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Recent Appearances...

-Great Cultural Revolution

Confused, Starving Reporters Now Desperate for Food After Killing American Journalism

2025-05-26

[JOHNKASSNEWS] After it destroyed its own credibility by twisting the truth to protect Joe Biden and hide his senility, can American corporate legacy news media hope for rebirth?

No.

It’s dead. Journalism killed itself covering up Joe Biden’s senility so Democrats could maintain power. Humpty Dumpty can’t be put back together again. The media is a feast for crows.

CNN’s Fake Jake Tapper and the rest of them can shriek and pull out their hair, protesting wildly that they are true journalists interested in "speaking truth to power."

That too, is a lie.

They are not journalists, they are political propagandists. They’re paid whores.

This latest episode of mainstream media corruption brings to mind an apocryphal story often wrongly attributed to Churchill or George Bernard Shaw, "Madam, we’ve already established what you are. All we’re doing now is discussing the price."

”That’s not the Chicago Way," he said. "The Chicago Way is they pull out shotguns, shoot all the cows and make a barbecue. And then they ride off looking for more cows to kill."

The disgraced legacy news media is a one-eyed jack, a knave without honor, caught covering up for the Democrat Party lie, installing and maintaining the senile old man who had the nuclear codes. And the mainstream media, from the dying papers to CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC banded together vilifying any colleague who demanded answers.

The boss whore of this despicable gang is Tapper, who is now cashing in, selling his book, telling the tale he loudly condemned others for approaching . And all of his posse who profit after keeping their mouths shut for so long, after putting the nation through hell, deserve contempt. Tapper’s newfound "humility" is but another means to whitewash this shameful scandal.

In this they are much like the prostitute going through pockets after the client has been bludgeoned. But Jake the Fake is not alone. They told us he was "sharp as a tack" but was he? No.

Just who was running the country? And why should we trust anything the Democrats and their media coms shop tell us going forward?

Democrats worked in concert to cover up Biden’s senility. And so did the mainstream media played along because their hatred and fear of Donald Trump compelled them. We saw it all as it happened, so there’s no spinning their way out of it. But they’re trying desperately, beseeching America to eat their waste. And all we really need are the treasonous actors who used the presidential autopen without the people’s permission.

"We are in the midst of this staggering presidential scandal from the Biden administration. Whether you’re talking about the mental decline or the physical decline, there was a conspiracy to keep the American people from knowing who was actually operating as president," said Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway during a Fox News interview. "It really makes all other presidential scandals throughout history seem to somewhat pale in comparison."

It would take volumes to list all the White House scandals, from US Grant, Warren Harding, Woodrow Wilson and his manipulative wife Edith; Bill and Hillary Clinton and the 30,000 vanished emails; Barack Obama of the Fast and Furious scandal and the thousands of guns Obama had passed through to Mexican narco-gangs, the murders of the Americans at Bengazi and the political partisan abuses of the IRS.

There is a media myth about Obama’s administration perpetuated by the New York Times, that Obama’s administration was scandal free. No, it was not.

And of course, Richard Nixon of Watergate infamy.

But this one about Biden is much worse than the Watergate break-in. In that one the White House covered up the lawbreaking and the media uncovered it. The establishment media, led by the Washington Post hounded Nixon from office.

But in this one Biden and the legacy media covered up his senility, installed him, and publicly ridiculed any of us who dared point out they were protecting a presidential meat puppet at the expense of the American people.

Americans need news that they can trust to make important decisions about their vote and who would govern them. But they can’t trust this sort of garbage.

And the American people are being told to take it and eat it.

We’re told to eat the garbage they throw at us through the video screens and over the internet, to smile and applaud the corporate legacy media for "protecting" our republic from authoritarianism.

But as we say in Chicago whenever they put their lips together and blow: It’s all bullshit.

I take all this personally.

I spent 40 years working in the mainstream media as a reporter, political writer, columnist, and editorial board member of the Chicago Tribune. I loved working there, loved the readers and the paper and the work we accomplished, the detailed reporting we pursued. I just loved it. We were on a mission, in a politically corrupt city, as the tribunes for the people.

The Trib was once the voice of midwestern conservatism. It was about as mainstream as you could get. No longer. Once the leftist Jacobins took over newsroom, the knives came out and I had to go.

But it wasn’t the ideology that attracted me, it was that we could do real reporting and journalism there. The problem with the Jacobins is they pursued a course that moved away from seeking the truth, they were doctrinaire and lost any pretense of curiosity. They helped turn corporate journalism into what it is today.

Years ago, an associate of the Chicago Outfit and I were having lunch and talking about the mob. Specifically, about the economic lessons to be learned from the Chicago Outfit.

"Citizens see a couple, three cows on the side of a hill and think about putting them together and make more cows, make a herd. And sell the beef.

What’s wrong with that?

"Nothing but that’s not the Chicago Way," he said. "The Chicago Way is they pull out shotguns, shoot all the cows and make a barbecue. And then they ride off looking for more cows to kill."

I found the photo of the hyenas to illustrate that point, because hyenas aren’t interested in thinking about the future. And neither was the media, so intent it was on protecting Democrats from the people. And so, the news media devoured its own credibility with Biden, and now wonders where they might find the next feast.

