of American presence, it a consequence of a withdrawal and a betrayal by this president of American allies and American values'.
The South Bend, Indiana Mayor also dug into former Congressman Beto O'Rourke over his proposed mandatory buy-backs of assault-style rifles.
He said: 'I don't need lessons from you in courage - political or personal.'
All the while former vice president Joe Biden was named a loser by many. Despite leading in the polls, Biden performance didn't stand out compared to the aggressive tactics of his peers and and skirted around the issue of his son's business deals and the Ukraine scandal.
He boasted that the others candidates didn’t measure up to his accomplishments in office, which led Warren to snub him saying she was 'deeply grateful to president Obama' for passing a measure she helped work on during his presidency.
Tom Steyer was also slammed as a loser of the night. It was his first time on the debate stage but he failed to shine against his outspoken rivals, but did challenge Trump saying: 'I would love to take him on as a real businessman'.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I thought Warren was a loser who did poorly in responding to the attacks against her. And Biden babbled on as usual. Kamala got stuck on reproductive rights, Corey Booker, who has no chance of getting the nomination, Mayor Pete and Amy Klobuchar were three of the better debaters, but all 12 were full of shit.
There was lots of applause but the lousiest comment got the biggest applause when Julian Castro said, “Police violence is also gun violence.”
__________
MODERATOR? ... NOT HARDLY!
by Bob Walsh
The only thing that I found interesting (but hardly surprising) was the fact that Anderson Cooper completely exonerated both Hunter Biden and Joe Biden from ANY criminality or impropriety in regards to Hunter's business dealings in the Ukraine and China. He also slandered Trump in the same "question," but that was also to be expected.
By Marlene Lenthang
Daily Mail
October 16, 2019
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard came out on top in the first online poll of the night following Tuesday's Democratic Debate.
The 38-year-old Congresswoman decided last minute to attend the debate despite earlier threats to boycott it and spoke on her veteran experience serving in the Middle East and called for Donald Trump's impeachment, winning 29,242 votes (39.44%), according to a Drudge poll.
In her time on the stage alongside 11 other Democratic candidates, she gave an impassioned speech on U.S. presence in Syria - calling it a 'regime change war' - and sparred with Mayor Pete Buttigieg over removing American troops there.
However, other political pundits claimed Bernie Sanders came out on top, securing the endorsements of Congress 'Squad' members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes and Ilhan Omar.
Sanders, who is usually criticized for his aggressive and angry front, appeared to be in good spirits on the stage, just weeks after suffering a heart attack. When Sen. Cory Booker joked' Senator Sanders is in favor of medical marijuana', he quipped, 'I'm not on it tonight.'
Sen. Elizabeth Warren was also crowned a winner of the debate and deemed a frontrunner in the race after she fielded relentless attacks from her rivals on her healthcare plans and taxes throughout the three-hour joust.
And the attacks from her more moderate counterparts aren't unwarranted, as the Massachusetts senator continues to rise in the polls.
'Warren was the focal point, with the other candidates all but taking their focus completely off Biden. It wasn’t completely smooth sailing for Warren (which we’ll get to), but it was an affirmation that she is viewed as perhaps the frontrunner now,' the Washington Post's Aaron Blake said.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar was praised as a winner for her surprisingly aggressive front in this debate where she repeatedly attacked Warren, calling her out for failing to answer if she'll raise taxes on the middle class for her Medicare-for-all healthcare proposal.
The moderate candidate called her out saying: 'I'm sorry Elizabeth. You are making Republican talking points in this room. Bernie is being honest. We owe it to the American people to tell them where we will send the invoice.'
Some criticized this very point - her healthcare plan - as Warren's loss of the night. Despite being asked four times if her Medicare-for-all proposal would increase taxes on the middle class, she failed to give a direct answer, leading Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke to push back against her.
Buttigieg was a surprise winner of the night, according to CNN's Chris Cillizza, for hitting Warren hard on her Medicare-for-all plan.
He also sparred with Rep. Gabbard's call to end U.S. wars in the Middle East, marking a tense moment between the two military veterans where he clapped back and said: 'Respectfully, congresswoman, I think that is dead wrong. The slaughter going on in Syria is not a consequence of American presence, it a consequence of a withdrawal and a betrayal by this president of American allies and American values'.
The South Bend, Indiana Mayor also dug into former Congressman Beto O'Rourke over his proposed mandatory buy-backs of assault-style rifles.
He said: 'I don't need lessons from you in courage - political or personal.'
All the while former vice president Joe Biden was named a loser by many. Despite leading in the polls, Biden performance didn't stand out compared to the aggressive tactics of his peers and and skirted around the issue of his son's business deals and the Ukraine scandal.
He boasted that the others candidates didn’t measure up to his accomplishments in office, which led Warren to snub him saying she was 'deeply grateful to president Obama' for passing a measure she helped work on during his presidency.
Tom Steyer was also slammed as a loser of the night. It was his first time on the debate stage but he failed to shine against his outspoken rivals, but did challenge Trump saying: 'I would love to take him on as a real businessman'.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I thought Warren was a loser who did poorly in responding to the attacks against her. And Biden babbled on as usual. Kamala got stuck on reproductive rights, Corey Booker, who has no chance of getting the nomination, Mayor Pete and Amy Klobuchar were three of the better debaters, but all 12 were full of shit.
There was lots of applause but the lousiest comment got the biggest applause when Julian Castro said, “Police violence is also gun violence.”
__________
MODERATOR? ... NOT HARDLY!
by Bob Walsh
The only thing that I found interesting (but hardly surprising) was the fact that Anderson Cooper completely exonerated both Hunter Biden and Joe Biden from ANY criminality or impropriety in regards to Hunter's business dealings in the Ukraine and China. He also slandered Trump in the same "question," but that was also to be expected.
IS CREEPY JOE CIRCLING THE FINANCIAL DRAIN ?
by Bob Walsh
It was widely reported yesterday that the Biden campaign is now spending more money than they are taking in, which is NOT where you want to be at this stage of a serious campaign. About $1 million of those expenditures are for private jets for Creepy Joe as he is being flown hither and yon.
I am fully confident they are reduced emission private jet planes, kind of like low emission buses or cows that don't fart and belch.
It was widely reported yesterday that the Biden campaign is now spending more money than they are taking in, which is NOT where you want to be at this stage of a serious campaign. About $1 million of those expenditures are for private jets for Creepy Joe as he is being flown hither and yon.
I am fully confident they are reduced emission private jet planes, kind of like low emission buses or cows that don't fart and belch.
77806-112
by Bob Walsh
That is Felicity Huffman's prison I D number. She is now a denizen of F C I Dublin, CA. It is on the Forbes list of one of the ten cushiest federal prisons on the country. I have been there, it really is rather nice.
She will be sharing a four-bed cell. I suspect she isn't used to this, nor having other people watch (or at least potentially watching) while she is using the crapper. Prison is awkward if you are shy. I am sure her first prison strip search was probably more than a little demeaning for the 56-year old.
That being said two weeks of this won't kill her and will give her interesting material for her autobiography, plus some no doubt colorful new friends, or at least acquaintances.
EDITOR'S NOTE: But she's in one of the Club Feds where she won't be exposed to hardened criminals and tight security measures.
That is Felicity Huffman's prison I D number. She is now a denizen of F C I Dublin, CA. It is on the Forbes list of one of the ten cushiest federal prisons on the country. I have been there, it really is rather nice.
She will be sharing a four-bed cell. I suspect she isn't used to this, nor having other people watch (or at least potentially watching) while she is using the crapper. Prison is awkward if you are shy. I am sure her first prison strip search was probably more than a little demeaning for the 56-year old.
That being said two weeks of this won't kill her and will give her interesting material for her autobiography, plus some no doubt colorful new friends, or at least acquaintances.
EDITOR'S NOTE: But she's in one of the Club Feds where she won't be exposed to hardened criminals and tight security measures.
BRITISH PARENTS NIX WHITE HOUSE MEETING WITH THE KILLER OF THEIR SON
Harry Dunn's parents say Donald Trump asked them 'THREE times' to meet their son's 'killer' Anne Sacoolas in the White House to 'get some HEALING' - but they refused in hope she will face justice in UK
Daily Mail
October 16, 2019
Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn said the US President 'took their breath away' when he told them the woman who allegedly killed their son with her Volvo SUV outside an airbase in Britain was also in the White House.
Harry's mother told Gayle King on CBS in New York today: 'He [Donald Trump] offered his condolences, he seemed warm and he was welcoming but it didn't take long for him to drop into the conversation that Anne Sacoolas was in the building'. Mr Dunn added: 'It took your breath away when he mentioned it for the first time. He did ask two or three times. We said no, we didn't feel it was right and he said: "No she's here so let's get some healing" or something like that - but we stuck to our guns'.
Harry's parents believe they were 'ambushed' by the President who held Ms Charles' hand before revealing the American diplomat's wife was next door and ready to meet them. They then told the US President it was 'inappropriate' and they won't face Sacoolas until she returns to Britain and hands herself in to police telling him: 'If it was your son you'd be doing the same as us'.
Daily Mail
October 16, 2019
Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn said the US President 'took their breath away' when he told them the woman who allegedly killed their son with her Volvo SUV outside an airbase in Britain was also in the White House.
Harry's mother told Gayle King on CBS in New York today: 'He [Donald Trump] offered his condolences, he seemed warm and he was welcoming but it didn't take long for him to drop into the conversation that Anne Sacoolas was in the building'. Mr Dunn added: 'It took your breath away when he mentioned it for the first time. He did ask two or three times. We said no, we didn't feel it was right and he said: "No she's here so let's get some healing" or something like that - but we stuck to our guns'.
Harry's parents believe they were 'ambushed' by the President who held Ms Charles' hand before revealing the American diplomat's wife was next door and ready to meet them. They then told the US President it was 'inappropriate' and they won't face Sacoolas until she returns to Britain and hands herself in to police telling him: 'If it was your son you'd be doing the same as us'.
DEMOCRATIC CRAZIES ENDORSE CRAZY BERNIE
Omar, Tlaib, and Ocasio-Cortez Endorse Bernie Sanders for President
By Zachary Evans
National Review
October 16, 2019
Representative Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) announced on Wednesday morning that she is endorsing Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) for president, and confirmed that Representative Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) is also endorsing Sanders.
“Proud to endorse @SenSanders for President, glad that @AOC and @RashidaTlaib are on board too,” Omar posted on Twitter.
“Bernie is leading a working-class movement to defeat Donald Trump that transcends generation, ethnicity and geography,” she added in a longer statement. Sanders reciprocated, saying in his own statement that Omar is “a leader of strength and courage.”
The endorsements of Omar and Tlaib, along with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), gives Sanders the support of three out of four members of the “Squad.” Representative Ayanna Pressley (D., Mass.), the fourth member, has not yet endorsed a candidate.
Ocasio-Cortez, whose decision to endorse Sanders was first reported by the Washington Post on Tuesday evening, will formally announce the endorsement at a campaign rally this Saturday in New York City.
Tuesday night’s Democratic-primary debate marked Sanders’s first campaign event since suffering a heart attack on the campaign trail. After undergoing surgery, Sanders returned to his home in Vermont to recover. Sanders insisted during the debate that he was ready for the campaign.
“We are going to be mounting a vigorous campaign all over this country,” he said, inviting viewers to attend his New York City rally this coming weekend.
__________
IGNORANT NUTTERS ARE BERNIE BROS
by Bob Walsh
Congressional Representatives Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib and Alexandria Occasionally Correct have all decided to endorse Crazy Bernie is his run for President.
Personally I think that is a wonderful thing. FEEL THE BERN ladies.
By Zachary Evans
National Review
October 16, 2019
Representative Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) announced on Wednesday morning that she is endorsing Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) for president, and confirmed that Representative Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) is also endorsing Sanders.
“Proud to endorse @SenSanders for President, glad that @AOC and @RashidaTlaib are on board too,” Omar posted on Twitter.
“Bernie is leading a working-class movement to defeat Donald Trump that transcends generation, ethnicity and geography,” she added in a longer statement. Sanders reciprocated, saying in his own statement that Omar is “a leader of strength and courage.”
The endorsements of Omar and Tlaib, along with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), gives Sanders the support of three out of four members of the “Squad.” Representative Ayanna Pressley (D., Mass.), the fourth member, has not yet endorsed a candidate.
Ocasio-Cortez, whose decision to endorse Sanders was first reported by the Washington Post on Tuesday evening, will formally announce the endorsement at a campaign rally this Saturday in New York City.
Tuesday night’s Democratic-primary debate marked Sanders’s first campaign event since suffering a heart attack on the campaign trail. After undergoing surgery, Sanders returned to his home in Vermont to recover. Sanders insisted during the debate that he was ready for the campaign.
“We are going to be mounting a vigorous campaign all over this country,” he said, inviting viewers to attend his New York City rally this coming weekend.
__________
IGNORANT NUTTERS ARE BERNIE BROS
by Bob Walsh
Congressional Representatives Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib and Alexandria Occasionally Correct have all decided to endorse Crazy Bernie is his run for President.
Personally I think that is a wonderful thing. FEEL THE BERN ladies.
