Wednesday Top Headlines 

by Political Editors:  Duplicitous Democrats block vote on sanctuary cities (The Washington Times)

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Second judge blocks Trump administration from ending DACA (The Hill)

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Democrat wins legislative seat in Florida — 36 elections go from red to blue since 2016 (The Washington Post)

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Israeli police recommend bribery charges for Netanyahu (The Hill)

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U.S. strikes killed scores of Russian fighters in Syria (Bloomberg)

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Another global warming oops: Sinking islands are apparently growing (The Resurgent)

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High school bans “racially offensive” national anthem (The Washington Times)

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Dumb and Dumber: Trump’s lawyer says he paid Daniels $130,000 out of his own pocket (Fox News)

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Who would have guessed? More cops mean less crime, analysis shows (The Washington Free Beacon)

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Trending now: Facebook lost around 2.8 million U.S. users under 25 last year (Recode)

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Humor: Trump announces plan to replace food stamps with new low-income foraging program (The Onion)

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Policy: Assessing the Trump infrastructure plan (City Journal)

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Policy: Valentine’s Day is here, and the sugar lobby will take its cut (American Enterprise Institute)   

~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54136-wednesday-top-headlines

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Watergate Part Deux: Still Don’t Think 

There Is A Double Standard? Think Again!

by Joe Messina

{ lidblog.com } ~ Many reading this may have no clue as to what “Watergate” was... But because of Watergate, Republican President Richard Nixon had been labeled the biggest crook and most corrupt president in history, until NOW! President Nixon was been involved in and tried to cover up a break in of the Democrat National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington DC. Nixon was well-known for being paranoid and for trying to undermine anyone he suspected of being an enemy. Nixon, like President Trump, was being undermined by Democrat operatives who were stealing information and leaking it to the media. Nixon had a group of men known as the “White House Plumbers” who’s only job was stopping White House leaks...  https://lidblog.com/watergate-part-deux/ 

Trump Supporters In Iowa Blow Every Single

One Of CNN’s Narratives Out Of The Water

by JUSTIN CARUSO

{ dailycaller.com } ~ CNN’s Martin Savidge recently visited Iowa to interview supporters of President Trump, and on almost every single question... they defended the president and bucked the media narrative. The panel of four Trump supporters consistently expressed doubt about the Russia investigation and the FBI. One man called the Russia investigation a “political witch hunt from the get-go” and a “disgrace.” Another man said that Trump is “exactly what I voted for.”  And when asked whether they had faith in the FBI, one man answered, “Hell no. No, absolutely not.”... http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/12/cnn-iowa-trump-voters/?utm_medium=email

VIDEO:  http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/12/cnn-iowa-trump-voters/?utm_medium=email

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Intriguing Links Emerge 

In GOP Led Dossier Investigation

by CHUCK ROSS

{ dailycaller.com } ~ The Republican-led investigation into the infamous anti-Trump dossier has recently revealed several intriguing links... between Christopher Steele, lawyers, lobbyists, Democratic politicians, a former State Department official, and a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin. Most of the revelations come thanks to Sen. Chuck Grassley. The Iowa Republican released a letter in January that cited the names of several political operatives and lawyers who had not previously been linked to the dossier Steele wrote while on the payroll of the liar-Clinton campaign and DNC. And Thursday, a batch of text messages leaked to Fox News revealed that Steele used a back channel to communicate with Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence...

http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/12/dossier-investigation-links/?utm_medium=email

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Democratic Sen. Mark Warner texted 

with Russian oligarch lobbyist in effort to

contact dossier author Christopher Steele

by Ed Henry

{ foxnews.com } ~ Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee who has been leading a congressional investigation into President Trump's alleged ties to Russia... had extensive contact last year with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch who was offering Warner access to former British spy and dossier author Christopher Steele, according to text messages obtained exclusively by Fox News. "We have so much to discuss u need to be careful but we can help our country," Warner texted the lobbyist, Adam Waldman, on March 22, 2017. "I'm in," Waldman, whose firm has ties to liar-Hillary Clinton, texted back to Warner. Steele famously put together the anti-Trump dossier of unverified information that was used by FBI and Justice Department officials in October 2016 to get a warrant to conduct surveillance of former Trump adviser Carter Page. Despite the efforts, Steele has not agreed to an interview with the committee...  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/08/democratic-sen-mark-warner-texted-with-russian-oligarch-lobbyist-in-effort-to-contact-dossier-author-christopher-steele.html

VIDEO:  http://video.foxnews.com/v/5729467256001/

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liar-nObama's CIA chief accused 

of lying about anti-Trump 'dossier'

by ART MOORE 

Under oath before the House Intelligence Committee last May, former CIA director John Brennan testified that the infamous anti-Trump “dossier”... funded by the Democratic Party played no role in the intelligence community’s publicly released conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Brennan further declared he did not know who commissioned the opposition-research document, even though senior national security and counter-intelligence officials at the Justice Department and FBI knew the previous year it was funded by the liar-Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Now, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., is investigating whether or not Brennan committed perjury, reports Paul Sperry at RealClear Investigations...  http://www.wnd.com/2018/02/obamas-cia-chief-accused-of-lying-about-anti-trump-dossier/ 

by Cal Thomas 
{ townhall.com } ~ In "Hamlet," Shakespeare pens one of the most familiar lines -- and best advice -- ever written. Before Laertes leaves for Paris, his father, Polonius, tells him: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be..."

We have ignored that advice for far too long, which is why the U.S. national debt is $20 trillion with more to come, thanks to the Republican Congress, which has passed a two-year spending bill that calls for $300 billion in new spending and removes caps applied by the Budget Control Act of 2011.

It's being sold to the public with the highest and purist motives. We need to support our "brave" men and women in uniform and repair our roads and bridges.

As Politico first reported, an audit revealed a Defense Department agency can't account for $800 million targeted for building projects. Worse, if that's possible, the Defense Logistics Agency has no paper trail and can't tell auditors where the money went. And Congress is going to give them more.

As for infrastructure, wasn't the liar-nObama "stimulus," otherwise known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, supposed to have fixed roads and bridges? It was more like a down payment because government never has enough of our money.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), spoke the truth when he held up passage of the budget bill. As reported by The New York Times, Paul said: "I want people to feel uncomfortable. I want them to have to answer people at home who said, 'How come you were against President liar-nObama's deficits and then how come you're for Republican deficits?'"

Paul was the only Republican senator to vote against the measure which is expected to increase the debt to $30 trillion over the next decade, when probably all of those in the Senate will be dead or gone and won't have to take responsibility for it.

In addition to providing more money for the military, some Republicans are claiming with a straight face that this massive new spending is needed to finish repeal of liar-nObamacare. No one can seriously believe that, especially with all of the additional pork that is undoubtedly added on to this bill in order to gain "bipartisan" support. So if it's bipartisan, it must be good, right? Spending may be the last bipartisan act in Washington.

President Trump says if there were more Republicans in Congress the new spending and increased debt would not have happened. Maybe.

It's helpful to remind these free-spending Republicans what our Founders warned about the dangers of debt.

James Madison said: "Debts and taxes are the known instrument for bringing the many under the domination of the few" and "I go on the principle that a public debt is a public curse."

Thomas Jefferson spoke to the dangers of a government drunk on out-of-control spending that leads to increasing debt: "To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude."

Among the reasons empires and great nations have collapsed is public debt. Seeking to pacify the masses by never saying "no" to anything, politicians mortgage the future while preserving their current careers. Maybe America should change its initials from USA to ATM.

To invoke singer/songwriter Don McLean in a different context and applying it to modern politicians: "They would not listen they're not listening still; perhaps they never will."

Ginsburg – liar-Clinton Didn’t Lose Because

She’s Crooked, Trump Was Too Macho 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg has no place being on any judicial bench, even small claims or night court... Her sexist prejudices would likewise disqualify her, if objectivity were a requirement, from any family court, as a man entering the courtroom immediately forfeits the presumption of equal treatment under the law. The singular place she most doesn’t belong and is least suited for is the Supreme Court, where she currently presides, apparently determined to remain until she kicks off. She has been a sexism agitator all of her life, particularly in her positions with the ACLU, where she co-founded the “Women’s Rights Council” before becoming the ACLU’s general counsel in 1973. Establishment puppet Orrin Hatch recommended Ginsburg to Janet Reno as a replacement for the retiring Byron White. Reno then suggested her name to liar-Clinton, who did the dirty deed and nominated her... https://rickwells.us/ginsburg-clinton-trump-macho/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muNU9cmz6Tk

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Trump-Hating Media Fawn 

Over Dictator Kim at Olympics 

by Mark Tapson 

{ truthrevolt.org } ~ The news media can't stop accusing President Donald Trump of dictatorial tendencies and comparing him to Hitler and Mussolini... but they fell all over themselves praising the real-world dictator of North Korea, monster Kim Jong Un, and his advisor sister at the 2018 Winter Olympics. You can't buy the kind of propaganda handed to North Korea on a silver platter by the mainstream media this weekend at the Olympics being held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Here is a sampling,  courtesy of Fox News, of headlines that appeared on smitten leftist outlets such as CNN and ABC: “Kim Jong Un’s sister is stealing the show at the winter Olympics” “The ‘Ivanka Trump of North Korea’ captivates people in the South at the Olympics” “North Korea’s cheerleaders steal spotlight at Winter Games with synchronized chants”...  https://www.truthrevolt.org/news/trump-hating-media-fawn-over-dictator-kim-olympics 

Comey told Congress FBI 

agents didn't think Michael Flynn lied

by Byron York

{ washingtonexaminer.com } ~ In March 2017, then-FBI Director James Comey briefed a number of Capitol Hill lawmakers on the Trump-Russia investigation... One topic of intense interest was the case of Michael Flynn, the Trump White House national security adviser who resigned under pressure on Feb. 13 after just 24 days in the job. There were widespread reports that Flynn had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about telephone conversations that he, Flynn, had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the transition in late December 2016. On Jan. 24, 2017, two of Comey's FBI agents went to the White House to question Flynn, and there was a lot of speculation later that Flynn lied in that interview, which would be a serious crime. There was also a lot of concern in Congress, at least among Republicans, about the leak of the wiretapped Flynn-Kislyak conversation. Such intelligence is classified at the highest level of secrecy, yet someone — Republicans suspected liar-nObama appointees in the Justice Department and intelligence community — revealed it to the press...  http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/byron-york-comey-told-congress-fbi-agents-didnt-think-michael-flynn-lied/article/2648896?platform=hootsuite 

New Text Messages Prove 

One Thing: Barack liar-nObama Lied 

by fixthisnation.com 

{ fixthisnation.com } ~ Someone needs to demand that every single available text message that was sent between the star-crossed FBI lovers Peter Strzok and Lisa Page be released to the public... because it seems that every new release brings us one step closer to the truth. By the time it’s all said and done, these two could go down as unintentional heroes of the republic, having ripped the mask off of the single most damning conspiracy in our nation’s 250-year history. Of course, that honor would be a little easier to bestow upon them if they weren’t, you know, active participants. This week, thanks to newly revealed messages between the two, we learned that President liar-nObama lied when he told the public that he does not keep abreast of ongoing FBI investigations. He said that in an interview when asked what he personally knew about the liar-Clinton email scandal and the investigation into the then likely Democrat nominee for president. No one particularly believed that load of horse crap at the time, and now we have messages that prove he was being less than truthful about his hands-on experience with the FBI...  http://www.fixthisnation.com/conservative-breaking-news/new-text-messages-prove-one-thing-barack-obama-lied/ 

by Todd Starnes 
{ townhall.com } ~ While American taxpayers were nestled snug in their beds congressional Republicans were plotting to pass the second largest spending increase in a decade.

The Republican-controlled Congress voted to raise caps on spending by $300 billion over the next two years. There are some estimates that suggest the bill will increase government spending by $1.5 trillion.

Shame on us for taking the Republicans at their word. These are the same rapscallions who promised to cut spending and reduce the size of government. 

There is no question that the U.S. Armed Forces need every penny allocated in the budget. But domestic spending is out of control. 

Republicans said they had no choice but to approve the spending increase because Democrats were willing to hold the military hostage.

Instead of standing their ground and taking their case to the American people, the Republicans capitulated to the demands of Nancy Pulosi and Chuck clown-Schumer.

The House Freedom Caucus and Sen. Rand Paul stood their ground and held the line for the American taxpayer. But I've come to the conclusion that Establishment Republicans have no intention of honoring their pledge to the taxpayers.

The Republicans told us they needed control of the House before they could get anything done. So we gladly gave them control of the House. But nothing ever got done.

Then, they told us they needed control of the Senate. So we happily gave them control of the Senate. But still, nothing ever got done.

Then, they told us they needed control of the White House. So we elected Donald J. Trump as the president of these great United States.

And it pains me to write this, but the government is still growing and spending is still out of control.

So you can imagine my frustration when the Republicans told us that if we really want to change the direction of Washington it will require MORE Republicans in Congress.

I'm reminded of an old Southern saying - fool me once shame on you -- fool me twice -- well - you're probably a Congressional Republican.

