Rudy Tirre's Posts (5090)

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Tuesday AM ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~

Liberals' misguided love affair with Islam
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 by Minister Michael Brown
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liar-nObama Holdouts In Trump Administration
Hiding liar-Hillary Emails For YEARS
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by Ginni Thomas
{dailycaller.com} ~ Judicial Watch’s President Tom Fitton is astounded: The Trump officials he finds working on Freedom of Information cases he files are still, typically, liar-nObama holdovers... Those holdovers, he told The Daily Caller News Foundation, are telling Judicial Watch it will be years before it can get former Secretary of State liar-Hillary Clinton’s emails. “Frankly,” Fitton told TheDCNF, “we should be waiting just a few months for them to get their act together.” Trump should take the point of view that the government belongs to Americans– and its agencies need to tell the people what they are up to, Fitton said. “If there is no good reason for withholding information, give it to them and give it to them quickly.”...http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/20/obama-holdouts-in-trump-administration-hiding-hillary-emails-for-years-video/?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=TheDC%20Morning&utm_campaign=TheDC%20Weekend
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North Korea launches another mid-range
ballistic missile, officials say
{foxnews.com} ~ U.S. and South Korean officials announced on Sunday that North Korea fired a medium-range missile, in the latest ballistics test for a country speeding up its development of nuclear weapons and missiles... U.S. Pacific Command said it tracked the missile until it landed into the sea. South Korea’s Office of Joint Chiefs of staff released a statement Sunday afternoon stating that the launch came from an area near Pukchang, in South Phyongan Province, and flew eastward about 310 miles.  The White House said it was aware that North Korea had launched a midrange ballistic missile...http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/05/21/north-korea-launches-another-mid-range-ballistic-missile-officials-say.html
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Schiff Slams Trump, Russia For Fighting Back
Against Globalist Impeachment Machine
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ The manipulation of their tools into positions of prominence and influence is indicative of the extent to which the Democrat / globalist establishment / propaganda media alliance completely controls the narrative... coming out of what misrepresents itself as the American “press.” Congressman Adam “Shifty” Schiff was just a virtual unknown with a super-sized head and pencil neck, who was usually viewed with the same morbid fascination as a car wreck, in a manner not unlike a sideshow bearded woman, the three-legged man or the wolf boy. That was before he took on his official role as the lead smear merchant for the Russia hoax, enabled by his position as the ranking anti-American on the House Intelligence Committee. Now he’s somebody, Tapper and the elites have made him “a star.”...Its time for this jerk Schiff to be taken down. http://rickwells.us/schiff-slams-trump-russia-fighting-globalist-impeachment-machine
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We Don’t Need A Republican Revolution –
What We Really Need Is A Conservative Revolution
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by Michael Snyder
{thesleuthjournal.com} ~ Are you sick and tired of being betrayed by politicians that use the conservative label to get votes but then never actually act like conservatives once they get into office?... As a voter, this is something that has deeply frustrated me for decades. On the federal level, there are a few dozen true conservatives in Congress, and I am very thankful for them. In particular, Mark Meadows, Raul Labrador and other members of the Freedom Caucus are doing an outstanding job. But they are greatly outnumbered by a huge number of RINOs that have fooled conservatives into voting for them. In 2018, it is time for conservatives to say that enough is enough. If conservatives will work together, we can do extraordinary things. But we just can’t sit back and wait for someone else to do something... http://www.thesleuthjournal.com/really-need-conservative-revolution/
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CIA Can’t Explain How Identities Of 20
China Operatives Discovered
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ In typical leftist cover up fashion, the New York Times reported on Saturday that “The Chinese government ‘systematically dismantled’ CIA spying operations in the country... starting in late 2010 and killed or imprisoned at least a dozen CIA sources over the next two years.” They go on to report that “10 current and former US officials described the intelligence breach as one of the worst in decades. They spoke on condition of anonymity.” Of course they did, citing individuals and relying upon facts to make your case is far too restrictive for the NYT. The fish wrapper of record NYT, in exploring the source of the possible leaks that identified the individuals, never once referenced the most likely culprit, their favored political candidate of 2016 and espionage queen, liar-Hillary Clinton. Also ignored were her Muslim Brotherhood aide Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills, Hussein liar-nObama, Sidney Blumenthal, or any other members of the large circle of leftist individuals with knowledge of or access to and possession of classified materials in an unclassified, unsecured location... http://rickwells.us/nyt-covers-story-cia-cant-explain-how-identities-of-20-china-operatives-discovered/
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Liberals' misguided love affair with Islam
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 by Minister Michael Brown
{wnd.com} ~ Why do so many liberals praise a religion that, at its root, is quite conservative, if not fundamentalist? Why do they defend a faith that would not defend them? Worse still, why do they defend a faith that, in some cases, would do violence to them?

Last week, Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch and a New York Times best-selling author on radical Islam, was invited to speak at the University of Buffalo. But he was unable to say much because of the vocal opposition. He was shouted down and reviled, especially when attempting to read Islamic texts describing Islamic beliefs.

To paraphrase, “Not on our campus! We are progressive. We are liberal. We are enlightened. You will not bring your hate-filled bigotry here!”

In Spencer’s own words, “I spoke a few sentences and made a couple of points in between being screamed at by leftist and Islamic supremacist fascists who think they’re opposing fascism.”

Did you catch that? Spencer was opposed by staunch liberals and staunch Muslims. What an odd couple they make, yet this has happened time and again in the recent past. Why?

A few years ago, I read about a pro-Hamas, anti-Israel rally led by feminists and LGBT activists, among others on the left. Why in the world would groups like this support Hamas, which would kill or imprison them for their beliefs and their sexual or romantic proclivities? And why would they oppose Israel, which would welcome them with open arms? I’m not talking about religious Jews, who would certainly not welcome them. I’m talking about the population as a whole, which is quite “progressive.” Note also that it wasn’t the ultra-Orthodox Jews who were fighting Hamas, so the rally was not targeting them.

This makes no sense, unless there is something deeper that unites these groups such as anti-Israel animus or a serious deception they are buying into such as the idea that true Islam is always a religion of peace and tolerance; in John Zmirak’s words, they are Islam’s “useful idiots”.

And why is it that the most liberal political leaders in the West are often the strongest defenders of Islam? Why are they constantly telling us that real Islam is neither radical nor violent?

Getting back to Robert Spencer not to be confused with the alt-right leader Richard Spencer, he has “led seminars on Islam and jihad for the FBI, the United States Central Command, United States Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group, the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), the Justice Department’s Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council and the U.S. intelligence community. He has discussed jihad, Islam, and terrorism at a workshop sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the German Foreign Ministry. He is a consultant with the Center for Security Policy and vice president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative.

“Spencer has appeared on the BBC, ABC News, CNN, Fox News’ ‘O’Reilly Factor,’ Megyn Kelly’s ‘The Kelly File,’ the Sean Hannity show,” among many, many others, which would lead one to believe that he was highly qualified to give an address on campus.

Not today. His allegedly bigoted views about a beautiful religion were not welcome. He is in violation of the progressive PC code, which includes, “Thou shalt not insult Islam.”

The University of Buffalo’s student newspaper reported, “Spencer planned to speak to students about ‘the dangers of jihad in today’s world’ but constant heckling from the crowd made it near impossible for him to complete a full sentence.”

Ah, the blissful beauty of tolerance! How mellifluous are its melodies. How sweet its sounds. Hardly.

Spencer wrote, “These students have been hoodwinked into thinking that ‘Islamophobes,’ rather than jihad terrorists, are killing people around the world.”

Yes, those are the really dangerous enemies, those “Islamophobes,” not those jihadi terrorists. And the enemies are not the Islamists who enforce a death penalty for “apostasy” meaning, leaving Islam. The enemies are the ones who call this barbarism out.

Spencer noted the biting irony of it all: “For example, one man held a sign that read ‘Queers Against Islamophobia.’ The crowd booed lustily when I attempted to read from Islamic authorities about Islam’s death penalty for homosexuality. Even to read from Islamic sources is hate, apparently, at the University at Buffalo – unless, of course, one endorses such penalties rather than oppose them.”

Yes, these days, if you expose something murderous or hateful, you are guilty of a worse sin – the sin of judging. And on campuses these days, there is hardly a worse sin you could commit.

I once spotted a comment responding to a YouTube video posted by a 12-year-old boy who opposed same-sex marriage, based on the Bible. The comment read: “You, just like everyone who is against gay marriage, is a mentally retarded bigot. No exceptions. Now go to hell.”

This is the voice of tolerance, the same voice that drowned out Spencer in Buffalo. And how interesting that “tolerance” reviles a 12-year-old boy who does not support same-sex “marriage” but then defends Islam that calls for a death-penalty for homosexual practice. How interesting that “tolerance” wants to silence Christians who peacefully oppose homosexual activism as well as silence those who draw attention to Islam’s violent opposition to homosexuality. What a laughable contradiction.

But this is no laughing matter. As Spencer noted, “By shutting down any discussion of the motivating ideology of the jihad threat and consigning it all to the realm of ‘hatred’ and ‘bigotry,’ the student mob at the University of Buffalo enables that threat to grow. One day, the leftists who screamed, heckled, and booed as I tried to speak may very well experience the consequences of their actions, carried out by those with whom they thought they stood in solidarity.”

Yes, let that mob try pulling off the same stunt in strict Islamic countries like Iran or Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan or in places like the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip, and let’s see how far they get. In fact, let’s see how far they get carrying a sign saying, “Queers Against Islamophobia.”

The left needs to end its naïve love affair with Islam. And may peace-loving Muslims help lead the way in working against radical Islam.