BOSTON MAN FLIPPED CHICAGO ROBBER OVER LIKE A HAMBUTGER
‘I don’t like bullies’: Rider from Boston disarms robber on Blue Line train
By Emmanuel Camarillo
Chicago Sun Times
October 15, 2019
Boston man Jean-Paul LaPierre, who caught a Blue Line train Sunday morning to the Chicago Marathon, said he didn’t hesitate to act when he heard someone was robbing people on the train.
“I don’t like people that strike fear in people like that,” he said. “I don’t like bullies.”
A man boarded the train about 5:50 a.m. and showed a handgun to passengers while demanding their money in the 5800 block of North Cumberland Avenue, Chicago police said.
“He was very quietly robbing people,” LaPierre said. “I went up front and said to him, give me the gun and we started fighting for the gun.”
With all of the adrenaline in his system, LaPierre said he wasn’t thinking about getting shot when he approached the armed robber. “Once I got a few feet from him I knew he wasn’t going to be able to react fast enough to shoot me.”
“I was going nuts,” he said. “When I see someone pull a gun it makes me angry, it makes me really, really angry.”
LaPierre said he managed to pry the gun away from the man and was holding onto it with his right hand while maintaining a firm grip on the robber with his left.
“The man in front of me said he could put the safety on, so I handed him the gun and he put the safety on and walked it out of the train,” LaPierre said. “At this point, I was alone on the train with this guy and I had no more weapon,” LaPierre said.
“I kept telling him if you move I’m going to knock you out. I’m going to hit you seven times in three seconds.”
After that, the man “calmed down and waited for the police,” LaPierre said.
Officers told the man to get on his stomach, but when he instead laid on his back, LaPierre ran to him and “flipped him over like a hamburger and then they cuffed him” LaPierre said.
Tremaine Anderson, 30, was arrested and charged with unauthorized use of a weapon, police said.
LaPierre, who said he was in town to run the marathon, said this isn’t the first time he’s stepped into the role of Good Samaritan. He said he helped rescue a boy from a vehicle crash in Boston a few years ago, and tracked down a missing python in Newton, Massachusetts.
“I’ve been involved in a lot of things,” LaPierre said. “I just seem to be at the right place at the right time, is what people tell me.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: But the cops did not get the gun because a ‘Slick Willie’ took off with it.
Anderson will probably go Scott-free because the cops have no gun and LaPierre will be returning to Boston. It would have been far better if LaPierre had hit him seven times in three seconds and beat the living shit out of him, then quickly beat feet before the cops arrived.
By Emmanuel Camarillo
Chicago Sun Times
October 15, 2019
Boston man Jean-Paul LaPierre, who caught a Blue Line train Sunday morning to the Chicago Marathon, said he didn’t hesitate to act when he heard someone was robbing people on the train.
“I don’t like people that strike fear in people like that,” he said. “I don’t like bullies.”
A man boarded the train about 5:50 a.m. and showed a handgun to passengers while demanding their money in the 5800 block of North Cumberland Avenue, Chicago police said.
“He was very quietly robbing people,” LaPierre said. “I went up front and said to him, give me the gun and we started fighting for the gun.”
With all of the adrenaline in his system, LaPierre said he wasn’t thinking about getting shot when he approached the armed robber. “Once I got a few feet from him I knew he wasn’t going to be able to react fast enough to shoot me.”
“I was going nuts,” he said. “When I see someone pull a gun it makes me angry, it makes me really, really angry.”
LaPierre said he managed to pry the gun away from the man and was holding onto it with his right hand while maintaining a firm grip on the robber with his left.
“The man in front of me said he could put the safety on, so I handed him the gun and he put the safety on and walked it out of the train,” LaPierre said. “At this point, I was alone on the train with this guy and I had no more weapon,” LaPierre said.
“I kept telling him if you move I’m going to knock you out. I’m going to hit you seven times in three seconds.”
After that, the man “calmed down and waited for the police,” LaPierre said.
Officers told the man to get on his stomach, but when he instead laid on his back, LaPierre ran to him and “flipped him over like a hamburger and then they cuffed him” LaPierre said.
Tremaine Anderson, 30, was arrested and charged with unauthorized use of a weapon, police said.
LaPierre, who said he was in town to run the marathon, said this isn’t the first time he’s stepped into the role of Good Samaritan. He said he helped rescue a boy from a vehicle crash in Boston a few years ago, and tracked down a missing python in Newton, Massachusetts.
“I’ve been involved in a lot of things,” LaPierre said. “I just seem to be at the right place at the right time, is what people tell me.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: But the cops did not get the gun because a ‘Slick Willie’ took off with it.
Anderson will probably go Scott-free because the cops have no gun and LaPierre will be returning to Boston. It would have been far better if LaPierre had hit him seven times in three seconds and beat the living shit out of him, then quickly beat feet before the cops arrived.
NEW FINGERPRINT TECHNOLOGY
LAPPL News Watch
October 16, 2019
A decade ago, chemistry professor Paul Kelly was conducting experiments at England’s Loughborough University when he noticed his glass beakers were emerging from a vapor-filled chamber with clearly defined fingerprints on them.
The quality of the fingerprints was remarkable, and Kelly and his colleagues decided to see if their discovery could have any practical applications. They teamed up with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence, and began exposing fingerprints on various materials to a chemical vapor, and adjusting the process to improve their results.
Kelly’s team then licensed the technique to a private company called Foster + Freeman, which built a machine called RECOVER to run the tests.
Foster + Freeman started selling it to law enforcement agencies in the United States this year and has delivered machines to about 10 of the country’s 400 public labs so far, two sources said. Lab technicians can use the machine to pull fingerprints from shell casings and other metal surfaces, like knives and from explosives.
It’s not as useful on guns themselves because they are often textured or treated to prevent corrosion, which can make it more difficult to retrieve usable prints, one expert said.
October 16, 2019
A decade ago, chemistry professor Paul Kelly was conducting experiments at England’s Loughborough University when he noticed his glass beakers were emerging from a vapor-filled chamber with clearly defined fingerprints on them.
The quality of the fingerprints was remarkable, and Kelly and his colleagues decided to see if their discovery could have any practical applications. They teamed up with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence, and began exposing fingerprints on various materials to a chemical vapor, and adjusting the process to improve their results.
Kelly’s team then licensed the technique to a private company called Foster + Freeman, which built a machine called RECOVER to run the tests.
Foster + Freeman started selling it to law enforcement agencies in the United States this year and has delivered machines to about 10 of the country’s 400 public labs so far, two sources said. Lab technicians can use the machine to pull fingerprints from shell casings and other metal surfaces, like knives and from explosives.
It’s not as useful on guns themselves because they are often textured or treated to prevent corrosion, which can make it more difficult to retrieve usable prints, one expert said.
ABC NEWS SHOWED TURKS BOMBING KURDS IN KENTUCKY GUN RANGE
ABC Mistakenly Label a Video from a US Gun Range as Syrian War Footage
By Bethania Palma
Snopes
October 15, 2019
A nightly news program on ABC erroneously aired a video from a Kentucky gun range during a report about the outbreak of war in northern Syria between Turkey and U.S.-allied Kurds after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled American forces out.
The video depicting a fiery explosion was shown during “World News Tonight” on Oct. 13, 2019, and again the following day on “Good Morning America.” The video described itself as “appearing to show” the Turkish military bombarding Kurdish forces. In reality, it showed a night-time shooting event at a Kentucky gun range. ABC apologized for the mistake.
“We’ve taken down video that aired on ‘World News Tonight Sunday’ and ‘Good Morning America’ [on Oct. 14, 2019] that appeared to be from the Syrian border immediately after questions were raised about its accuracy. ABC News regrets the error,” an ABC spokesman said in a statement.
A source from ABC said the video was provided by someone who purported to be in a “sensitive position” on the border between Turkey and Syria. The network is investigating the incident.
Turkey launched a military offensive against Kurdish forces in northern Syria shortly after Trump pulled American troops from their posts there, where they had been for several years supporting Kurds in a fight to contain Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists. The resulting chaos that included the escape of detainees associated with ISIS, violence against civilians, and a geopolitical advantage handed to America’s adversaries, have prompted sharp bipartisan criticism of Trump’s decision.
The video aired by ABC has been online since at least 2017. A caption on what appears to be the original YouTube post says the explosion was the rather spectacular result of a night time machine-gun shoot, an event held at the Knob Creek Gun Range in Kentucky.
A number of right-wing partisans have pointed to the incident as evidence of the nefarious work of the “mainstream media” or “MSM,” which attracted the attention of Trump, who often attacks the news media.
But Peter Adams, head of education at the non-profit, non-partisan News Literacy Project, explained that although ABC owes the public a detailed account of how the misstep happened, it appeared to be nothing more than human error, not an intentional effort by ABC to mislead.
“Despite the online rantings of bad-faith partisans, there is no evidence that this was intentional nor ideologically-motivated. The conflict in Syria is highly newsworthy & the motivation here was almost certainly to get a sensational, great-for-TV clip,” Adams wrote in a Twitter thread. Adams added that legitimate news outlets publicly acknowledge even minor errors and correct the record, and that it’s important to remember that these types of mistakes are relatively rare.
By Bethania Palma
Snopes
October 15, 2019
A nightly news program on ABC erroneously aired a video from a Kentucky gun range during a report about the outbreak of war in northern Syria between Turkey and U.S.-allied Kurds after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled American forces out.
The video depicting a fiery explosion was shown during “World News Tonight” on Oct. 13, 2019, and again the following day on “Good Morning America.” The video described itself as “appearing to show” the Turkish military bombarding Kurdish forces. In reality, it showed a night-time shooting event at a Kentucky gun range. ABC apologized for the mistake.
“We’ve taken down video that aired on ‘World News Tonight Sunday’ and ‘Good Morning America’ [on Oct. 14, 2019] that appeared to be from the Syrian border immediately after questions were raised about its accuracy. ABC News regrets the error,” an ABC spokesman said in a statement.
A source from ABC said the video was provided by someone who purported to be in a “sensitive position” on the border between Turkey and Syria. The network is investigating the incident.
Turkey launched a military offensive against Kurdish forces in northern Syria shortly after Trump pulled American troops from their posts there, where they had been for several years supporting Kurds in a fight to contain Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists. The resulting chaos that included the escape of detainees associated with ISIS, violence against civilians, and a geopolitical advantage handed to America’s adversaries, have prompted sharp bipartisan criticism of Trump’s decision.
The video aired by ABC has been online since at least 2017. A caption on what appears to be the original YouTube post says the explosion was the rather spectacular result of a night time machine-gun shoot, an event held at the Knob Creek Gun Range in Kentucky.
A number of right-wing partisans have pointed to the incident as evidence of the nefarious work of the “mainstream media” or “MSM,” which attracted the attention of Trump, who often attacks the news media.
But Peter Adams, head of education at the non-profit, non-partisan News Literacy Project, explained that although ABC owes the public a detailed account of how the misstep happened, it appeared to be nothing more than human error, not an intentional effort by ABC to mislead.
“Despite the online rantings of bad-faith partisans, there is no evidence that this was intentional nor ideologically-motivated. The conflict in Syria is highly newsworthy & the motivation here was almost certainly to get a sensational, great-for-TV clip,” Adams wrote in a Twitter thread. Adams added that legitimate news outlets publicly acknowledge even minor errors and correct the record, and that it’s important to remember that these types of mistakes are relatively rare.
WE HAVE NO WALL TO KEEP OUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM THE CARIBBEAN
Man who illegally re-entered U.S. after his 2016 deportation accused of murdering his girlfriend in their Bronx apartment and leaving her body to rot for a month
By John Annese
New York Daily News
October 15, 2019
A deported immigrant who illegally returned to the U.S. is now charged with killing his Bronx girlfriend and leaving her body to rot for a month.
Luis Severino, 49, was indicted Tuesday on charges he allegedly stabbed his girlfriend, Cindy Olivo, 33, in their Fordham Heights apartment sometime in June.
Police found her decomposed body July 12 in the apartment on University Ave. near W. Fordham Road after neighbors complained of a foul odor. At first, authorities thought she’d died of a drug overdose.
An autopsy proved otherwise, revealing two stab wounds on each side of her neck, cops said.
Olivo’s family suspected Severino killed her, telling the Daily News in July that she started dating him about two years ago, began using drugs and pulled away from her relatives.
“He was very weird, very strange, always distant, he was always very isolated to a corner. But we didn’t pay mind to that, we were just happy she was around," her sister, Ana Javier, told the News. Severino never reached out to her family after her death to find out what had happened to her, Javier said.
It turned out Severino fled to Florida, and was arrested Aug. 14 on a re-entry of deported aliens charge, according to federal court documents and law enforcement sources.
Severino, who was born in the Dominican Republic, has never been a U.S. citizen, court documents allege. In 2006, he served time in state prison time in a stolen credit card case, and in March 2014, he was convicted of drug possession with intent to sell in Manhattan and sentenced to 42 months. He was deported Oct. 18, 2016.
Severino, who also went by the name Louis Santana, Julio Torres and Luis Manuel Severino Colon, got back into the U.S., and showed up in the Bronx, federal prosecutors said. The NYPD let ICE officials know on July 26 that he was under investigation for a June 15 crime, according to a federal complaint.
Severino appeared in Bronx Supreme Court Monday to face murder and manslaughter charges, and was returned to federal custody.