Biden was not fit for office even before his inauguration.

As the great Miranda Devine wrote long ago, Joe Biden has been president-in-name-only since he was inaugurated

Jake the Fake and MSNBC and the New York Times and the rest of the pack of hyenas must now admit there is no feast without customers.

Who would pay for what passes for corporate legacy journalism now?

Only fools. Only chumbolones.

A few are still paying for garbage to eat as Fake Jake squeeze the chumbolones, as the New York Times looks down its nose at the American middle class.

But many others turn away from garbage journalism and reach out to independent journalism every day.

You’re always welcome here at https://johnkassnews.com/

Where did it start?

You might argue that American journalism fell apart with the rise of Al Gore’s internet that killed news advertising. Then the newspapers relied on subscriptions, and if subscribers were rabid Jacobins, they demanded offending heads be lopped.

But I’d argue, yeah, sure, OK but don’t forget the hopium smokers in the Washington press corps when Barry Obama became president.

I remember writing about the depressing Washington Press Corps addiction to hopium as they offered Obama as their Marxist demi-god. All the newsrooms were besotted.

"Obama hopium was so powerful, that that first rush of it, well, it sent a tingle up my leg. Or down my leg. Then up. So now, when I read newspaper stories about Obama’s political history, like a recent gooey, puffy profile in the Washington Post and it didn’t mention Obama as a willing member of Chicago’s Daley machine, well, I didn’t get angry.

"Not anymore.

"Why? Because I’m a hope-head.

"Now, I don’t get upset when foreign and national journalists fail to mention Tony Rezko, or the Daley boys, or how the Chicago machine plans to staff the Department of Justice, and the new Department of Homeland Casinos.

"Who cares? I’m numb with hopium."

But that was then.

I’m much better now.

I asked for a Congressional investigation days ago. And for the identity of who controlled the autopen. There seems to be no other way if we’re to keep the republic. The names must be known.

According to The Hill, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will be investigating Biden’s use of an "autopen" to sign documents such as the pardons issued just before he left office.

The Hill reported that "Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement he plans to subpoena former Biden aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal and Ashley Williams, who he claims "ran interference" for Biden and may have overseen the use of the autopen.

"Meanwhile, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is demanding the upper chamber hold hearings on Biden’s health and competence, and rightly so. He wants to interview people who were close to the former president. As he told Axios, "We have to. I mean, who was running the government?"

Years ago, in his first news conference since taking office, taxpayer-funded PBS White House reporter Yamiche Alcindor asked President Joe Biden whether migrants are crossing the southern border because he’s so "moral" and "decent."

She embarrassed herself without a smidgen of humility.

"You’ve said over and over again that immigrants shouldn’t come to this country right now, this isn’t the time to come. That message is not being received," Alcindor said as the nation faces a crisis of illegal immigration not seen in decades. "Instead, the perception of you, that got you elected as a moral, decent man, is the reason why a lot of immigrants are coming to this country and trusting you with unaccompanied minors."

Biden, a moral man? A decent man?

Yamiche, go sit on Jake’s lap and maybe he’ll tell you bedtime stories of the girl who saved journalism. Better yet Yamiche, just cancel yourself.

Last week on the Chicago Way podcast, co-host Jeff Carlin and I interviewed our friend Tom Bevan, co-founder and president of Real Clear Politics.

We talked about Biden, the media, Deep State operative James Comey and more. You might want to listen here.

I asked him about whether the media can survive this.

No, he said.

"The media’s broken," Bevan said. "There is no putting it back together. It is Humpty Dumpty for sure."

And all the king’s horses, and all the king’s men...

Don’t forget that Monday is Memorial Day, for all those who died for this country.

It is not a day to commemorate steaks and hotdogs and beer and chips. It is not the day to raise our glasses to our gluttony. Monday is the day we say a prayer and remember all those who gave their lives for the American republic.

A republic, said Dr. Franklin, if you can keep it.

Can we keep it?

That’s up to you. But they died trying to keep it. In all the cemeteries of American war dead across the world, among the white markers and crosses across the landscape, row after row here, in France, everywhere, it is held in a language unspoken by the political class, but perhaps you can feel it all the same:

A republic, if you can keep it.

Lest we forget.

Link

Home Front: Politix

DHS ends Harvard's student visa program over 'pro-terrorist conduct'

2025-05-23

Thinking waaaaay outside the box, moving the Overton Window to another galaxy… Secretary Noem just trumped [yes, I did — and on purpose, too] all the management clichés. Why on earth would anyone go to Harvard if they can’t rub elbows with international aristocrats? It’s not like the education is still something special.

[FoxNews] Existing international students must transfer or leave US as DHS demands protest footage and disciplinary records

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is eliminating the student visa program at Harvard University due to "pro-terrorist conduct" at campus protests, Fox News Digital has learned.

It's a severe consequence for what DHS claims is Harvard's refusal to comply with its requests for behavioral records of student visa holders.

"This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus," said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. "It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments. Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused. They have lost their Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law. Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country."

Harvard may no longer enroll foreign students in the 2025-2026 school year, and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status to reside in the U.S. before the next academic year begins.

"As a result of your brazen refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas rhetoric, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies, you have lost this privilege," Noem wrote in a letter to Maureen Martin, the university’s director of immigration services.

