About the possibility of a hoax, see Knuckles Grundy comment, below. If you see anything more about this today, dear Reader, please share in comments with a link so we can see for ourselves. Because Rantburg is a group project.
[PJMedia] A breaking news alert from Fox News, apparently confirmed by a Republican congresswoman, states that the Central Intelligence Agency went rogue, raiding the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to seize files.
It seems from the Fox News report that the CIA seized the files just now, though a whistleblower from the agency who testified to Congress today referred to the wrongful seizure of files in his testimony. It is therefore not clear if the raid occurred today or before the testimony, or if there was more than one seizure. In either case, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna is giving the CIA 24 hours to return the files in question or face consequences.
The CIA was allegedly after the files on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the MK-Ultra human experimentation scandal. The story on the raid is developing but seems to be legitimate, and illustrates the need for drastic cuts in our Deep State. Donald Trump cannot hope to prevent such egregious acts by merely replacing top leadership. The majority of employees at the CIA and FBI worked there during the Biden-era weaponization of justice and believe they are not accountable to Trump or We the People.
DNI Tulsi Gabbard was reportedly in the process of declassifying the JFK and MK-ULTRA files, and it seems the CIA gave us indirect confirmation that there is something in those files that they desperately do not want anyone to know. The problem is that we don’t know if they will be able to destroy the files or not before the Trump administration can get them back. If the raid just occurred and did not happen previously in the last couple of days, it is interesting to note that President Trump was out of the country in China, and therefore unable to be present personally to deal with the situation. Hopefully, Vice President Vance is on the job. They don't want their dirty laundry aired, so the deep state does deep state things. I want to know who ordered it, who carried it out and how they will be executed for sedition.
#7
Timing with China meet is not a koinkidink, paints this as a distracting move to suck up some media time trashing the fact it was a fake. Even if it has some truth aspect, the fact it's fake is what will get the air.
CIA special operations officer James Erdman III, a 20-year veteran of the agency, outlined the accusations during a Wednesday Senate hearing about the origins of Covid-19.
'When the DIG [Director’s Initiatives Group] ceased operations, the CIA also took back 40 boxes of JFK files and MKUltra files being processed for declassification by DNI Gabbard,' Erdman claimed.
[FoxNews] CIA whistleblower James Erdman III testified that the Biden administration buried analysis concluding a lab leak was the most likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic in an explosive hearing on Wednesday.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Erdman, a two-decade CIA veteran, chose to testify on the alleged cover-up at "great personal risk" because "government secrecy cannot become government impunity."
Paul’s oversight panel had subpoenaed Erdman’s testimony and previously interviewed him in a classified setting. Erdman worked in a joint role with the Director of National Intelligence’s Director’s Initiatives Group (DIG) to investigate COVID origins over the past year.
"According to his testimony, CIA scientific analysts concluded multiple times between 2021 and 2023 that a lab leak was the most likely origin of COVID-19," Paul said in his opening statement. "Yet those conclusions never shaped the official narrative, never made the intelligence report. Congress was never told."
[PJMedia] When you’ve gone out of your way to brand yourself as the last morally pure, ideologically consistent man in D.C., your Achilles’ heel is very specific: The moment you’re exposed as being just as self-serving, hypocritical, and full of feces as everyone else, your career is over.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) built his brand on being so dedicated to transparency, integrity, and libertarian values that not even the president of the United States could get him to budge. Love him or hate him, Massie lives by a moral code: He believes what he believes, and if you don’t like it, too frickin’ bad.
And for a very long time, this brand identity kept his congressional seat safe. Even as he (repeatedly) infuriated the Republican Party by voting against key bills and policies, most conservatives shrugged their shoulders, figuring, “Sure, it’s a shame Massie didn’t support it, but we’ve gotta respect his heartfelt convictions… right?”
When the Democrats controlled Congress, Massie’s unreliability didn’t matter — because conservative bills wouldn’t pass anyway. And when the GOP’s margins in the House were larger, we could afford Massie’s grandstanding.
The Office of Congressional Ethics offered West $60,000 to settle her wrongful termination complaint earlier this year, according to a copy of the proposed agreement first reviewed by Axios and obtained by Fox News Digital. West declined the settlement because it included a non-disclosure agreement that would bar her from publicly discussing the allegations.
[MSN] Michigan Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul el Sayed frequently touts his credentials as a physician, though records indicate he has little history practicing medicine.
State medical licensing records in both Michigan and New York do not show Abdul el Sayed ever holding a physician’s license in either state, according to a new report from Politico.
Throughout the campaign, el Sayed has frequently leaned on his medical background as a central part of his political identity, regularly emphasizing his medical training and allowing introductions referring to him as a physician to go unchallenged.