EDITOR’S NOTE: MAGA. Build Trump’s wall across all the borders of the US. Access to East Coast, West Coast and Gulf beaches through heavily guarded gates only. MAGA.
By John Annese
New York Daily News
October 15, 2019
A deported immigrant who illegally returned to the U.S. is now charged with killing his Bronx girlfriend and leaving her body to rot for a month.
Luis Severino, 49, was indicted Tuesday on charges he allegedly stabbed his girlfriend, Cindy Olivo, 33, in their Fordham Heights apartment sometime in June.
Police found her decomposed body July 12 in the apartment on University Ave. near W. Fordham Road after neighbors complained of a foul odor. At first, authorities thought she’d died of a drug overdose.
An autopsy proved otherwise, revealing two stab wounds on each side of her neck, cops said.
Olivo’s family suspected Severino killed her, telling the Daily News in July that she started dating him about two years ago, began using drugs and pulled away from her relatives.
“He was very weird, very strange, always distant, he was always very isolated to a corner. But we didn’t pay mind to that, we were just happy she was around," her sister, Ana Javier, told the News. Severino never reached out to her family after her death to find out what had happened to her, Javier said.
It turned out Severino fled to Florida, and was arrested Aug. 14 on a re-entry of deported aliens charge, according to federal court documents and law enforcement sources.
Severino, who was born in the Dominican Republic, has never been a U.S. citizen, court documents allege. In 2006, he served time in state prison time in a stolen credit card case, and in March 2014, he was convicted of drug possession with intent to sell in Manhattan and sentenced to 42 months. He was deported Oct. 18, 2016.
Severino, who also went by the name Louis Santana, Julio Torres and Luis Manuel Severino Colon, got back into the U.S., and showed up in the Bronx, federal prosecutors said. The NYPD let ICE officials know on July 26 that he was under investigation for a June 15 crime, according to a federal complaint.
Severino appeared in Bronx Supreme Court Monday to face murder and manslaughter charges, and was returned to federal custody.
EDITOR’S NOTE: MAGA. Build Trump’s wall across all the borders of the US. Access to East Coast, West Coast and Gulf beaches through heavily guarded gates only. MAGA.
BECAUSE HAMAS WOULD WIN, THERE WILL BE NO GENERAL ELECTION FOR THE PALESTINIANS, CERTAINLY NOT SO LONG AS ABBAS IS ALIVE
'PA elections will result in Hamas taking over the West Bank'
By Daniel Siryoti
Israel Hayom
October 16, 2019
Despite the diplomatic schism between Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Jordan, senior security officials from Israel, Jordan, and the PA are confirming that security coordination and intelligence cooperation are operating with "Swiss clock" precision.
Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Amman are in rare agreement when it comes to elections for the Palestinian presidency in east Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank. In a speech at the United Nations last month, PA President Mahmoud Abbas declared that PA elections would lead to Hamas defeating Fatah and the organization seizing control of the Palestinian Authority, quickly and brutally ousting Fatah officials from all government agencies, ministries, and the PA security and intelligence apparatuses.
Senior Palestinian officials say that Abbas' close associates acknowledge that recent polls indicate clearly that if PA parliament elections were held now, not only would Hamas beat Fatah, but Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh would also beat Abbas in a race for the presidency by a considerable margin.
The last time parliamentary elections were held in Gaza and the West Bank (2006), Hamas secured a majority in the PA parliament. A year later, Hamas carried out a putsch in Gaza and took control of all government agencies, while lynching many Fatah officials and deporting others from Gaza, along with their families.
Recently, the Palestinian public has become more critical of the lack of progress toward reconciliation between the various Palestinian factions.
Meanwhile, fellows at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) who research Palestinian politics are emphasizing that the public's criticism of Abbas and his associates grew stronger after they rejected a proposal for reconciliation with Hamas that had been put together by eight different organizations in the West Bank and Gaza. In contrast, Hamas strongman Haniyeh announced that he accepted the proposal "unconditionally and as written."
Because Abbas rejected the plan, while Haniyeh approved it, Abbas was perceived as someone who was trying to undermine the process of reconciliation, which should have resulted in parliamentary elections.
Head of the General Authority of Civil Affairs in the PA Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Fatah official and member of Abbas' inner circle, rejects criticism of the "rais" (president) as well as the claim that despite his UN speech urging parliamentary elections in the PA, Abbas does not really want them to take place for fear that Hamas will oust him and his Fatah movement from power.
"We are not ruling out any reconciliation initiative. In this case, the proposal that the organizations put together would only waste time and deepen the schisms, thereby increasing the divide in Palestinian society. We must call an immediate general election in Gaza, the West Bank, and east Jerusalem, after which a national unity government will be formed that can fully govern the West Bank and [Gaza] Strip," al-Sheikh said.
Another senior PA official responded to al-Sheikh's comments, telling Israel Hayom that "There will not be a general election in the Palestinian Authority, certainly not so long as Abbas is alive."
According to the official, the people in Fatah know that "they'll lose an election, and in this case, Hamas would rush in to seize power in the West Bank. That is a nightmare scenario, not only for Israel but for Jordan, too. It would really pose a danger to Jordan and Israel's national security. Not to mention the ramifications on the day-to-day lives of the average Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza."
The official also said that Hamas had no interest in promoting reconciliation with Fatah if the process would not result in an election.
"Hamas doesn't want to divide control over the Gaza Strip with the PA, which it kicked out in the putsch of 2007. Hamas wants to take control over the West Bank, too, so the organization is willing to promote a process of reconciliation between the Palestinian factions only if it's clear that doing so will lead to elections that will put Hamas into power in the West Bank. If the organization loses the elections, it won't be in a hurry to hand over power in Gaza," the official continued.
After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in September that he planned to annex the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea area, Abbas stated that if annexation went ahead, the PA would freeze all existing agreements with Israel.
But despite Abbas' declarations, the facts on the ground indicate that security and intelligence coordination, as well as civil cooperation at the mid-level, is proceeding as usual. According to one senior official in Ramallah, this is due to "an understanding and acceptance of a situation in which we have common interests with Israel and, to a certain extent, with Jordan – namely, stopping Hamas' vision of seizing power in the West Bank like it did in Gaza."
Israeli diplomatic officials familiar with developments in Palestinian politics notes that Abbas' call to suspend all agreements with Israel and even his insistence on continuing to pay stipends to relatives of Palestinian terrorists have driven the PA into a serious economic crisis.
"The call [to freeze the agreements] was mainly intended to show that he was deterring Israel and is not afraid to freeze all the agreements with Israel, including the security coordination that is so vital to the Palestinian security apparatuses, not less so than to Israeli security and defense," the researchers said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Democracy Abbas style. The election which brought Abbas to power took place in January 2005, almost 15 years ago. The election for the PA parliament which he has since dispersed, was held in January 2006.
By Daniel Siryoti
Israel Hayom
October 16, 2019
Despite the diplomatic schism between Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Jordan, senior security officials from Israel, Jordan, and the PA are confirming that security coordination and intelligence cooperation are operating with "Swiss clock" precision.
Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Amman are in rare agreement when it comes to elections for the Palestinian presidency in east Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank. In a speech at the United Nations last month, PA President Mahmoud Abbas declared that PA elections would lead to Hamas defeating Fatah and the organization seizing control of the Palestinian Authority, quickly and brutally ousting Fatah officials from all government agencies, ministries, and the PA security and intelligence apparatuses.
Senior Palestinian officials say that Abbas' close associates acknowledge that recent polls indicate clearly that if PA parliament elections were held now, not only would Hamas beat Fatah, but Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh would also beat Abbas in a race for the presidency by a considerable margin.
The last time parliamentary elections were held in Gaza and the West Bank (2006), Hamas secured a majority in the PA parliament. A year later, Hamas carried out a putsch in Gaza and took control of all government agencies, while lynching many Fatah officials and deporting others from Gaza, along with their families.
Recently, the Palestinian public has become more critical of the lack of progress toward reconciliation between the various Palestinian factions.
Meanwhile, fellows at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) who research Palestinian politics are emphasizing that the public's criticism of Abbas and his associates grew stronger after they rejected a proposal for reconciliation with Hamas that had been put together by eight different organizations in the West Bank and Gaza. In contrast, Hamas strongman Haniyeh announced that he accepted the proposal "unconditionally and as written."
Because Abbas rejected the plan, while Haniyeh approved it, Abbas was perceived as someone who was trying to undermine the process of reconciliation, which should have resulted in parliamentary elections.
Head of the General Authority of Civil Affairs in the PA Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Fatah official and member of Abbas' inner circle, rejects criticism of the "rais" (president) as well as the claim that despite his UN speech urging parliamentary elections in the PA, Abbas does not really want them to take place for fear that Hamas will oust him and his Fatah movement from power.
"We are not ruling out any reconciliation initiative. In this case, the proposal that the organizations put together would only waste time and deepen the schisms, thereby increasing the divide in Palestinian society. We must call an immediate general election in Gaza, the West Bank, and east Jerusalem, after which a national unity government will be formed that can fully govern the West Bank and [Gaza] Strip," al-Sheikh said.
Another senior PA official responded to al-Sheikh's comments, telling Israel Hayom that "There will not be a general election in the Palestinian Authority, certainly not so long as Abbas is alive."
According to the official, the people in Fatah know that "they'll lose an election, and in this case, Hamas would rush in to seize power in the West Bank. That is a nightmare scenario, not only for Israel but for Jordan, too. It would really pose a danger to Jordan and Israel's national security. Not to mention the ramifications on the day-to-day lives of the average Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza."
The official also said that Hamas had no interest in promoting reconciliation with Fatah if the process would not result in an election.
"Hamas doesn't want to divide control over the Gaza Strip with the PA, which it kicked out in the putsch of 2007. Hamas wants to take control over the West Bank, too, so the organization is willing to promote a process of reconciliation between the Palestinian factions only if it's clear that doing so will lead to elections that will put Hamas into power in the West Bank. If the organization loses the elections, it won't be in a hurry to hand over power in Gaza," the official continued.
After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in September that he planned to annex the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea area, Abbas stated that if annexation went ahead, the PA would freeze all existing agreements with Israel.
But despite Abbas' declarations, the facts on the ground indicate that security and intelligence coordination, as well as civil cooperation at the mid-level, is proceeding as usual. According to one senior official in Ramallah, this is due to "an understanding and acceptance of a situation in which we have common interests with Israel and, to a certain extent, with Jordan – namely, stopping Hamas' vision of seizing power in the West Bank like it did in Gaza."
Israeli diplomatic officials familiar with developments in Palestinian politics notes that Abbas' call to suspend all agreements with Israel and even his insistence on continuing to pay stipends to relatives of Palestinian terrorists have driven the PA into a serious economic crisis.
"The call [to freeze the agreements] was mainly intended to show that he was deterring Israel and is not afraid to freeze all the agreements with Israel, including the security coordination that is so vital to the Palestinian security apparatuses, not less so than to Israeli security and defense," the researchers said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Democracy Abbas style. The election which brought Abbas to power took place in January 2005, almost 15 years ago. The election for the PA parliament which he has since dispersed, was held in January 2006.
WE’RE IN A PERMANENT COUP
Americans might soon wish they just waited to vote their way out of the Trump era
By Matt Taibbi
October 11, 2019
I’ve lived through a few coups. They’re insane, random, and terrifying, like watching sports, except your political future depends on the score.
The kickoff begins when a key official decides to buck the executive. From that moment, government becomes a high-speed head-counting exercise. Who’s got the power plant, the airport, the police in the capital? How many department chiefs are answering their phones? Who’s writing tonight’s newscast?
When the KGB in 1991 tried to reassume control of the crumbling Soviet Union by placing Mikhail Gorbachev under arrest and attempting to seize Moscow, logistics ruled. Boris Yeltsin’s crew drove to the Russian White House in ordinary cars, beating KGB coup plotters who were trying to reach the seat of Russian government in armored vehicles. A key moment came when one of Yeltsin’s men, Alexander Rutskoi – who two years later would himself lead a coup against Yeltsin – prevailed upon a Major in a tank unit to defy KGB orders and turn on the “criminals.”
We have long been spared this madness in America. Our head-counting ceremony was Election Day. We did it once every four years.
That’s all over, in the Trump era.
On Thursday, news broke that two businessmen said to have “peddled supposedly explosive information about corruption involving Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden” were arrested at Dulles airport on “campaign finance violations.” The two figures are alleged to be bagmen bearing “dirt” on Democrats, solicited by Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman will be asked to give depositions to impeachment investigators. They’re reportedly going to refuse. Their lawyer John Dowd also says they will “refuse to appear before House Committees investigating President Donald Trump.” Fruman and Parnas meanwhile claim they had real derogatory information about Biden and other politicians, but “the U.S. government had shown little interest in receiving it through official channels.”
For Americans not familiar with the language of the Third World, that’s two contrasting denials of political legitimacy.
The men who are the proxies for Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani in this story are asserting that “official channels” have been corrupted. The forces backing impeachment, meanwhile, are telling us those same defendants are obstructing a lawful impeachment inquiry.
This latest incident, set against the impeachment mania and the reportedly “expanding” Russiagate investigation of U.S. Attorney John Durham, accelerates our timeline to chaos. We are speeding toward a situation when someone in one of these camps refuses to obey a major decree, arrest order, or court decision, at which point Americans will get to experience the joys of their political futures being decided by phone calls to generals and police chiefs.