Sanders Nails NBC Hypocrite Over Porter

“Concern” – Leakers In This Room 

A Bigger Threat 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ One response to the attempted gotcha question by NBC troll Kristen Welker, asking, “Why are high level aides allowed to work with classified information... without permanent security clearance would have been to ask her how, given the months-long process she expects the government to function while waiting for the FBI, or should we just call a timeout at the UN and ask everyone to wait with us as our government really shuts down? Another response might have been to ask her in what way the process is different from that under her communist premier, Hussein liar-nObama, just to see what kind of sputtering non-sense fell from between her jowls.  Sarah Sanders handled it pretty well, saying, “That’s a question that the FBI and other Intelligence communities, they make that determination, that’s not something that’s decided by the White House. She then asks an even dumber version of her first question, asking, “Can you guarantee that you  are protecting classified information, given that you have someone like Rob Porter, who didn’t have a permanent security clearance with access to classified information?”...  https://rickwells.us/sanders-nails-nbc-hypocrite/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJjZHP2rFLM

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Dems Willing to Be 

Flexible on Funding for Trump’s Wall

by TRENT BAKER

{ breitbart.com } ~ Sunday on New York AM 970 radio’s “The Cats Roundtable,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said that Democrats are willing to be flexible... with funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall, calling it “important” to invest in border security. “Bipartisanship has broken out in at least some areas. I hope we can carry forward this bipartisan cooperation in other areas like reforming and rebuilding our immigration system, which is sadly broken,” Blumenthal said to host John Catsimatidis. “On the wall, we would be willing to be flexible on border security,” he added. “There are ways, again, to be bipartisan in devising solutions to make our borders more secure using surveillance and sensors, better training for agents who patrol our borders, using new technology, strengthening some of the physical structures and fences … and if the president wants to call it a wall, so be it.” http://www.breitbart.com/video/2018/02/11/blumenthal-dems-willing-flexible-funding-trumps-wall/

VOICE VIDEO:  https://omny.fm/shows/cats-interviews/senator-richard-blumenthal-2-11-18
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Senator Chuck Grassley Questions Susan Rice

About ‘Unusual’ Documentary Letter to Herself

by sundance

{ theconservativetreehouse.com } ~ Earlier today Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley sent a letter to President liar-nObama’s former National Security Adviser, Susan Rice... about a curious email she sent to herself documenting a White House conversation between President liar-nObama and former FBI head James Comey. On the day of the inauguration, January 20th, 2017; at the very last minutes of the outgoing administration; Mrs. Rice documented a conversation which took place on January 5th, 2017 between President liar-nObama, Asst. AG Sally Yates and FBI Director James Comey.  Vice-President loose lips-Joe Biden and Susan Rice were in attendance.  On its face the Rice note would appear to be a CYA memo documenting a conversation in the even the larger efforts of the White House and DOJ/FBI were discovered to be conspiring to create a series of false accusations, the “insurance policy” per se’, against the incoming president.  Rice appears to be leaving a document trail in the event she needed to extricate herself from risks associated with the intention of the ‘small group’...  https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/02/12/senator-chuck-grassley-questions-susan-rice-about-unusual-documentary-letter-to-herself/ 

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Sen rino-Graham -“Cover Girl” Susan Rice 

Sent Herself Last Minute Email To 

Protect liar-nObama 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ Senators rino-Lindsey Graham and Chuck Grassley have discovered some new information in the form of some peculiar emails... sent by Hussein liar-nObama’s former National Security Adviser and chief unmasker, Susan Rice. She sent them to herself literally as they were walking out of the White House, around noon on inauguration day, January 20th, 2017. rino-Graham explains his concern over what appears to be a clumsy, last minute effort to create a narrative as protection against the discovery of the criminal offenses of liar-nObama and his regime, to include the Russia story, it’s fabricators, the liar-Clinton campaign, the money handlers and the FBI, DOJ, and intelligence communities’ deep state operatives. Senator rino-Graham describes Rice as emailing herself “about a meeting that occurred on January the 5th, in the Oval Office, and she says in the email that the ‘president’ was being briefed by the intelligence community about Russian hacking in the 2016 election, and he had a follow-on brief meeting with Sally Yates, Jim Comey, herself and Vice-President loose lips-Biden, and she quotes what the ‘president’ said.”...  https://rickwells.us/graham-rice-email-protect-obama/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvYcHDbNtnI

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Taxpayers Scalped by Demos and Insurance Companies 

by Robin Smith:  Oh, no you don’t, Senator Fauxcahontas! Last week, one of the chiefs of the Democrat Tribe, Elizabeth dinky-Warren, claimed, “Taxpayers are directly responsible for a huge proportion of those giant profits,” referring to the massive revenues of health insurance companies. That’s only true because taxpayer money was used by politicians posing as experts in health care economics. And for that we can thank Democrats.

Using her platform within the Democrats’ flock of mimicking parrots in the celebrity media, dinky-Warren, again, called for a Medicare system for all. By that, she means a government-run health care system that would hypothetically provide a universal plan — in other words, one that makes the government the customer as the entity that creates the rules and pays. The Democrat-presidential-wanna-be constructs an argument for socialized, government-controlled health care by claiming insurance companies have, through their evil cronyism, fleeced Americans of billions of dollars while offering substandard insurance policies for health care coverage.
          Let’s get this right: It is because of government manipulation of one-sixth of the U.S. economy that we continue to see increasing prices in health care. When patients are not the customers and cannot make buying decisions for a service sought and rendered, prices end up being excessive. Want lower prices? Try the free market.
          In fact, dinky-Warren stands as one of the barriers to creating the best health care at the most affordable price for the greatest number of people.
          She bellowed last week about “wildly profitable” insurance companies that receive government subsidies — read: your tax dollars — as she demanded “fair treatment” for patients in her ongoing political argument for a single-payer health insurance system. But she neglected to mention that the “subsidies” to insurers that she correctly deems as cronyism are a result of a bill passed without a single Republican vote and signed into law by the previous Democrat president, Barack liar-nObama, in March 2010. To be fair, dinky-Warren isn’t directly responsible because she wasn’t in the Senate at the time liar-nObamaCare was foisted on us. That happened while Ms. Fake Indian Ancestry was still enjoying minority status on faculty at Harvard.
          liar-nObamaCare came with the guarantee BIG Lie that you could keep your doctor and plan, if you so desired, and that every family would enjoy a minimum of a $2,500 annual savings on the cost of their insurance. None of these talking points materialized because nothing about the bill permitted those outcomes. Failed policy created a bloated bureaucracy and a market tied up with red tape instead of increased access to better health care for reasonable prices.
          For some reason, we’re reminded of President Ronald Reagan’s famous line: “It isn’t so much that liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so many things that aren’t so.”
          dinky-Warren’s line of attack isn’t new. In January at the Families USA Conference, the Massachusetts senator declared, “And as we wrestle with insurance companies to get them to treat their customers a little better, keep in mind on this that taxpayers are directly responsible for a huge proportion of those giant profits. The top insurers in the United States pull in nearly 60% of their total revenue from Medicare and Medicaid — that is more than $200 billion in 2016 revenues coming directly from American taxpayers.”
          Now, who is the customer if the patient is insured via Medicaid, Medicare or liar-nObamaCare? Not the patient or consumer of health services. The customer in every one of these insurance policies that covers health services is the government. The government determines the coverage of each plan available. The government determines the reimbursement contract for medicines and services provided. The government pays the bill.
          Not only does dinky-Warren have the market forces wrong, she and her fellow Democrats are feeding the failure. Unfortunately, it’s become a bipartisan affliction. While Republicans did repeal the individual mandate and ended the “death panels” that existed to ration care, many of these same politicians are also supporting billions of dollars more to be sent from the U.S. Treasury to bailout these insurance companies that lobbied for the failed policy of liar-nObamaCare. As a trio of policy experts from the Heritage Foundation and Galen Institute summed it up, a bipartisan effort is underway to infuse “new federal spending into the veins of insurance companies that are hemorrhaging red ink on the liar-nObamacare exchanges.”
          As always in DC, the answer to government failure is more money and a bigger bureaucracy.
          When the consumer is offered a service or product, he or she assesses the cost versus the benefit or need. Right now, there is no price transparency, as a rule, in health care. A few states are bravely knocking down the barrier to a free market of hidden costs of health care, but not at the federal level.
          Currently, the buying power in the world of health insurance exists in the hands of the government — the federal or state government — not individuals. When more than 60% of the insurance business comes through a government entity, individuals have no voice.
          Democrats are responsible for America’s less-than-optimal health care system because they created and enabled failure in a critical aspect of our economy that is controlled by corporate welfare and socialistic control. dinky-Warren ignores that inconvenient truth.
          Reagan, again, was right when he surmised, “Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem.” Empower patients through effective policy that creates a consumer-driven health care system, not government-controlled health insurance policies.   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54073-taxpayers-scalped-by-demos-and-insurance-companies

White Powder Terrorism Stunt Against Don Jr

and Vanessa Trump Is No Harmless Prank 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ Once again lowlife leftists have demonstrated that they’ll do just about anything in the pursuit of their perverse political objectives... including sending a hoax anthrax envelope to President Trump’s daughter-in-law and her mother. Vanessa Trump, the wife of Donald Trump Jr., was rushed to a Manhattan hospital on Monday as a precaution after she opened an envelope that was addressed to her husband at approximately 10 am Monday morning. It contained a white powder, which was later determined to be cornstarch. The incident took place in the New York home of her mother, Bonnie Haydon. The envelope, which was postmarked in Boston, contained not only the cornstarch powder, but a letter that indicated that the stunt was some sort of retribution for Donald Trump Jr.’s supposed transgressions of the past...  https://rickwells.us/white-powder-terrorism-trump/ 

Crude Oil Prices Fall Below $60, 

Traders Expect $55 or Lower 

by Bob Adelmann 

{ thenewamerican.com } ~ With the price of crude oil for March delivery falling below $60 a barrel last week on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX)... half of OPEC’s worst nightmare is taking place: Higher oil prices sought by the cartel are bringing on American production at a faster rate than ever before. The other half of the nightmare would be a slowdown in global demand for the stuff. A sell-off was triggered by an announcement last week from the Energy Information Agency (EIA) that U.S. crude oil production exceeded 10 million barrels per day (bpd) last month — the first time since 1970 — and would continue to set records into 2018. In addition, U.S. oil rig count jumped by 26, the largest jump in a year. Helping along was the overbought position by traders expecting crude oil prices to move even higher. It’s estimated that those traders owned a billion barrels of oil through futures and options contracts, and when oil began to tip over, many rushed to unload them, accelerating the decline... https://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/energy/item/28257-crude-oil-prices-fall-below-60-traders-expect-55-or-lower 

The Dumb Controversy 

over the scum-Schiff Memo

by ANDREW C. MCCARTHY

The scum-Schiff memo, principally authored by Democratic staff on the House Intelligence Committee under the direction of ranking member scum-Adam Schiff (D., Calif.)... is the response to the Nunes memo, which was composed by the committee’s Republican staff under the direction of Chairman Devin Nunes (R., Calif.). Substantively, the scum- Schiff memo is unlikely to do Democrats much good, since the Nunes memo’s principal allegations have been corroborated — namely: The liar-nObama administration (a) used the unverified Steele dossier to get a FISA warrant on former Trump-campaign adviser Carter Page and (b) did not tell the FISA court that the dossier was a liar-Clinton-campaign product. Democrats nevertheless appear to have laid a trap to try to goad Republicans into objecting to their memo. The trick would enable Congressman scum-Schiff to claim Republicans are hiding critical facts. Committee Republicans were shrewd enough to avoid the trap, but the Trump White House has been taken in.  This is an easy one: The president should release the memo with his own redactions. It would then be up to scum-Schiff to make the next move: Either prove Republicans are concealing facts that damage the president or expose himself as a charlatan...  http://www.nationalreview.com/article/456321/democratic-memo-trump-should-release-necessary-redactions-only?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NR%20Daily%20Monday%20through%20Friday%202018-02-12&utm_term=NR5PM%20Actives 

 

Lidblog@optonline.net

 

Former Bush Chief Of Staff Defends John Kelly’s Handling Of Allegations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HVHNsckV-s

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scum-Adam Schiff Is A Snake 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88kIGqpkv7g

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Israeli Miracle Drug Targets MS, Alzheimer’s, Crohn’s And Colitis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOgrSZPcl3k

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Israel Sends A Warning To Iran Following Airstrikes In Syria

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqoKfnhTnDA

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Flashback: Sen. Fein-stein Speaking Against Illegal Immigration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80TkJ-A5JB0

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Justice Ginsburg Going Senile? Says liar-Hillary Lost Because of Sexism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muNU9cmz6Tk

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{ truthrevolt.org } ~ On Wednesday night Israelis received yet another demonstration of the country’s desperate need for legal reform.

The media in Israel – like their counterparts in the US – tout themselves as democracy’s watchdogs. But on Wednesday night, we saw once again that our fiercest journalists are actually the lapdogs of our unelected legal fraternity, whose members share their hatred for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and their general attachment to the ideological Left.

Wednesday night’s primetime news broadcasts all opened with the sensational news that the police’s top investigators from the Lahav 433 unit – Israel’s equivalent of the FBI – were sitting at that very moment with Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich to decide what crimes to recommend Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit indict Netanyahu for.

According to police leakers, their intention is to recommend that Mandelblit indict Netanyahu for at least one count of bribery.

Netanyahu allegedly helped his old friend Hollywood movie mogul Arnon Milchen renew his US visa. Over the years, Milchen allegedly showered Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, with cigars and champagne. 

An hour after the news broadcasts all ended, Israel’s flagship investigative news magazine Uvda broadcast a slickly edited, hour-long interview its anchor, Ilana Dayan, conducted over several weeks with Alsheich.

To be clear, Dayan’s interview wasn’t a complete love-fest. She asked Alsheich several biting questions. But overall, Dayan did everything she could to present Alsheich as a hero, a self-made man and all all-around awesome guy.

Dayan devoted a long portion of her interview to Alsheich’s tragic loss of his beloved mother when he was 14. Barely holding back his tears, Alsheich told Dayan that he decided not to let his loss hold him back, and then humbly bragged that he basically raised himself after she passed away.

Dayan spent another long sequence of her interview with Alsheich discussing his role as a Shin Bet interrogator in the tragic Nachshon Wachsman affair.

In 1994, Hamas terrorists kidnapped IDF Cpl. Nachshon Wachsman, a paratrooper hitching a ride on the side of the highway in central Israel.

At the time, Alsheich was a Shin Bet investigator. It turns out that he was the officer who interrogated the Wachsman’s kidnappers’ accomplices. Through them, the Shin Bet located the house near Ramallah where Wachsman was being held, and learned the conditions of his confinement.

Then-prime minister and defense minister Yitzhak Rabin and then-IDF chief of General Staff Ehud Barak ordered the IDF’s elite reconnaissance unit Sayeret Matkal to storm the house and rescue Wachsman. The rescue attempt failed, Wachsman was murdered and one of his rescuers, Capt. Nir Poraz, was killed in the raid. The Wachsman episode was a national tragedy that traumatized the entire country.

By placing Alsheich at the center of the drama, and superimposing video images of Rabin on her conversation with Alsheich, Dayan presented Alsheich as the unsung hero of the national tragedy. In so doing, she effectively rendered him untouchable.

Once she built Alsheich up as a hero, she shifted her attention to the Netanyahu probes. And when Alsheich began to speak, you understood why he needed the buildup.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Alsheich sounded like a tin foil hat conspiracy theorist when he started talking about his probes of the prime minister.

Alsheich presented Dayan with four separate criminal conspiracies, all of which he either directly or indirectly claimed are Netanyahu’s handiwork. It is important to note that each of the conspiracies he alleged involve crimes far graver than accepting too many cigars from an old friend. And none of them is currently being investigated.

The first conspiracy theory he presented as fact was his claim that Netanyahu arranged for private detectives to gather dirt on the police officers investigating him.

Alsheich said that “very powerful forces” hired private detectives who “were wandering around the investigators” and “sniffing about.” He then said that Dayan was “correct” when she asked if the targeted officers were involved in the Netanyahu probe.

Opinion in Brief

Burt Prelutsky: “Each time I see footage of the Democrats at Trump’s State of the Union speech I’m reminded of those sneering football players who spent the season getting more attention for what they were doing on the sidelines than what they were doing on the field. The 242 Democrats (49 senators, 193 House members) who sat on their hands even when Trump pledged to support family leave, something not even liar-nObama called for, may have thought they were expressing their disapproval of the man, but I suspect that a great many Americans saw it for what it was; they were showing their contempt for those of us who had elected the man at the podium. They were taking a knee and giving the rest of us the finger. Perhaps the most telling moment came when Nancy Pulosi turned to glare over her right shoulder and appeared to be making sure that none of her stooges were caught applauding for veterans, an end to chain migration or the Pledge of Allegiance.”   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54071-monday-opinion 

.