During an April television interview, he repeatedly referenced his experience as a physician, and in earlier appearances that year, he described firsthand experience in medical emergencies and portrayed medicine as the defining profession of his career.
Michigan law bars individuals from representing themselves in a way that would lead others to believe they are licensed or authorized to practice medicine if they do not hold a valid medical license.
The primary is Aug 4 and El Sayed is one of three candidates with substantial backing. El Sayed is backed by Hassan (the fall of the Soviet Union was a tragedy) Piker
[Breitbart] Incumbent Republican Congressman Thomas Massie (KY) has slipped more than five points behind his GOP challenger, former Navy SEAL and businessman Ed Gallrein.
Quantus Insights surveyed some 900 likely Republican voters in the Bluegrass State on May 11-12 and found that 48.2 percent support Gallrein over narcissistic RINO backstabber Thomas Massie who has 43.1 percent support.
When leaners are pushed to choose, Gallrein jumps to an eight-point lead over the insufferable Massie, 52.8 percent to 45.1 percent.
Early voting is set to begin this week. Election Day in Kentucky is next Tuesday, May 19.
In two previous polls taken of the race last month, Massie enjoyed a four- and a nine-point lead, respectively. But those were much smaller sample sizes (fewer than 450) and, well, five weeks is a long time in politics.
The real bad news for Massie is that the April poll that showed him nine points up over Gallrein (47 to 38 percent) was also a Quantus Insights poll. Polling is a bit of a mess these days, but one reliable way to at least gauge movement is by watching the same pollster. So…
In the same poll, Massie went from a nine-point lead to five-point deficit. That’s a net collapse of 14 points. RINO Massie lost four points. Former Navy SEAL Gallrein picked up ten points. And in both polls, Massie, the well-known incumbent, failed to reach 50 percent.
“For an incumbent member of Congress, especially one with Massie’s long-standing name identification and well-defined political brand, sitting at roughly 43% on the initial ballot is a warning sign,” writes Quantus. “Massie retains a substantial base, but the topline suggests that a meaningful share of the Republican primary electorate is already prepared to move in another direction.”
Yes, Massie has a following, but guess who has the biggest and most loyal political following in generations? That would be President Donald Trump, which is why he was able to pretty much wipe out the Indiana State Senate cabal that refused to redistrict.
Massie isn’t some principled Republican who sometimes disagrees with Trump. Instead, he’s a peacock, an obnoxious jerk who chooses affection from CNN and the New York Times over commonsense border security and tax cuts.
“Massie voted against tax cuts for seniors, he voted against tax cuts for overtime workers, and he voted against tax cuts for earners; tip earners, no. He wanted to increase the taxes. He voted with the Democrats,” Trump explained in March.
“He voted against border security, where we took the worst border in the history of our country, made it the best border in the history of our country in two and a half months… and he voted against eligibility verification for welfare recipients,” the president added.
“Having your own opinions is one thing. Voting against the party on every single issue, you’re eventually going to make too many enemies, and that is the problem that Thomas has had,” Vice President JD Vance said in October. He added, “It’s not one issue. It’s not three or four issues. It’s that every time that we’ve needed Thomas for a vote, he has been completely unwilling to provide it.”
Unlike U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who drives us a little crazy but at least has a set of principles, Massie is an unprincipled underminer only interested in media love and attention.
[IsraelTimes] Rep. Thomas Massie criticizes opponent Ed Gallrein by highlighting his donor Singer with anti-LGBTQ torrent along with symbol that critics say is antisemitic move to ‘label the Jew’
A prominent Jewish donor to Republican politicians is the target of a new ad about the Kentucky GOP congressional primary.
The one-minute spot criticizes the candidacy of Republican Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy Seal backed by US President Donald Trump ...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania... , who is running against incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s 4th district. Among Gallrein’s donors is Paul Singer, the billionaire hedge fund manager at Elliot Management.
The ad claims that Singer, 81, will bring his "trans madness to Kentucky." It describes him as a "major pro-gay, pro-trans activist who works with far-left, hardcore Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... ," and shows a Star of David overlaid with the rainbow Pride flag. It also shows drag queens, multiple Pride flags, and the logo of the LGBTQ advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign.
Singer, who is Jewish, is a major Republican donor. His son is gay, and Singer is a longtime advocate for gay rights.
The stereotype that Jews are responsible for promoting an LGBTQ agenda has proliferated on the far right, according to antisemitism watchdogs.
The Kentucky ad was paid for by Hold the Line PAC, a group "focused on Religious Liberty, 2A, and Restoring Election Integrity," according to its website. (HoldtheLinePAC.com is distinct from HoldtheLinePAC.org, a Democratic PAC.) It encourages viewers to vote for Massie, who has held the seat since 2012.