Noem offered Harvard 72 hours to provide the information requested for an opportunity to regain its visa program for the next school year.

She called the move the "direct result of Harvard’s epic failure to comply with simple reporting requirements."

Harvard, meanwhile, asserted the termination was "unlawful."

"The government’s action is unlawful. We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard’s ability to host our international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the University – and this nation – immeasurably. We are working quickly to provide guidance and support to members of our community. This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission," university spokesperson Jason Newton told Fox News Digital.

The records requested include any footage of protest activity involving students on visas and the disciplinary records of all students on visas in the last five years.

Noem said last month she had requested records related to visa-holding students enrolled in the university and Harvard’s counsel did not provide adequate information to meet the demand. After the DHS general counsel asked again for the information, Harvard provided an "insufficient, incomplete and unacceptable response," she said.

"Consequences must follow to send a clear signal to Harvard and all universities that want to enjoy the privilege of enrolling foreign students, that the Trump administration will enforce the law and root out the evils of antisemitism in society and campuses," said Noem.

Requested records also include footage or documentation of illegal, dangerous or violent activity by student visa holders, any records of threats or the deprivation of rights of other students or university personnel.

Harvard could not immediately be reached for comment.

Last month, Harvard announced it would allow foreign students to accept admission to both Harvard and a foreign university as backup amid the Trump administration’s threats to move to block Harvard’s authorization to host them. Typically, students must accept enrollment at Harvard by May 1 and can’t commit to another university.

At least a dozen Harvard students have had their authorization to study in the U.S. revoked over campus protest activity.

The Trump administration has already frozen close to $3 billion in federal funding to the university, largely dedicated to research, and launched investigations across the departments of Justice, Education and Health and Human Services. They claim that Harvard has failed to address campus antisemitism and eradicate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in its policies.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress this week that the State Department had probably revoked "thousands" of student visas by this point and would "proudly" revoke more.

"We're going to continue to revoke the visas of people who are here as guests and are disrupting our higher education facilities," he said Tuesday. "A visa is a privilege, not a right."

The crackdown on university policies comes after a wave of pro-Gaza student protests and encampments swept schools across the nation since the beginning of Israel’s offensive campaign to eradicate Hamas after the Oct. 7 attacks to pressure university administrations to divest from Israel.

Compare and contrast:

Biden Education Dept Ignored Hundreds of Anti-Semitism Complaints, Official Says
Trump has cracked down on campus anti-Semitism, which surged nationwide under Biden

Link

Home Front: Politix

FBI’s Kash Patel and Dan Bongino hit the talk circuit to explain everything

2025-05-19

FBI's top boss Kash Patel says bureau ran cover for Hillary but it all ends under Trump
[FoxNews] Kash Patel claims former FBI leadership also 'bastardized the FISA process' and hid documentation in Crossfire Hurricane investigation

FBI Director Kash Patel hinted at a "wave of transparency" on the horizon as the agency struggles to rebuild public trust, especially in the wake of longstanding controversy over alleged politicization and selective prosecution.

Sitting alongside FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino for a "Sunday Morning Futures" exclusive interview, Patel pointed to the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation as an example of political bias and institutional failure. He claimed senior officials within the Department of Justice "hijacked" their constitutional responsibilities by selectively deciding which cases to pursue.

"You asked in the beginning how the FBI was weaponized," he said to host Maria Bartiromo. "Well, the FBI hijacked the constitutional responsibility of the Department of Justice and the Attorney General, and James Comey and others specifically decided what cases to prosecute and not prosecute. Don't believe me? Go to the videotape in the Hillary Clinton investigation."

"We don't decide prosecutions, and neither does any agent or intel analyst. We have great partners under Attorney General [Pam] Bondi. We work with them and discuss the matter with them, but the prosecutorial decision is with them," he said.

Patel said that new agency leadership has uncovered additional details regarding the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into President Donald Trump's alleged ties to Russia and are working with Congress to put out information surrounding the episode.

"That's how vindictive and vicious the former leadership structure here was. Not only did they bastardize the FISA process and lie to the American public, they withheld and hid documentation and put it in rooms where people weren't supposed to look," Patel said.

"It's a good thing we're here now to clean it up, and you're about to see a wave of transparency… Just give us about a week or two."

FBI Director Patel Says Transparency on Russia Collusion Claim in 'a Week or Two' ‐ 'The Biggest D.C. Deception Game We Have Ever Seen'
[Breitbart] During this week’s broadcast of FNC’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” FBI Director Kash Patel discussed the 2017 claim that President Donald Trump’s first presidential election win resulted from Russian collusion.

Despite the statute of limitations having expired on prosecuting any criminality, Patel told host Maria Bartiromo to expect a “wave of transparency” in a week or two.

Partial transcript as follows:

BARTIROMO: I watched it with you and Devin Nunes, when you were truth-tellers on all of this, and you were as well, Dan, throughout the Russia collusion story and the rest.

PATEL: Look, I can speak to the folks that were in our seats, our predecessors, and they intentionally failed the American public by putting on the biggest D.C. deception game we have ever seen. They said the FBI was the most storied institution for law enforcement, and it was. And it will be again very soon.