Bongino – Nunes Investigating Brennan 

For Perjury, scum-Adam Schiff Is A Snake 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ Democrat politicians are predictable in their use of their anti-American play book and their incessant assaults on our country... Dan Bongino made that point in a Monday interview on Fox and Friends, as well as pointing out that John Brennan and James Clapper are in a lot of trouble. While noting that they are “downright evil” he acknowledges that they are tactically brilliant, citing the inclusion of classified information in their memo, which would make it impossible to release for national security reasons and then claim censorship and partisanship on the part of the White House. Steve Doocy raises the reports that Devin Nunes’ House Intelligence Committee is looking at former CIA Director John Brennan, with the issue being potential perjury by Brennan in public hearings. Brennan denied knowing of or using the Fusion GPS dossier, or of even knowing who commissioned it, all of which, evidence is now showing, was false...  https://rickwells.us/bongino-nunes-brennan-schiff/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilIkhguyAo8

.

DHS: 'NBC News Continues to Falsely Report'

on Russian Hacking, 'Misrepresented 

Facts,' 'Confused Public' 

by Craig Bannister  

“NBC News continues to falsely report my recent comments” about Russian hacking and the 2016 elections... DHS’s Jeanette Manfra said Monday, warning the network’s ‘irresponsible reporting” is undermining DHS’s efforts to do its job. In a statement regarding the recent NBC news coverage on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) efforts to combat election hacking, Jeanette Manfra, National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) Assistant Secretary for the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications, accuses NBC of misleading and confusing the public by misrepresenting her remarks: “Recent NBC reporting has misrepresented facts and confused the public with regard to Department of Homeland Security and state and local government efforts to combat election hacking.”...  https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/craig-bannister/dhs-nbc-news-continues-falsely-report-russian-hacking-misrepresented-facts?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTVRVMk1tVTROekZtWXpKaSIsInQiOiJqZUk5Z0txVVFRTmtIUUJsRGpiVkNsMlA0WnhXelZkNjFreG9lNkZPbXJMeCtpZ1MrOHQ3dXprelNcL1wvNFwvQ1wvbGVSVEpZT1wvcndGN0ZjRFBLOW1VdnhkVWFxVFBsSmVjMWVkNDRZd21NNTE4TzlCYzVQTlFQMllRTUxQZnpcL1Q0OCJ9 

Remington Gets Ready to File for Bankruptcy 

by Erika Haas

{ bearingarms.com } ~ There’s been much debate surrounding the so-called “Trump Slump” in the gun industry. How bad is it? How long will it last?... Will it change the face of the industry? Is it even real? While we still don’t have any concrete answers to these questions, there is one thing we know for certain: Remington Arms is struggling. Last month, the firearms manufacturer – one of the oldest and largest in the country – began exploring options to restructure its $950 million debt. The company not only saw a significant drop in sales in 2017 but lost a number of its investors. The gun manufacturer has also been caught up in a handful of legal proceedings, including another  lawsuit related to the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting. On Monday, the company officially announced that it had reached a restructuring support agreement with creditors to reduce its debt and allow it to continue normal operations as it enters bankruptcy proceedings...  https://bearingarms.com/erika-h/2018/02/12/remington-announces-restructuring-support-agreement-fund-bankruptcy-proceedings/?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad

.

https://www.youtube.com/

Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo 2/11/18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhPBp23YCJA

.

FBI Official Bill Priestap Turns On Comey – “He’s A Traitor”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McYmDyOOvAw

.

Judge Jeanine Knows the Jig is Up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elb2qImqCvI

.

Seb Gorka: scum-Schiff's a liar, rino-McCain's a Democrat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3LoB2Ud4MI

.

Laura Ingraham DESTROYS EVIL EMILY Over The Nonstop DeppStateMedia Attacks OF Trump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j9p6RLv9vA

.

Robert Mueller Found Out His Plan To Impeach Trump Just Went Up In Flames

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRpP1RKP03k

.

by Matt Vespa 
{ townhall.com } ~ No, we don’t need to go to paper ballots because we didn’t get hacked. The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan suggested on NBC’s Meet The Press over the weekend that we should start transitioning to paper ballots to avoid a possible partisan crackup in America if an election is contested based on such an event (via RCP): 

PEGGY NOONAN: I would say, here's my big concern. We are, as we all know, a deeply divided country. We have these partisan fights, they're very rough and tough, this side watches this, the other side watches this, we're not in the same information flow. One thing that could damage this nation terribly is having a national election where the outcome is unclear because we got hacked.

The states is a national election. By the year 2020, right away we should start saying, "You've got to go paper ballots." We'll figure out all this Internet magic, technological stuff, but for now, paper ballots in America so Ohio knows how it voted.

Yet, vote tallies weren’t hacked; the Department of Homeland Security said so last year. Even the liar-nObama administration said that the “will of the American people” was reflected in the 2016 election, with the DHS noting they did not detect “any increased level of malicious cyber activity aimed at disrupting our electoral process on Election Day.”

The Washington Post also reported after the 2016 election that it’s virtually impossible to hack an American election:

That's the question at its root: Could hackers change the numbers to change our elections? The Fix spoke by phone and email with Merle King, executive director of the Center for Election Systems at Kennesaw State University to get an answer. In summary: It would be harder than we think — in part because we tend to conflate a number of very different election systems.

"One of the challenges the public has in sorting through the various threads of the current election cycle's stories is understanding the differences between a campaign system, an election system and a voting system," King told us.

The campaign system is the tool set used by candidates or parties to get people elected. The election system covers voter registration systems and other data centralization and is specific to jurisdictions. The voting system is the actual process of voting: the machines, the ballots and the designations of who votes where and on what. Information flows between these systems, but not always in two directions: Campaigns, for example, use voter registration data from the elections system but don't send information back to it. So if a campaign is hacked or if the Democratic National Committee is, there's no risk to the voter registration database.

Confusing these systems can mean misunderstanding the threat — and the intent of the hackers. Take what happened in Arizona or Illinois, where voter files were lifted from the election system.

"When I hear about a hack, and it's attributed to a Russian IP address, my first reaction is it's identity theft," King said. "They're looking for large lists of critical information that can be used to create identities for credit card theft, etc. I don't instinctively think it's an attack on our election system."

The important point King makes is that hacking the elections system and the voting system are very different in nature and effect. "If the election systems were hacked, there are paper backups of the electors list — every precinct has to maintain a paper copy of the voter list — so you could disrupt an election by attacking those election systems," he said. "But most importantly, you could not alter the outcome of the election by hacking those systems. That would have to occur in the voting system" — the actual process of casting ballots. And that's harder than it seems.

The publication then listed how Florida verifies its results. The 49 other states have a similar process. It’s not as easy as the media and Democrats are making it out to be on television.  

In Pennsylvania, which was a target of Green Party candidate’s Jill Stein’s failed recount effort, no evidence of tampering were found, backing up DHS claims. Also, to actually tamper with an election result in the Keystone State, you’d have to mess with the 4,500 voting machines, which experts say would take four months to do it successfully. That’s only after you’ve been able to break into the secure facility where all the voting machines are stored, which is under 24-hour surveillance (via CBS Pittsburgh):

“We have not seen any evidence that anything has been compromised since we had the machines,” Allegheny County Director of Elections Mark Wolosik said.

There are a lot of reasons for that. Let’s say you could break into the machines and reprogram them to favor a candidate.

The first issue,” Wolosik says is, “They are an island unto themselves. They are not connected to any other machine.”

So any manipulations would have to be one machine at a time, which Dr. Shamos estimates would take 15 minutes per machine, with 4,500 machines.

“To do it for all the machines in the county would take four months,” said Dr. Shamos.

It would also have to be done undetected in a warehouse that is under surveillance 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Over the past week, the election machines have moved from the warehouse to the polling places.

“Prior to leaving our warehouse, they are sealed with an individually numbered seal that is recorded,” Wolosik said.

Then, on the morning of the election, the poll workers compare the number to the seal.

“If there are any discrepancies, they are not to use that machine and to call our office immediately,” said Wolosik

[…]

One other safeguard – while voting is going on, an independent accounting agency randomly selects a voting machine somewhere in the county and tests it to see if there’s any Trojan horse software running on it.

So, can we bring down the paper ballot-Russia hacking hysteria down a few notches? 

Tuesday Top Headlines 

https://cached-assets.patriotpost.us/images/2018-02-13-4d4b950c_large.jpg" width="454" height="227" />
by Political Editors:  Senate starts another round of debate on immigration (NBC News)

.

Lead Senate immigration hawks introduce Trump immigration plan as bill (The Washington Free Beacon)

.

Trump budget proposal projects deficit spending for the next decade (The Daily Signal)

.

Administration proposes cutting all federal funds for NPR, PBS (Fox News)

.

On her last day in office, liar-nObama National Security Advisor Rice sent suspicious letter about liar-nObama, Comey, Trump-Russia collusion meeting (The Daily Wire)

.

Dossier’s 10 core collusion accusations remain unverified (The Washington Times)

.

Good news for Republicans: Stealth liar-Hillary planning to campaign invisibly in 2018 (National Review)

.

AG Jeff Sessions used the phrase “Anglo-American” and the Left is melting down (Hot Air)

.

liar-nObama’s portrait artist has also painted black people beheading white people (The Daily Wire)

.

The Education Department says it won’t act on transgender student bathroom access (NPR)

.

Humor: Bigoted Olympics separates events into men’s, women’s (The Babylon Bee)

.

Policy: Our national debt and government spending are a moral abomination (The Federalist)

.

Policy: Trump infrastructure plan: privatization, deregulation, and spending (Reason)   

~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54109-tuesday-top-headlines

.

Bobble-Head scum-Schiff BUSTED LYING On Nat’l TV To Cover Dem Political Stunts 

https://rickwells.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/1131-adam-schiff-940x400.jpg" width="420" height="178" />

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ It’s time to for CBS to prepare fumigate the studio, scum-Adam Schiff is joining Major Garrett as a guest on Face the Nation... Garrett introduces scum-Schiff as “the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee,” which is not unlike recognizing the largest tick on an ailing hound.  Garrett reads a tweet sent by President Trump in response to the bad-faith effort on behalf of scum-Schiff and his sleazy Democrat accomplices to release a rebuttal to the Republican memo, a document that could not be made public due to the Democrats having deliberately packed it full of classified information.  President Trump tweeted, “The Democrats sent a very political and long response memo which they knew, because of sources and methods and more, would have to be heavily redacted, whereupon they would blame the White House for lack of transparency. Told them to re-do and send back in proper form!... https://rickwells.us/schiff-busted-lying-stunts/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRyLYDs3cFk

.

Rep. Says Somebody’s Got to go

to Jail Over FISA or “Our System Is Over”

www.independentsentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/statue-of-liberty-1.jpg?resize=150,150">https://i2.wp.com/www.independentsentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/statue-of-liberty-1.jpg?resize=150,150" width="231" height="231" />

by S.Noble

{ independentsentinel.com } ~ The FBI and DoJ are accused of spying on the Trump campaign... The warrant they ostensibly used was based on a dossier with information provided by the liar-Hillary campaign and the DNC. There is evidence of a widespread cover-up and a possible coup attempt by liar-Hillary supporters in the agencies. The FBI appears to have lied to the FISA secret court, using the fake dossier, to get a warrant on a peripherally-involved Trump campaign aide, Carter Page. They labeled him a spy which would allow them to spy on the entire Trump campaign. The shocking thing is no one has gone to jail. In fact, no one has even lost their job. They get to resign on fat pensions or they get a different job, sometimes a lesser job without a cut in pay...  http://www.independentsentinel.com/rep-says-somebodys-got-go-jail-fisa-system/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHrFH1IX9RY

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Why FBI Supervisor David Laufman’s Resignation Is a Big Deal

www.independentsentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/CanSm3jy.jpg?resize=150,150">https://i1.wp.com/www.independentsentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/CanSm3jy.jpg?resize=150,150" width="198" height="198" />

by S.Noble

{ independentsentinel.com } ~ Hugh Hewitt posted several tweets yesterday that might explain why the “David Laufman resignation is a big deal.”... Laufman was the Primary Supervisor of Counter-Intelligence in National Security. In his position, he had to be involved in the FISA application on Carter Page. His section was responsible for much of the potential corruption. Hewitt writes: He would have been involved in the liar-Clinton email investigation. His section handled cases involving leaks of classified information. The decisions concerning granting immunity, and allowing conditions to be attached to the examination of computers would have come from his office. If you remember, the FBI did not examine the “hacked” DNC computers. It was turned over to a private firm called CrowdStrike which is tied to Fusion GPS...  http://www.independentsentinel.com/fbi-supervisor-david-laufmans-resignation-big-deal/ 

Gohmert – Corrupt, Lying DOJ-FBI 

Officials Should Already Be In Prison 

https://rickwells.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/1131-judge-jeanine-louie-gohmert-940x400.jpg" width="395" height="168" />

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ Rep Louie Gohmert addresses the problem at the White House with the vetting of John Kelly aide Rob Porter... noting that the only thing that General Kelly did wrong in the process was that he trusted the FBI, something that he now knows can’t be done. He points out that once Kelly knew that the reports of spousal abuse by Porter were correct he was immediately out the door. Gohmert and Judge Jeanine both support President Trump in his fair approach to scandals and rumors, referencing his tweet on the topic. President Trump stated, “People’s lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused – life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?”... https://rickwells.us/gohmert-corrupt-doj-fbi-prison/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTWctHM8wXE

.

Holder for president? Not a chance 

https://www.onenewsnow.com/media/5590293/ap116996851218__1__350x219.jpg" width="350" height="219" />

by Chad Groening 

A California-based conservative black activist says former Attorney General scum-Eric Holder should be in jail... not considering a run for president. During a recent breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, scum-Holder said he would make his decision by the end of the year. He joins New Jersey Senator scum-Cory Booker and California Senator Kamala Harris as high-profile blacks who could be challenging for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. But Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of The Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND), says scum-Holder "has no chance."...  https://www.onenewsnow.com/politics-govt/2018/02/12/holder-for-president-not-a-chance?utm_source=OneNewsNow&utm_medium=email&utm_term=16789490&utm_content=565493864984&utm_campaign=32828 

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0218/syria_israel_bombing_map.jpg?ref=relatedBox" width="409" height="274" />

by Adam Taylor 
{ jewishworldreview.com } ~ The Syrian war has seen no shortage of twists already this year, but this weekend, it saw one of its most consequential. On Saturday, Israel's military announced that it had carried out a "large-scale" aerial attack inside Syria, after back-and-forth clashes overnight in which an Iranian drone was shot down in Syrian territory and an Israeli F-16 was downed by Syrian antiaircraft fire.