My discomfort in the last few years, first with Russiagate and now with Ukrainegate and impeachment, stems from the belief that the people pushing hardest for Trump’s early removal are more dangerous than Trump. Many Americans don’t see this because they’re not used to waking up in a country where you’re not sure who the president will be by nightfall. They don’t understand that this predicament is worse than having a bad president.
The Trump presidency is the first to reveal a full-blown schism between the intelligence community and the White House. Senior figures in the CIA, NSA, FBI and other agencies made an open break from their would-be boss before Trump’s inauguration, commencing a public war of leaks that has not stopped.
The first big shot was fired in early January, 2017, via a CNN.com headline, “Intel chiefs presented Trump with claims of Russian efforts to compromise him.” This tale, about the January 7th presentation of former British spy Christopher Steele’s report to then-President-elect Trump, began as follows:
Classified documents presented last week to President Obama and President-elect Trump included allegations that Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump, multiple US officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell CNN.
Four intelligence chiefs in the FBI’s James Comey, the CIA’s John Brennan, the NSA’s Mike Rogers, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, presented an incoming president with a politically disastrous piece of information, in this case a piece of a private opposition research report.
Among other things because the news dropped at the same time Buzzfeed decided to publish the entire “bombshell” Steele dossier, reporters spent that week obsessing not about the mode of the story’s release, but about the “claims.” In particular, audiences were rapt by allegations that Russians were trying to blackmail Trump with evidence of a golden shower party commissioned on a bed once slept upon by Barack Obama himself.
Twitter exploded. No other news story mattered. For the next two years, the “claims” of compromise and a “continuing” Trump-Russian “exchange” hung over the White House like a sword of Damocles.
Few were interested in the motives for making this story public. As it turned out, there were two explanations, one that was made public, and one that only came out later. The public justification as outlined in the CNN piece, was to “make the President-elect aware that such allegations involving him [were] circulating among intelligence agencies.”
However, we know from Comey’s January 7, 2017 memo to deputy Andrew McCabe and FBI General Counsel James Baker there was another explanation. Comey wrote:
I said I wasn’t saying this was true, only that I wanted [Trump] to know both that it had been reported and that the reports were in many hands. I said media like CNN had them and were looking for a news hook. I said it was important that we not give them the excuse to write that the FBI has the material or [redacted] and that we were keeping it very close-hold.
Imagine if a similar situation had taken place in January of 2009, involving president-elect Barack Obama. Picture a meeting between Obama and the heads of the CIA, NSA, and FBI, along with the DIA, in which the newly-elected president is presented with a report complied by, say, Judicial Watch, accusing him of links to al-Qaeda. Imagine further that they tell Obama they are presenting him with this information to make him aware of a blackmail threat, and to reassure him they won’t give news agencies a “hook” to publish the news.
Now imagine if that news came out on Fox days later. Imagine further that within a year, one of the four officials became a paid Fox contributor. Democrats would lose their minds in this set of circumstances.
The country mostly did not lose its mind, however, because the episode did not involve a traditionally presidential figure like Obama, nor was it understood to have been directed at the institution of “the White House” in the abstract.
Instead, it was a story about an infamously corrupt individual, Donald Trump, a pussy-grabbing scammer who bragged about using bankruptcy to escape debt and publicly praised Vladimir Putin. Audiences believed the allegations against this person and saw the intelligence/counterintelligence community as acting patriotically, doing their best to keep us informed about a still-breaking investigation of a rogue president.
But a parallel story was ignored. Leaks from the intelligence community most often pertain to foreign policy. The leak of the January, 2017 “meeting” between the four chiefs and Trump – which without question damaged both the presidency and America’s standing abroad – was an unprecedented act of insubordination.
It was also a bold new foray into domestic politics by intelligence agencies that in recent decades began asserting all sorts of frightening new authority. They were kidnapping foreigners, assassinating by drone, conducting paramilitary operations without congressional notice, building an international archipelago of secret prisons, and engaging in mass warrantless surveillance of Americans. We found out in a court case just last week how extensive the illegal domestic surveillance has been, with the FBI engaging in tens of thousands of warrantless searches involving American emails and phone numbers under the guise of combating foreign subversion.
The agencies’ new trick is inserting themselves into domestic politics using leaks and media pressure. The “intel chiefs” meeting was just the first in a series of similar stories, many following the pattern in which a document was created, passed from department from department, and leaked. A sample:
• February 14, 2017: “four current and former officials” tell the New York Times the Trump campaign had “repeated contacts” with Russian intelligence.
• March 1, 2017: “Justice Department officials” tell the Washington Post Attorney General Jeff Sessions “spoke twice with Russia’s ambassador” and did not disclose the contacts ahead of his confirmation hearing.
• March 18, 2017: “people familiar with the matter” tell the Wall Street Journal that former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn failed to disclose a “contact” with a Russian at Cambridge University, an episode that “came to the notice of U.S. intelligence.”
• April 8, 2017, 2017: “law enforcement and other U.S. officials” tell the Washington Post the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge had ruled there was “probable cause” to believe former Trump aide Carter Page was an “agent of a foreign power.”
• April 13, 2017: a “source close to UK intelligence” tells Luke Harding at The Guardian that the British analog to the NSA, the GCHQ, passed knowledge of “suspicious interactions” between “figures connected to Trump and “known or suspected Russian agents” to Americans as part of a “routine exchange of information.”
• December 17, 2017: “four current and former American and foreign officials” tell the New York Times that during the 2016 campaign, an Australian diplomat named Alexander Downer told “American counterparts” that former Trump aide George Papadopoulos revealed “Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton.
• April 13, 2018: “two sources familiar with the matter” tell McClatchy that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office has evidence Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was in Prague in 2016, “confirming part of [Steele] dossier.”
• November 27, 2018: a “well-placed source” tells Harding at The Guardian that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort met with Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
• January 19, 2019: “former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation” tell the New York Times the FBI opened an inquiry into the “explosive implications” of whether or not Donald Trump was working on behalf of the Russians.
To be sure, “people familiar with the matter” leaked a lot of true stories in the last few years, but many were clearly problematic even at the time of release. Moreover, all took place in the context of constant, hounding pressure from media figures, congressional allies like Democrats Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, as well as ex-officials who could make use of their own personal public platforms in addition to being unnamed sources in straight news reports. They used commercial news platforms to argue that Trump had committed treason, needed to be removed from office, and preferably also indicted as soon as possible.
A shocking number of these voices were former intelligence officers who joined Clapper in becoming paid news contributors. Op-ed pages and news networks are packed now with ex-spooks editorializing about stories in which they had personal involvement: Michael Morell, Michael Hayden, Asha Rangappa, and Andrew McCabe among many others, including especially all four of the original “intel chiefs”: Clapper, Rogers, Comey, and MSNBC headliner John Brennan.
Russiagate birthed a whole brand of politics, a government-in-exile, which prosecuted its case against Trump via a constant stream of “approved” leaks, partisans in congress, and an increasingly unified and thematically consistent set of commercial news outlets.
These mechanisms have been transplanted now onto the Ukrainegate drama. It’s the same people beating the public drums, with the messaging run out of the same congressional committees, through the same Nadlers, Schiffs, and Swalwells. The same news outlets are on full alert.
The sidelined “intel chiefs” are once again playing central roles in making the public case. Comey says “we may now be at a point” where impeachment is necessary. Brennan, with unintentional irony, says the United States is “no longer a democracy.” Clapper says the Ukraine whistleblower complaint is “one of the most credible” he’s seen.
As a reporter covering the 2015–2016 presidential race, I thought Trump’s campaign was disturbing on many levels, but logical as a news story. He succeeded for class reasons, because of flaws in the media business that gifted him mass amounts of coverage, and because he took cunning advantage of long-simmering frustrations in the electorate. He also clearly catered to racist fears, and to the collapse in trust in institutions like the news media, the Fed, corporations, NATO, and, yes, the intelligence services. In enormous numbers, voters rejected everything they had ever been told about who was and was not qualified for higher office.
Trump’s campaign antagonism toward the military and intelligence world was at best a millimeter thick. Like almost everything else he said as a candidate, it was a gimmick, designed to get votes. That he was insincere and full of it and irresponsible, at first at least, when he attacked the “deep state” and the “fake news media,” doesn’t change the reality of what’s happened since. Even paranoiacs have enemies, and even Donald “Deep State” Trump is a legitimately elected president whose ouster is being actively sought by the intelligence community.
Trump stands accused of using the office of the presidency to advance political aims, in particular pressuring Ukraine to investigate potential campaign rival Joe Biden. He’s guilty, but the issue is how guilty, in comparison to his accusers.
Trump, at least insofar as we know, has not used section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to monitor political rivals. He hasn’t deployed human counterintelligence “informants” to follow the likes of Hunter Biden. He hasn’t maneuvered to secure Special Counsel probes of Democrats.
And while Donald Trump conducting foreign policy based on what he sees on Fox and Friends is troubling, it’s not in the same ballpark as CNN, MSNBC, the Washington Post and the New York Times engaging in de facto coverage partnerships with the FBI and CIA to push highly politicized, phony narratives like Russiagate.
Trump’s tinpot Twitter threats and cancellation of White House privileges for dolts like Jim Acosta also don’t begin to compare to the danger posed by Facebook, Google, and Twitter – under pressure from the Senate – organizing with groups like the Atlantic Council to fight “fake news” in the name of preventing the “foment of discord.”
I don’t believe most Americans have thought through what a successful campaign to oust Donald Trump would look like. Most casual news consumers can only think of it in terms of Mike Pence becoming president. The real problem would be the precedent of a de facto intelligence community veto over elections, using the lunatic spookworld brand of politics that has dominated the last three years of anti-Trump agitation.
CIA/FBI-backed impeachment could also be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If Donald Trump thinks he’s going to be jailed upon leaving office, he’ll sooner or later figure out that his only real move is to start acting like the “dictator” MSNBC and CNN keep insisting he is. Why give up the White House and wait to be arrested, when he still has theoretical authority to send Special Forces troops rappelling through the windows of every last Russiagate/Ukrainegate leaker? That would be the endgame in a third world country, and it’s where we’re headed, unless someone calls off this craziness. Welcome to the Permanent Power Struggle.
By Matt Taibbi
October 11, 2019
I’ve lived through a few coups. They’re insane, random, and terrifying, like watching sports, except your political future depends on the score.
The kickoff begins when a key official decides to buck the executive. From that moment, government becomes a high-speed head-counting exercise. Who’s got the power plant, the airport, the police in the capital? How many department chiefs are answering their phones? Who’s writing tonight’s newscast?
When the KGB in 1991 tried to reassume control of the crumbling Soviet Union by placing Mikhail Gorbachev under arrest and attempting to seize Moscow, logistics ruled. Boris Yeltsin’s crew drove to the Russian White House in ordinary cars, beating KGB coup plotters who were trying to reach the seat of Russian government in armored vehicles. A key moment came when one of Yeltsin’s men, Alexander Rutskoi – who two years later would himself lead a coup against Yeltsin – prevailed upon a Major in a tank unit to defy KGB orders and turn on the “criminals.”
We have long been spared this madness in America. Our head-counting ceremony was Election Day. We did it once every four years.
That’s all over, in the Trump era.
On Thursday, news broke that two businessmen said to have “peddled supposedly explosive information about corruption involving Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden” were arrested at Dulles airport on “campaign finance violations.” The two figures are alleged to be bagmen bearing “dirt” on Democrats, solicited by Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman will be asked to give depositions to impeachment investigators. They’re reportedly going to refuse. Their lawyer John Dowd also says they will “refuse to appear before House Committees investigating President Donald Trump.” Fruman and Parnas meanwhile claim they had real derogatory information about Biden and other politicians, but “the U.S. government had shown little interest in receiving it through official channels.”
For Americans not familiar with the language of the Third World, that’s two contrasting denials of political legitimacy.
The men who are the proxies for Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani in this story are asserting that “official channels” have been corrupted. The forces backing impeachment, meanwhile, are telling us those same defendants are obstructing a lawful impeachment inquiry.
This latest incident, set against the impeachment mania and the reportedly “expanding” Russiagate investigation of U.S. Attorney John Durham, accelerates our timeline to chaos. We are speeding toward a situation when someone in one of these camps refuses to obey a major decree, arrest order, or court decision, at which point Americans will get to experience the joys of their political futures being decided by phone calls to generals and police chiefs.
My discomfort in the last few years, first with Russiagate and now with Ukrainegate and impeachment, stems from the belief that the people pushing hardest for Trump’s early removal are more dangerous than Trump. Many Americans don’t see this because they’re not used to waking up in a country where you’re not sure who the president will be by nightfall. They don’t understand that this predicament is worse than having a bad president.
The Trump presidency is the first to reveal a full-blown schism between the intelligence community and the White House. Senior figures in the CIA, NSA, FBI and other agencies made an open break from their would-be boss before Trump’s inauguration, commencing a public war of leaks that has not stopped.
The first big shot was fired in early January, 2017, via a CNN.com headline, “Intel chiefs presented Trump with claims of Russian efforts to compromise him.” This tale, about the January 7th presentation of former British spy Christopher Steele’s report to then-President-elect Trump, began as follows:
Classified documents presented last week to President Obama and President-elect Trump included allegations that Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump, multiple US officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell CNN.