Read more…

Monday PM ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
Intelligence Leaks and a Duplicitous Press
by Susan Stamper Brown
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 Impeachment: Delusional Dems Don't Have a Case 
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By Brian Mark Weber: If you're like most Americans who work hard all day, raise your children, pay your taxes, and follow the law, you're probably troubled by the evening news reports of a constitutional crisis over something President Donald Trump told former FBI Director James Comey. Sounds pretty ominous, doesn't it? Let's back up a little bit here and put this in perspective.
          The Constitution stipulates that a president can be removed from office for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." Our Founding Fathers knew that politics is a complex and nasty affair, but they entrusted future elected leaders to bring about such charges only in the most serious of situations.
          Impeachment was never designed to be used as a political weapon, or to bring down an opposing president simply because there's a mechanism to do so. Thankfully, the impeachment process isn't easy. Nonetheless, just about every modern president has been threatened with impeachment.
          Philip Wegmann writes in the Washington Examiner, "The last five presidents have been threatened with impeachment, and four of them actually had impeachment resolutions drawn up against them. In every instance but one, the talk was idle and the resolutions equally meaningless."
          In most cases, there's no evidence to back up the accusations. Even when the process actually results in impeachment, as in the case of Bill liar-Clinton, conviction (and thus removal from office) is far from imminent. In fact, no president has been removed. Andrew Johnson was the only other to be impeached, but he was acquitted, and Richard Nixon resigned before he could be impeached.
          Overall, it seems that the threshold for drawing up charges is lowered significantly when Republicans are in office. As Rush Limbaugh often says, when it comes to Republicans in the White House, it's the "seriousness of the charge," not the actual evidence, that gets Democrats banging the drums of impeachment.
          Such is the case with Donald Trump. As liberal law professor Jonathan Turley opines in The Hill, "Some commentators seem to be alleging criminal conduct in office or calling for impeachment before Trump completed the words of his inaugural oath of office. Not surprising, within minutes of the New York Times report [on James Comey and Michael Flynn], the response was a chorus of breathless 'gotcha' announcements. But this memo is neither the Pentagon Papers nor the Watergate tapes. Indeed, it raises as many questions for Comey as it does Trump in terms of the alleged underlying conduct."
          For Democrats, the shock to their system has been threefold: Donald Trump won the election, liar-Hillary Clinton somehow lost it, and the legacy of Barack liar-nObama is in tatters. Since the moment Trump was sworn in as president — no, since the moment liar-Hillary reluctantly conceded the election; scratch that, since he won the GOP nomination — the number one objective of Democrats and their Leftmedia allies has been to destroy him.
          To Trump's opponents, the beauty is that no evidence is needed. When there is collusion between the press and the political class, any number of high crimes and misdemeanors can be dredged up. Since Watergate, every journalism student in America has dreamt of being the next Carl Bernstein or Bob Woodward, and the media in general yearn for another opportunity to bring down a Republican president.
          Think about it. How many times did we read or hear journalists and reporters bringing up Watergate during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush? Too many to recall. But when Barack liar-nObama surreptitiously shipped a plane load of ransom cash to the Iranians, used the Department of Justice to spy on reporters and their families, or paved the way for the IRS to trample the First Amendment rights of conservatives, it was considered business as usual. No questions asked.
          So given the politics of all this talk of removing the president from office, and given that modern-day Republican presidents are routinely threatened with impeachment, the chances of the Republican House voting to do so are ridiculously small based on the evidence we have at the moment. Which is to say, none.
          Still, Democrats know full well it's not evidence they need to bring down Trump's presidency. All they need is to get the American public to believe something sordid has happened, and then weak-kneed Republicans on Capitol Hill will fall all over themselves to appear forthright and cooperative.
          Don't believe it? Democrats are poised to poll Americans to see if they're falling for the impeachment scam. And we're already hearing the name Joe Lieberman being mentioned as a serious candidate to replace Comey at the FBI.
          All Trump's opponents have is an anonymous source claiming that the president asked Comey to stop investigating Michael Flynn — the day after Flynn was fired, by the way. That might be a serious charge, except Comey himself testified under oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 3 that no one in the administration ever pressured him to end an investigation.
          It doesn't take a constitutional scholar to see there's no obstruction of justice here. There's no treason, no bribery, no high crimes and no misdemeanors. Those all did indeed occur during the liar-nObama years, except Republicans were too worried about being called racists to protect the Constitution they swore an oath to defend.
          Remember Bush Derangement Syndrome? What we have here is a full-on case of psychosis. And that's just among the mainstream media.
          So when you're watching the news and you hear about Donald Trump's latest threat to our constitutional republic, take a deep breath and wait for the evidence. And wait. And wait. Democrats want you to think there's an impeachable crime so they won't have to honor the results of a legitimate election. But in order to overturn that election, they need to convince enough of us that the president is a criminal. Now that's a high crime. 
~The Patriot Post
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NO Trump OBSTRUCTION Of Justice –
 DON’T SEE ANY CRIME At All
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Tucker Carlson notes that Professor Alan Dershowitz asks a question that nobody else has asked, “What’s the crime to which this special counsel is responding?”... Dershowitz states he voted for liar-Clinton and somehow did so very proudly, evidence that he’s not politically motivated to make his positions known but is doing so based upon respect for and the preservation of American civil liberties. He supports construing statutes narrowly, as they were written, saying, “I just don’t see a crime here. I see perhaps some political wrongdoing. I see leaking information on both sides. But even if, for example, the campaign coordinated, which there’s no evidence of, but coordinated its activities with Russia, and even if Russia and the campaign said, ‘Gee, wouldn’t it be better if Trump were elected,’ that’s political wrongdoing but it’s just not a crime.” Dershowitz continues, “Nobody can point me to a statute that would be violated and a prosecutor is only allowed to look for evidence of a federal crime...http://rickwells.us/dershowitz-no-trump-obstruction-justice-see-crime/
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Palestinian Statehood Is Acceptable … Eventually
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The Congressional Israel Victory Caucus. From the left: Gregg Roman,
E.J. Kimball, Bill Johnson, Daniel Pipes, Ron DeSantis, Gary Bauer
by Daniel Pipes
{danielpipes.org} ~ This is the idea that the "peace process" has turned into a "war process" and that the solution to the Palestinian-Israeli confrontation lies not in more painful concessions by Israel but, to the contrary, by Israel imposing its will on its enemy and crushing the Palestinian dream to eliminate the Jewish state... Washington should encourage its Israeli ally in this. Ironically, losing is the best thing that could happen to the Palestinians, for it liberates from a destructive obsession and allows them to begin on constructing their own polity, economy, society, and culture. To advance this idea, the Middle East Forum, the organization I head, has worked with members of the U.S. House of Representatives to launch a Congressional Israel Victory Caucus (CIVC) to lobby the president. Sherman hails CIVC as "an initiative of critical importance with genuine paradigmatic game-changing potential."...http://www.danielpipes.org/17594/palestinian-statehood-is-acceptable-eventually?utm_source=Middle+East+Forum&utm_campaign=e5f27ca35e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_086cfd423c-e5f27ca35e-33703665
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Dem Admits Empty Accusations,
No Trump Evidence...
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Fox News anchor John Scott shows Democrat hack Rep Joe Crowley (D-NY) much more respect than he deserves in taking a diplomatic route to describe the left’s totally unsubstantiated and fabricated witch hunt... of the President intended to destroy his presidency. Scott asks, “Are you absolutely convinced that there was some kind of collusion, because at this point there has been no evidence that I’m aware of and you know, people like Chuck Grassley, Senator Chuck Grassley have said he has seen no evidence of between the Trump campaign and the Russians.” Of course, being a Democrat, Crowley, the Chairman of the House Democrat Caucus, is under no obligation to speak the truth, only what best serves their Party. That means we’re going to be lied to...http://rickwells.us/dem-admits-empty-accusations-no-trump-evidence-special-prosecutor/
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Nancy Pulosi wants an ethics rule waiver
for Robert Mueller
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by Joel Gehrke
{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ House Minority Leader Nancy Pulosi wants the Justice Department to grant an ethics rule waiver to allow former FBI Director Robert Mueller to investigate Russian involvement in the 2016 campaign... Mueller was named special counsel for the investigation into Russian cyber-attacks against the Democratic party, which includes a probe of the Trump campaign's alleged ties to the Russian government. But Mueller's former law firm has represented President Trump's son-in-law and his former campaign manager, reportedly leading the Trump team to consider invoking an ethics rule that could restrict Mueller's ability to investigate those men... http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nancy-pelosi-wants-an-ethics-rule-waiver-for-robert-mueller/article/2623728
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Intelligence Leaks and a Duplicitous Press
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by Susan Stamper Brown
{
townhall.com} ~ A Harvard study published May 18 reveals what thoughtful Americans already knew: Extreme anti-Trump bias runs rampant in corporate media. The study found that CNN, CBS, and NBC produced more than 90 percent negative coverage during Trump’s first 100 days, followed by the New York Times at 87 percent, and the Washington Post, 83 percent. Only Fox News offered close to balanced coverage with 52 percent negative coverage.

That explains why the week was filled with over-the-top reporting about President Trump sharing sensitive intelligence with Russian officials visiting the White House. Reportedly, the disclosure included information that ISIS has developed a way to mask bombs inside laptop computers that can slip undetected through airport screening.

Russia is a lot of things, but in the case of ISIS, Russia in our ally.

The overdramatic hype about Trump doing what every president before him has done to share information with an ally to prevent a terror attack is a head-scratcher to those who recall the events of September 11, 2001 as a bad thing.

We are aware of these details thanks to an agenda-driven media lacking discretion and leakers lacking a conscience. Who in their right mind would leak to the public information that burns intelligence sources? It’s obvious there is no longer an ethical code by which most of the press abides.

Those whispering secrets to the wind do so for a reason.

Given the unprecedented volume of leaks and the liar-nObama administration’s lack of integrity, someone should re-sweep the White House for bugs.

If it is “treasonous” for the president to share information to protect lives with an ally behind White House closed doors, then what shall we call it when a blabbermouth leaks this sensitive information to media organizations, which in turn proverbially broadcasts it with a bullhorn?

This is not about the First Amendment; we’re talking about discretion.

It’s also about intent. If anonymous sources are not authorized to speak publicly about intelligence matters but share them with the media, we should focus on prosecuting both the leaker and culpable media.

At the very least, fed-up Americans should cancel subscriptions to the Washington Post and New York Times and stop watching news channels that care more about destroying the president than they do about protecting American lives.

Sure, Trump’s methods might be questionable, but what’s not in dispute is his pure-hearted desire to keep Americans safe.

The same media in full throttle to destroy Donald Trump performed journalistic backflips to protect the proverbial WikiLeaks of all presidential administrations, the liar-nObama administration, which sprung so many leaks even Flex Seal wouldn’t help.