But when the likes of Comey and McCabe and Strzok and company came in here with the James Bakers of the world and intentionally lied to a federal court, only to rig a presidential election by lying to the American public and using taxpayer dollars, likely illegally, to fund this entire operation, and then withholds sculptor information from a federal court that I used to appear before to manhunt terrorists, that’s what broke the FBI.

And then, when they were caught, they lied about it. And you and a few others like Dan and others were brave enough to cover it six, seven, eight years ago. And we’re still talking about it today, because, as Congress is working rigorously with us, the Crossfire Hurricane documents are coming fast and hard. And they’re being sent there unredacted, so we can have full accountability.

And that’s how you restore what the — the trust that was lost to the American public when it comes to the FBI.

BARTIROMO: Yes, but, come on, Director. With all due respect, we have been talking about this for a long time, and I have been demanding accountability for many, many years.

One of the — you mentioned Comey, Strzok and the rest. They have got TV shows. They have got media platforms. They’re fine. There’s been no accountability.

PATEL: Well, look, it’s a fair criticism. But what I will tell people is, we weren’t here in the FBI in the last five years, when we had statute of limitations that were still in play, where we could have investigated criminal conduct. Most of these statute of limitations are 5 years old.

And we will investigate criminal conduct where we find a righteous case to do so and the law and the facts allow us to. But a lot of it, we’re precluded from. So we will take the criticism, and it’s rightfully so, that could we have done more in the past? Sure, people before us could have.

But what we can do now is continue to put out the documents and the information that these people withheld from the American public. And I’m just telling you, right now, as much as we know about Crossfire Hurricane, he and I just found out more last week. And we’re continuing to work with Congress to put those documents out.

That’s how vindictive and vicious the former leadership structure here was. Not only did they bastardize the FISA process and lie to the American public. They withheld and hid documentation and put it in rooms where people weren’t supposed to look. And it’s a good thing we’re here now to clean it up, and you’re about to see a wave of transparency.

BARTIROMO: What do you mean?

PATEL: Just give us about a week or two.

Two from Besoeker:

Bartiromo to FBI Director Patel: Why Don't We Have More Info On Trump Assassination Attempts? (video)
[Real Clear Politics] FOX News host Maria Bartiromo asked FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino when we will learn more about the assassination attempts against President Trump last summer during an interview on "Sunday Morning Futures."
Worth the time to watch.

‘We're Gonna Ruin Your Summer': Dan Bongino Warns Americans Not To ‘Buy Movie Tickets' In Unhinged Rant About FBI (video)
[MSN-Maria Sara Bartiromo] Former podcaster and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino warned Americans not to buy movie tickets, and that he will 'ruin their summer' during an interview this morning.

“We’re going to ruin your summer …if you’re a bad guy.” That’s a malevolently bad headline. Interview with FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Dir Dan Bongino. They looked at the data to see where the problems are worst — Memphis,TN per capita murder capitol, human trafficking in Ohio because of the highways, domestic inner city gangs metastasized as well as the Latin American narco gangs — and will be concentrating on the basics to make a difference. More impressive hires by President Trump — this is an A Team bringing their A game.

Link

Government Corruption

'President Trump asks a Looming Question, Who Was Behind the Biden Auto-Pen?

2025-05-18

[Last Refuge] At first blush the question seems curious, but when you further think about it the question becomes rather important. If Joe Biden was not cognitively aware of what was happening around the office of the president, then who exactly was controlling the use of his signature via the auto-pen?

In a functioning democracy with a purposefully curious media, the fourth estate would be demanding a congressional investigation to get the answers and context for who was really carrying out the agenda of the Biden administration. Unfortunately, as a nation we lost that ’fourth estate’ a long time ago, and congress is of no help. President Trump:

..."Whoever had control of the "AUTOPEN" is looking to be a bigger and bigger scandal by the moment. It is a major part of the real crime, THAT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN! Millions and millions of people knew that, but the Radical Left Democrats waged a campaign of inoculation and innocence like none that had ever been waged before. THIS IS WHY THE UNSELECT COMMITTEE OF POLITICAL THUGS, WHO WERE GIVEN A FULL AND COMPLETE PARDON BY THE PERSON WHO WIELDED THE NOW ILLEGALLY USED AUTOPEN, DELETED AND DESTROYED ALL EVIDENCE AND INFORMATION FROM THEIR CORRUPT AND VICIOUS WITCH HUNT AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHER PEOPLE, WHOSE LIVES WERE COMPLETELY SHATTERED AND DESTROYED BY THIS HISTORICALLY CRIMINAL EVENT. Remember, it all began with DIRTY COP James Comey, Obama, a hapless and cognitively impaired Sleepy Joe Biden, and my now very famous ACCUSATION that,"THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!" Whoever had control of the Autopen is just the beginning. The biggest crime of all is that THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS RIGGED! I (MAGA!) WON THE ELECTION BY MILLIONS OF VOTES, AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT. GOD BLESS AMERICA, FOR THE FIGHT HAS JUST BEGUN!!!" (source)

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Illegal alien accused of attempted murder

2025-05-18

[DESOTOCOUNTYNEWS] The DeSoto County District Attorney's Office has announced that an illegal alien, Jiver Alejandro Melo Dominguez, of Mexico has been indicted by a DeSoto County Grand Jury for attempted murder. Dominguez, age 19, was indicted by a grand jury on Thursday, May 16.