Despite its proximity, Israel has largely stood on the sidelines of the Syrian conflict over the past seven years. Saturday's airstrikes, however, suggest that it may soon end up sucked into a conflict that is looking increasingly chaotic after the military defeat of the Islamic State. If Israel does become more engaged in the fighting next door, it could have serious consequences for the war in Syria war - and for the region as a whole.

What has Israel's involvement in the Syrian war been so far?

Israel shares a contentious border with Syria - the Golan Heights - and it has long had openly adversarial relations with not only Bashar al-Assad's government but with Syria's allies Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia. However, Israel also had little reason to support the Islamic State or al-Qaeda-aligned Islamist groups that became the Syrian government's primary rivals.

Still, Israel has conducted dozens of covert airstrikes against Hezbollah weapons convoys in Syria. These interventions generally were not announced publicly and were small in scale. Syrian government forces and their allies have generally refrained from responding, wary of opening up yet another front in an already chaotic conflict.

Things began to change over the past year, however, as the Islamic State lost territory and Assad's forces and their allies regained control of the conflict.

Last year, Israel pushed back against a partial cease-fire brokered by the United States and Russia, arguing that it allowed Iranian expansion near Israel's borders. Many in Israel feared not only that Iran and its allies would entrench themselves near the Israeli border but that Hezbollah had been using the Syrian fighting as a training and that Iran might help the militia upgrade to the use of precision-guided missiles.

"We will not allow that regime to entrench itself militarily in Syria, as it seeks to do, for the express purpose of eradicating our state," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to Washington in December.

Why is what happened Saturday different from previous Israeli strikes?

Israel has carried out a number of significant attacks in Syria in recent months, but Saturday's incident is different. Israel says the episode began with an Iranian drone crossing into its territory from Syria in the early hours of Saturday. The Israeli military later released footage that it said showed the drone being brought down by an attack helicopter.

Iran has denied this, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahran Qasemi calling the claim "ridiculous." If it is true, however, it would appear to mark a significant provocation from Tehran and perhaps even an attempt to bait Israel into a reaction.

Israel soon sent fighter jets into Syria to attack the T4 military base near the Syrian city of Palmyra, from which the drone supposedly was launched. Syrian forces in turn responded with what the Israeli military called "substantial Syrian antiaircraft fire," which appears to have caused the crash of an Israeli fighter jet after its two-member crew ejected.

The crew members were taken to hospital; one is reported to be in a serious condition. "This is the first such incident in the last 30 years," Israeli military journalist Amos Harel wrote Saturday, adding that Syria's willingness to retaliate to Israeli airstrikes showed "the regime's newfound sense of power."

In a statement, Hezbollah said that the downing of the Israeli F-16 marked a "new strategic phase" in the conflict. "Today's developments mean the old equations have categorically ended," the group said in a statement.

After the downing of the fighter jet, the Israeli military struck again, targeting 12 military sites in Syria - eight Syrian and four that it says were Iranian - marking Israel's most significant strikes in Syria in decades. Brig. Gen. Tomer Bar, second-in-command of Israel's air force, told Haaretz newspaper that these strikes were "the biggest and most significant attack the air force has conducted against Syrian air defenses" since the 1982 Lebanon War.

If Israel became more militarily involved in the conflict, what would it mean for the Syrian war - and the wider region?

Open conflict across the Syrian border is unlikely to be in the interest of either Israel or Iran-aligned forces at the moment. But the tit-for-tat fighting shows that neither side is willing to back down. If the conflict escalates, it could end up adding a dangerous angle to the ongoing Syrian conflict - and one that could wind up involving other powers in the region and beyond.

The T4 military base struck by Israel on Saturday houses not only Syrian soldiers but Russian military officers, too. Some Israeli observers have said it is hard to imagine that the Russians there would not have known about the Iranian drone or the subsequent antiaircraft fire. Awkwardly, late last month, Netanyahu visited Moscow to push Russia to rein in its Iranian allies in Syria.

The United States, a key Israeli ally, is already involved in the Syrian conflict, backing Syrian rebels, and at times has found itself at odds with Russia. This past week, U.S. warplanes bombed pro-government forces after they allegedly advanced on U.S.-backed forces in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said it is unclear whether Russian contractors were among those involved in that advance.

The U.S.- and Russian-backed forces had a common enemy in the Islamic State, but as the fight against ISIS forces is winding down, new conflicts seem to be rising in Syria. Turkey, for example, recently launched its own offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syria's north, placing it in de facto opposition to the United States, which had allied itself with some Kurdish forces to defeat Islamic State forces.

An open conflict between Israel and Iranian-backed forces would add to the entanglements and chaos in Syria. It would also risk pulling neighboring Lebanon or other Arab states into a new war, too.

Tuesday Top Headlines 

by Political Editors:  Senate starts another round of debate on immigration (NBC News)

.

Lead Senate immigration hawks introduce Trump immigration plan as bill (The Washington Free Beacon)

.

Trump budget proposal projects deficit spending for the next decade (The Daily Signal)

.

Administration proposes cutting all federal funds for NPR, PBS (Fox News)

.

On her last day in office, liar-nObama National Security Advisor Rice sent suspicious letter about liar-nObama, Comey, Trump-Russia collusion meeting (The Daily Wire)

.

Dossier’s 10 core collusion accusations remain unverified (The Washington Times)

.

Good news for Republicans: Stealth liar-Hillary planning to campaign invisibly in 2018 (National Review)

.

AG Jeff Sessions used the phrase “Anglo-American” and the Left is melting down (Hot Air)

.

liar-nObama’s portrait artist has also painted black people beheading white people (The Daily Wire)

.

The Education Department says it won’t act on transgender student bathroom access (NPR)

.

Humor: Bigoted Olympics separates events into men’s, women’s (The Babylon Bee)

.

Policy: Our national debt and government spending are a moral abomination (The Federalist)

.

Policy: Trump infrastructure plan: privatization, deregulation, and spending (Reason)   

~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54109-tuesday-top-headlines

.

Bobble-Head scum-Schiff BUSTED LYING

On Nat’l TV To Cover Dem Political Stunts 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ It’s time to for CBS to prepare fumigate the studio, scum-Adam Schiff is joining Major Garrett as a guest on Face the Nation... Garrett introduces scum-Schiff as “the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee,” which is not unlike recognizing the largest tick on an ailing hound.  Garrett reads a tweet sent by President Trump in response to the bad-faith effort on behalf of scum-Schiff and his sleazy Democrat accomplices to release a rebuttal to the Republican memo, a document that could not be made public due to the Democrats having deliberately packed it full of classified information.  President Trump tweeted, “The Democrats sent a very political and long response memo which they knew, because of sources and methods and more, would have to be heavily redacted, whereupon they would blame the White House for lack of transparency. Told them to re-do and send back in proper form!... https://rickwells.us/schiff-busted-lying-stunts/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRyLYDs3cFk

.

Rep. Says Somebody’s Got to go

to Jail Over FISA or “Our System Is Over”

by S.Noble

{ independentsentinel.com } ~ The FBI and DoJ are accused of spying on the Trump campaign... The warrant they ostensibly used was based on a dossier with information provided by the liar-Hillary campaign and the DNC. There is evidence of a widespread cover-up and a possible coup attempt by liar-Hillary supporters in the agencies. The FBI appears to have lied to the FISA secret court, using the fake dossier, to get a warrant on a peripherally-involved Trump campaign aide, Carter Page. They labeled him a spy which would allow them to spy on the entire Trump campaign. The shocking thing is no one has gone to jail. In fact, no one has even lost their job. They get to resign on fat pensions or they get a different job, sometimes a lesser job without a cut in pay...   http://www.independentsentinel.com/rep-says-somebodys-got-go-jail-fisa-system/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHrFH1IX9RY

.

Why FBI Supervisor David Laufman’s

Resignation Is a Big Deal

by S.Noble

{ independentsentinel.com } ~ Hugh Hewitt posted several tweets yesterday that might explain why the “David Laufman resignation is a big deal.”... Laufman was the Primary Supervisor of Counter-Intelligence in National Security. In his position, he had to be involved in the FISA application on Carter Page. His section was responsible for much of the potential corruption. Hewitt writes: He would have been involved in the liar-Clinton email investigation. His section handled cases involving leaks of classified information. The decisions concerning granting immunity, and allowing conditions to be attached to the examination of computers would have come from his office. If you remember, the FBI did not examine the “hacked” DNC computers. It was turned over to a private firm called CrowdStrike which is tied to Fusion GPS...  http://www.independentsentinel.com/fbi-supervisor-david-laufmans-resignation-big-deal/ 

Gohmert – Corrupt, Lying DOJ-FBI 

Officials Should Already Be In Prison 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ Rep Louie Gohmert addresses the problem at the White House with the vetting of John Kelly aide Rob Porter... noting that the only thing that General Kelly did wrong in the process was that he trusted the FBI, something that he now knows can’t be done. He points out that once Kelly knew that the reports of spousal abuse by Porter were correct he was immediately out the door. Gohmert and Judge Jeanine both support President Trump in his fair approach to scandals and rumors, referencing his tweet on the topic. President Trump stated, “People’s lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused – life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?”... https://rickwells.us/gohmert-corrupt-doj-fbi-prison/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTWctHM8wXE

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scum-Holder for president? Not a chance 

by Chad Groening 

A California-based conservative black activist says former Attorney General scum-Eric Holder should be in jail... not considering a run for president. During a recent breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, scum-Holder said he would make his decision by the end of the year. He joins New Jersey Senator scum-Cory Booker and California Senator Kamala Harris as high-profile blacks who could be challenging for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. But Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of The Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND), says scum-Holder "has no chance."...  https://www.onenewsnow.com/politics-govt/2018/02/12/holder-for-president-not-a-chance?utm_source=OneNewsNow&utm_medium=email&utm_term=16789490&utm_content=565493864984&utm_campaign=32828 

by Adam Taylor 
{ jewishworldreview.com } ~ The Syrian war has seen no shortage of twists already this year, but this weekend, it saw one of its most consequential. On Saturday, Israel's military announced that it had carried out a "large-scale" aerial attack inside Syria, after back-and-forth clashes overnight in which an Iranian drone was shot down in Syrian territory and an Israeli F-16 was downed by Syrian antiaircraft fire.

Despite its proximity, Israel has largely stood on the sidelines of the Syrian conflict over the past seven years. Saturday's airstrikes, however, suggest that it may soon end up sucked into a conflict that is looking increasingly chaotic after the military defeat of the Islamic State. If Israel does become more engaged in the fighting next door, it could have serious consequences for the war in Syria war - and for the region as a whole.

What has Israel's involvement in the Syrian war been so far?

Israel shares a contentious border with Syria - the Golan Heights - and it has long had openly adversarial relations with not only Bashar al-Assad's government but with Syria's allies Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia. However, Israel also had little reason to support the Islamic State or al-Qaeda-aligned Islamist groups that became the Syrian government's primary rivals.

Still, Israel has conducted dozens of covert airstrikes against Hezbollah weapons convoys in Syria. These interventions generally were not announced publicly and were small in scale. Syrian government forces and their allies have generally refrained from responding, wary of opening up yet another front in an already chaotic conflict.

Things began to change over the past year, however, as the Islamic State lost territory and Assad's forces and their allies regained control of the conflict.

Last year, Israel pushed back against a partial cease-fire brokered by the United States and Russia, arguing that it allowed Iranian expansion near Israel's borders. Many in Israel feared not only that Iran and its allies would entrench themselves near the Israeli border but that Hezbollah had been using the Syrian fighting as a training and that Iran might help the militia upgrade to the use of precision-guided missiles.

"We will not allow that regime to entrench itself militarily in Syria, as it seeks to do, for the express purpose of eradicating our state," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to Washington in December.

Why is what happened Saturday different from previous Israeli strikes?

Israel has carried out a number of significant attacks in Syria in recent months, but Saturday's incident is different. Israel says the episode began with an Iranian drone crossing into its territory from Syria in the early hours of Saturday. The Israeli military later released footage that it said showed the drone being brought down by an attack helicopter.

Iran has denied this, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahran Qasemi calling the claim "ridiculous." If it is true, however, it would appear to mark a significant provocation from Tehran and perhaps even an attempt to bait Israel into a reaction.

Israel soon sent fighter jets into Syria to attack the T4 military base near the Syrian city of Palmyra, from which the drone supposedly was launched. Syrian forces in turn responded with what the Israeli military called "substantial Syrian antiaircraft fire," which appears to have caused the crash of an Israeli fighter jet after its two-member crew ejected.

The crew members were taken to hospital; one is reported to be in a serious condition. "This is the first such incident in the last 30 years," Israeli military journalist Amos Harel wrote Saturday, adding that Syria's willingness to retaliate to Israeli airstrikes showed "the regime's newfound sense of power."

In a statement, Hezbollah said that the downing of the Israeli F-16 marked a "new strategic phase" in the conflict. "Today's developments mean the old equations have categorically ended," the group said in a statement.

After the downing of the fighter jet, the Israeli military struck again, targeting 12 military sites in Syria - eight Syrian and four that it says were Iranian - marking Israel's most significant strikes in Syria in decades. Brig. Gen. Tomer Bar, second-in-command of Israel's air force, told Haaretz newspaper that these strikes were "the biggest and most significant attack the air force has conducted against Syrian air defenses" since the 1982 Lebanon War.

If Israel became more militarily involved in the conflict, what would it mean for the Syrian war - and the wider region?

Open conflict across the Syrian border is unlikely to be in the interest of either Israel or Iran-aligned forces at the moment. But the tit-for-tat fighting shows that neither side is willing to back down. If the conflict escalates, it could end up adding a dangerous angle to the ongoing Syrian conflict - and one that could wind up involving other powers in the region and beyond.

The T4 military base struck by Israel on Saturday houses not only Syrian soldiers but Russian military officers, too. Some Israeli observers have said it is hard to imagine that the Russians there would not have known about the Iranian drone or the subsequent antiaircraft fire. Awkwardly, late last month, Netanyahu visited Moscow to push Russia to rein in its Iranian allies in Syria.

The United States, a key Israeli ally, is already involved in the Syrian conflict, backing Syrian rebels, and at times has found itself at odds with Russia. This past week, U.S. warplanes bombed pro-government forces after they allegedly advanced on U.S.-backed forces in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said it is unclear whether Russian contractors were among those involved in that advance.

The U.S.- and Russian-backed forces had a common enemy in the Islamic State, but as the fight against ISIS forces is winding down, new conflicts seem to be rising in Syria. Turkey, for example, recently launched its own offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syria's north, placing it in de facto opposition to the United States, which had allied itself with some Kurdish forces to defeat Islamic State forces.

An open conflict between Israel and Iranian-backed forces would add to the entanglements and chaos in Syria. It would also risk pulling neighboring Lebanon or other Arab states into a new war, too.

