#3
Been describing CA as "Democrats' Democratic Democracy of Democracia" for years, always expecting, if not an amused reaction, at least bemusement. Guess I'm a slow learner. Blank look oughta be the official state face.
[Breitbart] The rankings for IRLI’s (Immigration Reform Law Institute) 2022 list of America’s Worst Sanctuary Communities and supporting information for each community are below.
[Ordinary-Times] Politics today is a new brand of performative art. With the rise of social media and the ability of politicians to create viral videos, snarky tweets, and other red meat content for the politically addicted, it’s no wonder we have a barely functioning federal government. Why attend boring committee hearings, mark up legislation, do constituent outreach, debate policies, and propose legislation when tweeting and making Instagram videos are so much more fun? Congress has become merely another platform for niche celebrities.
For the life of me, I still cannot comprehend the unwavering loyalty so many on the right show towards Donald Trump. Yes, he won a fluke election in 2016 against the best possible candidate for him, Hillary Clinton. No one likes her. Outside of what he could do in four years (which most Republicans would have done anyway), he became a three-time loser. The GOP lost the House in 2018. Trump lost the 2020 election, and his stupefyingly ridiculous crusade to claim no one could trust the electoral process in Georgia cost Republicans the Senate. Do you want someone to blame for the American Rescue Plan and the lousy spending bill Democrats rammed through via reconciliation? Blame the former president.
Nearly every problem the man has is the result of a self-inflicted wound. I’ve lived across the Hudson River my entire life. I am old enough to have watched that charlatan rise through the ranks of the New York City elite in the early 1980s to the point where he became a pop culture sensation, meriting mentions on television shows and in the movies. He never cared about anyone or anything beyond himself. We’re talking about a guy who created fictitious publicists (John Miller and John Barron) to promote himself. In the late 80s and early 90s, Trump wanted nothing more than to appear on Page 6 of the New York Post.
Continued on Page 49
#4
This guy misses the point. Most on the right would feel the same if the FBI had raided Obama with such a flimsy pretext. Especially after years of leaks and lies hoping to tear him down. It's no the man in particular its the abuse of power to take him down that really has folks thinking Stasi.
A better metaphor is Haiti's Tonton Macutes. Both them and the FBI are enforcers of the regime in power, and have about as much legitimacy. That is, zero.
#6
I have no skin in the game when it comes to the left choosing to destroy itself in a quest for raw power.
That scene in Winter Soldier when the lackey suddenly realizes a rather innocuous statement just put him on the hit list.
You see, Michael, the movie is fiction, yes. Ask yourself though, why was that scene able to just breeze on by with no explanation?
Kiddo....you just put skin in the game. How many writers, official government writers, so you suppose highly authoritarian regimes allow? Its a small number so as to be controlled. How many unofficial writers?
#5
I'd like to take a second to applaud the Onions return to comedy. They are at the pox on both your houses phase and still can't say bad things about the left but its something.
#1
Many years ago I was waiting at an ATM and overheard a conversation:
Graduate Student #1: "It's a real shame about [Frank?]..."
Graduate Student #2: "Yeah. He just graduated with a degree in Political Science specializing in Soviet Studies and..."
Graduate Student#1: "Yeah. The Berlin Wall fell and all his Soviet knowledge can't get him a government job now..."
Well, I am paraphrasing the conversation but it was a real eye opener for me. Being a specialist can be a quick road to extinction.
[Townhall] An Insider Perspective on the Mar-a-Lago Raid.
J. Edgar Hoover’s golden rule was, “never embarrass the Bureau.” Even if a relatively small infraction, by today’s standards, brought embarrassment to the Director’s office, it could result in summary termination. Whatever you may think of Hoover, he created an agency with a peerless reputation. Hoover’s FBI, where the suit and tie G-men bagged bank robbers, cuffed mobsters, or ferreted out KGB spies, was created to fill the professionalism gap in American law enforcement. The result was a national investigative agency that embodied the tip of the law enforcement spear — employing the latest in scientific innovation, staffed by highly educated, dedicated law enforcement professionals.
The troglodyte, ham-fisted buffoonery perpetrated at Mar-a-Lago would have resulted in an FBI HQ bloodbath. Hoover would have fired or transferred anyone associated with the Mar-a-Lago outrage. The empty suits and professional briefers who currently scuttle through the sterile Seventh Floor halls of FBI HQ must have known the search warrant on former President Donald Trump’s estate in Florida would create a firestorm of Biblical proportion. If they truly lacked the acumen to foresee the excrement-hitting-the-fan, then they should be fired for sheer stupidity.