''This is yet another troubling example of wide-open border policies,'' said District Attorney Matthew Barton. ''This criminal should never have been here. But don't worry — we're going to secure a swift conviction and immediately turn him over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where I hope Secretary Kristi Noem and Tom Homan can make room for him in El Salvador Prison.''

Charging documents allege that on March 5, during a construction project in Hernando, Dominguez allegedly attempted to kill another man by slicing his neck with an Orcon box knife. The indictment also notes that Dominguez had recently traveled from reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown

reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown

...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel...
to Memphis prior to the attack.

Dominguez was arrested by Hernando Police Department and remains in DeSoto County Adult Detention Center.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Secret Service agents question Comey about his Trump social media post

2025-05-17

[NBC] Secret Service agents interviewed former FBI director James Comey on Friday regarding his “8647” social media post that administration officials called a death threat against President Trump and Comey called a political statement.

Alinsky him — make him live up to his claimed standards for President Trump and Trump Republicans.

“Today, federal agents from @SecretService interviewed disgraced former FBI Director Comey regarding a social media post calling for the assassination of President Trump,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said late Friday. “I will continue to take all measures necessary to ensure the protection of @POTUS Trump. This is an ongoing investigation.”

A lawyer for Comey declined to comment.

Comey, a longtime Trump critic, deleted the photo — which showed seashells arranged in the shape of “8647”— within hours. He said it was a political message, not a violent one.
"Once a POS always a POS" theory validated.
“I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence,” Comey wrote on Instagram. “It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”

“Yes, I was director of the Federal friggin’ Bureau of Investigation, but I’m really dumber than a box of hair,” said no VIP ever.

In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Trump said that he believes Comey “knew exactly what he meant.”

“A child knows what that meant... that meant ‘assassination,’” Trump said. “And it says it loud and clear. He wasn’t very competent, but he was competent enough to know what that meant.”

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on Thursday that Comey should be jailed.

“I’m very concerned for the president’s life; we’ve already seen assassination attempts,” Gabbard said on Fox News. “I’m very concerned for his life and James Comey, in my view, should be held accountable and put behind bars for this.”

Update at 10:30 a.m. EDT:

BREAKING: Per multiple sources familiar to colleague @davidspunt & myself, former FBI Director James Comey met with the U.S. Secret Service in DC this afternoon, where he was interviewed about his now deleted “8647” seashell post. He was not arrested, it was a standard interview…
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) May 16, 2025

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

MAGA demands immediate arrest of former FBI director James Comey after he 'called for assassination'

2025-05-16

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Former FBI director James Comey is under investigation for implying President Donald Trump 'should be assassinated.'

Comey uploaded a cryptic picture on his Instagram account on Thursday afternoon, which featured an assortment of shells arranged to spell out: '86 47.'

That specific combination of numbers has been linked to the assassination of Trump and a 'quiet resistance.'

The number 86 is considered slang for 'to kill or murder' within some circles, in an apparent reference to a standard sized grave being eight feet long and six feet deep.

Trump is the 47th president, so some anti-Trump groups use the two numbers together to indicate that Trump should be assassinated.

Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem exploded at Comey on X within hours of the post, amid mounting fury from MAGA loyalists.

'Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey just called for the assassination of President Trump,' she wrote.

'DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately.'

Comey swiftly deleted the Instagram photo, but not before it was seized upon and shared widely among right-wing X accounts.

Trump's son Don Jr. weighed in on Thursday, expressing shock over the post.

He wrote: Just James Comey causally [sic] calling for my dad to be murdered. This is who the Dem-Media worships. Demented!'

Trump ally and newly appointed FBI chief Kash Patel also addressed the scandal, writing: 'We are aware of the recent social media post by former FBI Director James Comey, directed at President Trump.

'We are in communication with the Secret Service and Director Curran. Primary jurisdiction is with SS on these matters and we, the FBI, will provide all necessary support.'

Comey issued a statement on Thursday night insisting it was an honest mistake and he did not understand the connotations of the message.

'I posted a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message,' he wrote.

'I didn't realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.'

If he were serious instead of lying through his teeth, he’d be dumber than a box of hair. Instead he’s trying to gaslight more than half the country while winking in solidarity at the other half. But it’s been that way for a while — remember when that rodeo cowboy in the Obama mask was arrested, while plays and books about successful plots to assassinate Republican presidents starting with George W. Bush have been applauded and awarded industry prizes?

Link

Government Corruption

McCabe memos show how disgraced FBI leader kept Trump-Russia collusion hoax alive in 2017

2025-04-25

Another long one with lots of details at the link.

[JustTheNews] Newly-declassified Crossfire Hurricane records reveal the key role that Andrew McCabe played in perpetuating the Russiagate hoax. There are still people who believe it.

Newly-declassified memos written by disgraced FBI official Andrew McCabe shine new light on how he kept the Trump-Russia collusion hoax investigation alive during a critical period in the first half of 2017 before he got it handed off to a special counsel.