Four intelligence chiefs in the FBI’s James Comey, the CIA’s John Brennan, the NSA’s Mike Rogers, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, presented an incoming president with a politically disastrous piece of information, in this case a piece of a private opposition research report.
Among other things because the news dropped at the same time Buzzfeed decided to publish the entire “bombshell” Steele dossier, reporters spent that week obsessing not about the mode of the story’s release, but about the “claims.” In particular, audiences were rapt by allegations that Russians were trying to blackmail Trump with evidence of a golden shower party commissioned on a bed once slept upon by Barack Obama himself.
Twitter exploded. No other news story mattered. For the next two years, the “claims” of compromise and a “continuing” Trump-Russian “exchange” hung over the White House like a sword of Damocles.
Few were interested in the motives for making this story public. As it turned out, there were two explanations, one that was made public, and one that only came out later. The public justification as outlined in the CNN piece, was to “make the President-elect aware that such allegations involving him [were] circulating among intelligence agencies.”
However, we know from Comey’s January 7, 2017 memo to deputy Andrew McCabe and FBI General Counsel James Baker there was another explanation. Comey wrote:
I said I wasn’t saying this was true, only that I wanted [Trump] to know both that it had been reported and that the reports were in many hands. I said media like CNN had them and were looking for a news hook. I said it was important that we not give them the excuse to write that the FBI has the material or [redacted] and that we were keeping it very close-hold.
Imagine if a similar situation had taken place in January of 2009, involving president-elect Barack Obama. Picture a meeting between Obama and the heads of the CIA, NSA, and FBI, along with the DIA, in which the newly-elected president is presented with a report complied by, say, Judicial Watch, accusing him of links to al-Qaeda. Imagine further that they tell Obama they are presenting him with this information to make him aware of a blackmail threat, and to reassure him they won’t give news agencies a “hook” to publish the news.
Now imagine if that news came out on Fox days later. Imagine further that within a year, one of the four officials became a paid Fox contributor. Democrats would lose their minds in this set of circumstances.
The country mostly did not lose its mind, however, because the episode did not involve a traditionally presidential figure like Obama, nor was it understood to have been directed at the institution of “the White House” in the abstract.
Instead, it was a story about an infamously corrupt individual, Donald Trump, a pussy-grabbing scammer who bragged about using bankruptcy to escape debt and publicly praised Vladimir Putin. Audiences believed the allegations against this person and saw the intelligence/counterintelligence community as acting patriotically, doing their best to keep us informed about a still-breaking investigation of a rogue president.
But a parallel story was ignored. Leaks from the intelligence community most often pertain to foreign policy. The leak of the January, 2017 “meeting” between the four chiefs and Trump – which without question damaged both the presidency and America’s standing abroad – was an unprecedented act of insubordination.
It was also a bold new foray into domestic politics by intelligence agencies that in recent decades began asserting all sorts of frightening new authority. They were kidnapping foreigners, assassinating by drone, conducting paramilitary operations without congressional notice, building an international archipelago of secret prisons, and engaging in mass warrantless surveillance of Americans. We found out in a court case just last week how extensive the illegal domestic surveillance has been, with the FBI engaging in tens of thousands of warrantless searches involving American emails and phone numbers under the guise of combating foreign subversion.
The agencies’ new trick is inserting themselves into domestic politics using leaks and media pressure. The “intel chiefs” meeting was just the first in a series of similar stories, many following the pattern in which a document was created, passed from department from department, and leaked. A sample:
• February 14, 2017: “four current and former officials” tell the New York Times the Trump campaign had “repeated contacts” with Russian intelligence.
• March 1, 2017: “Justice Department officials” tell the Washington Post Attorney General Jeff Sessions “spoke twice with Russia’s ambassador” and did not disclose the contacts ahead of his confirmation hearing.
• March 18, 2017: “people familiar with the matter” tell the Wall Street Journal that former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn failed to disclose a “contact” with a Russian at Cambridge University, an episode that “came to the notice of U.S. intelligence.”
• April 8, 2017, 2017: “law enforcement and other U.S. officials” tell the Washington Post the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge had ruled there was “probable cause” to believe former Trump aide Carter Page was an “agent of a foreign power.”
• April 13, 2017: a “source close to UK intelligence” tells Luke Harding at The Guardian that the British analog to the NSA, the GCHQ, passed knowledge of “suspicious interactions” between “figures connected to Trump and “known or suspected Russian agents” to Americans as part of a “routine exchange of information.”
• December 17, 2017: “four current and former American and foreign officials” tell the New York Times that during the 2016 campaign, an Australian diplomat named Alexander Downer told “American counterparts” that former Trump aide George Papadopoulos revealed “Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton.
• April 13, 2018: “two sources familiar with the matter” tell McClatchy that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office has evidence Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was in Prague in 2016, “confirming part of [Steele] dossier.”
• November 27, 2018: a “well-placed source” tells Harding at The Guardian that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort met with Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
• January 19, 2019: “former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation” tell the New York Times the FBI opened an inquiry into the “explosive implications” of whether or not Donald Trump was working on behalf of the Russians.
To be sure, “people familiar with the matter” leaked a lot of true stories in the last few years, but many were clearly problematic even at the time of release. Moreover, all took place in the context of constant, hounding pressure from media figures, congressional allies like Democrats Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, as well as ex-officials who could make use of their own personal public platforms in addition to being unnamed sources in straight news reports. They used commercial news platforms to argue that Trump had committed treason, needed to be removed from office, and preferably also indicted as soon as possible.
A shocking number of these voices were former intelligence officers who joined Clapper in becoming paid news contributors. Op-ed pages and news networks are packed now with ex-spooks editorializing about stories in which they had personal involvement: Michael Morell, Michael Hayden, Asha Rangappa, and Andrew McCabe among many others, including especially all four of the original “intel chiefs”: Clapper, Rogers, Comey, and MSNBC headliner John Brennan.
Russiagate birthed a whole brand of politics, a government-in-exile, which prosecuted its case against Trump via a constant stream of “approved” leaks, partisans in congress, and an increasingly unified and thematically consistent set of commercial news outlets.
These mechanisms have been transplanted now onto the Ukrainegate drama. It’s the same people beating the public drums, with the messaging run out of the same congressional committees, through the same Nadlers, Schiffs, and Swalwells. The same news outlets are on full alert.
The sidelined “intel chiefs” are once again playing central roles in making the public case. Comey says “we may now be at a point” where impeachment is necessary. Brennan, with unintentional irony, says the United States is “no longer a democracy.” Clapper says the Ukraine whistleblower complaint is “one of the most credible” he’s seen.
As a reporter covering the 2015–2016 presidential race, I thought Trump’s campaign was disturbing on many levels, but logical as a news story. He succeeded for class reasons, because of flaws in the media business that gifted him mass amounts of coverage, and because he took cunning advantage of long-simmering frustrations in the electorate. He also clearly catered to racist fears, and to the collapse in trust in institutions like the news media, the Fed, corporations, NATO, and, yes, the intelligence services. In enormous numbers, voters rejected everything they had ever been told about who was and was not qualified for higher office.
Trump’s campaign antagonism toward the military and intelligence world was at best a millimeter thick. Like almost everything else he said as a candidate, it was a gimmick, designed to get votes. That he was insincere and full of it and irresponsible, at first at least, when he attacked the “deep state” and the “fake news media,” doesn’t change the reality of what’s happened since. Even paranoiacs have enemies, and even Donald “Deep State” Trump is a legitimately elected president whose ouster is being actively sought by the intelligence community.
Trump stands accused of using the office of the presidency to advance political aims, in particular pressuring Ukraine to investigate potential campaign rival Joe Biden. He’s guilty, but the issue is how guilty, in comparison to his accusers.
Trump, at least insofar as we know, has not used section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to monitor political rivals. He hasn’t deployed human counterintelligence “informants” to follow the likes of Hunter Biden. He hasn’t maneuvered to secure Special Counsel probes of Democrats.
And while Donald Trump conducting foreign policy based on what he sees on Fox and Friends is troubling, it’s not in the same ballpark as CNN, MSNBC, the Washington Post and the New York Times engaging in de facto coverage partnerships with the FBI and CIA to push highly politicized, phony narratives like Russiagate.
Trump’s tinpot Twitter threats and cancellation of White House privileges for dolts like Jim Acosta also don’t begin to compare to the danger posed by Facebook, Google, and Twitter – under pressure from the Senate – organizing with groups like the Atlantic Council to fight “fake news” in the name of preventing the “foment of discord.”
I don’t believe most Americans have thought through what a successful campaign to oust Donald Trump would look like. Most casual news consumers can only think of it in terms of Mike Pence becoming president. The real problem would be the precedent of a de facto intelligence community veto over elections, using the lunatic spookworld brand of politics that has dominated the last three years of anti-Trump agitation.
CIA/FBI-backed impeachment could also be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If Donald Trump thinks he’s going to be jailed upon leaving office, he’ll sooner or later figure out that his only real move is to start acting like the “dictator” MSNBC and CNN keep insisting he is. Why give up the White House and wait to be arrested, when he still has theoretical authority to send Special Forces troops rappelling through the windows of every last Russiagate/Ukrainegate leaker? That would be the endgame in a third world country, and it’s where we’re headed, unless someone calls off this craziness. Welcome to the Permanent Power Struggle.
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
DOES YOUR KID LIKE BIKER COFFEE OR BURRITOS?
A partial list of slang words for drugs to help police and parents keep ahead of the ever-increasing bizarre street names
From the DEA
Here are the street names of the drugs most used by users of illegal drugs in the US:
Cocaine - Big Bird, Cookie, Fish Scales, Mosquitoes, Tutti-Frutti and Rainbow
Ecstasy / MDA / Molly - Blue Superman, Dancing Shoes, Scooby Snacks, Vitamin E and Malcolm X
Fentanyl - Chinese Buffet, Facebook, Tango and Cash, Heineken and Murder 8
Heroin - Avocado, Chocolate Balls, Joy Flakes, Smack and Nice and Easy
Ketamine - Cat Food, Special K, Blind Squid, Honey Oil and Kit Kat
LSD - Bart Simpson, Electric Kool Aid, Looney Tunes, Pink Panthers and Wedding Bells
Marijuana - Mary Jane, Skywalker, Arizona, Bambalachacha and Burritos
Methamphetamine - Biker Coffee, Peanut Butter Crack, Chandelier, Clothing Cleaner and Tupperware
Synthetic Cannabinoids - Voodoo Child, Crystal Skull, Black Mamba, Green Peace and Hammer Head
Steroids - Gym Candy, Weight Gainers, Arnolds, Juice and Stackers
EDITOR’S NOTE: Back in my day the most common street name for heroin was ‘shit’ and it was ‘coke’ for cocaine, ‘meth’ for meth and ‘pot’ for pot. That was when illegal drugs were predominantly used by adults. The new street names appear to have been designed by kids to keep their parents from getting wise to their drug use.
From the DEA
Here are the street names of the drugs most used by users of illegal drugs in the US:
Cocaine - Big Bird, Cookie, Fish Scales, Mosquitoes, Tutti-Frutti and Rainbow
Ecstasy / MDA / Molly - Blue Superman, Dancing Shoes, Scooby Snacks, Vitamin E and Malcolm X
Fentanyl - Chinese Buffet, Facebook, Tango and Cash, Heineken and Murder 8
Heroin - Avocado, Chocolate Balls, Joy Flakes, Smack and Nice and Easy
Ketamine - Cat Food, Special K, Blind Squid, Honey Oil and Kit Kat
LSD - Bart Simpson, Electric Kool Aid, Looney Tunes, Pink Panthers and Wedding Bells
Marijuana - Mary Jane, Skywalker, Arizona, Bambalachacha and Burritos
Methamphetamine - Biker Coffee, Peanut Butter Crack, Chandelier, Clothing Cleaner and Tupperware
Synthetic Cannabinoids - Voodoo Child, Crystal Skull, Black Mamba, Green Peace and Hammer Head
Steroids - Gym Candy, Weight Gainers, Arnolds, Juice and Stackers
EDITOR’S NOTE: Back in my day the most common street name for heroin was ‘shit’ and it was ‘coke’ for cocaine, ‘meth’ for meth and ‘pot’ for pot. That was when illegal drugs were predominantly used by adults. The new street names appear to have been designed by kids to keep their parents from getting wise to their drug use.
THE DECISION TO PULL OUR TROOPS OUT OF SYRIA WAS A FOOLISH DECISION MADE ON THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT
Somebody better think about the long term effects of throwing the Kurds under the bus
By Tom Moran
First, the US has a long history of dumping on people who served US interests in dangerous situations. One need only look to 1975, when we abandoned tens thousands of South Vietnamese, Cambodians and members of tribes who fought the NVA and VC to further US interests.
It doesn't make any difference whether the Vietnam War was good or bad. Those folks put it on the line for the United States and ended up either in Vietnamese reeducation camps or Cambodian graves. All because the US ambassador to Vietnam didn't want to evacuate them with the NVA advancing because it would look like the US was giving up on South Vietnam.