Current Director, Christopher Wray, certainly knew the unprecedented, unthinkable, and obviously partisan execution of a search warrant at a former president’s residence would blacken the FBI’s reputation — very likely irreparably. But, it seems, nothing is too precious to sacrifice on the altar of political expediency. The top echelon of FBI management has become arrogant and entitled. But, why not? Former Director James Comey has yet to be held accountable for his role in running interference for Hillary Clinton’s criminal negligence in handling classified material. The bias is crystal clear. If you’re an establishment Democrat in Washington, you get all the top cover you need — clear, corroborated, scientific evidence of a crime will be expunged. If you’re a Washington outsider, or a threat to the bureaucratic state, you’ll be harassed, maligned, and persecuted at every opportunity. We are no longer a nation of laws.
As a retired FBI agent, I can assure you that if any FBI employee had handled classified information the way Hillary Clinton did, “storing” it on a private server, he or she would immediately have their security clearance revoked, be immediately escorted out of any FBI facility, and become the subject of both criminal and counterintelligence investigations. To put things in perspective, Hillary Clinton placed classified information on a vulnerable system, directly connected to the internet, which any mid-grade hacker could easily exploit — she essentially took top secret files and left them on the steps of the Russian, Chinese, and Iranian embassies. That’s how bad it really was, and she got away with it.
Conversely, Trump secured his classified documents, which he was free to declassify (when President, Trump was empowered with original classification authority), in a secure location and complied with requests to enhance the security of the documents by likely installing Hirsch scramble pads, commonly utilized to control access to Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIF). The entire Mar-a-Lago estate was under 24-7 Secret Service protection — access to the estate being monitored and documented. The documents in Trump’s possession were practically secured in Fort Knox compared to the clown-show Hillary Clinton was running with state secrets. Again, Hillary was demonstrably criminally negligent and destroyed subpoenaed documents. Whereas, Trump was in negotiation with the National Archives to comply with legitimate requests for documents.
Interestingly, The raid on Trump’s estate was requested by David Ferriero, former National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Director. Ferriero is the same individual who refused to request DOJ involvement in Hillary Clinton’s criminal negligence, even after receiving a request from Senator Chuck Grassley to do so. Apparently, NARA only cares about classified documents if there is a Republican presidential election to thwart. As a tangental note, former President Barack Obama absconded with approximately 33 million pages of government documents with not so much as a twitch from NARA.
A search warrant involving a political figure of Trump’s stature would involve a voluminous affidavit, would certainly be controlled at every step by FBI HQ, and would certainly include the electronic signature of the FBI Director. FBI investigations live and breathe in documents called Electronic Communications, or ECs. These documents reside within the secure structure of FBI computer systems. The search warrant process routinely involves copious amounts of documentation via EC that flows not only up and down the FBI management chain, but also horizontally to DOJ attorneys and/or to the Attorney General himself. Search warrants do not exist in and of themselves, they are one of an array of investigative tools utilized in an overarching investigation — and don’t be surprised if other investigative methods are utilized against Trump. An investigation of a former president, would be centralized at FBI HQ (the Hoover Building) and strictly compartmentalized. This is how a relatively small group of individuals can operate within the larger FBI structure without the knowledge of most “street agents.”
With investigations of this nature, there is always a massive paper trail, documenting approvals at every level.
It is farcical to assert that the FBI Director, the U.S. Attorney General, and the White House are not hand-in-glove participants throughout the development of an investigation of this import. I have personally been part of investigations, of far less sensitivity, where White House officials observed operational activity. For me, the assertion that Joe Biden didn’t know is laughable.
[DailySceptic] Camilla Tominey has written an excellent squib for the Telegraph about the political misfortunes of Jacinda Arden and how her difficulties may be a warning to other would-be woke Western leaders. In particular, her decision to turn New Zealand into a prison island, seemingly in pursuit of a ‘Zero Covid’ policy, has been economically catastrophic.
At one point it seemed as if Jacinda Adern was able to walk on water as New Zealand’s "progressive" young Prime Minister.
The former president of the International Union of Socialist Youth turned Labour leader was a poster girl for the woke movement, winning plaudits for everything from her benefit hikes to her attempt to legalise cannabis.
The Atlantic gushingly described her as “the most effective leader on the planet” while the Financial Times breathlessly proclaimed: “Arise, Saint Jacinda!”
Then the pandemic happened. By behaving like SAGE on steroids and closing the country down for months on end, Adern may have saved lives but killed the island nation’s economy.