The eight memos penned by McCabe, most of which had never been released until earlier this month, span his discussions and meetings (including with President Donald Trump) held from January 24, 2017 to May 21, 2017 — a critical time period ranging from just before the FBI sprung an interview on retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn to just after Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel. The memos were more fully declassified through efforts by Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel earlier this month.

McCabe was a stalwart ally of since-fired FBI Director James Comey, coordinated closely with since-fired FBI special agent Peter Strzok on the launch and the conduct of the flawed and politicized Crossfire Hurricane investigation, and relied heavily upon disgraced FBI lawyer Lisa Page as his close confidante.

Pushed the Steele dossier

McCabe and Comey had pushed in December 2016 to include British ex-spy Christopher Steele's debunked dossier in the body of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment on alleged Russian meddling, but they were thwarted by the NSA and CIA. The dossier was eventually included in an annex to the assessment.

By early 2017, McCabe and the FBI knew that the Steele dossier was baseless. The FBI had offered Steele an “incentive” in October 2016 of up to $1 million if he could prove the allegations in his discredited anti-Trump dossier, but the former MI6 agent was unable to back up his claims. An FBI spreadsheet from December 2016 showed nothing of any substance from the dossier could be verified. The FBI had unearthed nothing derogatory on Flynn. And an early 2017 interview of Steele’s main source — Igor Danchenko — undercut the dossier’s collusion claims.

Yet despite the huge setbacks for Crossfire Hurricane, McCabe’s newly-declassified memos show how McCabe facilitated the FBI’s targeting of Flynn, met with Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials about the Flynn allegations, refused to publicly shoot down false media stories on collusion, opened a collusion investigation into Trump himself after Comey was fired, kept the Trump-Russia investigation alive and escalated it as the acting FBI director, helped successfully push for a special counsel to take the reins, and more.

McCabe did not respond to a request for comment sent to him by Just the News through his LinkedIn.

January 24, 2017 — Mike Flynn’s call with McCabe

McCabe created his first memo related to a discussion he had with Flynn just before he was interviewed by FBI agents on January 24, 2017. Versions of the memo were previously released with various redactions in 2019 and 2020, but the version released this month has the fewest redactions yet.

The FBI had been plotting how to potentially prosecute Flynn related to his December 2016 call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, including potentially under the Logan Act.

McCabe said that “I told LTG Flynn that I had a sensitive matter to discuss. I explained that in light of the significant media coverage and public discussion about his recent contacts with Russian representatives, that Director Comey and I felt that we needed to have two of our agents sit down with the General and hear from him the details of those conversations. LTG Flynn asked if I was referring to his contacts with the Russian Ambassador to the United States, and indicated that I was.”

McCabe said in his memo that Flynn explained that he had been trying to "build relationships" with the Russians, and that he had calls in which he "exchanged condolences." McCabe said Flynn then stated that McCabe probably knew what was said in these calls because "you listen to everything they say."

McCabe said of his talk with Flynn that “I reiterated that in light of everything that has been said about these contacts, the important thing now was for us to hear directly from him what he said and how he felt about the conversations.”

Comey later admitted in 2018 that he took advantage of the chaos in the early days of Trump’s administration when he sent FBI special agents Peter Strzok and Joseph Pientka to talk to Flynn.

“I sent them,” Comey said to MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace, prompting laughter in the audience. “Something I probably wouldn’t have done or maybe gotten away with in … a more organized administration. In the George W. Bush administration, for example, or the Obama administration.”

“In both of those administrations, there was process, and so, if the FBI wanted to send agents into the White House itself to interview a senior official, you would work through the White House counsel, and there’d be discussions and approvals and who would be there, and I thought, it’s early enough — let’s just send a couple guys over,” Comey added.

STRZOK OVERJOYED THAT FLYNN CASE NOT CLOSED
The Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the Flynn case in May 2020 stated that Strzok learned in early January 2017 that the Flynn case had not been closed despite the lack of evidence for keeping it open, and relayed the “serendipitously good” news to McCabe's special assistant Lisa Page, with whom Strzok was having an affair. Strzok remarked that “our utter incompetence actually helps us.” Strzok then instructed FBI agents to “keep it open for now” at the behest of “the 7th Floor” of the bureau.

The DOJ said that “the FBI kept open its counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn based solely on his calls with Kislyak — the only new information to arise since the FBI’s determination to close the case.” McCabe did not tell Flynn that he was being interviewed by the FBI as part of an investigation targeting the Trump campaign.

McCabe said in his memo that “LTG Flynn questioned how so much information had been made public and asked if we thought it had been leaked” and “I replied that we were quite concerned about what we perceived as significant leaks and that we were in the process of completing a referral to the Department of Justice requesting authority to initiate a leak investigation.” McCabe said that “I further indicated that these cases were hard to prove but that we thought the significance of this situation demanded a thorough review.”

Link

Government Corruption

Newly declassified Crossfire Hurricane docs shine light on Steele, Clinton, and more

2025-04-13

Long and detailed. Herewith, a taste:

[JTN] Trump's first attempt at declassifying Crossfire Hurricane documents in January 2021 was thwarted. But now, the FBI records have been released, revealing in part new details on the FBI's problematic Trump-Russia probe.