And, think about what is going through the minds of Afghans who have taken the side of the US. They've got to be thinking what is going to happen to them when the US pulls out and leaves them high and dry. It doesn't take too much to figure out what they're thinking. After all, the US has been refusing visas to translators who worked with the US Army and were promised relocation to the US.
We have been working with the Kurds since the aftermath of the first Gulf War when Saddam nerve gassed Kurds in Northern Iraq. The Kurds have been the pointy end of the US spear for years in fighting ISIS. They were guarding ISIS prisoners who now are running free.
Now, to save themselves from genocide by the Turks, they are getting help from Assad and his Russian and Iranian friends. The Kurds have every reason to fear a Turkish genocide. The first modern genocide was the Turkish genocide of the Armenians just before World War I.
Gee, that's a great result. A murderous regime supported by the Russians and Iranians is going to win the Syrian civil war. What a great result.
People are going to be lining up all over the world to support the US after seeing how we treat those who help us. NOT. Sooner or later for some reason or other the United States is going to need foreigners to help us to protect a US vital interest. And, the people we ask for help are going to remember what we did to the Kurds.
And, sooner or later, the US is going to have to defend US troops from Turkish artillery or air attack. Isn't that a going to be pretty picture. US Air Force planes taking off from a US base in Turkey to bomb the Turkish Army and shoot down Turkish planes.
Turkey is a NATO ally. What happens there. We've already said we won't sell them F-35s because they bought a Russian air defense missile system. Sooner or later, Turkey will pull out of NATO or be kicked out and become a Russian supporting state.
And, what does that do for the future of NATO, our most important alliance? The current administration has been pretty darn negative about NATO. EVERY president since Truman has seen NATO as an important alliance both to guarantee peace in Europe and defend the US. NATO troops supported US troops in Afghanistan. Germans, Poles and others died there supporting the war on terror.
You can bet that Putin would love to see NATO break up. I'm sure the Baltic states will be thrilled to lose the protection of NATO. I remember when George W. Bush said he looked in Putin's eyes and said he saw someone he could work with. John McCain said he looked in Putin's eyes and saw KGB. McCain was right.
The decision to pull the US troops supporting the Kurds was a foolish decision made on the spur of the moment without any input from people ranging from Special Forces sergeants on the ground to top government diplomats.
It's going to turn out very badly for the US, both in the short run and in the long run.
We're going to have blood on our hands and we're going to be very unhappy when the Iranians gain power in the Middle East.
And, that's just for starters.
Tom Moran is a Houston Criminal Defense Attorney who represented defendants at both the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Mr. Moran has been admitted to practice before the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
By Tom Moran
First, the US has a long history of dumping on people who served US interests in dangerous situations. One need only look to 1975, when we abandoned tens thousands of South Vietnamese, Cambodians and members of tribes who fought the NVA and VC to further US interests.
It doesn't make any difference whether the Vietnam War was good or bad. Those folks put it on the line for the United States and ended up either in Vietnamese reeducation camps or Cambodian graves. All because the US ambassador to Vietnam didn't want to evacuate them with the NVA advancing because it would look like the US was giving up on South Vietnam.
And, think about what is going through the minds of Afghans who have taken the side of the US. They've got to be thinking what is going to happen to them when the US pulls out and leaves them high and dry. It doesn't take too much to figure out what they're thinking. After all, the US has been refusing visas to translators who worked with the US Army and were promised relocation to the US.
We have been working with the Kurds since the aftermath of the first Gulf War when Saddam nerve gassed Kurds in Northern Iraq. The Kurds have been the pointy end of the US spear for years in fighting ISIS. They were guarding ISIS prisoners who now are running free.
Now, to save themselves from genocide by the Turks, they are getting help from Assad and his Russian and Iranian friends. The Kurds have every reason to fear a Turkish genocide. The first modern genocide was the Turkish genocide of the Armenians just before World War I.
Gee, that's a great result. A murderous regime supported by the Russians and Iranians is going to win the Syrian civil war. What a great result.
People are going to be lining up all over the world to support the US after seeing how we treat those who help us. NOT. Sooner or later for some reason or other the United States is going to need foreigners to help us to protect a US vital interest. And, the people we ask for help are going to remember what we did to the Kurds.
And, sooner or later, the US is going to have to defend US troops from Turkish artillery or air attack. Isn't that a going to be pretty picture. US Air Force planes taking off from a US base in Turkey to bomb the Turkish Army and shoot down Turkish planes.
Turkey is a NATO ally. What happens there. We've already said we won't sell them F-35s because they bought a Russian air defense missile system. Sooner or later, Turkey will pull out of NATO or be kicked out and become a Russian supporting state.
And, what does that do for the future of NATO, our most important alliance? The current administration has been pretty darn negative about NATO. EVERY president since Truman has seen NATO as an important alliance both to guarantee peace in Europe and defend the US. NATO troops supported US troops in Afghanistan. Germans, Poles and others died there supporting the war on terror.
You can bet that Putin would love to see NATO break up. I'm sure the Baltic states will be thrilled to lose the protection of NATO. I remember when George W. Bush said he looked in Putin's eyes and said he saw someone he could work with. John McCain said he looked in Putin's eyes and saw KGB. McCain was right.
The decision to pull the US troops supporting the Kurds was a foolish decision made on the spur of the moment without any input from people ranging from Special Forces sergeants on the ground to top government diplomats.
It's going to turn out very badly for the US, both in the short run and in the long run.
We're going to have blood on our hands and we're going to be very unhappy when the Iranians gain power in the Middle East.
And, that's just for starters.
Tom Moran is a Houston Criminal Defense Attorney who represented defendants at both the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Mr. Moran has been admitted to practice before the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
COLUMBUS DAY
4 states and over 100 cities refuse to honor Christopher Columbus
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Times
October 15, 2019
Monday was Columbus Day. There was no mail delivery and most Banks were closed because it’s a federal holiday. Otherwise it was business as usual. Schools and colleges were open, giving leftist professors and some public-school teachers the opportunity to tear Christopher Columbus apart.
The same idiots and troublemakers who want all vestiges of the Confederacy erased also want the memory of Christopher Columbus erased. They are pissed off at old Chris because, according to them, he committed mass genocide of the native people on the western hemisphere islands he discovered.
The idiots demand that the name of Columbus Day be changed to Indigenous Peoples' Day. They’ve succeeded with the name change for the states of New Mexico, Wisconsin, Maine, and Vermont, as well as in over 100 cities, including the District of Columbia. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, Seattle, Minneapolis, Denver, Phoenix, Tulsa, Salt Lake City, Nashville and Austin, the Berkeley of Texas.
If something like that were tried in New York City, the city would experience a bloody revolt by the Italian-Americans who are very proud of Columbus. I’m sure that Sandinista-loving Mayor Bill de Blasio would like to dishonor Columbus, but he’s not so goofy as to cause bloodshed on his city’s streets.
On Sunday, San Francisco’s statue of Columbus was painted red and the vandals also spray painted the statue’s base, writing “Kill all colonizers” and “Destroy all monuments of genocide.” And on Monday in Providence, Rhode Island, some of the idiots dishonored Columbus by splashing red paint on his statue and leaving a sigh demanding “stop celebrating genocide.” They did the same thing last year.
When the idiots accuse Columbus of mass genocide, they probably mean that he introduced a number of European diseases, including smallpox, measles and typhus to the natives. But the Indians repaid him with syphilis which he then brought to Europe, or so it is said. Not a bad trade-off.
It took an awful lot of courage for Columbus to venture into uncharted waters, courage that the defacers of the Columbus statues and the name-changers do not have. Many people at the time believed the earth was flat and they were sure that Columbus, together with his ships and their crews, were doomed to fall off of the edge of the earth.
Should the state of Texas and its cities like Dallas, San Antonio and Houston continue to honor Christopher Columbus?
Even thou old Chris thought he had reached India and missed his mark by 10,000 or so miles, his discovery of Hispaniola was an amazing feat for its time. That’s why we should continue to honor him with Columbus Day. And that goes for the rest of the country too!
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Times
October 15, 2019
Monday was Columbus Day. There was no mail delivery and most Banks were closed because it’s a federal holiday. Otherwise it was business as usual. Schools and colleges were open, giving leftist professors and some public-school teachers the opportunity to tear Christopher Columbus apart.
The same idiots and troublemakers who want all vestiges of the Confederacy erased also want the memory of Christopher Columbus erased. They are pissed off at old Chris because, according to them, he committed mass genocide of the native people on the western hemisphere islands he discovered.
The idiots demand that the name of Columbus Day be changed to Indigenous Peoples' Day. They’ve succeeded with the name change for the states of New Mexico, Wisconsin, Maine, and Vermont, as well as in over 100 cities, including the District of Columbia. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, Seattle, Minneapolis, Denver, Phoenix, Tulsa, Salt Lake City, Nashville and Austin, the Berkeley of Texas.
If something like that were tried in New York City, the city would experience a bloody revolt by the Italian-Americans who are very proud of Columbus. I’m sure that Sandinista-loving Mayor Bill de Blasio would like to dishonor Columbus, but he’s not so goofy as to cause bloodshed on his city’s streets.
On Sunday, San Francisco’s statue of Columbus was painted red and the vandals also spray painted the statue’s base, writing “Kill all colonizers” and “Destroy all monuments of genocide.” And on Monday in Providence, Rhode Island, some of the idiots dishonored Columbus by splashing red paint on his statue and leaving a sigh demanding “stop celebrating genocide.” They did the same thing last year.
When the idiots accuse Columbus of mass genocide, they probably mean that he introduced a number of European diseases, including smallpox, measles and typhus to the natives. But the Indians repaid him with syphilis which he then brought to Europe, or so it is said. Not a bad trade-off.
It took an awful lot of courage for Columbus to venture into uncharted waters, courage that the defacers of the Columbus statues and the name-changers do not have. Many people at the time believed the earth was flat and they were sure that Columbus, together with his ships and their crews, were doomed to fall off of the edge of the earth.
Should the state of Texas and its cities like Dallas, San Antonio and Houston continue to honor Christopher Columbus?
Even thou old Chris thought he had reached India and missed his mark by 10,000 or so miles, his discovery of Hispaniola was an amazing feat for its time. That’s why we should continue to honor him with Columbus Day. And that goes for the rest of the country too!
HAS / WAS AMELIA EARHART'S REMAINS BEEN FOUND
by Bob Walsh
In 1940 human remains were found on the uninhabited Island of Nikomororo in 1940. They were apparently misidentified as male, and then disappeared. They later turned up in a museum on Tarawa. A good quality, modern forensic examination has been done of the remains which indicate the are female and the physical parameters closely match the late aviator who disappeared in the south Pacific before WW II.
They are in the process of doing DNA testing on the bones, which may answer the question for sure.
In 1940 human remains were found on the uninhabited Island of Nikomororo in 1940. They were apparently misidentified as male, and then disappeared. They later turned up in a museum on Tarawa. A good quality, modern forensic examination has been done of the remains which indicate the are female and the physical parameters closely match the late aviator who disappeared in the south Pacific before WW II.
They are in the process of doing DNA testing on the bones, which may answer the question for sure.
FELICITY CHECKING IN
by Bob Walsh
Actress Felicity Huffman has reported in to the Federal Correctional Institution at Dublin, CA to begin her two-week gig. (I have been there. It is a nice place.) I doubt she will make it to GenPop as I think their normal intake and classification period takes two weeks, but either way I don't think she is in too much danger, except from stomach troubles from consuming food and drinking tap water.
Life is hard.
Actress Felicity Huffman has reported in to the Federal Correctional Institution at Dublin, CA to begin her two-week gig. (I have been there. It is a nice place.) I doubt she will make it to GenPop as I think their normal intake and classification period takes two weeks, but either way I don't think she is in too much danger, except from stomach troubles from consuming food and drinking tap water.
Life is hard.
MIKE BLOOMBERG HAS SLIPPED HIS CABLE
by Bob Walsh
Various talking heads announced yesterday that Mike Bloomberg, whose presidential campaign train went from East Nowhere to West Nowhere before crashing into a fertilizer truck and burning has (allegedly) made it known that he may be planning to jump back in as the "savior moderate" if (when) Joe "The Hairsniffer" Biden becomes a basket case due to his family corruption issues actually floating to the surface like a huge turd in a porta-potty.
That is clearly just what the Democrat-Socialist party needs, MORE failed candidates jumped into the race. Don't the first actual electoral contests begin in February? Four months of fun fun fun.
Various talking heads announced yesterday that Mike Bloomberg, whose presidential campaign train went from East Nowhere to West Nowhere before crashing into a fertilizer truck and burning has (allegedly) made it known that he may be planning to jump back in as the "savior moderate" if (when) Joe "The Hairsniffer" Biden becomes a basket case due to his family corruption issues actually floating to the surface like a huge turd in a porta-potty.
That is clearly just what the Democrat-Socialist party needs, MORE failed candidates jumped into the race. Don't the first actual electoral contests begin in February? Four months of fun fun fun.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
by Bob Walsh
In 1793 Marie Antoinette received a very radical haircut by the revolutionary forces in French. She and her late husband, the former king, were captured by the mob in 1792. The monarchy was disestablished and the former King and Queen sentenced to die for treason.
In 1923 Walt and Roy Disney formed the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio.