Video: What Is the German 120db Movement? 

by Publius:  Glenn Beck takes a look at a viral video campaign in Germany to oppose leftist open borders policies. And yeah, those policies are bad. But, he warns, beware the new social media movement that promises a “return to traditional values.” Next, here’s one of those viral videos. Compelling, but perhaps not quite honest about its intent.   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54056-video-what-is-the-german-120db-movement

VIDEO 1:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht6JM51vjZc

VIDEO 2:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJxU8iiyOS0 

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Rep Jordan – SWAMP WON, GOP CAVED 

As Usual, American People Lost 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ The Chris Wallace interview with Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) starts at the 12:26 mark in the video... with the discussion first addressing the enormous spending bill that was just passed through Congress and the failure of Republicans to support and force fiscal responsibility upon the federal government. Wallace points to the passage of the bill and President Trump’s signing it as evidence to “some people” that the era of fiscal restraint and the TEA Party is over. Jordan says what he knows is that “This was not consistent with what the American people elected us to do, not consistent with what we told them we were going to do.”  He agrees that Republicans don’t have the sixty votes needed for impunity of action in the Senate but neither do the Democrats and is in favor of changing the Senate rules to allow for things to get done legislatively. Wallace asks if, given those realities, if he’s saying the minority Democrats won and Republicans caved... https://rickwells.us/jordan-swamp-won-gop-caved/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrqhtQ2Sy08

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Explosive New Allegations 

from the Second Anti-Trump Dossier 

by patrioticviralnews.com 

{ patrioticviralnews.com } ~ Let’s review the facts. The liar-Clinton campaign and their affiliates hired a foreign spy to dig up dirt on their political opponent... They then directed that spy as to what should be in his report and helped him fabricate multiple points that have now been completely debunked. That spy’s work was consolidated into a dossier that was then used by a secret court under President liar-nObama to justify a surveillance operation against Trump’s campaign. It’s impossible to overstate the true level of corruption and injustice that happened in this sequence of events. It’s like deep-state bingo. Trump has been repeatedly accused of colluding with a foreign government even though the only “evidence” is uncorroborated and at least partially disproven. We now have absolute proof that it was in fact the liar-Clinton Campaign that colluded with a foreign spy. We also now have proof that liar-nObama was aware of the investigation into Trump’s campaign and may have been directly involved in the process. This is an appropriation of government agencies to spy on a political opponent. It makes Watergate look tame by comparison. It is mind boggling that the Democratic Party still exists at this point, and yet, they are moving to release a second dossier against Trump.   http://patrioticviralnews.com/articles/explosive-new-allegations-from-the-second-anti-trump-dossier/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgT5uPlTBdY

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Immigration Anarchists' Lies Debunked

by Michael Cutler 

{ frontpagemag.com } ~ So much of what has come to pass for “common knowledge” is actually an example of how the principle of “The Big Lie”... can alter the public’s understanding of critical issues. Immigration has proven to be particularly vulnerable to this tactic. Under that principle, officials intentionally concoct falsehoods and repeat them at every possible opportunity to convince the masses that the lies are the truth. This principle was adopted by Nazi Germany in order to con the German populace into accepting the unfathomable depravity of the Third Reich. Today the attention span of most Americans can be measured in minutes, if not seconds, further exacerbating the susceptibility of folks to fall victim to language manipulation tactics. The tactics employed by the open-borders/ immigration anarchists to further their cause are so easy to disprove that even a child could see through their warped logic...   https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/269299/immigration-anarchists-lies-debunked-michael-cutler 

GOP Senators to Introduce Immigration,

Border Security and DACA Framework Tomorrow

by sundance

{ theconservativetreehouse.com } ~ A group of U.S. Senators tomorrow will introduce a common-sense proposal aimed at providing legal certainty for undocumented children... brought to the United States by their parents and preventing others from falling into the same legal limbo in the future. Their proposal, which mirrors the White House framework  announced by President Trump, provides a generous opportunity for approximately 1.8 million DACA or DACA-eligible immigrants to earn citizenship while strengthening our nation’s border security and enforcement measures to reduce illegal immigration. The Secure and Succeed Act, sponsored by Senators Cotton, Grassley, Cornyn, Tillis, Perdue, Lankford, and Ernst, appropriates $25 billion for real border security such as physical and virtual fencing, radar and other technologies. It also provides for additional personnel for border control and ends key loopholes in current law that allow dangerous criminals to enter our country...   https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/02/11/gop-senators-to-introduce-immigration-border-security-and-daca-framework-tomorrow/ 

China is gaining on the United States. 

What are we doing about it? 

by Oriana Skylar Mastro and Ely Ratner 

{ aei.org } ~ America’s military advantage over China is rapidly eroding... This fact was underscored by the Trump administration’s first National Defense Strategy recently released by Defense Secretary James Mattis, who declared that “great power competition, not terrorism, is now the primary focus of U.S. national security.” This pronouncement of China as a top priority is well-considered, long overdue, and—potentially—historic. Much will ride on whether President Donald Trump can actually deliver on refashioning U.S. defense policy. His first State of the Union address was not encouraging. After only a passing mention of China, he gave considerably more attention to the Islamic State and North Korea, calling into question whether he shares his team’s commitment to confronting the China challenge. If he does, the president will have to do more than revise his rhetoric. The Trump administration needs to commit additional funds to remain militarily competitive in Asia. Mattis himself admits, “If you don’t get the resources … then your strategy is nothing more than a hallucination.”  Trump’s budget next week will be an early indicator that more dollars are or are not in fact dedicated to enhancing U.S. military power and solving operational challenges in the Western Pacific... http://www.aei.org/publication/china-is-gaining-on-the-united-states-what-are-we-doing-about-it/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWkRnd05UazNOREUwTkRJNCIsInQiOiJrWCtiZlFNRkRhTmZYcW9FQkVteDJYZXp3bmFJMmFFZVVVaVBmYlozN3NxWFVOdWtZNWpYd3BhcGp0QkNVTXpCT3hMTXdzM3c2OTl5MmhwOEE0ZHV5cDBVbjVMbFIxbzBESlNwYngzbitxZU5lUTdvREJMcHNkOHVpK0JURXRSQyJ9 

by Pat Buchanan 
{ townhall.com } ~ President Trump is the leader of America's conservative party.

Yet not even his allies would describe him as a conservative in the tradition of Robert Taft, Russell Kirk or William F. Buckley.

In the primaries of 2016, all his rivals claimed the mantle of Mr. Conservative, Ronald Reagan. Yet Trump captured the party's heart.

Who, then, and what is Donald Trump?

In a Federalist essay, "Trump Isn't a Conservative -- And That's a Good Thing," Frank Cannon comes close to the mark.

Trump, he writes, "would more accurately be described as a 'radical anti-progressive'" who is "at war with the progressives who have co-opted American civil society." Moreover, Trump "is willing to go further than any other previous conservative to defeat them."

Many "elite conservatives," writes Cannon, believe the "bedrock institutions" they treasure are "not subject to the same infectious politicization to which the rest of society has succumbed."

This belief is naive, says Cannon, "ridiculous on its face."

"Radical anti-progressives" recognize that many institutions -- the academy, media, entertainment and the courts -- have been co-opted and corrupted by the left. And as these institutions are not what they once were, they no longer deserve the respect they once had.

Yet most conservatives will only go so far in criticizing these institutions. We see this in how cradle Catholics find it difficult to criticize the Church in which they were birthed and raised, despite scandals and alterations in the liturgy and doctrine.

Trump sees many institutions as fortresses lately captured by radical progressives that must be attacked and besieged if they are to be recaptured and liberated. Cannon deals with three such politicized institutions: the media, the NFL and the courts.

Trump does not attack freedom of the press but rather the moral authority and legitimacy of co-opted media institutions. It is what CNN has become, not what CNN was, that Trump disrespects.

These people are political enemies posturing as journalists who create "fake news" to destroy me, says Trump. Enraged media, responding, reveal themselves to be not far removed from what Trump says they are.

And, since Trump, media credibility has plummeted.

Before 2016, the NFL was an untouchable. When the league demanded that North Carolina accept the radical transgender agenda or face NFL sanctions, the Tar Heel State capitulated. When Arizona declined to make Martin Luther King's birthday a holiday in 1990, the NFL took away the Super Bowl. The Sun State caved.

This year, the league demanded respect for the beliefs and behavior of NFL players insulting Old Glory by "taking a knee" during the national anthem.

Many conservative politicians and commentators, fearing the NFL's almost mythic popularity in Middle America, remained mute.

But believing instinctively America would side with him, Trump delivered a full-throated defense of the flag and called for kicking the kneelers off the field, out of the game, and off the team.

"Fire them!" Trump bellowed.

And Trump triumphed. The NFL lost fans and viewers. The players ended the protests. No one took a knee at the Super Bowl.

Before Trump, the FBI was sacrosanct. But Trump savaged an insiders' cabal at the top of the FBI he saw as having plotted to defeat him.

Trump has not attacked an independent judiciary, but courts like the Ninth Circuit, controlled by progressives and abusing their offices to advance progressive goals, and federal judges using lifetime tenure and political immunity to usurp powers that belong to the president -- on immigration, for example.

Among the reasons Congress is disrespected is that it let the Supreme Court seize its power over social policy and convert itself into a judicial dictatorship -- above Congress.

Trump is no Beltway conservative, writes Cannon.

"Trump doesn't play by these ridiculous rules designed to keep conservatives stuck in a perpetual state of losing -- a made-for-CNN version of the undefeated Harlem Globetrotters versus the winless Washington Generals. Trump instead seeks to fight and delegitimize any institution the Left has captured, and rebuild it from the ground up."

The Trump supporters who most relish the wars he is waging are the "Middle American Radicals," of whom my columnist-colleague and late friend Sam Francis used to write.

There was a time such as today before in America.

After World War II, as it became clear our long-ruling liberal elites had blundered horribly in trusting Stalin, patriots arose to cleanse our institutions of treason and its fellow travelers.

The Hollywood Ten were exposed and went to jail. Nixon nailed Alger Hiss. Truman used the Smith Act to shut down Stalin's subsidiary, the Communist Party USA. Spies in the atom bomb program were run down. The Rosenbergs went to the electric chair.

Liberals call it the "Red Scare." And they are right to do so.

For when the patriots of the Greatest Generation like Jack Kennedy and Richard Nixon and Joe McCarthy came home from the war and went after them, the nation's Reds had never been so scared in their entire lives.

Nunes – We Provide Evidence 

But DOJ Refuses To Prosecute Crimes 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes explains where we are now in all of the turmoil surrounding his committee exposing... the liar-nObama deep state corruption both during his miserable treasonous regime and since his departure. Nunes says the Democrat memo “was not a surprise,” that after they had unsuccessfully attempted to block the release of the Republican memo by falsely claiming that it the sky would fall and it revealed sources and memos, they are now blocking their own memo by filling it full of those very same sources and methods. He notes that if they were sincere and being honest in their motivations and goal of having it released, they would have been in the Intelligence Committee offices redacting the memo in order to have it published. Nunes said, “If they really wanted to get it out, they’d be down there all day yesterday, redacting it, getting it back over to the White House so the public can know what’s in it...  https://rickwells.us/nunes-evidence-doj-prosecute/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBYb_5mhavQ

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Feds to give all your health data to researchers

by BOB UNRUH 

{ wnd.com } ~ The federal government has just launched a 10-year, $1.5 billion project for which researchers want your information. All of it... Medical records, mental-health records, lifestyle details, personal habits, physical measurements, blood pressure, height, weight, blood and urine samples, details on health-care visits, procedures, medications, and electronic health records, among others. Oh, and DNA, too. It’s called All of Us and scientists say they want at least one million people to be under observation on an ongoing basis. Explains one federal report, the effort by the NIH has the goal of developing “a 1,000,000 person-plus cohort of individuals across the country willing to share their biology, lifestyle, and environmental data for the purpose of research.”...  http://www.wnd.com/2018/02/feds-to-give-all-your-health-data-to-researchers/

VIDEO:   http://www.wnd.com/2018/02/feds-to-give-all-your-health-data-to-researchers/

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Gingrich Mystified by Sessions – Not Recused

From Going After Dem, DOJ Criminals 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ Newt Gingrich believes the corruption and conspiracy go far beyond the DOJ and FBI using government resources to spy on the enemies of liar-Hillary Clinton... He references the Strzok statement in a text message to Page claiming that he has to brief Director James Comey because Hussein liar-nObama “wants to know everything” as raising “a whole series of questions about what the devil was going on.” He says, “I think you probably have the ‘president’ involved,” as well as Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and Comey. “On both the protect liar-Hillary side and the get Trump side, it is the most extraordinary example of the deep state totally abusing the rule of law.” He notes the bravery of Devin Nunes in bringing the information forward and advancing the case, but now it’s broadened out to include Senator Ron Johnson and the Homeland Security Committee as well as Sen Charles Grassley and the Judiciary Committee...  https://rickwells.us/gingrich-mystified-sessions/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C4MEzXGOD4
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Lidblog@optonline.net

Everything You Need To Know About The FISA Memo 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBqnVlFDotc

.

Gary Sinise’s Commitment To Veterans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq7vG1F2Pzo

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Hispanic Trump Voter Defends President’s Rhetoric

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmiIAdwd7PY

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How Being Pro-Israel Landed The Marcus Family in a 7-Year War With liar-nObama’s IRS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y_01y2cHf8

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Politico’s Jake Sherman: Pulosi Completely Miscalculated On 8-Hour Speech, Dems Abandoned Her

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkNiPw0QBI4

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MSNBC: National Democrats Now Worried Their 2018 Bench Is Too Liberal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1g0rarpDis

.

by David Limbaugh 
{ townhall.com } ~ What are we to make of the GOP and Democrats' dueling scandal wars? So much information, so little time.

We'll have to wait until special counsel Robert Mueller completes his investigation to be sure, but I don't believe there's any credible evidence that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to affect the presidential election.

On the other hand, though I was initially skeptical that the investigations into the Democratic scandals would produce much, I've changed my mind. I know I'm biased, but after having studied the voluminous information more thoroughly, I'm convinced there is an alarming amount of evidence of misconduct. For every allegation that doesn't bear fruit, there are several that are damning. Let me highlight just some of the problem areas and add my observations as space permits.

--The Nunes memo contains inculpatory information against certain key Department of Justice officials, and no amount of obfuscation from propagandists about what it doesn't contain discredits its probative value. A dud it is not.