The ad has drawn widespread condemnation. "This ad is totally insane! As if homophobia wasn’t enough, you had to make it antisemitic, too, using a Star of David to label the Jew. I’ll always call out hate when we see it," tweeted Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a Jewish Democrat from New Jersey, about the ad.
It comes at a time when the Star of David is associated for many Americans not just with Judaism but with Israel, which is increasingly unpopular among voters in both parties.
Massie, the Kentucky incumbent, is one of the most anti-Israel Republicans in Congress, criticizing US support for Israel and voting against a resolution condemning the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. In 2023, Massie voted against a resolution that equated anti-Zionism with antisemitism. And most recently, he voted against continued funding for the Iron Dome defense system in Israel and did not support American intervention in Iran. (He has also drawn allegations of antisemitism for comments unrelated to Israel, such as when he compared COVID measures to the Holocaust in a 2021 Twitter post.)
Singer, meanwhile, is one of the top Jewish donors to political causes. He gave $8.8 million to Republican candidates during the 2020 election cycle. Though Singer was a Trump skeptic during the president’s first term, he warmed up during his second term. Bloomberg reported Singer gave $14.5 million to the Senate Leadership Fund and $8 million to Congressional Leadership Fund.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/14/2026 00:00 ||
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#1
Kurt: Next week, the people of the 4th Congressional District of Kentucky have a chance to punt that useless poser Thomas Massie through the goalposts of failure. Let’s hope they do. This ridiculous clown was merely a tiresome curiosity when the Republicans had a decent margin in the House, but then, he found himself with a little bit of heat because of the current small margin. And he made the best of it, through shameless lies and cringe-worthy self-promotion, going from marginal mediocrity to an active abscess on the buttocks of the party. It’s time to lance that boil.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/14/2026 6:02 Comments ||
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I used to sort of like Massie. Kind of got old after a while. All the reaching out to leftists. All the symbolic votes.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/14/2026 6:08 Comments ||
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#3
Just gossip: the Paul dynasty has a third generation; he’s an ass, so perhaps neither medicine nor politics is in his future:
[IsraelTimes] William Paul apologizes after berating Rep. Mike Lawler about ‘you Jews’; when told his comments were hateful, he had reportedly told lawmaker to ‘watch more Tucker Carlson’
The son of US Senator Rand Paul accosted Congressman Mike Lawler on Tuesday with antisemitic and homophobic invective, calling Jews “un-American” and more loyal to Israel than the US, according to Lawler and a reporter who was present.
William Paul apologized for the incident, writing on X Wednesday: “Last night, I had too much to drink and said some things that don’t represent who I really am. I’m sorry and today I am seeking help for my drinking problem.” His father has not commented on the incident.
Lawler, whose district covers a heavily Jewish suburban New York area, is an outspoken supporter of Israel and opponent of antisemitism, but is not Jewish himself. Both he and Rand Paul, of Kentucky, are Republicans.
In an exchange at a Washington, DC, bar that was witnessed by Reese Gorman, a reporter for the NOTUS website, Rand Paul’s son William approached Lawler and – after introducing himself as the senator’s son – said Lawler’s “people” would be to blame if the younger Paul’s favored candidate, Rep. Thomas Massie, were to lose in a Kentucky congressional primary.
When Lawler responded, “My people?” Paul responded, “Yeah, you Jews,” according to Gorman.
Lawler, who is not Jewish, clarified that he is Irish, Italian and Catholic, he recalled during a press availability tweeted by a reporter from CourthouseNews. “And he goes, ‘Oh! Oh, I’m sorry to accuse you of that’,” Lawler added.
“But he then went on a roughly 10-minute diatribe about Israel, about Jews, about [GOP megadonor] Paul Singer and accusing Jews of being responsible for so many things, playing right into the typical antisemitic tropes that so many people rely on,” Lawler recalled.
“At one point, he said that he hates Jews and hates gays and doesn’t care if they die,” Lawler said. “And I think that’s f—ing disgusting. So, you know, the conversation shortly thereafter ended, he gave me the middle finger and then tripped on his way out the door.”
When Lawler told Paul he was being antisemitic, the senator’s son reportedly responded that the congressman “needs to watch more Tucker Carlson.”
Despite the apology, of course, that’s exactly who he is, the proof being that he said it. I completely do not understand these young men who rightfully turn their backs on some of the vicious opinions of the anti-male perverted left, only to hug to their breasts others equally, stupidly, obviously vile.
#4
tw, for another example of splits between generations, check the Wikipedia entries for the Hamilton Fish family, especially Ham Fish III, IV, and V.
Ham Fish IV was my congresscritter for a while when I lived in the Hudson Valley back in the 70s.
[Breitbart] Failed Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has proposed a new government program for her failed city: free teeth for meth addicts, paid for by taxpayers.