Newly-declassified FBI documents shine new light on the FBI’s mishandling of its relationship with anti-Trump dossier author Christopher Steele, on the FBI’s double standards on defensive briefings given to Trump and Hillary Clinton, and other key elements of the debunked collusion saga.

Just the News already revealed on Thursday that declassified documents show that Stefan Halper, a key FBI informant in the widely-debunked Russia collusion case, was paid nearly $1.2 million over three decades and was motivated in part by "monetary compensation" — and that he continued snitching for the bureau even after agents concluded he told them an inaccurate story about future Trump National Security Advisor Mike Flynn.

And Just the News also revealed on Friday that the newly-released documents showed that then-NSA director Mike Rogers shot down a Pultizer Prize award-winning Washington Post article about the baseless Russian collusion investigation.

And a new review of hundreds of pages of declassified documents provides new information about the politicized Russiagate scandal — although significant redactions still remain.

This week, FBI Director Kash Patel transmitted to Congress hundreds of pages of declassified documents from the bureau’s "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation related to false claims about Trump-Russia collusion, following a declassification executive order from President Donald Trump last month. Just the News made all 700 pages from the declassified binder available to the public on Thursday.

An investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller “did not establish” any criminal Trump-Russia collusion. DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz found huge flaws with the FBI’s investigation, criticizing the“central and essential” role of the dossier in the FBI’s politicized surveillance of former Trump campaign associate Carter Page. Special counsel John Durham’s report concluded that “neither U.S. law enforcement nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.”

ADMIRAL MIKE ROGERS AND THE STEELE DOSSIER
Admiral Mike Rogers, who retired in 2018 after four years as National Security Agency chief and commander of U.S. Cyber Command, previously expressed a certain level of skepticism about the U.S. intelligence community’s 2017 assessment of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election — and a newly declassified interview Rogers gave to the FBI later in 2017 shines light on the dim view Rogers had of British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s discredited dossier.

“ADM Rogers decided that he would make the final analytic call on the NSA’s input to the ICA as he knew there would be a lot of pressure and attention on the final draft and he felt strongly his career analysts shouldn’t have to be responsible for something under such political pressure. In one draft of the ICA, ADM Rogers noted the contents of the ‘Steele dossier’ in the body of the product, which he did not recall seeing in previous drafts,” FBI notes dated June 17, 2017 state.

“In early January, the four principals met and ADM Rogers told the group he was unclear why the ICA needed to focus on the dossier as it was considered largely uncorroborated. Comey responded that the information was relevant and ADM Rogers suggested the information be included in an annex or appendix rather than prominently in the nearly one-page summary he had seen.”

Rogers and Comey, along with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and CIA Director John Brennan, briefed President-elect Trump about their election meddling findings at Trump Tower in January 2017. Comey stayed behind to tell Trump about some of the dossier’s more salacious allegations.

Steele told the FBI in October 2017 that he was “frustrated” by his dossier’s inclusion in an annex to the ICA. The FBI agent who recounted the interview with Steele wrote, “They brought up the inclusion of their material in the ICA annex multiple times – almost to the point that it felt like fishing for information about how the ICA was constructed. In the end, I made the point that I wasn’t going to get into how the ICA was put together, how the annex came about, etc.”

The Steele dossier annexed to the ICA was largely declassified in 2020, and it relayed some of Steele’s baseless collusion claims: “The most politically-sensitive claims by the FBI source [Steele] alleged a close relationship between the President-elect and the Kremlin. The source also claimed that the President-elect and his top campaign advisers knowingly worked with Russian officials to bolster his chances of beating Secretary Clinton; were fully knowledgeable of Russia’s direction of leaked Democratic emails; and were offered financial compensation from Moscow.”

VARYING ASSESSMENTS FROM INTELLIGENCE SERVICES
The 2017 intelligence assessment concluded with “high confidence” that Russia worked to “undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate former Secretary of State Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency” and “developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.” The NSA diverged on one aspect, expressing only “moderate confidence” that Putin actively tried to help Trump’s election chances and harm those of Clinton.

“I wouldn’t call it a discrepancy. I’d call it an honest difference of opinion between three different organizations,” Rogers told the Senate in 2017. “It didn’t have the same level of sourcing and the same level of multiple sources.”

A 2018 report from the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee concluded that “the majority of the Intelligence Community Assessment judgments on Russia’s election activities employed proper analytic tradecraft” but found the “judgments on Putin’s strategic intentions did not.”

Link

Home Front: Politix

Trump Announces FBI Move to Smaller HQ

2025-03-16

BLUF: Instead of the FBI moving to a huge, new campus in Maryland, they’re going to downsize in the old Department of Commerce building on Constitution Avenue. The Herbert Hoover building is only 25% as big as the current FBI HQ in the J. Edgar Hoover building, which was already slated to be sold.

[PJMedia] President Donald Trump
...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down...
's speech about "turning the page" on unequal treatment under the law at the Department of Justice on Friday upset all the right people—especially the old guard at the FBI.

During his one-hour speech, complete with occasional sidebars about everything from former Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight to the bravery of Florida Federal Judge Aileen Cannon, Trump named names and kicked some cabooses. Trump made it clear that the DOJ and FBI's illegal ways of meting out justice in the past were over.