--The memo essentially claims that an anti-Trump dossier, which was just glorified opposition research procured and paid for by the liar-Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee through a law firm, was an essential component of an application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a warrant to spy on Trump associate Carter Page. That is, it is incontrovertible that the warrant wouldn't have been issued without the dossier. Neither the initial application nor any of the renewals disclose or reference the role of the DNC or the liar-Clinton campaign, though senior DOJ and FBI officials were aware of the political origins of the dossier prepared by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele. As it happens, the FBI presented another item of tainted evidence to the court -- a Yahoo news article based on information spoon-fed to reporter Michael Isikoff by Steele, the same character who prepared the dossier. The article was reportedly presented to the court as independent and corroborating evidence when it was just circular journalism -- recycled from the dossier. Moreover, Steele compiled the dossier based on information obtained, in part, from Russian operatives. Further poisoning the waters, liar-Clinton family confidants Sidney Blumenthal and Cody Shearer were allegedly feeding information to Steele, possibly through a State Department official, for inclusion in the memo. The FBI allegedly represented to the FISC that Steele was credible, though former FBI Director James Comey has admitted the dossier contained unverified material. Steele, you should note, said that he was desperate that Trump not be elected. Steele was dropped as an FBI source because he allegedly lied to the bureau about leaking to the press.

--To prevent publication of the memo, Democrats knowingly misrepresented that it contained classified or other information damaging to national security.

--The criminal referral of GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley and RINO-Lindsey Graham for Steele confirms key points of the Nunes memo -- namely, that the dossier was crucial to the FBI's warrant for Page and that the application omitted the key fact that the liar-Clinton campaign and the DNC had funded the research through Fusion GPS, which hired Steele. And, as noted, senior FBI officials knew this information and still didn't disclose it to the court in its application. Democrats and their apologists in the liberal media contend that there was a disclosure about the liar-Clinton and DNC connection in the footnotes, but rudimentary examination reveals that the footnote was deliberately vague and said nothing about DNC and liar-Clinton campaign involvement. It was as if the FBI inserted the footnote for reasonable deniability, knowing it would facilitate its deception of the court.

--The liberal media are in lockstep in denying the significance of the referral, as well, claiming it was a letter issued to bolster the Nunes memo, when in fact the referral had been submitted weeks before the Nunes memo was released and was independent of it.

--The thousands of text messages between adulterers Peter Strzok, FBI counterintelligence agent, and Lisa Page, FBI lawyer, were unseemly, improper, sometimes suggestive of egregious misconduct and alarmingly illuminating as to their mutually toxic anti-Trump bias, revealing them singularly unfit for the jobs they were performing. What did Page mean that liar-nObama wanted "to know everything" or that she needed to brush up on Watergate? What did Strzok mean by the following? "I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's office -- that there's no way Trump gets elected -- but I'm afraid we can't take that risk. It's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you're 40."

--Though Strzok and other DOJ and FBI officials have been fired or reassigned, both Strzok and Page are still at the bureau, which is unconscionable, given their inexcusable behavior. Strzok should be terminated for making himself vulnerable to blackmail alone, yet he and his fellow Trump-hating lovebird remain perched on the government payroll.

--Just as the liberal media speciously attempt to downplay the Nunes memo and the Grassley/RINO-Graham referral, they contend that the GOP's original take on the Page text about keeping liar-nObama informed is wholly discredited because it concerned the Trump Russia investigation rather than the liar-Clinton email scandal as the GOP claimed. Not so fast. Even if the text was about keeping liar-nObama informed on the Russia investigation, it could be just as bad or worse, especially if they were informing him about the nefarious renewal of the warrant to spy on a political opponent during a presidential campaign with a fraudulent dossier paid for by the liar-Clinton campaign and the DNC. What and when did liar-nObama know?

--The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee just released a report on the liar-Clinton email scandal. It raises many questions about liar-Clinton and the FBI, such as why the FBI liberally used immunity offers instead of impaneling a grand jury to elicit evidence and why Comey circulated a statement exonerating liar-Clinton before she and many other witnesses had been interviewed. And don't get me started on liar-Clinton's serial killing of emails. Who else could get away with what she did?

Come on, naysayers. Be fair. There's so much smoke here -- and I've just covered some of the highlights -- we don't even have to worry about a fire. Asphyxiation can be just as lethal.

Black Caucus Jihadis Met With 

Iranian Leaders, Farrakhan In Secret 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ Three of the usual suspect Democrat members of the Congressional Black Caucus have been exposed... as having attended a meeting in 2013 with the leaders of the Islamic terrorist sponsoring Iranian government as well as the white-hating, anti-Semitic bigot, Louis Farrakhan. Representative scum-Keith Ellison (D-MN), who would, if not for the efforts of liar-Hillary Clinton, now be the DNC chairman instead of its number two, as well as his fellow Muslim, Rep Andre Carson (D-IN) and Gregory Meeks (D-NY) are the racist CBC members who accepted the invitation to sit down with America’s enemies. All of the Congressmen were also involved in the Awan espionage case as enablers, who, perhaps not so innocently, provided access to top American secrets that were later stolen. Rep Meeks continued Imran Awan’s employment and defended him long after the news broke of his espionage activities and he had been banned from the Congressional computer system... https://rickwells.us/black-caucus-jihadis-iranian/
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Israel Defends Herself Against Iranian

Incursion-Bibi:We Will Continue To

Defend Ourselves

by Jeff Dunetz

{ lidblog.com } ~ It started just before dawn Jerusalem time on Saturday, the  Israel Defense Forces (IDF)  detected an Iranian drone... coming from Syria territory and allowed it to enter Israeli airspace for approximately 90 seconds before shooting it down. They allowed it to enter Israeli airspace so they could examine the wreckage and see what they were dealing with: The structure and technology of the drone were similar to the American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or drone) tha Iran seized in 2011 including a “low signature” aimed at avoiding detection. There are rumors but no confirmation that the drone was armed.  Israel’s retaliation for the drone incursion was quick, eight Israeli f-16 planes swept into Syria carrying out strikes deep inside the country blowing up the truck that controlled the drone, and a Syrian airbase Retaliation for the incursion was swift, with eight Israeli F-16s into Syria to carry out retaliatory strikes deep inside the country, including on the vehicle that controlled the drone and an air base used by Iran. The Syrians reacted anti-aircraft missiles and one F-16 crashed in an empty field near the town of Harduf in northern Israel after both pilots were able to parachute to safety...  https://lidblog.com/israel-defends-iranian-drone/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0Jt_Vy4Mj0

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Grassley/rino-Graham Memo 

Affirms Nunes Memo — Media Yawns

by ANDREW C. MCCARTHY

{ nationalreview.com ~ In a word, the Grassley/rino-Graham memo is shocking. Yet, the press barely notices. Rest assured... If a Republican administration had used unverifiable hearsay from a patently suspect agent of the Republican presidential candidate to gull the FISA court into granting a warrant to spy on an associate of the Democratic nominee’s campaign, it would be covered as the greatest political scandal in a half-century.  Instead, it was the other way around. The Grassley/rino-Graham memo corroborates the claims in the Nunes memo: The liar-nObama Justice Department and FBI used anonymously sourced, liar-Clinton-campaign generated innuendo to convince the FISA court to issue surveillance warrants against Carter Page, and in doing so, they concealed the liar-Clinton campaign’s role. Though the Trump campaign had cut ties with Page shortly before the first warrant was issued in October 2016, the warrant application was based on wild allegations of a corrupt conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Moreover, the warrant meant the FBI could seize not only Page’s forward-going communications but any past emails and texts he may have stored — i.e., his Trump campaign communications...  http://www.nationalreview.com/article/456287/grassley-graham-memo-affirms-nunes-memo-fisa-steele-dossier?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NR%20Week%20in%20Review%202018-02-11&utm_term=VDHM 

liar-nObama Official: I Passed liar-Clinton

Lies to Steele That Were Used Against Trump

by MARTIN WALSH

A top State Department official who served under former President Barack liar-n Obama’s administration has publicly confirmed... that he passed information from liar-Clinton operatives to ex-British spy Christopher Steele that was ultimately used against Donald Trump. In an op-ed published Thursday in The Washington Post, Jonathan Winer, former deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement, wrote that he had a friendly relationship with Steele, the former British spy who was paid by the Washington-based political research firm Fusion GPS to compile the information that became known as the “Trump dossier.” Steele’s dossier contained numerous salacious accusations about Trump, including one claim that he consorted with Russian prostitutes in Moscow in 2013...  https://conservativetribune.com/obama-official-i-passed-clinton-lies-to-steele-for-use-against-trump/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=CTBreaking&utm_campaign=breaking&utm_content=conservative-tribune

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At Least 17 Democratic Socialists Of

America Are Running For Office In Texas In 2018 

by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton 

{ noisyroom.net } ~ Texas is in real trouble politically. The giant red state has been targeted by the left and they are dumping millions into the state to turn it blue forever... There are at least 17 Democratic Socialists of America candidates running for office in the state now. They look like just ordinary people… but these are socialists. They are communist-lite. They are Marxists and they are a stone cold threat to our way of life and our freedoms in this nation. As the Texas Observer put it, the revolution will be down-ballot. First up is Franklin Bynum’s campaign for Harris County misdemeanor court judge. He’s a 35 year-old former public defender and says he’s seen Houston’s criminal courts routinely railroad the poor into convictions that drive them further into poverty. Now, after nearly 10 years subject to the whims of conservative judges, he’s aiming to take the gavel for himself. I guarantee you that he will do what all liberal activist judges do… he’ll set criminals free to go back to what they were doing before. This has nothing to do with the poor. One of the primary goals of communists such as Van Jones is to empty our prisons regardless of the consequences...   http://noisyroom.net/blog/2018/02/10/at-least-17-democratic-socialists-of-america-are-running-for-office-in-texas-in-2018/ 

by Cal Thomas 
{ townhall.com } ~ It didn't seem to fit in President Trump's State of the Union address, perhaps something tossed in at the last minute, like a garnish. But there it was: "As America regains its strength, opportunity must be extended to all citizens. That is why this year we will embark on reforming our prisons, to help former inmates who have served their time get a second chance at life."

Like Richard Nixon opening the door to China, only a Republican could propose prison reform and not be labeled "soft on crime."

It is not news that American prisons are overcrowded, cost too much to maintain and warehouse men and women, many of whom should not be there. There ought to be an alternative for nonviolent, non-lethal offenders. Those being released from prison should be offered a second chance without the mark of Cain being stamped on them.

One step in that direction may be a recent story in The Washington Post. Ron Nelsen owns a garage door company in Las Vegas, but has had trouble finding people to work for him because of the falling unemployment rate. His assistant handed him a resume, and when Nelsen looked at it he discovered the applicant's recent jobs were all in a state prison.

Nelsen decided to interview the man, Ian Black. "He was articulate and respectful, and he told me he'd been an idiot when he was younger."

Still apprehensive, Nelsen took a chance on the convicted burglar and hired him. Black is part of a work release program. His parole hearing is set for this month. Nelsen calls Black "my best worker."

Nelsen is not alone. As the Post reports, more businesses are starting to give ex-convicts a second chance. This is not some liberal "feel-good" idea. Even the conservative Koch Industries is hiring former inmates. Mark Holden, general counsel for Koch Industries, is quoted as saying, "What someone did on their worst day doesn't define them forever."

Ask yourself which approach is likely to cut the recidivism rate, which remains especially high for those who can't find meaningful work: A spirit of forgiveness, mercy and a second chance or branding someone as irredeemable? The question should answer itself.

If he follows through on his promise, President Trump has an opportunity to go where few have gone before. As with his promise to free poor minority children from their failed public schools, reforming America's prison system and, indeed, America's approach to incarceration, which has done little to redeem or reform anyone, would be a lasting legacy.

According to the nonprofit, nonpartisan Prison Policy Initiative (PPI), which compiles data on our criminal justice system, "The American criminal justice system holds more than 2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 901 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,163 local jails and 76 Indian Country jails, as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers and prisons in the U.S. territories."

One in five prisoners in the federal prison system is there for nonviolent drug offenses. At the state and local levels it is different and although most of the incarcerated are there for infractions unrelated to drugs, most states continue to arrest people for drug possession. As the PPI notes, "Drug arrests give residents of over-policed communities criminal records, which then reduce employment prospects and increase the likelihood of longer sentences for any future offenses."

The trend of hiring former inmates who have served time for nonviolent offenses should be encouraged. Most prisoners will return to society. Will society welcome them with a job and a second chance, thus reducing the recidivism rate, or ostracize them and increase the chances they will commit new crimes against new victims in order to survive?

Ron Nelsen is setting a good example. Others should follow, because who among us has not needed a second chance at something?

Trump Tells scum-Schiff To Remove The

Secrets,Refuses To Release

Democrat Memo 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ We can imagine scum-Adam Schiff’s bobble-head exploding and his eyes bulging out past their sockets... with the latest news, but more likely it’s just the result he was working towards. President Trump has blocked the release of the Democrat memo due to classified information that was included by the Democrats. In keeping with their inherent tradition of blatant and rank hypocrisy, the contrived fear of the inclusion of classified documents was the very transgression Democrats falsely accused Republicans of in their attempt to keep the truth out of the public sphere. Writing to the House Intelligence Committee on Friday, White House counsel Don McGahn noted that President Trump was inclined to declassify the memo, he will not do so “at this time” because it contains “numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages.”...  https://rickwells.us/trump-schiff-remove-secrets/ 

U.S. Secretly Negotiated with Russians to Buy

Stolen NSA Documents - and the Russians

Offered Trump Material, too

by James Risen

{ theintercept.com } ~ THE UNITED STATES intelligence community has been conducting a top-secret operation to recover stolen classified U.S. government documents... from Russian operatives, according to sources familiar with the matter. The operation has also inadvertently yielded a cache of documents purporting to relate to Donald Trump and Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Over the past year, American intelligence officials have opened a secret communications channel with the Russian operatives, who have been seeking to sell both Trump-related materials and documents stolen from the National Security Agency and obtained by Russian intelligence, according to people involved with the matter and other documentary evidence. The channel started developing in early 2017, when American and Russian intermediaries began meeting in Germany. Eventually, a Russian intermediary, apparently representing some elements of the Russian intelligence community, agreed to a deal to sell stolen NSA documents back to the U.S. while also seeking to include Trump-related  materials in the package. The secret U.S. intelligence channel with the Russians is separate from efforts by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to obtain information about Trump and his ties with Russia. Steele worked with Fusion GPS, an American private investigations firm that was first hired by Republican and later Democratic opponents of Trump to dig up information on him during the 2016 campaign...  https://theintercept.com/2018/02/09/donald-trump-russia-election-nsa/?utm_source=The+Intercept+Newsletter&utm_campaign=7bb4cf3612-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_09&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e00a5122d3-7bb4cf3612-131896129

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Republicans Begin a Spending Spreeby BRIAN RIEDL