Leaks such as the time the liar-nObama administration put a proverbial target on Navy SEAL Team 6 operators’ backs when it leaked key operational details about the Osama bin Laden raid, blabbing about SEAL Team 6’s participation. To this day, family members blame the liar-nObama administration for what they believe was retaliation when the Taliban later downed a helicopter in Afghanistan which killed 30 soldiers, including 15 SEAL Team 6 members.

In 2012, liar-nObama leaked sensitive details about an “underwear-bombing” plot and the mission was forced to a stand still because of that leak, which former House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers suggested was utilized to generate positive press and boost liar-nObama’s reelection chances.

The media also snoozed as the pantsuit queen they pre-crowned as president was caught transporting classified emails on an illegal server hidden in a bathroom. It was “nothing to see here” even when evidence unfolded about a complex scheme to conceal or destroy emails and burn or hide potentially damning daily calendar entries.

Every administration has intelligence leaks. The current leaks are due to a convoluted effort intended to hurt President Trump, while liar-nObama’s leaks were about making him look good. What they have in common is the press involvement which ends up potentially endangering human life.

https://townhall.com/columnists/susanstamperbrown/2017/05/22/intelligence-leaks-and-a-duplicitous-press-n2330052?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=

Read more…

Monday Noon ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~

K.T. McFarland Nominated
Ambassador to Singapore
by Katie Pavlich
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.
Sen Grassley Warns Orchestrated Deep State
Leaks Will Continue Despite Special Prosecutor
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is not naive and he’s certainly familiar enough with his Democrat counterparts and the establishment RINOs... they’re teaming up with to be able to predict their next move. The leaks and other attacks on Mr. Trump are not going to stop simply because a Special Prosecutor has been named. If anything they are likely to attempt to build upon the momentum and destructive successes they’ve already achieved in order to cripple and then eliminate their adversary completely...http://rickwells.us/sen-grassley-warns-orchestrated-deep-state-leaks-continue-despite-special-prosecutor/
.
John Podesta Received $35 Million From Russia
While Advising liar-Clinton And liar-nObama
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by Pamela Geller
{pamelageller.com} ~ Where are the indictments? Where are the shrieking harpies on the left calling for heads to roll?... John Podesta, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 national campaign chairman, may have violated federal law by failing to disclose the receipt of 75,000 shares of stock from a Kremlin-financed company when he joined the Obama White House in 2014... http://pamelageller.com/2017/05/podesta-took-million-russia-adviisng-obama-hillary.html/
.
Islamic State beheads and dismembers
dozens of women and children in
jihad attack on Shia villages
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by Christine Williams
{jihadwatch.org} ~ The Islamic State considers Ismailis apostates, and the Sharia punishment for apostasy is death. But you won’t hear much about Muslim-on-Muslim violence committed in the name of Islam from the mainstream media... The media wants to give the impression that it about us versus them (i.e., Westerners unfairly picking on Muslims). A leading Muslim group and many Muslims, meanwhile, were reportedly angered by a British documentary that dared to ask the question, “how Islamic is Islamic State?” A Newsweek report offers some insight: “When It Comes to Beheadings, ISIS Has Nothing Over Saudi Arabia”: the world’s most self-consciously Islamic state behaves in a manner very much like that of…the Islamic State. Saudi Arabia is a massive exporter of Wahhabi ideology and a major funder of mosques worldwide, in which imams are frequently preaching death to apostates, gays and blasphemers; the beating of wives; the permissibility of raping infidel women, etc...https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/05/islamic-state-beheads-and-dismembers-dozens-of-women-and-children-in-jihad-attack-on-shia-villages
.
Palestinian factions call for
'Day of Rage' during Trump visit
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 by YASSER OKBI/ MAARIV HASHAVUA
{jpost.com} ~ Palestinian factions in the West Bank are calling for "A Day of Rage" to coincide with US President Donald Trump's visit to Bethlehem on Tuesday... where he is expected to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Trump, who is currently in Saudi Arabia for his first international trip since taking office in January, will arrive in Israel on Monday and meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu where the two are expected to discuss prospects for peace negotiations and security issues. One Palestinian organization, called the Islamic and National Forces, initiated the "Rage Day" call in a statement in conjunction with other West Bank factions, saying that they want to send a message to the American president that "the Palestinian people insist on their right to self-determination and national independence with east Jerusalem as its sovereign capital."...http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Palestinian-factions-call-for-A-Day-of-Rage-during-Trump-visit-492344
.
NYT Reporter Admits Memo He’s Never
Seen Wasn’t Even Read To Him...
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by Jack Flash
{patdollard.com} ~ So what they are claiming that Comey said that Trump said may never even have been said by Comey at all, let alone by Trump... It all depends on how accurate his source’s memory is, and how clouded by anti-Trump bias it is. People’s memories are often distorted by wishful, self-serving thinking. And how long since he’s seen it, months? Michael Schmidt, the New York Times “journalist” behind the alleged “Trump-Comey Memo”, told fake news anchor, Brian Williams, that he has NOT seen the memo Comey allegedly wrote...http://www.patdollard.com/nyt-reporter-admits-memo-hes-never-seen-wasnt-even-read-to-him-someone-who-once-saw-it-merely-tried-to-recall-what-it-said/
.
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.
K.T. McFarland Nominated
Ambassador to Singapore
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by Katie Pavlich
{townhall.com} ~
K.T. McFarland has been nominated by President Trump to be the U.S. Ambassador to Singapore. McFarland currently serves as an assistant to the President and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. She also worked under Michael Flynn before he was fired earlier this year.

“I am pleased to nominate K.T. McFarland to be Ambassador to Singapore, one of America’s great allies,” President Trump said in a statement. "While I am sorry to lose her, K.T.’s work in developing policies that put American interests first will have a lasting impact. She will remain an essential team member as she fulfills this new and important role.”

“K.T. provided essential and steadfast leadership during this transition,” McMaster added. ”She initiated and laid the foundation of the first strategic policy reviews that the NSC will continue to build upon. K.T. is leaving a great team in place to support the President, and our friends in Singapore know they are getting one of his top aides as their American ambassador.”

Before joining the administration, McFarland worked as a national security analyst for Fox News. McFarland also served in the Reagan, Nixon and Ford administrations.

”It’s been an incredible experience to serve here in the White House during his early months in office, and now I’m looking forward to implementing his policy with one of our key allies in Asia.  I wish all my colleagues the very best, especially Lieutenant General McMaster, and I look forward to continuing to coordinate closely with them from my new perch in Singapore," McFarland said.
Read more…

Monday AM ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
Defending Trump Against Excessive
Charges Is Not Selling Out
by David Limbaugh
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.
 Trump Sanctions Iran and Embarks to the 
 Middle East 
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It should come as a shock to no one that Iran's leadership, despite because of Barack liar-nObama's highly touted but foolish and deceitful nuclear deal, has continued in its nefarious ways. On Wednesday, the Trump administration levied new sanctions on Iran after learning that the mullahs have continued to push forward on developing a ballistic missile program and for their continued support of Syria's Bashar al-Assad in the way of providing explosives.
          A senior Trump administration official stated, "President Trump is determined to hold Tehran accountable for its dangerous and aggressive behavior that is destabilizing the Middle East, while making it clear to the Iranian people that he stands with them — not with the regime that has oppressed them for so long."
          Trump has yet to pull the U.S. out of the liar-nObama-Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, that lifted severely restrictive sanctions from the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism. But Trump's State Department continues to conduct its review of the deal.
          While Trump heads off on his first foreign trip, he is looking to set a distinctly different tone from that of his predecessor. His first stop will be in Saudi Arabia, where he will look to firm up America's commitment to standing by our allies in the Middle East in resisting Iran's aggression. It's no coincidence that the Iran announcement was followed two days later by a trip to Riyadh. Those new sanctions give more weight to Trump's words, and spending time with Iran's greatest Islamic regional opponent sends a strong message to Tehran.  ~The Patriot Post
.
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.
Trump-ordered tactics have
left ISIS 'no escape,' Jim Mattis says
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by Jamie McIntyre
{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is crediting changes in tactics ordered by President Trump for increasing the pressure on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and leaving the beleaguered fighters with no avenue of escape... "He directed a tactical shift from shoving ISIS out of safe locations in an attrition fight to surrounding the enemy in their strongholds so we can annihilate ISIS," Mattis said Friday during a Pentagon briefing on the counter-ISIS campaign. Mattis said that by making sure foreign fighters can't get away, or return to their home countries, "We don't simply transplant this problem from one place to another."... http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-ordered-tactics-have-left-isis-no-escape-jim-mattis-says/article/2623628
.
Testified Week Before Firing NEVER Pressured
To BACK OFF ANY Investigation
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by Rick Wells
The question asked of Congressman Peter King is phrased quite diplomatically by Martha MacCallum, in regarding what appears to be a contradiction in the public Senate testimony of then-FBI Director Comey... under oath and his leaked secret supposed memo. She points out that the way Comey answered in early May “Raises some doubts as to whether or not the President was putting any pressure on him about the investigation into him.” She points out that the question was asked regarding the liar-Clinton “investigation” specifically but is answered in a general way that is relevant. Comey is asked, “So, if the Attorney General or senior officials at the Department of Justice opposes a specific investigation, can they halt that FBI investigation?” He replied, “In theory, yes.” Asked “has it happened,” Comey responded, under oath, “Not in my experience, because it would be a big deal, to tell the FBI to stop doing something without appropriate purpose.”... http://rickwells.us/comey-busted-testified-week-firing-never-pressured-back-off-investigation/
.
Who Will Stand up for Civil Liberties?
by Alan M. Dershowitz
{gatestoneinstitute.org} ~ At a moment in history when the ACLU is quickly becoming a partisan left wing advocacy group that cares more about getting President Trump than protecting due process who is standing up for civil liberties?... The short answer is no one. Not the Democrats, who see an opportunity to reap partisan benefit from the appointment of a special counsel to investigate any ties between the Trump campaign/ administration and Russia. Not Republican elected officials who view the appointment as giving them cover. Certainly not the media who are revelling in 24/7 "bombshells." Not even the White House, which is too busy denying everything to focus on "legal technicalities" that may sound like "guilty man arguments." Legal technicalities are of course the difference between the rule of law and the iron fist of tyranny. Civil liberties protect us all... https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10386/who-will-stand-up-for-civil-liberties
.
Washington watchdog
challenges Mueller's judgment
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by Bob Unruh
{wnd.com} ~ The Washington watchdog Judicial Watch is challenging the judgment of Robert Mueller, the former FBI chief who just this week was picked to head up a special investigation into alleged collusion by the Trump campaign with the Russian government in the 2016 presidential race... Judicial Watch says Mueller was the FBI director who “caved” to the demands of radical Islamic groups and removed critical training materials from the government’s library of available resources. He had no sooner been appointed to investigate Russia collusion and “related matters” when he faced a call for his resignation. It was Gregg Jarrett in a commentary at Fox News who said that since Mueller worked closely with now-fired FBI chief James Comey, there’s a clear conflict of interest...Have to agree with JW. http://www.wnd.com/2017/05/washington-watchdog-challenges-muellers-judgment/
.
James Comey agrees to testify in public hearing
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by Todd Shepherd
{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ Former FBI Director James Comey has agreed to testify in an open hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Chairman Richard Burr announced Friday... "The committee looks forward to receiving testimony from the former director on his role in the development of the Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian interference in the 2016 US elections, and I am hopeful that he will clarify for the American people recent events that have been broadly reported in the media," Burr said in a statement. No specific date has been set yet, but the statement said the committee expects the testimony to happen sometime after Memorial Day... http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/james-comey-agrees-to-testify-in-public-hearing/article/2623680
.
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.
Defending Trump Against Excessive
Charges Is Not Selling Out
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by David Limbaugh
{
wnd.com} ~ One thing should be clear, at least to Republicans: The left has had the long knives out for President Donald Trump since before he was inaugurated. It intended to destroy him regardless of his conduct in office.