Speaking at an event this week, Bass floated her latest idea to further destroy and bankrupt what was once a great city…
“How many people who are unhoused that you meet have no teeth at all?” she asked. “They don’t have teeth, why? Because meth rots your teeth. You can’t succeed without teeth! So there needs to be comprehensive healthcare provided to people.”
This is like refurnishing a house that’s still on fire.
This has to be one of the most ridiculous ideas anyone has ever come up with, and she actually uses the retarded term “unhoused.”
What good does it do to fix the teeth of a meth head? Who’s going to look at a meth head’s smile and say, Please work my cash register.
And we’re not talking about a cleaning here. We’re talking about tens of thousands of dollars in dental care. Implants cost about $6000 per tooth. Extractions run around $300 per tooth. Meth heads will almost certainly require bone grafts, sinus lifts, and maybe even sedation. Are we going to trust meth heads with dentures, which are cheaper at around $5000, but likely to end up in a pawn shop or left behind in a crack house?
In my experience, you’re looking at a total cost in the range of $30,000 to $80,000, and that’s if the city pays the dentist directly, which it won’t. The whole program will be funneled through a non-profit or NGO, which will double or triple the cost to taxpayers (with sweet kickbacks to Democrats), just like Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) “free” diaper program tripled the cost of the diapers the government (i.e. taxpayers) bought.
As for “my experience,” it’s been two years and counting of paying massive dental bills out of my own pocket, just like every other law-abiding taxpayer in America.
You mean, all I have to do to get my dental bills paid is smoke meth?
Medicare doesn’t even cover dental, which means people who have worked all their lives and paid into the system do not have government help paying their dental bills. Ah, but the government will assist degenerate meth addicts.
Karen Bass: “How many people, who are unhoused, that you meet have no teeth at all? They don’t have teeth, why? Because meth rots your teeth. YOU CAN’T SUCCEED WITHOUT TEETH! So there needs to be comprehensive healthcare provided to people.”
[NY Post] Gavin Newsom has sought to transform California’s massive prison system into a Nordic-style rehabilitation program. Newsom has placed a moratorium on all executions, transferred condemned prisoners to facilities across the state, and dismantled San Quentin State Prison’s death row.
As part of this transformation, the Newsom administration approved a $189 million contract to provide new digital tablets — generic, flat-screen devices in a plastic shell — to every inmate in the state prison system, at "no cost" to offenders.
The administration heralded the effort to replace inmates’ old tablets — which were piloted in 2018 and given to nearly all prisoners by 2023 — as a step toward "digital equity" for "justice impacted" individuals. The prisoners could, in theory, use the devices to contact their families, consume "educational" content, and "learn new technology."
Gavin Newsom has sought to transform California’s massive prison system into a Nordic-style rehabilitation program.
As part of this transformation, the Newsom administration approved a $189 million contract to provide new digital tablets.
In reality, taxpayer-funded tablets have also been used for more lurid endeavors.
We contacted dozens of death-row inmates, who told us that prisoners in the state system use their devices to watch pornography and have explicit sexual conversations. Some prisoners, according to a former high-ranking California corrections official, use their tablets to groom minors.
Though the state has claimed to regulate explicit content, the inmates told us that users can easily evade detection.
When reached for comment, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the tablets were "tightly controlled education tools" that provided inmates with "access to the Bible, education, and reentry resources that actually reduce crime."
But inmates told us a different story.
In the 1980s, rapist and serial murderer Robert Maury killed a woman by strangling her with a nylon clothesline, strangled and killed another two women, and brutally raped a fourth before he was caught by authorities.
When reached for comment, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the tablets were "tightly controlled education tools" that provided inmates with "access to the Bible, education, and reentry resources that actually reduce crime." Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Now, Maury is living at a state prison facility in Stockton, California, where he has viewed pornography on his taxpayer-funded digital tablet.
In an interview, Maury told us inmates can receive "nude pictures" and watch pornography through their devices. In his case, he claimed to have received a topless photo from a 22-year-old German psychology student who was "hoping that I would share my story with her for her class project." After the student sent the photo, Maury said he "flirted" with her "for a while."
Maury said another way that inmates can watch pornography is through the video chat application. In this scheme, he explained, an inmate can call someone on the outside, that person can "put porn on their TV," and the inmate can "watch with them."
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/14/2026 00:00 ||
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[1839 views]
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Giving jailed molesters access to the internet seems like a bad idea. Newsome has solved that by changing the system so that molesters don’t go to jail in the first place. He’s always solving root causes.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/14/2026 6:01 Comments ||
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#2
Next he'll have you paying for professional conjugal visits
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.
[PJMedia] A breaking news alert from Fox News, apparently confirmed by a Republican congresswoman, states that the 
...every time you hear the phrase 