{ nationalreview.com } ~ In Washington, empty rhetoric about fiscal responsibility is about to be swept aside by the reality of trillion-dollar deficits... Republican congressional leaders have announced a deal with Democrats to bust discretionary spending caps by nearly $300 billion over the next two years. Appropriations will rise by 13 percent this year. This is precisely the kind of inside-the-Beltway, big-government deal-making that Republicans won the congressional majority with a mandate to end...   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/456272/republicans-budget-deal-dawn-another-spending-spree?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=theinsider&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWWpBM01XRTRZV0V3TWpFeSIsInQiOiJ1TEVxcE9zMjR1ZE80dG9GSHRzbW5MQzBDdnhVeVNCY0Q5dTV3dXI2TFBlcW10ZFhuem1JeVVFdjFXS0hKMDlxWTZBRHByMm1kdnlaU1wvR0FMN2N6SzI2MUhuTmx0WmdCRDVuY3lySFRNVGQ5U3JcL1FuNGpOb3c1eG5RMGY0MVpWIn0%3D

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Anti-Trump liar-nObama Judge 

Signals Intent To Block Border Wall 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ An liar-nObama appointed District Judge, the same LaRaza-loving and supporting black-robed agitator that candidate Trump had a run-in... with over his being the one to rule on a suit against Trump University, has now declared that he has the singular authority to dictate US immigration policy to the rest of us based upon his ownership of a tainted, dirty black robe. Gonzalo P. Curiel, an anchor baby to his illegal alien squatter parents, takes his Hispanic ethnicity seriously, as a member of the San Diego LaRaza Lawyers Association, Hispanic National Bar Association, National Hispanic Prosecutors Association and Latino Judges Association. Curiel is set to announce next week whether or not  he will allow the President and federal government, supposedly the ones in charge of implementing our immigration policies and border protection, to construct a wall as President Trump has been trying to do ever since he was elected...  https://rickwells.us/trump-obama-judge-border-wall/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8Iyg69gwnA
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Remember the Russian Reset? Besides The 

liar-Clintons Making Money, What Happened?

by Onan Coca And Jeff Dunetz

{ lidblog.com } ~ In the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, Democrat candidate Barack liar-nObama and his cronies spent a lot of time arguing... that the Bush administration had been too rough on the Russians. During his first term and into his second, liar-nObama bent over backwards to appease the Russians at every possible turn. His Secretary of State, liar-Hillary Clinton was put in charge of he Russian Reset and, even travelled to Moscow with a prop “Reset Button” in an effort to restart diplomatic relations with the Kremlin. Later, liar-nObama himself was caught whispering promises to Putin’s puppet, Dmitri Medvedev, if the Russians would only play nice. None of it worked. Then in 2012, then-incumbent President Barack liar-nObama mocked his GOP opponent, Mitt Romney, for daring to argue that Russia was our #1 geopolitical foe...  https://lidblog.com/what-happened-russian-reset/ 

Fiscal Hawks Go on Leave 

by Michael Swartz:  Our federal budget process is supposed to go like this: The House comes up with a budget resolution and a dozen appropriation bills to fill it out, then passes them and sends them to the Senate, which does its job followed by any necessary reconciling between the bills. Then the budget moves along to the president, who signs it before the next fiscal year begins on the first of October. That’s how it’s supposed to work, anyway.

          In practice, though, this annual exercise stumbles along between continuing resolutions as partisans from both parties hold the budget hostage to get what they want out of the deal. Recently, we were treated to the latest in a predictable series of government “shutdowns” that essentially amount to paid vacations for federal employees. Early this morning, after a brief midnight shutdown forced by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who objected to the proposed budget’s spending increase, the House and Senate cobbled together the necessary votes and sent it to President Donald Trump for his signature. Both houses actually agreed to a two-year deal presented by Senate leadership, but they face another deadline of March 23 to hammer out the details.
          “When the Democrats are in power, Republicans appear to be the conservative party,” Paul tweeted. “But when Republicans are in power, it seems there is no conservative party.”
          Naturally, that long-term security comes with a big price tag — an additional $320 billion in deficit spending during that time period — but we finally get an increase in military spending after years of sequester-mandated cuts. In addition, the Senate deal eliminates some lingering liar-nObamaCare gems like the “death panels.”
          Yet for all those guns, the Democrats have larded us up with a lot of butter. And the Republicans have gone right along. As The Wall Street Journal put it, “Democrats backed up the truck for funding on everything from community health centers to billions on child-care grants to $20 billion for infrastructure.” One example is the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which leftists blasted the GOP for not immediately reauthorizing after it expired late last year. A recent six-year extension is now a decade-long boondoggle. Democrat demands for dollar-for-dollar parity with increased defense spending also netted them more money for infrastructure, and a relief from running up against our artificial debt limit until sometime next year.
          “What happened to the Democrats’ ‘Better Deal?’” asks The Washington Post. “Check the spending bill.” Chuck clown-Schumer crowed, “This budget agreement shows that the Better Deal agenda is more than a set of ideas; now, it’s going to be real policies. It delivers on exactly what we laid out last year: rural broadband, child care and assistance with college tuition.” Good thing the GOP controls both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue!
          That additional money spent on non-essential items in return for simply undoing cuts that arguably should never have been made to the (constitutionally mandated) defense of our nation is the part of the bargain that rankles some House Republicans — the ones who were elected by the Tea Party to fight against these types of deals.
          “I am baffled why the Republican Party has turned into such a big spending party. It is one thing to spend money; it is another thing to spend money you don’t have,” lamented Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, who was elected in the initial 2010 Tea Party wave. Brooks vowed to be a “hell no” vote on the deal and was joined by several other fiscally conscious Republican stalwarts.
          But Brooks and company seem to have missed the memo that deficit spending is back in style. And while it may goose the GDP rate slightly and makes individual members look better when they have some pork to share, the issue is that increasing interest rates will make this deficit spending even worse than it appears now. For their part, Democrats complained loudly about raising the deficit by $1.5 trillion over 10 years (a spurious number anyway) with the recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, but they’re now dead silent about similar amounts of deficit spending.
          So this grand bargain, as well as the omnibus spending bill that will follow it in a few weeks once all the appropriations are ironed out, will be the product of centrist House Republicans joining with middle-of-the-road Democrats. Conservatives oppose this bill for its deficit spending, while far-left Democrats are enraged that it doesn’t include a resolution to the DACA issue. Those who may directly benefit from this largesse will be the big winners, but since all this was accomplished without a scintilla of meaningful entitlement reform — President Trump long ago promised not to touch Social Security or Medicare — our children and grandchildren will once again be big losers. Sad!   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54049-fiscal-hawks-go-on-leave

Nunes Tells FISA Court To Turn 

Over DOJ-FBI Carter Page Transcripts 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes is a fast moving machine when it comes to getting to the truth... about what the Democrats and their FBI and DOJ henchmen have been up to in their efforts to undermine President Trump, our representative government and the rule of law. Fox’s Catherine Herridge reports the Nunes “is now seeking transcripts from the National Security Court, also known as the FISA Court, where an application was approved in October of 2016, for that Trump campaign aide, Carter Page.” Herridge says, “Writing to Rosemary M. Collyer, she’s the presiding judge at the FISA Court here in Washington, the Republican chairman wants transcripts of any relevant hearings connected to the surveillance application for that Trump campaign aide, Carter Page.”... https://rickwells.us/nunes-fisa-page-transcripts/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45dPi_Myjdk

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GOP congressman demands Democrat 

Rep. scum-Adam Schiff resign after 

collusion attempt 

by Orhan Cam  

{ conservativeinstitute.org } ~ According to the Daily Mail, scum-Schiff’s staff corresponded in 2017 “with what they thought was a Ukrainian politician,” named Andriy Parubiy... the chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament, “to try to obtain the ‘classified’ material promised on the call.” But scum- Schiff and his staff were really speaking with two Russian comedians who are known for attempting to trick high-profile politicians, like U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. But despite the fact that “it seems like a significant story,” according to Carlson, the news of scum-Schiff and his staff’s attempted involvement with Ukrainian officials received barely any mention in the mainstream media. Gaetz, contributing to Carlson’s show, agreed, and added that scum-Schiff ought to face consequences for his attempted actions. “ scum-Adam Schiff should step aside as the lead Democrat on the Intelligence Committee as a consequence of this scandal,” Gaetz told Carlson. He continued... https://www.conservativeinstitute.org/government-corruption/gop-congressman-demands-resign.htm?utm_source=boomtrain&utm_medium=afternoon&utm_campaign=CNA_20180209-2

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=4B3y3fClbFQ

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Sudden FBI departures indicate that the jig is up

by Thomas Lifson

{ americanthinker.com } ~ Choose your metaphor: rats leaving a sinking ship, cockroaches scurrying away from the light, or maybe just people cutting deals to save their butts...  Yesterday saw the FBI fan feculated.  The blandness of this Politico story, titled "Two more officials cited in FBI texts step down," conceals really, really big news.  The jig is up.  Each of the "officials" who is "stepping down" is leaving under duress and likely facing serious legal consequences for acts that have been disclosed – acts that go to the heart of the fraudulent application for the Page FISA warrant and the obstruction of justice in the liar-Hillary email probe. Hugh Hewitt explained the departure of David Laughman on Twitter, as noted on the Washington Post...   http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/02/sudden_fbi_departures_indicate_that_the_jig_is_up.html 

San Fran’s Mass Exodus: Sanctuary Status,

Leftist Politics Driving Citizens Away 

by Trey Sanchez 

{ truthrevolt.org } ~ According to a KPIX 5 report, a record number of Bay Area residents are packing up and leaving San Francisco... many claiming the city’s progressive policies have driven them away. “Of course people come and go from the Bay Area all the time, but for the first time in a long time, more people are leaving the Bay Area than are coming in,” the report states. “And the number one place in the country for out-migration is now, right here.” Another factor is the high cost of housing that’s driving people out, even those working in high-income Silicon Valley. Employers are finding it hard to recruit because no one can buy a home. U-Haul businesses says they can’t keep stock of moving trucks because everyone is leaving and not coming back...https://www.truthrevolt.org/news/san-frans-mass-exodus-sanctuary-status-leftist-politics-driving-citizens-away 

liar-Clinton Chokes On Her Own 

Lies While Hustling Man-Hater Group 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ For many patriotic Americans the only reason we would consider watching liar-Hillary Clinton is to see her get caught in a lie... to have fun cursing at the screen, or to witness her go into one of her now-familiar jerking or coughing fits. She provided us with the latter in a live streaming message to a group of butt-hurt sexist political manipulators on Wednesday. There were some ironic moments leading up to her hack attack, such as liar- Clinton claiming that the collective target of evil hetero male abuse, women, are telling the truth about their lives. Of course liar-Clinton never tells the truth and she was the one who demonized female victims and led her husband’s defense when he was caught putting something other than his hand in places other than liar- Clinton cookie jars. The destructive America-hater has such telling comments in promoting her own version of fundamental transformation as “let’s make sure the world is never the same,” something she’s already, unfortunately, taken care of...  https://rickwells.us/clinton-chokes-lies-hustling/

VIDEO:  https://twitter.com/InStyle/status/961671263277199360/video/1

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Sen. Warner's 'Back Channel' Is No Witch Hunt  

by Political Editors:  On Thursday, Fox News reported that Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, had been communicating with Adam Waldman, a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch, who offered him access to the British ex-spy and author of the anti-Trump dossier Christopher Steele. The story points to a string of text messages between Warner and Waldman in which it appears that Warner seeks to have a private conversation with Steele before any official testimony would be given to the full committee.

          Donald Trump responded to the story tweeting, “Wow! — Senator Mark Warner got caught having extensive contact with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch. Warner did not want a ‘paper trail’ on a ‘private’ meeting (in London) he requested with Steele of fraudulent Dossier fame.”
          However, several Republican members on the committee quickly pushed back against the allegations and actually defended Warner. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) tweeted, “Sen. Warner fully disclosed this to the committee four months ago. Has had zero impact on our work.” An aide to committee chairman Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) noted that the senator was aware of Warner’s use of a “back channel” attempt to try to get to Steele, and he had no concerns about it.
          In the end, this story appears to be more media hype than real news. Hey, it even got a tweet from Trump. While it’s no secret that Warner is no fan of Trump, assuming the worst of the senator without applying or seeking context is why much of the mainstream media’s reporting on Trump has been so biased and many times downright false. What makes this story a story is the MSM treatment of the whole Russiagate scandal. When mere accusations and innuendos are appealed to as facts, the result is fake news.   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54050-sen-warners-back-channel-is-no-witch-hunt

Can't Stand Her 

~The Patriot Post 

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Strzok Broke Classified Procedures 

by Texting His Squeeze From a SCIF 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ It seems like everything that was done at the liar-nObama DOJ and FBI involved some sort of double standard... and lack of respect for or adherence to rules, regulations and laws. Now comes information that Peter Strzok likely used a cell phone and messaged while in a SCIF, a serious violation of procedures. Newly released text messages between Strzok and his girlfriend, FBI attorney Lisa Page, contain damning evidence at Strzok’s own hand. He wrote a response to Page asking, “Can you and redacted woman come up and see me when you are done? Is redacted woman with you? Can you please come up here?” Strzok then replied, “Walking to see JB. She is still in 4017,” which was followed five minutes later by a text to Page stating “We’re in Jim’s SCIF.” SCIF stands for Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, the areas, aside from liar-Hillary Clinton’s bathroom, where the most sensitive classified material is kept...  https://rickwells.us/strzok-classified-texting-scif/ 

Justin Trudeau Welcomes Sharia 

to Canada and Is a ‘Complete Idiot’ 

by Trey Sanchez 

{ truthrevolt.org } ~ Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has turned his country into a meme... That’s according to commentator Paul Joseph Watson, whose latest video, "Justin Trudeau is a Complete Idiot," brilliantly excoriates the PM. Dare we say it’s one of Watson’s finest and funniest yet. Trudeau tossed conservatives a softball this week when he corrected someone’s use of “mankind” by telling them it’s more inclusive to use “peoplekind.” While that’s easy to make fun of, it’s nothing compared to the kind of dangerous thinking that’s at his core. The PM has confirmed that his Liberal Party “believes that terrorists should get to keep their Canadian citizenship.” He not only wants ISIS fighters to be reintegrated back into society, and somehow de-radicalized, his party doesn’t even want them prosecuted. Trudeau has even apologized to a Muslim Gitmo detainee for his treatment and settled with him a $10 million lawsuit. But what’s more, Trudeau believes Islam is completely compatible with Western democracy and has said so on many occasions...  https://www.truthrevolt.org/news/justin-trudeau-welcomes-sharia-canada-and-complete-idiot

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ijg-0DXEhw

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Opposition: Netanyahu ‘acting 

like a criminal’ in attack on police chief 

by RAOUL WOOTLIFF

{ timesofisrael.com } ~ With the political temperature rising as police reportedly gear up to recommend indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu... opposition leaders on Thursday took the premier to task for lashing out at Israel Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich in a late-night Facebook post. Zionist Union chairman Avi Gabbay said that Netanyahu was “acting like a criminal with his unprecedented attack on the commissioner and the police” after Alsheich gave an interview critical of the prime minister. “Netanyahu is humiliating us, the citizens of Israel,” Gabbay said in a statement. “Instead of requesting that they wrap up the investigation as soon as possible, Netanyahu has chosen to attack the police commissioner, and by doing so, he is trying to dismantle peoples’ trust in the legal system.”...  https://www.timesofisrael.com/opposition-netanyahu-acting-like-a-criminal-in-attack-on-police-chief/

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Horowitz: How Progressives Use Race 

as a Weapon Against Our Country

by Frontpagemag.com 

{ frontpagemag.com } ~ For many Americans, the election of this nation’s first black President in 2008 signaled hope for a healing of the racial divide... that has dogged the United States throughout its history. But instead of reconciliation, Barack liar-nObama declared that racism is in America’s very DNA. He ushered in a new era of racial anger, distrust, and violence. Now America teeters on the precipice of a chasm between the races that is wider than any seen in the last half century. In his new pamphlet How Progressives Use Race as a Weapon Against Our Country, Freedom Center founder David Horowitz addresses this explosive state of affairs and explains that the collectivist left is at war with America and its achievement of a successful multi-ethnic, multi-racial society. That society was unrivaled in its inclusiveness, tolerance, and freedom for all individuals, regardless of race. Horowitz explains how the left is stoking racial animus and resentment in order to delegitimize American exceptionalism and to divide Americans through the ideological conviction that whites are oppressors and “people of color” are the oppressed. The left’s reprehensible claim that the United States is a white supremacist nation is setting the stage, he writes, for the nation’s suicide...   https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/269141/horowitz-how-progressives-use-race-weapon-against-frontpagemagcom 

Making America Safe Again: President Reverses Gitmo Closure 

by Caroline C. Lewis:  President Donald Trump signed a little-discussed executive order last week reversing the previous administration’s order to close the detention facility at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay (GTMO). The president is keeping his promise: “When it comes to terrorism, we will do whatever is necessary to protect our nation.”