Liberals and even some conservatives contend that Trump's defenders on the right are tainted, partisan, idolatrous cheerleaders who have sold their souls and principles to defend him against troublesome charges. Some argue that even if former Presidents Barack liar-nObama and Bill liar-Clinton engaged in similar activities, two wrongs don't make a right.

Trump supporters, they say, have always insisted they are strict adherents of the rule of law but are showing their true colors in defending Trump. But are they? Why is defending Trump against these excessive charges a betrayal of the rule of law? Just because he's handled some things disappointingly doesn't mean he's committed a crime or an impeachable offense. The rule of law requires that we be discriminating about these matters and not jump on the bandwagon to condemn Trump just because we don't approve of some of his actions or statements.

Without question, the rule of law and all other principles must be given the highest priority, and the Trump presidency doesn't change that. But there's something more involved here than mere Democratic hypocrisy.

We are talking about Democratic and liberal media wrongdoing. liar-nObama, when injecting himself into the investigation concerning liar-Hillary Clinton's emails and saying that no criminal activity had occurred, actually engaged in the very conduct of which Trump is being sloppily accused. The left had no objection. But at this point, it sure doesn't appear that Trump's comments to then-FBI Director James Comey about then-national security adviser Michael Flynn rose to the level of interfering with a proceeding, much less obstruction of justice.

Liberals are also engaged in wrongdoing by conducting this ceaseless witch hunt against Trump for alleged collusion with Russia to interfere with the presidential election when they know there is no evidence of any collusion. It is reprehensible that they are perpetuating this slander to delegitimize Trump and undermine the will of the American people.

So no, two wrongs don't make a right, but there aren't two equal "wrongs" here, and attempts to attribute moral equivalence to these separate sets of conduct are deceitful and scurrilous.

Of course, Trump supporters should not compromise their principles to defend him against legitimate charges, but we shouldn't throw him to the leftist wolves when the Democrats make false, excessive and otherwise unwarranted charges against him. There are a number of things I will criticize Trump for, but I am not going to accede to the Democrats' outrageously over-the-top characterization of these actions as criminal or impeachable just to appear fairer or nonpartisan.

I'm also not about to quit pointing out the monumentally worse behavior of the leftist media and Democratic Party just to avoid the undiscriminating claim that I am a Trump cheerleader.

We have to analyze whether Trump is culpable of those things of which he has been accused, but in no event should such accusations intimidate or deter us from condemning the left for making false charges and trying to wrongfully undermine Trump's presidency.

Put another way, I am not defending Trump because he is being attacked by the left. I am not attacking the left because I am trying to change the subject from legitimate allegations against Trump. If I defend Trump, it is because I believe he deserves defending, and if I criticize the left, it is because I believe it deserves criticism. I am not compromising my principles to attack the left for trying to smear Trump and destroy this country. I am acting in accordance with my principles.

Sure, Trump shoots from the hip on Twitter and in some interviews, but he did this long before the election. The question isn't whether he says things we wish he wouldn't or commits gaffes. The issue that is before us -- and will remain before us for as long as he's in office because the Democrats will see to it, irrespective of Trump's actions -- is whether Trump engaged in serious misconduct on any of these things. So far, it appears he has not -- from the firing of Comey to alleged collusion with Russia to the Comey memo to the alleged sharing of classified information with Russia. So why are some conservatives suggesting Trump just resign? It is neither prudent nor fair to rush to judgment. Let's be guided by the evidence rather than innuendo or some anti-Trump hysteria.

I admit I'm concerned about Trump's apparent flip-flop on Jerusalem, his seeming ambivalence about certain health care issues, the recent budget fiasco, the wall and confusion around tax reform. I just wish Trump would return forthwith to the agenda on which he was elected and the commitments he made to seeing it through.

I believe that if he would redouble his efforts to clarify his legislative priorities and present strong, viable proposals on all these issues and exercise leadership to advance them, he would unite a majority around him sufficient to pass them. As long as he rededicates himself to his campaign promises, his base will not abandon him, even with his occasional gaffes.

In the meantime, let's recognize that the left is at war with us and is relentless in pursuing it. We must fight back as hard as the left is attacking if we expect our ideas to prevail. And we can do that without compromising our principles, so let's get to work. 

http://www.wnd.com/2017/05/defending-trump-is-not-selling-out/
 
Read more…

Saturday PM ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~

Rosenstein Joins the Posse
by Pat Buchanan
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.
Trump Expands Order Banning U.S.
Funds for Overseas Abortion
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by Dave Bohon
{thenewamerican.com} ~ President Trump has expanded an executive order he signed in January re-implementing the Mexico City Policy that bans U.S. funds from paying for abortions overseas... The policy, originally implemented in 1984 by the Reagan administration, was rescinded by President Bill liar-Clinton, re-instituted during the eight years of the Bush administration, and rescinded again by President liar-nObama, allowing groups like International Planned Parenthood and Marie Stopes International to reap hundreds of millions of dollars for its abortion businesses overseas. As reported by LifeNews.com, the executive order signed by Trump on January 23 “stops taxpayer funding of groups that perform and promote abortions overseas, but does not stop non-abortion international assistance. The order ensures U.S. foreign aid will continue to go to health care and humanitarian relief.... It just will not subsidize abortion overseas.”... https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/faith-and-morals/item/26058-trump-expands-order-banning-u-s-funds-for-overseas-abortion
.
Democrats Took Only 4 Months To Install
Omnipotent Threat Inside Trump WH
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Mark Levin noted that, “The Democrats got what they wanted, ladies and gentlemen, making his announcement of the appointment of Mueller as special prosecutor / executioner to target President Trump in the hunt for a Russian witch... Levin read the statement by Rosenstein, who Levin says buckled but some of us believe had a mission from the beginning. It would be interesting to learn the process by which he was selected for the position of Deputy Attorney General and who made the recommendation. Too much power and prominence has been placed into the hands of this nobody that we didn’t elect to be the minder for our President and AG Sessions. He points out that despite all of the scandals and corruption of the liar-nObama regime, including  the “‘Iran Contra’ deal, the liar-Hillary Clinton emails, the IRS or Fast and Furious,” to name a few.  “The media in Washington are wetting themselves. The Democrats in Washington are wetting themselves but they won’t show it. They’ll find another reason to attack.”... http://rickwells.us/levin-democrats-took-4-months-install-omnipotent-threat-trump-wh/
.
Trump signs $110 billion
arms deal with Saudi Arabia
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by Daniel Chaitin
{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ President Trump on Saturday signed a $110 billion arms deal between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia... The arms transaction is intended to bolster national security in Saudi Arabia as well as the country's ability to combat terrorism. The White House says the agreement will provide fighter jets, tanks, radar, combat ships and anti-missile defense systems to Saudi Arabia and will create defense-related jobs in the U.S. The defense cooperation agreements signed Saturday offer the Saudis $110 billion immediately and $350 billion of the next decade... http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-signs-110-billion-arms-deal-with-saudi-arabia/article/2623704
.
After Rosenstein Plants Mueller, ACLU Now Pushing Congressional Public Hearings
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ For anyone who might have been naive enough to think this “Special Prosecutor scam” was a real investigation into potentially real wrongdoing... perhaps this email just sent out by the ACLU will wake you up. Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, this supposed apolitical man of integrity, just planted an establishment controller into the system with the legal authority to eliminate our President. He did so approximately three weeks after being confirmed and a week after recommending the firing of James Comey that provided him the pretext for doing so. All of the Washington talking heads claim Rosenstein is above reproach – maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. It does not appear he shares the same vision for America as the people who voted President Trump into office. Rosenstein promised slime ball Chuck clown-Schumer he’d be a good boy in a private meeting stating “he would appoint a special counsel to conduct that investigation if one is required.” He didn’t say “if required” by whom or if that was a guarantee if it was “required” as a condition of Democrat support... http://rickwells.us/rosenstein-plants-mueller-aclu-pushing-congressional-public-hearings/
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'Swamp considerations' holding U.S. in Paris deal
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by Greg Corombos
{wnd.com} ~ President Trump is running out of time to make good on his promise to withdraw the United States from the Paris agreement on climate policy obligations... and the delay is largely due to many different interests imploring him to back away from his campaign pledges. As Trump embarks on an ambitious eight-day trip to the Middle East and Europe, the pressure is only growing on him to keep the U.S. committed to the Paris deal. However, Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Christopher C. Horner, who served on Trump’s transition landing team at the Environmental Protection Agency, says all Trump needs to do is make good on his word. “We have to go back to the campaign and remember that a decision was made and it was to get out,” said Horner. “He gave reasons why. He said this would give others control over our energy use, how much we could use the things that are reliable and affordable, as well as the massive wealth transfer. He made the decision.”... http://www.wnd.com/2017/05/swamp-considerations-holding-u-s-in-paris-deal/ 
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Rosenstein Joins the Posse
vNZskJ9BHkmgCZVi_Wo4ncE96v7EX_ssbVSTrQn8Ozfx3nalISR0RJ2BQeeHCZmrSX9HZXQl6J6gO3O_Mj9aITarPK7vSlRJ8lzBsqa0xs2v-7KFrS2Fkh5TxR9AUX3KqL-dEF6bHuekHOUVXcFF7iX2skXWsC8r6y_aYDqF6knzIZD1KGeHGVXq8xUsdGPvZ4X8uro=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
by Pat Buchanan
{
wnd.com} ~ "With the stroke of a pen, Rod Rosenstein redeemed his reputation," writes Dana Milbank of The Washington Post.