In 1946 ten former Nazis condemned two weeks earlier during the Nuremburg tribunals for war crimes were executed.
In 1793 Marie Antoinette received a very radical haircut by the revolutionary forces in French. She and her late husband, the former king, were captured by the mob in 1792. The monarchy was disestablished and the former King and Queen sentenced to die for treason.
In 1923 Walt and Roy Disney formed the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio.
In 1946 ten former Nazis condemned two weeks earlier during the Nuremburg tribunals for war crimes were executed.
PUNISHMENT FOR FOLLOWING THE LAW ?
by Bob Walsh
Governor Newsom of the formerly great state of California was a supporter of the law requiring PG&E to de-energize power lines in areas where the combination of humidity, wind, etc. made for a high risk of fire. PG&E has done so now on a couple of occasions. Now Newsom is screaming that PG&E should be forced to pay a fair chunk of money ($100 each to residential customers, $250 each to small businesses) for the inconveniences involved.
In addition the Public Utilities Commission is now demanding that PG&E set up a way to be more selective and focused in areas where the power is shut off and be able to re-energize the lines in 12 hours. Currently it takes about 48 hours and can not be done during the dark as they must visually inspect the lines before re-powering them. The PUC certainly knew this when the law was passed.
Everybody hates PG&E. Hell, I hate PG&E. That being said you shouldn't complain about forseeable outcomes when you change the rules.
Governor Newsom of the formerly great state of California was a supporter of the law requiring PG&E to de-energize power lines in areas where the combination of humidity, wind, etc. made for a high risk of fire. PG&E has done so now on a couple of occasions. Now Newsom is screaming that PG&E should be forced to pay a fair chunk of money ($100 each to residential customers, $250 each to small businesses) for the inconveniences involved.
In addition the Public Utilities Commission is now demanding that PG&E set up a way to be more selective and focused in areas where the power is shut off and be able to re-energize the lines in 12 hours. Currently it takes about 48 hours and can not be done during the dark as they must visually inspect the lines before re-powering them. The PUC certainly knew this when the law was passed.
Everybody hates PG&E. Hell, I hate PG&E. That being said you shouldn't complain about forseeable outcomes when you change the rules.
ASSAD AND PUTIN APPEAR TO BENEFIT FROM AMERICAN WITHDRAWAL
Trump sanctions fail to slow Turkey assault, Assad makes land grab
Israel Hayom
October 15, 2019
Turkey ignored new sanctions from the United States to press on with its assault on northern Syria on Tuesday, while the Russia-backed Syrian army entered one of the most hotly contested cities, filling a void created by Donald Trump's abrupt retreat.
A week after reversing US policy and moving troops out of the way to allow Turkey to attack Washington's allies in northern Syria, Trump announced a package of sanctions to punish Turkey.
But financial markets shrugged off the announcement. The Turkish lira actually went up, with traders noting Trump had spared Turkish banks from punishment.
Trump's unexpected decision to withhold protection from Syria's Kurds after a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a week ago swiftly upended five years of US policy in the Middle East, giving a free hand to Washington's adversaries in the world's deadliest ongoing war.
The United States announced on Sunday it was withdrawing its entire force of 1,000 troops. Its former Kurdish allies immediately forged a new alliance with the Russia-backed Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, inviting the army into towns across the breadth of Kurdish-held territory.
One of the most important flashpoints is the city of Manbij, west of the Euphrates river, which Turkey has vowed to capture. The area had been patrolled jointly by US and Turkish forces under a deal aiming to persuade Turkey not to invade.
The Russian-backed Syrian forces appear to have moved swiftly to fill the void left by departing Americans. State television broadcast footage of what it said was government troops entering the city on Tuesday. A resident inside the city told Reuters the Syrian troops were on its outskirts.
Turkey-backed Syrian fighters said they would continue their advance towards Manbij, and said the troops that had entered were mostly Kurdish fighters now allied to the government.
Trump has defended his reversal of US policy as part of a plan to withdraw the United States from "endless" wars in the Middle East.
Turkey says it aims to defeat the Kurdish YPG militia, which it sees as terrorists for its links to separatists in Turkey, and to create a "safe zone" where millions of Syrian refugees can be resettled.
The United Nations says 160,000 people have fled their homes as Turkish forces advance. The Kurdish administration puts the number of displaced at 270,000.
Erdogan, who has pledged to continue military operations come what may, said Turkey was giving the world a "second chance" to bring peace to the region.
"The international community missed its opportunity to prevent the Syrian crisis from pulling an entire region into a maelstrom of instability," he wrote in the Wall Street Journal. "The European Union - and the world - should support what Turkey is trying to do."
The Syrian army deployments into Kurdish-held territory are a victory for President Bashar Assad and his most powerful ally, Russia, giving them a foothold in the biggest remaining swath of the country that had been beyond their grasp.
Israel Hayom
October 15, 2019
Turkey ignored new sanctions from the United States to press on with its assault on northern Syria on Tuesday, while the Russia-backed Syrian army entered one of the most hotly contested cities, filling a void created by Donald Trump's abrupt retreat.
A week after reversing US policy and moving troops out of the way to allow Turkey to attack Washington's allies in northern Syria, Trump announced a package of sanctions to punish Turkey.
But financial markets shrugged off the announcement. The Turkish lira actually went up, with traders noting Trump had spared Turkish banks from punishment.
Trump's unexpected decision to withhold protection from Syria's Kurds after a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a week ago swiftly upended five years of US policy in the Middle East, giving a free hand to Washington's adversaries in the world's deadliest ongoing war.
The United States announced on Sunday it was withdrawing its entire force of 1,000 troops. Its former Kurdish allies immediately forged a new alliance with the Russia-backed Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, inviting the army into towns across the breadth of Kurdish-held territory.
One of the most important flashpoints is the city of Manbij, west of the Euphrates river, which Turkey has vowed to capture. The area had been patrolled jointly by US and Turkish forces under a deal aiming to persuade Turkey not to invade.
The Russian-backed Syrian forces appear to have moved swiftly to fill the void left by departing Americans. State television broadcast footage of what it said was government troops entering the city on Tuesday. A resident inside the city told Reuters the Syrian troops were on its outskirts.
Turkey-backed Syrian fighters said they would continue their advance towards Manbij, and said the troops that had entered were mostly Kurdish fighters now allied to the government.
Trump has defended his reversal of US policy as part of a plan to withdraw the United States from "endless" wars in the Middle East.
Turkey says it aims to defeat the Kurdish YPG militia, which it sees as terrorists for its links to separatists in Turkey, and to create a "safe zone" where millions of Syrian refugees can be resettled.
The United Nations says 160,000 people have fled their homes as Turkish forces advance. The Kurdish administration puts the number of displaced at 270,000.
Erdogan, who has pledged to continue military operations come what may, said Turkey was giving the world a "second chance" to bring peace to the region.
"The international community missed its opportunity to prevent the Syrian crisis from pulling an entire region into a maelstrom of instability," he wrote in the Wall Street Journal. "The European Union - and the world - should support what Turkey is trying to do."
The Syrian army deployments into Kurdish-held territory are a victory for President Bashar Assad and his most powerful ally, Russia, giving them a foothold in the biggest remaining swath of the country that had been beyond their grasp.
THEY CALLED SOUTHERN ITALIANS NIGGER WOPS
Gov. Cuomo drops the n-word during live radio interview
By Bernadette Hogan
New York Post
October 15, 2019
Gov. Andrew Cuomo used the n-word during a live radio interview Tuesday while discussing racism against Italian Americans.
Cuomo called into WAMC radio, where he was asked about the controversy surrounding Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which was celebrated Monday at the same time as Columbus Day.
He quickly turned the discussion to a New York Times op-ed that ran Saturday about the treatment of Italian Americans in the past — and said the entire n-word while talking about slurs once used against the Italian community.
“They used an expression that southern Italians were called, I believe they were saying southern Italians, Sicilians — I’m half Sicilian — were called, quote-unquote and pardon my language, but I’m just quoting the Times: ‘nigger wops.’ N-word wops, as a derogatory comment,” Cuomo said, slowly and clearly saying the whole inflammatory epithet.
“When I said that ‘wop’ was a derogatory comment, that was when the Times Union told me, no, you should look in Wikipedia, ‘wop’ really meant a dandy,” he told host Alan Chartock, laughing.
The governor’s on-air gaffe comes months after his younger brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, was caught flying into an expletive-filled rage after someone called him “Fredo” — an apparent insult referencing Fredo Corleone, the incompetent son of Don Vito Corleone in “The Godfather.”
Andrew Cuomo has since waged war against Albany Times-Union managing editor Casey Seiler, who penned an op-ed over what he called the Cuomo brothers’ misconception of Italian American insults.
“Wop,” Seiler contended in his piece, is derived from the Italian word guappo — meaning dude or dandy — not “without papers,” as Andrew once insisted.
Andrew again raised the issue on WAMC on Tuesday.
“I’m sure that’s what they were saying to me back in Queens — ‘you’re a dandy’ — when they looked at me with scorn and gave me a hand gesture and called me a ‘wop,'” he said.
Reps for Cuomo didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Gov. Cuomo said nigger? Impeach him! Or better yet, quick, git a rope.
By Bernadette Hogan
New York Post
October 15, 2019
Gov. Andrew Cuomo used the n-word during a live radio interview Tuesday while discussing racism against Italian Americans.
Cuomo called into WAMC radio, where he was asked about the controversy surrounding Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which was celebrated Monday at the same time as Columbus Day.
He quickly turned the discussion to a New York Times op-ed that ran Saturday about the treatment of Italian Americans in the past — and said the entire n-word while talking about slurs once used against the Italian community.
“They used an expression that southern Italians were called, I believe they were saying southern Italians, Sicilians — I’m half Sicilian — were called, quote-unquote and pardon my language, but I’m just quoting the Times: ‘nigger wops.’ N-word wops, as a derogatory comment,” Cuomo said, slowly and clearly saying the whole inflammatory epithet.
“When I said that ‘wop’ was a derogatory comment, that was when the Times Union told me, no, you should look in Wikipedia, ‘wop’ really meant a dandy,” he told host Alan Chartock, laughing.
The governor’s on-air gaffe comes months after his younger brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, was caught flying into an expletive-filled rage after someone called him “Fredo” — an apparent insult referencing Fredo Corleone, the incompetent son of Don Vito Corleone in “The Godfather.”
Andrew Cuomo has since waged war against Albany Times-Union managing editor Casey Seiler, who penned an op-ed over what he called the Cuomo brothers’ misconception of Italian American insults.
“Wop,” Seiler contended in his piece, is derived from the Italian word guappo — meaning dude or dandy — not “without papers,” as Andrew once insisted.
Andrew again raised the issue on WAMC on Tuesday.
“I’m sure that’s what they were saying to me back in Queens — ‘you’re a dandy’ — when they looked at me with scorn and gave me a hand gesture and called me a ‘wop,'” he said.
Reps for Cuomo didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Gov. Cuomo said nigger? Impeach him! Or better yet, quick, git a rope.
BAR HOPPING FEMALE JUDGE EXHIBITS THE BIRDIE, HER TWO MALE COMPANION JUDGES GET SHOT
Three Indiana judges face discipline after May shooting outside Indianapolis White Castle restaurant
Associated Press
October 12, 2019
INDIANAPOLIS — Judicial officials filed disciplinary charges Friday against three southern Indiana judges involved in a night of bar-hopping that ended with two of them being shot and seriously wounded during a fight outside a downtown Indianapolis fast-food restaurant.
The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications announced misconduct charges against circuit judges Andrew Adams and Bradley Jacobs of Clark County and Sabrina Bell of Crawford County over the May 1 altercation outside a White Castle. Adams and Jacobs were shot.
Court records indicate the altercation began after one of two men in a SUV yelled something at the judges, and Bell extended a middle finger at the two.
Adams and Jacobs were hospitalized for several days after the shooting. Authorities have said they don’t believe the judges were targeted because of their jobs.
The commission said Bell told police: “I’m not denying that I said something or egged it on ... because I drink. I mean I fully acknowledge that I drink and get mouthy, and I’m fiery and I’m feisty, but if I would have ever thought for a second that they were gonna fight or that that guy had a gun on him, I would never, never.”
The Indiana Supreme Court suspended Adams with pay after he was indicted in June. Adams pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge and received a one-year suspended sentence.
Jacobs wasn’t charged and has returned to the bench in the county across the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky. Crawford County also borders the river.
The alleged gunman, Brandon Kaiser, faces several charges including felony aggravated battery, battery with a deadly weapon and other crimes. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
The altercation occurred about 3 a.m. on the opening day of a conference the judges were in town to attend.
Each judge has 20 days to answer the charges. Jacobs and Bell each are charged with two counts of misconduct and Adams faces three counts.
The Indiana Supreme Court has the final word on whether misconduct occurred and any sanctions.
Associated Press
October 12, 2019
INDIANAPOLIS — Judicial officials filed disciplinary charges Friday against three southern Indiana judges involved in a night of bar-hopping that ended with two of them being shot and seriously wounded during a fight outside a downtown Indianapolis fast-food restaurant.
The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications announced misconduct charges against circuit judges Andrew Adams and Bradley Jacobs of Clark County and Sabrina Bell of Crawford County over the May 1 altercation outside a White Castle. Adams and Jacobs were shot.