          Fortunately, Barack liar-nObama never delivered on his 2009 executive order to close the facility at Guantanamo Bay, yet his order still needed to be reversed. The liar-nObama administration worked from a failed ideology of peace through appeasement. In contrast, President Trump understands Ronald Reagan’s concept of “Peace Through Strength.” That is, maintaining peace by keeping our strength, not by enabling the enemy.
          While it may appear humanitarian to “free all prisoners,” this perspective ignores the real threats terrorism poses to our nation’s safety and to the world. It compromises the Rule of Law and ignores the reason why the detainees are imprisoned in the first place: These unlawful enemy combatants either harmed or sought to harm innocent people. To free such fighters who are intent on murdering innocent people, while claiming no responsibility for the resulting deaths, qualifies as the true action of inhumanity.
          Since Sept. 11, 2001, the United States has remained engaged in armed conflict with the Taliban, al-Qaida and associated forces such as the Islamic State. This stands as a fact, not simply a “perspective.”
          As part of his constitutional role as commander in chief, the president has the authority to detain certain persons associated with terrorism. The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) from Sept. 18, 2001, as explained by the White House fact sheet, states,
          The AUMF authorizes the United States to detain certain persons who are part of or provide substantial support to al-Qa'ida, the Taliban, or associated forces engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners. Decisions regarding the disposition of captured terrorists will be made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account legal requirements and the facts of each case.
          As such, the president remains responsible not only to manage the armed conflict between the U.S. and al-Qaida, the Taliban and Islamic State, but to take actions that preserve the safety of American military members and civilians.
          The executive order “would preserve military detention as a counterterrorism tool by maintaining detention facilities at the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (GTMO), Cuba and stating unequivocally that the United States reserves the right to detain terrorists under the law of armed conflict.”
          While the U.S. currently utilizes counterterrorism tools such as military action and intervention, it must retain the right to detain enemy combatants. This stands in accordance with the law of war principles. Without the right to detain prisoners, the war on terror becomes a meaningless fishing expedition of “catch and release.” The White House fact sheet notes, “The detention of enemies captured in an armed conflict is a lawful and necessary tool of warfighting that must continue to be available to the United States.” The executive order also reaffirms the right of the U.S. to transport and detain more enemy combatants to Guantanamo when necessary.
          More than 100 former prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay have re-entered combat as terrorists, killing both Americans and our allies in coalition forces. Keeping the Guantanamo Bay detention facility open averts that risk, while prioritizing safety and security for innocent people who remain targets of international terrorism.
          The executive order also emphasizes the use of the existing periodic review process that helps authorities to determine whether the continued detention of certain prisoners is necessary.
          Finally, the order notes that “the detention operation at the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay are legal, safe, humane, and conducted consistent with United States and international law.”
          President Trump’s executive order to keep the Guantanamo Bay detention facility open allows the United States to act as a sovereign nation, capable of winning the war against radical Islamic terrorism worldwide.  Without this counterterrorism tool, victory will elude us, and innocent civilians will serve as terrorism fodder in the name of “peace” and “understanding.” The commander in chief understands this and has willingly acted to protect innocent civilians who are targets of terrorism in the United States and throughout the world.   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54002-making-america-safe-again-president-reverses-gitmo-closure

Can't Stand Her 

~The Patriot Post 

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Monuments To Failure – NO TRUMP BORDER WALL In SWAMP Sellout Budget Agreement 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ There is nothing artful in the two-year budget deal that the sellout Senate is patting themselves on the back for coddling together in a “bipartisan” fashion... Bipartisan deals translate into those where Democrats win and Republicans cave under the weak protection of some face-saving component upon which to declare they got everything they could. McConnell is the master of bipartisan surrender. The current bill being shoved down the throats of the American people by the reckless, duplicitous swamp rats, clown-Schumer and turncoat-McConnell, increases spending by $296 billion but has not a cent for the border wall. That big, beautiful protective structure remains a figment of President Trump’s imagination and our own. If Congress wants to be reckless and irresponsible with our money, what’s another twenty billion or so to finance the wall? Then the savings would start to pile up. But they’re not going to let us secure our country. Our military is being funded but the invasion is still ongoing and won’t be stopped. Our military is, effectively, securing this plot of ground for foreigners who haven’t arrived yet, our replacements... https:///trump-border-wall-sellout/ 

Why is the Media Ignoring 

the Real Bombshell FISA Memo? 

by Guy Benson 

{ townhall.com } ~ We'll bring you Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberly Strassel's tweetstorm in a moment... but I'll take a stab at answering her question about the media right out of the gate.  Three possibilities:  (1) The GOP hyped the Nunes memo, which quickly became the center of this whole firestorm -- replete with counter-memos, FBI objections, etc. The press followed the spotlight. (2) As we've been saying, there are so many complex pieces of this larger puzzle, following the plot is difficult.  It's not just news consumers wondering, "which memo is this now?" -- it's many of the people trying to cover this drama, too. The document in question here is a second, less redacted, version of a Senate  memo that few people have even heard of. (3) The Senate memo, produced by non-bomb-throwers Chuck Grassley and RINO-Lindsey Graham, is substantially more disruptive to the Democrats' narrative than the Nunes document. And the press generally prefers Democratic narratives to Republican ones because most journalists are liberals...  https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2018/02/08/strassel-tweetstorm-grassley-memo-n2445871?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad

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Deal to avoid government shutdown by 

midnight hits snag in Congress

by Alex Pappas, Joseph Weber

{ foxnews.com } ~ A bipartisan deal to keep the government funded past midnight hit a major snag Thursday... as a last-minute maneuver in the Senate by Kentucky Republican Rand Paul to protest spending hikes raised the specter of another shutdown. Meanwhile, the legislation faces uncertainty in the House, where liberals, led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pulosi, are protesting a lack of protections for illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children and the conservative House Freedom Caucus is lining up against provisions ending spending caps. The Senate on Thursday afternoon had been scheduled to vote on a budget deal struck by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Paul's fellow Kentucky Republican, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck clown-Schumer, D-N.Y...  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/08/deal-to-avoid-government-shutdown-by-midnight-hits-snag-in-congress.html

VIDEO:  http://video.foxnews.com/v/5729380038001/
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Rand Paul – Borrowing a MILLION a MINUTE 

Is a ROTTEN Trillion Dollar Deficit Deal 

by rickwells.us 

{ rickwells.us } ~ Senator Rand Paul opposes the Senate Budget deal, telling Neal Cavuto it’s because “It spends too much money... borrows too much money and, actually, we’re going to bring back liar-nObama-era deficits. I was elected to combat liar-nObama-era deficits.” He says, “I remember running for office and saying we’re going to have trillion dollar annual deficits. That’s what we’re going to have this year. So now it’s Republicans in charge, busting all of the spending caps. The Democrats are complicit. Both parties, the establishment, want to spend more money. And I think part of the reason the markets are so jittery is they worry about the long-term imbalance of government debt.” Paul reminds Cavuto that we have a twenty trillion dollar debt and we’re adding another trillion to it. He says, “This is a rotten deal and not good for any of those of us who believe that you can get too much debt for a country to bear.”...  https://rickwells.us/paul-million-minute-rotten-deal/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK8rW7C3Pko

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Lidblog@optonline.net

Assad-Backed Forces Poked U.S. Forces, Get Destroyed 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cuyC3K78jQ

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Paul Ryan To Dems: DON’T Use Our Troops As Bargaining Chips

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=MsbMCXSt8MI

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The Battle for Andrew McCabe’s Text Messages

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tur5FTdK-mk

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Sid Vicious and the liar-Clintons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3MN1vJgOgQ

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Dem Julian Castro Attacks commie-Bernie Sanders & loose lips-Joe Biden As Too Old For 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYoCGET6Q44

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In 2014 Chuck clown-Schumer Called For A Military Parade

https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/961497870300884994/video/1

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Americans Should Demand Control Over Their Personal Data 

by Arnold Ahlert:  By now, most Americans are familiar with the experience of searching for something on the Internet, and then seeing a plethora of ads for that something on virtually every other website they visit. Whether they realize it or not — or worse, think it’s great — such data sharing represents a massive invasion of privacy. And yet a fundamental question remains unanswered: Why are tech titans allowed to share our data — without our permission?

          With an exception for “fair use” that permits one to copy small portions of an original work for certain purposes such as scholarship or commentary, when one creates that work, copyright law protects one from having that work shared or exploited without specific permission. Yet despite the fact that we are all unique individuals, “data brokers” glean and sell personal information, not only without our permission, but without our knowledge.
          Unsurprisingly, Congress has failed to adequately address the issue. The “Data Broker Accountability and Transparency Act” was introduced by the Senate — in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 — but has yet to go anywhere other than the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Moreover, it is the essence of toothless legislation, requiring only that data brokers obtain and disseminate accurate information and “provide individuals a cost-free means to review their personal or identifying information.” Requiring permission to disseminate that data? Nowhere to be found.
          In 2016, the FCC adopted privacy rules that required Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Comcast and Verizon to get customers’ permission to sell their data to marketers. That adoption followed a 3-2 vote along party lines, and it was Democrats, not Republicans, who opted to protect consumers. The rules would have required the ISPs to not only notify their customers about what information is collected and how it is shared, but require opt-in consent rather than opt-out consent. The distinction is important because the latter option automatically defaults to the companies’ interests, not those of the consumer.
          Unfortunately, the FCC’s ruling never went into effect. In March 2017, both the Republican-controlled Senate and House voted to nullify the FCC’s proposal. President Donald Trump signed that nullification into law last April.
          The GOP’s rationale? ISP providers convinced them the regulation would put them at a competitive disadvantage with companies like Google and Facebook, which are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Republicans insisted the FCC overstepped its authority and that it was up to the FTC to keep those so-called edge providers — as in companies that provide content, application or service over the Internet as opposed to those who provide Internet service itself — in line. Republicans further asserted that having the FCC and the FTC regulate different aspects of Internet use by consumers would “create confusion within the Internet ecosystem and end up harming consumers,” as Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) put it.
          In terms of personal privacy, that distinction is specious nonsense, and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) asked the essential question: “How much privacy are people in this country entitled to?”
          Not much, apparently. Not when ISPs and edge providers can sell our data without our permission.
          What data? The FCC sought user permission before tech giants could share the following: precise geolocation; children’s information; health and financial information; Social Security numbers; web browsing and app usage histories; and the content of communication.
          Craig Aron, CEO of Free Press, a public advocacy group, hammered the legislation prior to the its passage. “There is literally no public support for this bill,” he stated. “Its only advocates are the nation’s biggest phone, cable and Internet companies. There’s no longer any question — if there ever was — whose needs this administration intends to serve. But people everywhere are on high alert to the serious threat to the free and open Internet. And they will fight back.”
          Will they? A 2016 survey conducted by Pew Research reveals that while 74% of Americans insist it is “very important” to them to be in control of their data, only half expressed confidence that they understood how that data might be used.
          Moreover, their “risk-benefit calculations,” as in what data they’re willing to release to obtain services, products, etc., are all over the map. For example, a 52% majority would willingly share health information, but only 27% would opt for installing a “smart” thermostat in their homes.
          Yet most telling, those surveyed used words such as “resigned,” “inevitable,” “hopeless” and a “way of life” to describe how they felt about the possibility of resisting the collection of their personal data.
          More disturbing, experts canvassed by Pew “argued that privacy was no longer a ‘condition’ of American life. Rather, they asserted that it was becoming a commodity to be purchased,” the website stated.
          In short, reality bites. “An average Facebook user has no way of knowing or appreciating the mountain of data the company has collected on them,” columnist Kevin Carty explains.
          Even worse? “America’s biggest tech giants have at least as much power as John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan did in the early 20th century; it is just much harder to see,” he adds.
          Carty advocates using anti-trust laws to “go after the biggest tech platforms” and “resume the trust-busting that freed Americans from companies like Standard Oil and plutocrats like J.P. Morgan.”
          Given the predatory business practices many of these tech giants engage in, as well as their use of “instituted algorithms that allow for the suppression of opinions with which their highly opinionated management disagrees,” as columnist Angelo Codevilla aptly states, that is a noble goal. But it will do nothing to protect Americans’ personal data.
          The European Union is addressing the problem. On May 25, 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will take effect following three years of negotiations among member nations. While it still allows entities like Google and Amazon to process data to provide their services, GDPR will prevent them from using that data for any other purposes without user permission. This “purpose limitation” requires personal data to be “collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes.”
          The law further notes that broad, non-specific consent doesn’t cut it. “A purpose that is vague or general, such as for instance ‘Improving users’ experience’, ‘marketing purposes’, or ‘future research’ will — without further detail — usually not meet the criteria of being ‘specific,’” it states.
          The law also requires data collecting entities to appoint a data protection officer, and companies that fail to do so can be fined as much as 4% of their global annual turnover.
          American should demand similar, or even more stringent legislation. With a possible exception for criminal records, there is no reason whatsoever why Americans must resign themselves to living in a world where something as precious as personal privacy becomes “a commodity to be purchased.” The alternative? Living in a society that would make George Orwell blush.   
~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54009-americans-should-demand-control-over-their-personal-data