What had Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein done to be welcomed home by the Post like the prodigal son?

Without consulting the White House, he sandbagged President Trump, naming a special counsel to take over the investigation of the Russia connection that could prove ruinous to this presidency.

Rod has reinvigorated a tired 10-month investigation that failed to find any collusion between Trump and Russian hacking of the DNC. Not a single indictment had come out of the FBI investigation.

Yet, now a new special counsel, Robert Mueller, former director of the FBI, will slow-walk his way through this same terrain again, searching for clues leading to potentially impeachable offenses. What seemed to be winding down for Trump is now only just beginning to gear up.

Also to be investigated is whether the president tried to curtail the FBI investigation with his phone calls and Oval Office meetings with FBI Director James Comey, before abruptly firing Comey last week.

Regarded as able and honest, Mueller will be under media pressure to come up with charges. Great and famous prosecutors are measured by whom they convict and how many scalps they take.

Moreover, a burgeoning special counsel's office dredging up dirt on Trump and associates will find itself the beneficiary of an indulgent press.

Why did Rosenstein capitulate to a Democrat-media clamor for a special counsel that could prove disastrous for the president who elevated and honored him?

Surely in part, as Milbank writes, to salvage his damaged reputation.

After being approved 94-6 by a Senate that hailed him as a principled and independent U.S. attorney for both George Bush and Barack liar-nObama, Rosenstein found himself being pilloried for preparing the document White House aides called crucial to Trump's decision to fire Comey.

Rosenstein had gone over to the dark side. He had, it was said, on Trump's orders, put the hit on Comey. Now, by siccing a special counsel on the president himself, Rosenstein is restored to the good graces of this city. Rosenstein just turned in his black hat for a white hat.

Democrats are hailing both his decision to name a special counsel and the man he chose. Yet it is difficult to exaggerate the damage he has done.

As did almost all of its predecessors, including those which led to the resignation of President Nixon and impeachment of Bill liar-Clinton, Mueller's investigation seems certain to drag on for years.

All that time, there will be a cloud over Trump's presidency that will drain his political authority. Trump's enemies will become less fearful and more vocal. Republican Congressmen and Senators in swing states and marginal districts, looking to 2018, will have less incentive to follow Trump's lead, rather than their own instincts and interests. Party unity will fade away.

And without a united and energized Republican Party on the Hill, how do you get repeal and replacement of liar-nObamacare, tax reform or a border wall? Trump's agenda suddenly seems comatose. And was it a coincidence that the day Mueller was appointed, the markets tanked, with the Dow falling 372 points?

Markets had soared with Trump's election on the expectation that his pro-business agenda would be enacted. If those expectations suddenly seem illusory, will the boom born of hope become a bust?

A White House staff, said to be in disarray, and a president reportedly enraged over endless press reports of his problems and falling polls, are not going to become one big happy family again with a growing office of prosecutors and FBI agents poking into issues in which they were involved.

Nor is the jurisdiction of the special counsel restricted to alleged Russia interference in the campaign. Allegations about Trump's taxes, investments, and associates, and those of his family, could be drawn into the maw of the special counsel's office by political and business enemies enthusiastic about seeing him brought down.

More folks in Trump's entourage will soon be lawyering up.

While it's absurd today to talk of impeachment, that will not deter Democrats and the media from speculating, given what happened to Nixon and liar-Clinton when special prosecutors were put on their trail.

Another consequence of the naming of a special counsel, given what such investigations have produced, will be that Vice President Pence will soon find himself with new friends and admirers, and will begin to attract more press as the man of the future in the GOP.

A rising profile for Pence is unlikely to strengthen his relationship with a besieged president.

In the United Kingdom, the odds are growing that Trump may not finish his term.

So how does he regain the enthusiasm and energy he exhibited in previous crises, with such talk in the air?

A debilitating and potentially dangerous time for President Trump has now begun, courtesy of his deputy attorney general.
Read more…

Saturday Noon ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
Donald Trump's Seven Days in May
by Judge Andrew Napolitano
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 Top Headlines 
ls-aOn0ni7eNypzzv0pD3IEbH_lxAYbLJZlel6t5pCmnzcBNIJn5I-87qyiq-CsVaWkImHEkb22-PZje1kpHZPyTnSAVLAO4j0kSNA4pm_Vj3AqeQvnarKM4oS7fAQ=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
House may need to vote again on GOP liar-nObamaCare repeal bill. (Bloomberg)
 
Trump administration announces plans to renegotiate NAFTA. (ABC News)
 
FCC votes to advance net neutrality repeal. (The Hill)
 
Trump seeking replacements for some of his senior team. (CBS News)
 
More than seven million voter registrations are duplicated in multiple states. (The Washington Free Beacon)
 
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz retiring next month. (Chaffetz press release)
 
California professor bans college Republicans from Women's History Month events. (Washington Examiner)
 
U.S. strikes Syria militia threatening U.S.-backed forces. (The Washington Free Beacon)
 
Judge: Lerner's Tea Party-targeting testimony can stay secret for now. (The Washington Times)
 
Woodward: Reporters "binge drinking the anti-Trump Kool-Aid." (Washington Examiner)
 
Policy: The one change the government could make to drive down college prices. (The Daily Signal)
 
Policy: Health care reform: Mission possible. (Washington Examiner~The Patriot Post
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Trump Tries a ‘Waive-and-Slap’
Approach to Tehran
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by Mark Dubowitz
{defenddemocracy.org} ~ The Trump administration had no sooner renewed a waiver on U.S. sanctions against Iran’s crude-oil exports Wednesday than it introduced a raft of new sanctions against the regime... Call it the waive-and-slap approach. The oil-exports sanctions waiver, which will continue to temporarily allow Iran to sell its crude oil to international customers despite the statutory sanctions, had come due as part of the Iran nuclear deal. But their renewal is no sign that President Trump is flip-flopping on his campaign promise to “tear up” the deal. The Trump administration is currently conducting an Iran-policy review. The last thing Mr. Trump should do before this policy is finalized is to make drastic and premature decisions that could incite a diplomatic backlash... http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/dubowitz-mark-trump-tries-a-waive-and-slap-approach-to-Tehran/
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Terror Finance Briefing Book
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by Yaya J. Fanusie and Alex Entz
{defenddemocracy.org} ~ The Terror Finance Briefing Book is a new product of FDD’s Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance (CSIF) created to help policymakers better understand how terrorist groups fund their operations... so that they may be targeted more effectively. This publication will compile financial assessments of select jihadist organizations in the Middle East and Africa. Each report will identify the key financial strengths and vulnerabilities of each group, review U.S. and international countermeasures, highlight possible wildcard scenarios which could impact future funding, and recommend the main areas where policymakers and counter-illicit finance strategists should focus their action. For each report, the first four pages serve as a visually-engaging briefing aid, providing a concise overview of the respective organization’s finances...http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/yaya-j-fanusie-terror-finance-briefing-book/
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Why Trump’s Iran Sanctions Waiver
Should Worry the Mullahs
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by John Hannah
{defenddemocracy.org} ~ As part of the Iran nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that he inherited from his predecessor... President Donald Trump yesterday was forced to decide whether to renew the U.S. waiver on sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports. Rather than violate the JCPOA and risk an early diplomatic crisis, the president — who has dubbed the nuclear deal the “worst” in history — swallowed hard and waived. But before the narrative takes hold that — despite all Trump’s huffing and puffing — he’s simply following in the footsteps of the liar-nObama administration’s Iran policy, a few pertinent observations:... http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/john-hannah-why-trumps-iran-sanctions-waiver-should-worry-the-mullahs/
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Democrats Are Losing Winnable
Special Elections—Here’s Why
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by John A. Tures
{observer.com} ~ With an energized base, Washington D.C. in turmoil, and being the party not associated with the chaos, Democrats should be picking off special election seats effortlessly... From Kansas to Omaha to Georgia, the party has fumbled several winnable races. It could get swept in all of them, if Democrats can’t win in Georgia, South Carolina and Montana. The question is why. There are several theories floating around. I’ll provide the best explanation for the party’s missed opportunities... http://observer.com/2017/05/why-democrats-are-losing-special-elections/?utm_campaign=national-politics&utm_content=2017-19-05-9652209&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=channel-national-politics-distribution
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Trump Cancels Trip To Revered Israeli
Historic Site Masada
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by Randy Desoto
{westernjournalism.com} ~ President Donald Trump has canceled a scheduled trip to the mountain fortress of Masada after Israeli authorities informed his team that the president would not be able to land his helicopter at the ancient site... Trump was slated to give a speech at the location, but the address will instead be delivered at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. “The president will deliver remarks at the Israel Museum and celebrate the unique history of Israel and of the Jewish people while reaffirming America’s unshakable bond with our closest ally in the Middle East,” said U.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster at a White House press briefing... http://www.westernjournalism.com/trump-cancels-trip-to-revered-israeli-historic-site-masada/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=minutemennews&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=libertyalliance
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G3awWDhq0cgsx1oLFdnSVnRhXyexuF4d4rUDu3lfkpM9CEhh9A5FQE1OH4TFrExvY2Q4ahoGJYapHkZh9qWTNzup1a-HaWzeK4jRKG9BkzXE=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
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Donald Trump's Seven Days in May
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by Judge Andrew Napolitano
{
townhall.com} ~ In a period of seven days this month, President Donald Trump fired James Comey as director of the FBI and was accused of sharing top-secret intelligence data with the Russian foreign minister and the Russian ambassador to the United States, the latter a known Russian spy.