At the DOJ hall, Trump calmly name-checked "deranged" Jack Smith and Andrew Weissmann, both of whom tried to throw the president in jail for unmerited reasons. "Norm Eisen of CREW...he's been after me for nine years." Trump used the names of these now MSNBC experts as a purpose pitch. If you're not a baseball fan, you'll have to look it up.

He told the crowd, filled with new and old justice officials, that it was "a great honor to have fired James The spine of the FBI is the rule of law Comey
The disgraced, except in his own mind, former head of the FBI...
," the FBI director who sent honeypot agents into the early days of the Trump campaign without predication, tried to blackmail Trump with the dossier news, giving CNN
...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for...
a reason to report the fake news (CNN has never returned its White House Correspondents award for this fake story), and setting the media hook for the Russia collusion farce that was an ongoing election interference operation.

Trump said, "These are bad people," and that the people who broke the law and violated their oaths "need to go to jail." Indeed, the latest revelation that Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. You're a lyin' dog-faced pony soldier...
turned over both Trump and Mike Pence's phone which the FBI exploited without a warrant, and then used the phone to apply for a warrant afterward, is yet another example of how federal law enforcement broke the law to Get Trump.

But he saved his biggest and most powerful verbal ordnance to explode in the faces of those who, in the midst of the Russia collusion nonsense, were rewarded with a brand new building by Trump!

Trump announced that the FBI will not get its new headquarters campus in Maryland. Indeed, he's never wanted it in the suburbs.

I've reported on plans for this new FBI campus before. The sprawling, Silicon Valley-like campus dwarfs the ugly FBI building in D.C. Trump said the proposed Maryland campus site is too far away—he called it "three hours away," which it's not, unless it's a Friday get-away day.

DEI, environmental, and other tangential things were suffused into the plans for the new campus.

Trump and everyone else in Washington, D.C. hates the utilitarian look of the FBI HQ on Capitol Hill. There are plans to sell off the old Hoover FBI HQ. It's expected to be renovated or torn down for D.C. condos and retail space.

Trump said, "Under Director Patel, we're getting the FBI agents out of the headquarters in Washington, D.C. and back on the streets in pursuit of dangerous criminals, where they belong and where they want to be."

After initially saying he wanted to build a new HQ on the site of the old FBI building, Trump said Kash Patel told him he wanted to move into the old Department of Commerce building on Constitution Avenue, and "about 25% the size" of the J. Edgar Hoover building. Oddly, the Commerce Department building is named for President Herbert Hoover.

The imaginary headline of this story could read, "Former Director Chris Wray Most Hurt by Trump's New FBI Plan." Wray was rewarded a new headquarters during the first Trump administration, though he spied on Trump, paid informants to go to the J6 breach, deployed assets to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach and lied about it, approved of the Mar-a-Lago raid, and investigated Trump for election interference—allegations that never panned out and seemed to be part of a concerted effort by the Old Guard to do everything possible to destroy Trump's reputation. He lied about it all to Congress.
And then Trump got elected...and vanquished the Old Guard's FBI edifice complex.

Link

Government Corruption

FBI Director Kash Patel starts purge of 'undercover' James Comey agents who 'infiltrated' Trump's...

2025-02-26

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The FBI is beginning an investigation into an alleged accusation against former FBI director James Comey, after a whistleblower accused him of using female 'honeypot' agents to infiltrate the Trump campaign.

An agency whistleblower revealed details of the scheme, accusing Comey of launching an off-the-books investigation into Trump's campaign in 2015, according to Washington Times reporter Kerry Picket.

Details of the operation was revealed in a protected disclosure to the House Judiciary Committee in 2024, according to the Times.

Two female FBI undercover agents were drafted to infiltrate Trump's 2016 campaign as 'honeypots' the report noted.

The term 'Honeypots' refers to undercover agents feigning romantic interest with individuals within an organization to gain access from a specific target.

The whistleblower said in the disclosure that Comey 'personally knew' and 'personally directed' the operation even though it was off the books.

Comey was assisted by then-Deputy Director Dave Bowdich and Paul Abbate, according to the disclosure.

The undercover agents allegedly targeted campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who was the focus of Comey's early efforts to scrutinize the Trump operation.

The FBI declined to comment when contacted by DailyMail.com about the story.

The news suggests that Patel will pursue investigations of past officials who targeted Trump within the FBI, even though he indicated he had no interest in doing so during his Senate confirmation hearings.

'I have no interest, no desire and will not, if confirmed, go backwards,' Patel said during his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. 'There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken.'

Link

Government Corruption

McCabe ordered Apple+Google to turn over the text/phone records for 20 Republican staffers--inclg KASH PATEL--involved in investigating FBI's Russiagate

2024-12-11

[X]

BREAKING: Disgraced ex-FBI Dir Andrew McCabe ordered Apple+Google to turn over the text/phone records for 20 Republican staffers--inclg KASH PATEL--involved in investigating FBI's Russiagate scandal & its abuses of FISA spy warrants targeting Trump aide: new DOJ IG report reveals
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) December 10, 2024

Mr. McCabe was deputy director of the FBI 2016-2018, and acting director 2017-2018, following the dismissal of James Comey. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe just before he was to have retired.

Link

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