Now her chances of re-election are looking decidedly uncertain, with new polling showing increased support for a right leaning coalition.
The National party are now ahead at 37 percent to Labour’s 33 percent. If National joined forces with its traditional partner, the libertarian-right Act Party on 11 percent, the two would have enough seats to form a Government. Link to the original article is at the link
Posted by: badanov ||
08/17/2022 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,
#1
How did that quote from 'White Hunter, Black heart' go? Oh, 'Good bye, good bye you bug eyed, buck toothed, flat chested...' Funny it was right there, too.
[ZERO] A group of journalists and lawyers that previously worked with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks who say they were illegally spied on by US intelligence are suing the CIA and its former head Mike Pompeo. "The United States Constitution shields American citizens from U.S. government overreach even when the activities take place in a foreign embassy in a foreign country," lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Richard Roth, said Monday in filing the lawsuit.
"The lawsuit said that CIA under Pompeo violated the privacy rights of those American journalists and lawyers by allegedly spying on them," Reuters reports of the legal action. "The plaintiffs include journalists Charles Glass and John Goetz and attorneys Margaret Kunstler and Deborah Hrbek, who have represented Assange."
Then CIA director under President Trump, Mike Pompeo, is at the center of the legal action and allegations. As is their normative practice, the CIA isn't commenting publicly on the lawsuit - but it's widely known and established that the CIA is barred by US laws from spying domestically or on US citizens.
The CIA's mandate, along with the rest of the US intelligence community, or IC, is exclusively foreign, with multiple scandals uncovered by 1970s into 1980s Congressional hearings (the Church Committee being foremost), resulting in attempts at greater legal safeguards to protect Americans as well as reign in major unapproved clandestine operations.
#1
(A) Are they seriously saying that the CIA wasn't spying under Obama...? and...
(B) Foreign country, foreign person (Julian Assange) and multi-national NGOs .... what exactly are they complaining whinging about legally?
[Breitbart] Former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton said Tuesday on CNN’s "New Day" that Attorney General Merrick Garland is like a "lamb" who is being politically "slaughtered" by former President Donald Trump.
Partial transcript as follows:
JOHN BERMAN: You’ve worked on sort of both sides of this, ambassador, inside the Department of Justice and also inside the security world. How do you read this filing?
BOLTON: Well, I think it says there are very significant problems here for President Trump and many of his advisers, post-presidency. But I think we’ve got to distinguish between the legal battle that’s going on and the political battle. I think the Justice Department position sounds perfectly reasonable on the legal battle. But on the, on the political battle, I think they’re being overwhelmed by Donald Trump. You know, if we were in a Colosseum with two gladiators, one of them Donald Trump, the other Merrick Garland, we’d be about to witness the slaughter of the lambs. The Justice Department understandably wants to follow its normal procedures. It’s facing an adversary who couldn’t care less about the normal procedures. And I do think the department’s got to do more here. I know it’s hard, but they’re still not doing enough to explain why this search warrant was executed and why, why now? They don’t want to release the affidavit. Last night, for example, when they filed their motion, they should have put somebody on camera at the Department of Justice reading from it. They should have tweeted it. They should have sent it to every member of Congress. I’m not asking them to say more than what they’ve said in their court filing, but they’ve got to do more to explain what they’re up to. And they’ve got to think of creative ways to justify it to a very skeptical public, in many respects.
BERMAN: So you’re saying better PR, but you’re, are you saying that they should release the affidavit, parts of the affidavit, or let members of Congress see some of the classified material? What’s your view on that?
BOLTON: Look, the argument is that you can’t even release a redacted version of the affidavit because most of it would be redacted. I’m not surprised by that. I can’t, I don’t know what the documents are. I don’t know what sensitive sources they’ve spoken to. I’m just saying that you’ve got to be more realistic about the political environment that they’re operating under. And I would say this, I think this is something, if President Biden think that thinks this is a legitimate investigation, he needs to say something. Other politicians need to weigh in. Otherwise, to pick a Watergate metaphor, right now, the Department of Justice is twisting slowly, slowly in the wind. It is a target for Donald Trump and it’s not being defended.
#1
Otherwise,to pick a Watergate metaphor, right now, the Department of Justice is twisting slowly, slowly in the wind. It is a target for Donald Trump and it’s not being defended.
Could it be Garland's actions are simply indefensible ?
#6
Liz Cheney lost her election because she concentrated on persecuting President Trump instead of taking care of her constituents. In her concession speech she said she would concentrate on doing whatever it takes to keep President Trump from being elected again. We all knew it was not possible for her to be impartial on the Jan 6 commission and this should be a warning to all who supported Trump.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/17/2022 10:25 Comments ||
Top||
#7
All of the Trump haters are so certain there is something hidden there and they just haven't found it yet. They need something to justify their hate.