The Comey firing was clumsy and rude. Comey learned of it from FBI agents in Los Angeles who noticed reports of it on television monitors that they could see while he was speaking to them. The White House initially claimed Comey had been fired because of his poor judgment in the liar-Hillary Clinton email investigation, in which he announced that she would not be indicted even though there was ample evidence to indict her and then reopened the case two weeks before Election Day even though there was no evidence to justify doing so.

Then the president said he had fired Comey because he objected to Comey's public personality. Then the president claimed that though Comey had told him he was not the subject of any FBI investigation, Comey had not been investigating Trump administration intelligence community leaks with the same vigor with which he had been investigating allegations of collusion between Trump's campaign and the Russian government.

Then Trump met with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador. Then someone who was at the meeting or privy to it afterward, American or Russian, revealed to The Washington Post that at the meeting, Trump had boasted of intelligence data related to the Islamic State group. Then Trump himself admitted sharing this intelligence with the Russians.

A leak of top-secret material by the president or by an anonymous source is potentially catastrophic, and the charge that the president himself revealed top secrets to a known Russian spy is grave, perhaps the gravest ever leveled at an American president in the modern era. The Americans and the Russians at the meeting with Trump denied that he had compromised intelligence sources or revealed the location of American military, but they did not deny that he had revealed top secrets.

All of these events took place in seven days. Here is the back story.

When Comey usurped the authority of the ethically challenged then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and announced that liar-Hillary Clinton would not be indicted for espionage -- the failure to safeguard state secrets that had been given to her for safekeeping -- even though there was a mountain of evidence of her guilt, it seemed to me that he was trying to have it both ways. He was trying to keep his job by pleasing both Republicans and Democrats. Instead, he grossly miscalculated and substantially irritated leadership in both parties, including liar-Clinton and Trump.

At the same time he was exonerating liar-Clinton legally while damning her politically, he was investigating the Trump campaign, about which he quite properly did not say a public word. And he authorized his agents to engage a former British intelligence agent to dig up dirt on candidate Trump and to pay him $50,000 for it. The story the agent dug up was so lurid and unbelievable that the FBI declined to make the payment.

Comey's leadership of the FBI was flawed, but not so flawed as the reasons given for his summary firing. Those inconsistent reasons fed the Democrats' narrative that Comey had been onto something in the Russia/Trump campaign investigation and the president had known it and wanted to derail it. The president has yet to deny this.

Though the president has complained that Comey failed to investigate leaks of intelligence data from within his administration, The Washington Post effectively accused the president himself of becoming the leaker in chief by revealing to the Russians information so secret that only a handful of Americans legally possessed it. That information consisted of the name of a city in Syria from which spies had reported that the Islamic State group was plotting to plant bombs on commercial airliners.

What is so secret about that? Intelligence data almost always requires reading between the lines. Doing so here reveals the country from which the intelligence came, as there is only one friendly country that has sufficient intelligence resources in that city to develop local human spies. That country, which the president did not name but which we know is Israel, at first threatened to cut off providing intelligence data to the U.S. because of the president's private revelations but later said that all is forgiven. So, the president told the Russians where to find Israeli spies in Syria.

The fact that these revelations were private is of legal significance. Under federal law, the president can declassify any secrets, even the most highly sensitive and guarded ones. He can do so by whispering the secret into someone's ear or by formally removing the secret from its classified status. But because he did not do the latter, the secret is still a secret -- yet The Washington Post has this material and may now legally reveal it.

How can a newspaper reveal a top secret that the president has not made public? If someone reveals the secret to the newspaper, it can. The person who did so in this case committed a felony, and the president is right to be angered over it. That person is probably a member of the intelligence community bent on frustrating or destabilizing or controlling the Trump presidency. Because that person gave it to the Post and because there is enormous public interest in knowing what Trump told the Russians, the Post is free to publish it.

All of this demonstrates that rogue intelligence agents can engage in their own form of agitprop -- agitation propaganda. And they can cause political harm with it. Yet the questions of whether Donald Trump revealed top secrets to the Russians and, if he did so, whether it was intentional or not and whether it was harmful to national security are questions to which we are entitled to answers. And was Jim Comey fired for getting too close to the truth or not close enough?

Why do these questions keep coming? 
 
Read more…

Sat/Med-AM ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
Adrift in the South China Sea
by Mira Rapp-Hooper and Charles Edel
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Special Prosecutor Shuts Down Congress’
Showboat Attack Investigations
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Senator Lindsey Graham is not necessarily thrilled at the naming of a special prosecutor, noting that other members of Congress may now be shocked to learn that they are not longer able to be the big man in front of the microphone... on television the way they were prior to Mueller being dragged into the “I hate everything Russian and Trump Marathon.” He may have confirmed one of the reasons Democrats were pushing so hard to have one appointed and perhaps a significant reason behind the Russia Hoax to begin with. Documents and witnesses are now much more restricted, including government officials ability to testify before Congress, due to the old familiar excuse of “an ongoing investigation.”... http://rickwells.us/graham-special-prosecutor-shuts-congress-showboat-attack-investigations/
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Trump Triggers NAFTA Renegotiation Process
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by Mary Chastain
{legalinsurrection.com} ~ President Donald Trump has officially alerted Congress that he will begin NAFTA renegotiation talks. This gives Trump’s administration, Congress, and businesses a 90 day consultation period before he sits down with Canada and Mexico... From Fox Business: “Today, President Trump is fulfilling one of his key promises to the American people,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told reporters on Thursday. In a letter to congressional leaders, Mr. Lighthizer said the administration will start talks with Canada and Mexico as soon as 90 days from Thursday, in line with congressional rules on negotiating trade deals subject to expedited consideration by lawmakers... http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/05/trump-triggers-nafta-renegotiation-process/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LegalInsurrection+%28Le%C2%B7gal+In%C2%B7sur%C2%B7rec%C2%B7tion%29
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Gowdy Reportedly Considering Running
For Oversight Chair
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by Juliegrace Brufke
{dailycaller.com} ~ Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina is reportedly considering a bid for chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform... Current House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz is expected to leave office before the end of June, according to The Washington Post, leaving his post on the powerful committee open. In addition to Gowdy, Reps. Dennis Ross of Florida and Steve Russell of Oklahoma have also been floated to fill the role... http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/18/gowdy-reportedly-considering-running-for-oversight-chair/
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Ex-Democratic-Rep Dennis Kucinich
Warns of ‘Deep State’ Trump Coup
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by Jeff Dunetz
{lidblog.com} ~ This week my email box has been filled with messages from Organizing For America, Move-On and other liberal PACs falsely accusing the president of being reckless with classified information, obstruction of justice, etc., etc... The news media has been full of  Democratic Politicians and RINO-John McCain making the same type of accusations. It seems as if the entire pack of liberal and Democratic sharks have been circling the White House, eager to begin impeachment proceedings against President Trump. e–Well, maybe not quite all of them. Upending the fledgling presidency of Donald J. Trump may be in the best political interest of a majority of left-leaning public servants, eager to continue suckling at the taxpayer teat. And if they aren’t able to boot him out of office, they want to at least slow down the president’s agenda...http://lidblog.com/dennis-kucinich-warns-deep-state-trump-coup/
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Hannity: Forces working to unseat President Trump don't care about fixing liar-nObama's mess
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"Who The Hell Caved On Our Side!?"; Limbaugh Reacts To 'Special Counsel' News
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Dershowitz Questions Purpose of Special Counsel — ‘What Is the Crime?’
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Senator Feinstein Says There's Still No Evidence of Collusion Between Trump Camp and Russia
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President Trump Holds a Joint Press Conference with President Santos - President of Colombia
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Chris Farrell on Trump/Russia Probe: "There are two sides" to Fmr. FBI Director Robert Mueller
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Sen. Graham: I believe liar-Clinton operatives emailed DOJ
.
G3awWDhq0cgsx1oLFdnSVnRhXyexuF4d4rUDu3lfkpM9CEhh9A5FQE1OH4TFrExvY2Q4ahoGJYapHkZh9qWTNzup1a-HaWzeK4jRKG9BkzXE=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
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Adrift in the South China Sea
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Chinese-built structures in the Spratly Islands
by Mira Rapp-Hooper and Charles Edel
{
foreignaffairs.com} ~ On May 10, seven Republican and Democratic senators sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump urging his administration to resume the United States’ freedom of navigation operations, or FONOPs, in the South China Sea. The timing of the bipartisan letter was striking. Senior lawmakers chose a moment when Washington was consumed by a number of political crises, including the ouster of former FBI Director James Comey, to press their case about naval operations thousands of miles away.  

They had good reason to do so. The Trump administration has not yet carried out any FONOPs in the South China Sea, giving up one of the essential tools the United States can use to protest China’s expansive territorial claims there. By failing to send U.S. ships and planes past Chinese outposts in the waterway, Washington has neglected to remind Beijing that it does not regard China’s position there as legal or legitimate.

It is possible that U.S. officials have scaled back their focus on the South China Sea as part of a broader gambit to gain China’s favor, perhaps hoping to secure Beijing’s cooperation on North Korea and concessions on trade. Such a transaction, however, would undermine the United States’ position in Asia. And even if that is not the Trump administration’s reasoning, pausing the FONOPs will still have serious costs.

BAD DEAL

Although the United States’ commitment to the freedom of the seas stretches back to the country’s early history, only in 1979 did Washington develop its freedom of navigation program, which seeks to challenge maritime and airspace claims that do not conform with international law. Every year, the U.S. military conducts dozens of FONOPs, most of them without fanfare, in order to reject various states’ efforts to restrict access to the world’s oceans.

In 2015, as Washington and its partners in Asia looked for ways to push back against China’s land-reclamation projects in the South China Sea, U.S. officials settled on FONOPs as an appropriate response. In October 2015, former President Barack liar-nObama authorized the first U.S. FONOP in the South China Sea since early 2012. The liar-nObama administration later promised to conduct two such operations per quarter, but it ordered only four FONOPs between late 2015 and the end of 2016, in part because it worried that the operations would impede progress on other issues in the U.S.–Chinese relationship.