Court records indicate the altercation began after one of two men in a SUV yelled something at the judges, and Bell extended a middle finger at the two.
Adams and Jacobs were hospitalized for several days after the shooting. Authorities have said they don’t believe the judges were targeted because of their jobs.
The commission said Bell told police: “I’m not denying that I said something or egged it on ... because I drink. I mean I fully acknowledge that I drink and get mouthy, and I’m fiery and I’m feisty, but if I would have ever thought for a second that they were gonna fight or that that guy had a gun on him, I would never, never.”
The Indiana Supreme Court suspended Adams with pay after he was indicted in June. Adams pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge and received a one-year suspended sentence.
Jacobs wasn’t charged and has returned to the bench in the county across the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky. Crawford County also borders the river.
The alleged gunman, Brandon Kaiser, faces several charges including felony aggravated battery, battery with a deadly weapon and other crimes. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
The altercation occurred about 3 a.m. on the opening day of a conference the judges were in town to attend.
Each judge has 20 days to answer the charges. Jacobs and Bell each are charged with two counts of misconduct and Adams faces three counts.
The Indiana Supreme Court has the final word on whether misconduct occurred and any sanctions.
DEMOCRATS TRYING TO REMAKE AMERICA INTO SOMETHING IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE
The Clintons: Flesh-eating disease of the American body politic
By Patricia McCarthy
American Thinker
October 12, 2019
If we reflect on the current crises that afflict our nation, look no further than the poison injected into our national bloodstream by the Clintons.
There is no need to go back to the numerous scandals that bedeviled Bill Clinton's days in office, as governor of Arkansas, and as president. Hillary was behind them all: Whitewater, bimbo eruptions, foreign money (remember Charlie Trie?).
Bill Clinton was a walking, talking, serial philanderer scandal. He was rightfully impeached for lying under oath. The man was and remains a cad. But when it comes to criminality, Bill can't hold a candle to Hillary. Machiavelli would be proud: "Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception."
Hillary's entire life in politics has been about deception in the certain belief that she is smarter than everyone else, when in fact she is as transparent as a piece of glass. Those of us who have had to endure her presence in our public life for decades saw her for who and what she was long ago, a greedy, power-hungry pol with delusions of grandeur.
Consider though that it is the Clintons who have polluted our national politics since 1992. Sure, JFK was an adulterer, LBJ was a creep on many levels, but Hillary really does take the cake. She still thinks she won the 2016 election! She is the Stacey Abrams of national politics, fantastically deluded. And yet it is the Clintons who have led us to the present moment, the ridiculous attempt by the Democrats to impeach a successful president based on calculated lies and treachery that began with the "dossier" that Hillary commissioned Fusion GPS to produce.
All that has followed can be traced back to Hillary's campaign to be president and to insure her victory by deceit. But she was an expert at subterfuge long before she ran for president. She used her stint as Secretary of State to enrich herself with her pay-to-play scheme with the Clinton Foundation as her front. She sucked up millions into her faux charity and she saw to it that the payees got what they wanted - 20% of our uranium for example, sold to Russia.
Hillary was an equal-opportunity greed machine. She sold access to America's largesse to the highest bidder. She did not distinguish between good and evil and most of those from whom she took vast sums of money were not our allies. When she lost the election, all that payola dried up for obvious reasons.
Hillary Clinton is responsible for the devastation that has been visited upon Libya. That was her baby. It was Hillary who refused to send help to our guys stranded in Benghazi when our embassy was under attack. She let Ambassador Christopher Stevens be killed.
She was behind the scheme to run American guns from Libya to Syria. She proved her callous lack of foreign policy judgment with that fateful disaster. She should never again be even remotely close to having to make such decisions.
Had her husband Bill had the courage, he would have taken out Osama bin Laden when he had the several chances and the horrific crime of 9/11 might have been prevented. Had Bill Clinton's Deputy AG Jamie Gorelick not built her "wall" preventing communication between intel agencies about their independent investigations of potential terrorists, 9/11 might well have been prevented.
In short, the Clintons and their henchmen have done incalculable damage to this country. They are responsible for countless deaths, here and abroad. And yet this hopelessly narcissistic woman decries her loss in 2016 and still claims she won!
The three-year investigation that was in fact a cover-up operation can be traced directly to Hillary Clinton. Her coterie of fellow schemers who were dedicated to insuring her victory spent millions, lied, cheated and deceived the American people with the certainty she would win. It is a miracle that despite all their cheating, their underhanded attempt to destroy Trump, he still won.
It is as though the hand of providence stepped in to save the nation. Blinded by their loathing of Trump the interloper, they've lost their minds. Their attempt to remove him from office will fail and in the process they will have revealed to all how patently perverse they are.
The Democrats driving this impeachment inquiry -- Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, Jerry Nadler, et. al, should be driven from office with the contempt they deserve. But we can thank the Clintons for bringing us to this crossroads. They are the bacteria that brought this national flesh-eating disease to the American psyche. They have long been a scourge on our body politic and it must end. We are where we are because of them, along with their conviction that they are superior beings entitled to rule.
Each of the Democrat candidates for the presidency are following Hillary's lead - remake America into something it was never meant to be.
What is the cure for the disease? Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler and their partners in crime, all those fake whistleblowers, need to be rebuked and called out for what they are - fascists masquerading as Americans.
May the Horowitz, Barr and Durham reports bring them to their knees and expose them for the anti-constitutionalists, anti-Americans that they are. Trump is the ultimate anti-biotic, elected to cure the Clinton disease.
By Patricia McCarthy
American Thinker
October 12, 2019
If we reflect on the current crises that afflict our nation, look no further than the poison injected into our national bloodstream by the Clintons.
There is no need to go back to the numerous scandals that bedeviled Bill Clinton's days in office, as governor of Arkansas, and as president. Hillary was behind them all: Whitewater, bimbo eruptions, foreign money (remember Charlie Trie?).
Bill Clinton was a walking, talking, serial philanderer scandal. He was rightfully impeached for lying under oath. The man was and remains a cad. But when it comes to criminality, Bill can't hold a candle to Hillary. Machiavelli would be proud: "Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception."
Hillary's entire life in politics has been about deception in the certain belief that she is smarter than everyone else, when in fact she is as transparent as a piece of glass. Those of us who have had to endure her presence in our public life for decades saw her for who and what she was long ago, a greedy, power-hungry pol with delusions of grandeur.
Consider though that it is the Clintons who have polluted our national politics since 1992. Sure, JFK was an adulterer, LBJ was a creep on many levels, but Hillary really does take the cake. She still thinks she won the 2016 election! She is the Stacey Abrams of national politics, fantastically deluded. And yet it is the Clintons who have led us to the present moment, the ridiculous attempt by the Democrats to impeach a successful president based on calculated lies and treachery that began with the "dossier" that Hillary commissioned Fusion GPS to produce.
All that has followed can be traced back to Hillary's campaign to be president and to insure her victory by deceit. But she was an expert at subterfuge long before she ran for president. She used her stint as Secretary of State to enrich herself with her pay-to-play scheme with the Clinton Foundation as her front. She sucked up millions into her faux charity and she saw to it that the payees got what they wanted - 20% of our uranium for example, sold to Russia.
Hillary was an equal-opportunity greed machine. She sold access to America's largesse to the highest bidder. She did not distinguish between good and evil and most of those from whom she took vast sums of money were not our allies. When she lost the election, all that payola dried up for obvious reasons.
Hillary Clinton is responsible for the devastation that has been visited upon Libya. That was her baby. It was Hillary who refused to send help to our guys stranded in Benghazi when our embassy was under attack. She let Ambassador Christopher Stevens be killed.
She was behind the scheme to run American guns from Libya to Syria. She proved her callous lack of foreign policy judgment with that fateful disaster. She should never again be even remotely close to having to make such decisions.
Had her husband Bill had the courage, he would have taken out Osama bin Laden when he had the several chances and the horrific crime of 9/11 might have been prevented. Had Bill Clinton's Deputy AG Jamie Gorelick not built her "wall" preventing communication between intel agencies about their independent investigations of potential terrorists, 9/11 might well have been prevented.
In short, the Clintons and their henchmen have done incalculable damage to this country. They are responsible for countless deaths, here and abroad. And yet this hopelessly narcissistic woman decries her loss in 2016 and still claims she won!
The three-year investigation that was in fact a cover-up operation can be traced directly to Hillary Clinton. Her coterie of fellow schemers who were dedicated to insuring her victory spent millions, lied, cheated and deceived the American people with the certainty she would win. It is a miracle that despite all their cheating, their underhanded attempt to destroy Trump, he still won.
It is as though the hand of providence stepped in to save the nation. Blinded by their loathing of Trump the interloper, they've lost their minds. Their attempt to remove him from office will fail and in the process they will have revealed to all how patently perverse they are.
The Democrats driving this impeachment inquiry -- Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, Jerry Nadler, et. al, should be driven from office with the contempt they deserve. But we can thank the Clintons for bringing us to this crossroads. They are the bacteria that brought this national flesh-eating disease to the American psyche. They have long been a scourge on our body politic and it must end. We are where we are because of them, along with their conviction that they are superior beings entitled to rule.
Each of the Democrat candidates for the presidency are following Hillary's lead - remake America into something it was never meant to be.
What is the cure for the disease? Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler and their partners in crime, all those fake whistleblowers, need to be rebuked and called out for what they are - fascists masquerading as Americans.
May the Horowitz, Barr and Durham reports bring them to their knees and expose them for the anti-constitutionalists, anti-Americans that they are. Trump is the ultimate anti-biotic, elected to cure the Clinton disease.
THE END OF TIME FAILED TO ARRIVE
Dutch Family Holed up in Cellar for 9 Years Waiting for 'The End of Time' Found After Son Escapes to Local Bar and Orders 5 Beers
By Brendan Cole
Newsweek
October 15, 2019
A family of six adult children and their bedridden father have been found living in the cellar on the remote Dutch farm where they had been holed up for nearly a decade, it has been reported.
The family had been on the property, near the village of Ruinerwold in the Drenthe province of the Netherlands, for nine years. They had been completely self-sufficient with their own vegetable garden and goat, but had had no contact with the outside world. That's according to RTV Drenthe, which reported the family had been "waiting for the end of time."
The children are aged between 16 and 25. The family was discovered after the eldest left the farm and went to a local bar, where he pleaded for help.
Café De Kastelein owner Chris Westerbeek told RTV Drenthe that the man looked completely confused, was wearing old clothes and had a long beard.
Westerbeek said the man had visited his premises several times, adding: "The first time I sent him away, but he came back a few days later.
"He said he had brothers and sisters who lived on the farm. He said he was the oldest and wanted to end the way they were living.
"He ordered five beers and drank them. Then I had a chat with him and he told me he had run away and needed help. Then we called the police," he said, according to DutchNews.nl.
When police arrived at the property, which is nestled inside a forest, they found all the windows boarded up and a secret flight of stairs hidden behind a cupboard. The stairs led to where the family had been staying.
The father, 58, had a stroke several years ago and was in bed. It is not yet known what had happened to the children's mother, although Dutch media reported that she may have been buried on the property.
Neighbors had thought that the man lived there alone and had never seen anybody else.
The children have now been removed from the property, RTV Drenthe reported.
Drenthe Police said in a statement on Tuesday that the father was arrested but was not the owner of the farmhouse, only the tenant. They are continuing their investigation, saying that the authorities are providing "care and attention" to the children.
"All scenarios are still open. Our research is in full swing and we cannot share more information at this time," the police force tweeted.
By Brendan Cole
Newsweek
October 15, 2019
A family of six adult children and their bedridden father have been found living in the cellar on the remote Dutch farm where they had been holed up for nearly a decade, it has been reported.
The family had been on the property, near the village of Ruinerwold in the Drenthe province of the Netherlands, for nine years. They had been completely self-sufficient with their own vegetable garden and goat, but had had no contact with the outside world. That's according to RTV Drenthe, which reported the family had been "waiting for the end of time."
The children are aged between 16 and 25. The family was discovered after the eldest left the farm and went to a local bar, where he pleaded for help.
Café De Kastelein owner Chris Westerbeek told RTV Drenthe that the man looked completely confused, was wearing old clothes and had a long beard.
Westerbeek said the man had visited his premises several times, adding: "The first time I sent him away, but he came back a few days later.
"He said he had brothers and sisters who lived on the farm. He said he was the oldest and wanted to end the way they were living.
"He ordered five beers and drank them. Then I had a chat with him and he told me he had run away and needed help. Then we called the police," he said, according to DutchNews.nl.
When police arrived at the property, which is nestled inside a forest, they found all the windows boarded up and a secret flight of stairs hidden behind a cupboard. The stairs led to where the family had been staying.
The father, 58, had a stroke several years ago and was in bed. It is not yet known what had happened to the children's mother, although Dutch media reported that she may have been buried on the property.
Neighbors had thought that the man lived there alone and had never seen anybody else.
The children have now been removed from the property, RTV Drenthe reported.
Drenthe Police said in a statement on Tuesday that the father was arrested but was not the owner of the farmhouse, only the tenant. They are continuing their investigation, saying that the authorities are providing "care and attention" to the children.
"All scenarios are still open. Our research is in full swing and we cannot share more information at this time," the police force tweeted.
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
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