Yet every investigation comes up empty. They can't understand why and rationalize and justify the next illegal act to get Trump in the name of standards and norms.
#9
That does seem true.
Another possibility is he draws strong willed people who think he's dumb and who try to manipulate him then such grifters go nuclear trying to blame Trump for their own failures.
[PJ] The man who was one half of "The Lovers," as President Trump called them, disgraced FBI investigator Peter Strzok, Mr. Russia Collusion hoax extraordinaire himself, has implored America to trust the FBI on the Mar-a-Lago raid.
Please clap.
Strzok appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe program to argue in support of the integrity of the FBI because they really mean it this time.
MSNBC’s Morning Joe brings on @PeterStrzok to argue on behalf of the FBI’s integrity: "It’s not that the FBI is targeting any one side or the other. What you see is the FBI going out on a day-in and day-out basis objectively investigating allegations of law.
That’s right: There’s no tomfoolery at the FBI. No politicking. No political vendettas being carried out. No making stuff up — like Peter Strzok’s Alfa-Bank fraud.
[ShafaqNews] In May 1994, Iraq witnessed a traumatic and bloody fratricidal war. Back then, tensions and competition between the Kurdistan region’s two major parties was at its zenith. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) were essentially in control over the semi-autonomous region. Yet despite the threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s regime, they failed to unite their 80,000 men and considerable arsenals, instead seeing each other as the principal threat. That tension could be felt in almost all major Kurdish cities and towns, whose residents' loyalty and affiliation were divided between the two parties, a Kurdish political leader told Middle East Eye.
In Qalat Deza, a town in northern Sulaminiyeh province on the Iraq-Iran ...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979... border, a chicken lost its way and crossed from the house of a PUK fighter to one owned by his KDP neighbour. A quarrel broke out between the two men. The PUK fighter, "without thinking", pulled out his weapon and shot his neighbour dead, the Kurdish leader recalled. The "chicken incident'', which the elders of the Kurdistan region recall bitterly, led to what they sarcastically call the "brother's war", a conflict that lasted for almost four years and led to the killing of hundreds and displacement of thousands.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/17/2022 00:00 ||
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[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
US researchers created the Food Compass which turns common assumptions about snacking on their head
Scoring system considers foods health score over nine metrics — including ingredients, additives and protein
Sweet deserts scored extremely low — while nutrient-packed fruit, veg and nuts achieved highest scores
But the results are bad if you thought opting for a granola bar over a sugary chocolate ice cream
And couscous, promoted as a health food, scores lower than bacon — which has been linked to cancer
The team at Tufts University in Boston spent three years looking at more than 8,000 foods and drinks, from melon to a McDonald's, and used cutting-edge science to rank them according to 54 different attributes.
Watch this get overthrown by the next bit of scientific cleverness that comes down the pike.
#1
Whatever series of legal/illegal drugs this writer pr researchers are/is on, all I have to say is >get me some< McDonald's Healthy???> Wow -- What a strange trip this is, or has been, "I can hear the song"<<< Wow, the hallucinations are super strong, no wait, I did have a McD's triple cheese 🍔 burger, just yesterday, my birthday. Wow, what a hangover --- and my arms are crazy furry...
Right on time....
As usual a new set of R&D Groups looking for a "10-20 year Meal Ticket" promote something challenging, and breaks the latest accepted facts.
#6
Nutrition 'science' is almost all garbage. You can't lock people up and control what they eat, so it's all done with self-reporting. And of course, people remember perfectly what they ate a month ago. Astonishing this cr@p gets published at all.
#8
Back in the 80's John Hopkins had a laboratory tucked away quietly researching a replacement for Caffeine in case it got regulated. Private funding from Big Food™ and Big Pharma™ -- Very tight relations they have Business, Government and Academia (a Yodaism).
#10
Not far off fat and dairy products and bacon and steward much better for you than all of those whole grain granola quinoa veggie stuff
Check the growth urge on obesity and tyo2 diabetes and you will find a nice correlation with the the high carb whole grain fat free dietary guidance the Feds started spouting in the 70s
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Breitbart] Former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton said Tuesday on CNN’s "New Day" that Attorney General Merrick Garland is like a "lamb" who is being politically "slaughtered" by former President Donald Trump.
[PJ] The man who was one half of "The Lovers," as President Trump called them, disgraced FBI investigator 
...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...