FONOPs do not seek to compel China to abandon its artificial islands, nor can they stop Beijing from building military installations on the territories it occupies. But the operations send an important legal message—that the South China Sea is an international waterway over which China is not entitled to make spurious maritime claims—and failing to carry them out suggests to Beijing that it can expand its reach with impunity. Worse, it could lead China’s neighbors to accept Beijing’s military outposts and expansive claims as legitimate. Last year, an international tribunal ruled that those claims had no basis in international law.

Trump said little about the South China Sea during his campaign for the presidency. But he did take a consistently tough line against China, and as president-elect, he described Beijing’s land-reclamation projects in the region as “brazen” and “terrible.” Since conservative critics of the liar-nObama administration’s China policy often argued that its approach to FONOPs was insufficient, it seemed possible that Trump would embrace the operations after taking office, persistently asserting the rights of U.S. forces to fly or sail wherever international law permits.

The reality has been quite different. The United States has not conducted a FONOP in the South China Sea since Trump became president in January. In fact, according to The New York Times, defense officials have rejected several requests to conduct FONOPs submitted by the U.S. military’s Pacific Command.

Nor has the Trump administration said much about the United States’ commitment to the freedom of the seas, apart from a few brief references made by Vice President Mike Pence during a trip to the region. The official readouts of Trump’s first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in April made no mention of the territorial disputes in the South China Sea or China’s role in them; indeed, there were few signs that the issue played much of a role in the summit at all.

Exactly why the South China Sea has fallen off the administration’s agenda is not clear. But it is possible that U.S. officials have decided to lift the pressure on China’s maritime outposts because they believe that doing so could help secure Beijing’s help in managing North Korea. There are other signs that suggest that the administration may be trying to gain China’s favor. When Secretary of State Rex Tillerson went to Beijing in March, for example, the White House authorized him to describe the bilateral relationship in language favored by Chinese officials—a puzzling accommodation in light of the importance that Beijing attaches to such rhetoric. The next month, Trump called on South Korea to pay for a missile defense system whose deployment China has opposed. The Trump administration has also released no details about when it will announce arms sales to Taiwan, and Trump has indicated that he will seek Beijing’s permission before speaking to Taiwan’s president again. Trump spoke on the phone with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in December, in a break from longstanding U.S. policy that angered China.

If this is the administration’s logic, it is deeply flawed. China is indeed capable of pressuring North Korea, since Beijing supports much of that country’s economy. But China has long prioritized the stability of the Korean Peninsula over its denuclearization, and those preferences will not change. More likely is that Beijing will pressure North Korea just enough to demonstrate that it is pitching in, avoiding the kinds of dramatic steps that would push Pyongyang toward denuclearization at the risk of the regime’s collapse. China will not ignore its interests in the Korean Peninsula simply because Washington gives up its own interests in the South China Sea.

STEPPING UP

Standing down from FONOPs in the South China Sea would have immediate consequences. Although the operations alone cannot stop China’s land-reclamation projects, failing to conduct them gives Beijing a green light to proceed apace. In the absence of international pressure, China will continue to transform its artificial islands into military bases. Indeed, on May 16, a state-run media outlet reported that China had further armed one of its largest bases in the disputed Spratly Islands. If Beijing believes that Trump is unlikely to take a stand, it has reason to militarize its outposts quickly, lest the U.S. president change his mind.

In the medium term, focusing on managing North Korea at the expense of the United States’ interests in the South China Sea could destabilize the U.S.–Chinese relationship. Such a course would suggest a dangerously narrow definition of U.S. priorities, encouraging China to more assertively press its position on other regional issues, such as its relationship with Taiwan or the territorial disputes in the East China Sea.

But it is in the long term that U.S. acquiescence in the South China Sea would be the most damaging. If the United States ceases to defend freedom of navigation, others will not make up for its absence. U.S. allies such Australia and Japan are committed to international law, but they do not have their own freedom of navigation programs, and they cannot maintain a regular military presence in the South China Sea. Similarly, if the Trump administration does not seek to rally Southeast Asian countries to support the waterway’s openness, those countries will have little reason to stand up to China on their own. States in the region, including U.S. partners, will quickly presume that Washington is pulling back from Asia and will increasingly view China as the region’s most dependable power, despite its misbehavior at sea. The result would be a tilt in Asia’s balance of power toward Beijing.

If the United States waits months to get tough in the South China Sea, it will do so from a weaker legal, military, and diplomatic position than it holds today. Making matters worse, a sudden shift after a long delay could cause whiplash in Beijing, sending the bilateral relationship into a crisis.

That is why the United States must step up now. Just as international law does not enforce itself, access to the oceans cannot be taken for granted—and it should certainly not be traded away.
 
Read more…

Saturday AM ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
Time to push back on Islamists in U.S.
pjs7qG1me52znO9JEbLTdeeJJgOK5216ReKhRvpGRfX5VAiKsBO7hf06gc20s3fXMsSwFvbl8-z5BSG9dM0ml5VVAjeTU6hhhfYj=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
 by Erik Rush
AGHnzvDgAIc_dkrUO59jF21LrUmiQ79dA3RIshU-YlAdfSFPOhc54BmJs1OTRtvnrEX-cCbeiMVXdurlydL03p7YzXsWg_6cAavWTIOYU1PogQU4ftAjtXM=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
.
 Top Headlines 
jETx5hoO6OzQwXdUOGxc5yZDU0fQVv31Yb8lyFRGEnNl5ScEIWDuqEEiA3ZdBhN9SOrgA3jVabSzDdmnQaS2YbVbALSDgJPZXmPO5idPxhZq9xjXAt69l2a8YZPADg=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
Intel officials scoff at hype over Trump's reported sharing of information with Russians. (The Washington Times)
 
Circular firing squad? First Republicans talk possibility of impeachment for Trump. (The Hill)
 
Senate Democrats endeavor to make it harder for congress to remove regulations. (The Daily Signal)
 
liar-nObama's Justice Department refused to hire military veterans for jobs. (The Washington Times)
 
Immigration arrests climb nearly 40% over last year. (ICE)
 
Trump presses more countries take back U.S. deportees in immigration success. (The Washington Times)
 
Gallup: "Democratic Party image dips, GOP ratings stable." (CNS News)
 
Trump administration keeps Iran deal alive, but with new sanctions. (ABC News)
 
Released Puerto Rican terrorist to be honored in New York parade. (National Review)
 
U.S. households owe record amount, topping pre-recession peak. (Associated Press)
 
Policy: How high-pressure parenting undermines character building. (Independent Women's Forum)
 
Policy: Donald Trump's new deal for the Middle East. (American Enterprise Institute~The Patriot Post
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Release All Comey Memos, Doesn’t Trust FBI
Leadership, Mueller Potential Disaster
0dJS_9-yR1diM4LadWd_LuHYmSCLBNnMw0Z7lRdic51BTWozIiv7I6AxYhqP7XgizoCnLvgZKXlSQJ7xZQc-CNDsaV3iJ3WzaHUOXxwpW2Qe_UV4OvvxEYeaAuAs2-5ZhNZFH-Ku5Y29Ofg_=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch joined Charles Payne for a discussion of the Comey memos which soon expanded into the issue of the Democrat’s Special Prosecutor being appointed... Fitton had made a recommendation that Mark Levin had also suggested, that all of the supposed memos of James Comey be released. Why only release one that is favorable to him in his attacks on the President? Release the ones that he’s been keeping on everybody, if, he is as he proclaims to be, a prolific historian of the personal, “private” conversations. Fitton says, “That would be the shocking thing to do here in Washington, which is just to release the information. You know these notes or memos or whatever the document is, presuming it exists, is being characterized by a third party. So let’s get the document out there, see what the context is, see what Comey actually said or wrote and then make some judgment calls based on that.”... http://rickwells.us/fitton-release-comey-memos-doesnt-trust-fbi-leadership-mueller-potential-disaster/
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Mueller, Comey have had long, close relationship
by Cody Derespina
{foxnews.com} ~ The man tasked with investigating possible meddling by Russia in the 2016 presidential election – a probe that will likely encompass President Trump’s recent firing of FBI Director James Comey... once called Comey “one of the finest people I’ve ever met.” Robert Mueller, Comey’s predecessor at FBI from 2001-2013, has a lengthy, close and somewhat controversial history with the man suddenly at the center of investigations swirling around Trump. Mueller on Wednesday evening was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as special counsel to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election and related issues. Trump’s critics contend several of his top campaign aides – including onetime campaign chair Paul Manafort, adviser Carter Page and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn – had suspicious, if not illicit, contacts with Kremlin-linked officials. Trump has denied any collusion with the Russian government and no evidence has been publicly presented to show such collusion... http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05/18/mueller-comey-have-had-long-close-relationship.html
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A Disappointing Silence on Erdogan's Excesses
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IPT News
{investigativeproject.org} ~ The man with the bullhorn already had been knocked to the ground, repeatedly kicked and beaten. Then the man with a mustache, wearing a sharp suit and a handgun on his hip, raced up and launched a fierce kick... hitting the man with the bullhorn square in the face. The man with the bullhorn was protesting visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The man with the mustache is an Erdogan bodyguard. This beat-down, captured on video by the Voice of America, took place Tuesday, just 1.4 miles from the White House, where Erdogan met with President Trump. Nine people were injured, including two who required hospitalization. A similar, but smaller brawl broke out last year when Erdogan was greeted by protesters outside a speech at the Brookings Institution... https://www.investigativeproject.org/6127/a-disappointing-silence-on-erdogan-excesses
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Mark Levin Interrogates FBI Rogue Comey –
Likely Felonies Everywhere
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Looking towards the future possibility that former FBI Director James Comey might appear before a Congressional committee, Mark Levin outlines the way he would approach questioning him, with specifics... He would start by asking, “Mr. Comey, you say you kept memoranda and notes, is that correct? Did you keep notes on your conversations with ‘president’ liar-nObama? Where are those notes now, Mr. Comey? Did you keep notes on your conversations with Attorney General Eric Holder? Where are those notes now, Mr. Comey? Did you keep notes on your conversations with Attorney General Loretta Lynch? Where are those notes now, Mr. Comey?” Levin asks, “Did you keep notes on any of your conversations or meetings with any members of Congress, Mr. Comey? Where are those notes now, Mr. Comey? Did you keep any notes on any conversations you had with reporters or journalists, Mr. Comey? Where are those notes now? Did you tamper with, alter or destroy any of your notes, Mr. Comey, at any time? With whom did you share these notes, if anybody, Mr. Comey?”...http://rickwells.us/mark-levin-interrogates-fbi-rogue-comey-likely-felonies-everywhere/
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Hanford Nuclear Site
Spewed Radiation: Confirmed
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by Shepard Ambellas
{intellihub.com} ~ The Hanford Nuclear Site has been confirmed to have released dangerous levels of radiation despite a total news blackout... Although officials told 300,000 residents in the area not to worry and that ‘no action is needed,’ it appears these were lies. Moreover, according to ISM Board: “Lawyers for the Energy Department have said no evidence has been provided showing workers have been harmed by vapors.” However, again, these statements prove to be false... https://www.intellihub.com/hanford-nuclear-site-spewed-radiation-confirmed/
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G3awWDhq0cgsx1oLFdnSVnRhXyexuF4d4rUDu3lfkpM9CEhh9A5FQE1OH4TFrExvY2Q4ahoGJYapHkZh9qWTNzup1a-HaWzeK4jRKG9BkzXE=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
.
Time to push back on Islamists in U.S.
pjs7qG1me52znO9JEbLTdeeJJgOK5216ReKhRvpGRfX5VAiKsBO7hf06gc20s3fXMsSwFvbl8-z5BSG9dM0ml5VVAjeTU6hhhfYj=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
 by Erik Rush
{wnd.com} ~ When one considers some of the conventions currently being advanced with religious zeal by the political left, it’s pretty easy to assess them as being manifestly insane. The notion that individuals from other nations who arrive here illegally somehow have a right to remain here even if they’ve committed violent crimes is certainly one example. The notion that individuals from nations that despise America ought not be barred from entry or at least thoroughly vetted is another. When liberals support and defend people who would kill them in a heartbeat, as gay activists and feminists do when they advocate for what they perceive to be the rights of militant Muslims, they illustrate yet another.

Obviously, some who’ve bought into this lunacy are horribly misguided; others are poisonous ideologues who hate this nation. I’ve maintained for a long time that allowing these people to hijack political processes based upon abstract, subverted interpretations of the First Amendment is dangerous folly.

Last month a landlord in Canada was ordered to pay $12,000 to a Muslim couple who rented an apartment from him, according to the Toronto Sun. Why? While showing the space to potential occupants, the landlord forgot to remove his shoes in an area where the tenants prayed.

It will probably come as no surprise that the landlord happens to be a Christian.

The fine was levied by Canada’s Human Rights Tribunal, the same organization that dispatches spies to Canadian churches to ensure that pastors aren’t quoting Leviticus or something that might similarly have the potential to hurt the feelings of some homosexual somewhere, because that sort of thing – like failing to observe Islamic doctrine in the presence of a Muslim – has been outlawed in Canada as well.

Those of anti-Islamist and pro-Israel sentiments are currently having a field day debating the issue of the City University of New York (CUNY) having made a decision to host Shariah law advocate Linda Sarsour as their 2017 commencement speaker. Sarsour, a singularly repellant individual, is a barefaced anti-Semite who has advocated violence against Jews and non-Jews who resist the inculcation of Islamic doctrine and Shariah law into Western institutions.

While CUNY’s decision to host Sarsour is obviously a step toward instituting Shariah in America, it is in actuality a furtive effort to further normalize anti-American sensibilities in general. This is the same modus operandi that was employed in Europe and Canada to bring about such things as “hate speech” laws and human rights tribunals. It also bears mentioning that neither CUNY nor Sarsour would have been so bold prior to Barack Hussein liar-nObama having given so much latitude to Islamists during his administration.

It is the intention of our international socialist overlords that their political power as well as that of various subversive leftist subgroups and Islamists be sufficiently cemented so that by the time Americans realize what’s going on, the only way to reverse the trend would be taking to the streets and slaying our enemies en masse – in other words, civil war. This they desire because they know that most Americans would never countenance such action.

Many parents admonish their grade school-aged children never to strike another child unless they’re struck first. This is preposterous, if for no other reason than the first person struck is often in no condition to strike back. After all, you wouldn’t let someone shoot or stab you first, would you? I taught my children that if they even suspected that another kid was about to hit them, they were to immediately and decisively dispatch that individual, since I would rather pay a visit to the principal’s office than the emergency room any day. For the record, this advice served them very well.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

– First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

Organized, aggressive grass-roots responses to bigots like Sarsour, their benefactors and sundry subversive activists will be necessary to prevent unhappy scenarios such as that involving the Canadian landlord from becoming commonplace in America. A movement, so to speak, involving the same people in the same numbers as those which elected Donald Trump could certainly accomplish this. In so doing, Americans will have to become impervious to the left’s obsequious accusations of racism and the notorious “phobe” suffix. A litmus test for those seeking public office must be instituted among voters; Muslims candidates and those sympathetic to Shariah law or the establishment of protected classes of people in general should be universally excluded from consideration.

Let us be clear; these are not First Amendment issues, because if Congress has made no law addressing them, the free speech argument is wholly specious.

The rationale for a wholesale political disenfranchisement of pro-Shariah and Islamic activists in general is simple, and one I’ve articulated previously: It matters little if there are peaceful Muslims living among us, or peaceful schools of Islam. In an emerging non-native Muslim population, militancy within that population will inevitably manifest. It may take years or decades or a century, but it will definitely occur, and we have 1,400 years of hard evidence in the form of Islam’s history to support this fact.
 
Read more…

Friday PM ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
The Juggernaut and the Jerks
by JOAN SWIRSKY
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.
Release All Comey Memos, Doesn’t Trust FBI
Leadership, Mueller Potential Disaster
0dJS_9-yR1diM4LadWd_LuHYmSCLBNnMw0Z7lRdic51BTWozIiv7I6AxYhqP7XgizoCnLvgZKXlSQJ7xZQc-CNDsaV3iJ3WzaHUOXxwpW2Qe_UV4OvvxEYeaAuAs2-5ZhNZFH-Ku5Y29Ofg_=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch joined Charles Payne for a discussion of the Comey memos which soon expanded into the issue of the Democrat’s Special Prosecutor being appointed... Fitton had made a recommendation that Mark Levin had also suggested, that all of the supposed memos of James Comey be released. Why only release one that is favorable to him in his attacks on the President? Release the ones that he’s been keeping on everybody, if, he is as he proclaims to be, a prolific historian of the personal, “private” conversations. Fitton says, “That would be the shocking thing to do here in Washington, which is just to release the information. You know these notes or memos or whatever the document is, presuming it exists, is being characterized by a third party. So let’s get the document out there, see what the context is, see what Comey actually said or wrote and then make some judgment calls based on that.”... http://rickwells.us/fitton-release-comey-memos-doesnt-trust-fbi-leadership-mueller-potential-disaster/
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Mueller, Comey have had long, close relationship
by Cody Derespina
{foxnews.com} ~ The man tasked with investigating possible meddling by Russia in the 2016 presidential election – a probe that will likely encompass President Trump’s recent firing of FBI Director James Comey... once called Comey “one of the finest people I’ve ever met.” Robert Mueller, Comey’s predecessor at FBI from 2001-2013, has a lengthy, close and somewhat controversial history with the man suddenly at the center of investigations swirling around Trump. Mueller on Wednesday evening was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as special counsel to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election and related issues. Trump’s critics contend several of his top campaign aides – including onetime campaign chair Paul Manafort, adviser Carter Page and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn – had suspicious, if not illicit, contacts with Kremlin-linked officials. Trump has denied any collusion with the Russian government and no evidence has been publicly presented to show such collusion... http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05/18/mueller-comey-have-had-long-close-relationship.html
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What Happened to Trump’s
Undying Support of Israel
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by The Common Constitutionalist
{ipatriot.com} ~ Why is the Trump administration backing off of the President’s rather definitive campaign declaration to move the American Embassy in Israel from Tel-Aviv to its rightful place in Jerusalem?... I’m trying my best not to condemn Trump and his people for not doing what he promised and he did promise, right off of the bat, but I am beginning to wonder and worry on a growing number of campaign promises, just what has changed from campaign to White House. Now, despite me writing a fair bit about Israel, I don’t have any particular love for, or peculiar fetish regarding the tiny nation. But as most of us are, maybe I’m just a big fan of underdogs... http://ipatriot.com/happened-trumps-undying-support-israel/
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Judge Placed On Leave When
Officials Discover She’s Not A US Citizen
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by Will Racke
{dailycaller.com} ~ City officials in Texas temporarily removed a municipal judge from the bench Wednesday after learning that she never received U.S. citizenship after becoming a legal permanent resident in 2007... When the city council discovered that her original application to the bench didn’t indicate whether or not she was a citizen, they placed Young Min Burkett, a judge in Corpus Christi, Texas, on unpaid leave. Despite a city ordinance that requires municipal judges to be U.S. citizens, the South Korea native originally took her job because there wasn’t a question about citizenship status on her application for appointment, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported... http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/18/judge-placed-on-leave-when-officials-discover-shes-not-a-us-citizen/?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=TheDC%20Morning&utm_campaign=TheDC%20Evening
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Putin Offers "Transcript" to Prove Trump
Did Not Reveal Classified Intel
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by C. Mitchell Shaw
{thenewamerican.com} ~ As the beleaguered White House continues to fumble its way through the escalating scandal of whether or not President Trump revealed sensitive, classified intelligence to Russian officials in last week’s Oval Office meeting... Russian Vladimir Putin has offered Congress a copy of the “transcript” of that meeting as proof that he did not. The White House has not yet issued a clear and unambiguous denial that President Trump let slip intelligence — likely gathered by Israel and made available to the United States — regarding an ongoing ISIS plot to use laptop computer bombs on airplanes. The closest to a denial so far was when White House national security advisor General H.R. McMaster issued what amounts to a non-denial, saying:... https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/foreign-policy/item/26052-putin-offers-transcript-to-prove-trump-did-not-reveal-classified-intel
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The Juggernaut and the Jerks
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by JOAN SWIRSKY
Wanna see Democrats and media hacks weep? Hand them this list!
(
familysecuritymatters.org} ~ Since President Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017, a number of people have scrupulously monitored his accomplishments. They include Sean Hannity's producer Sweet Baby James, Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft, conservative commentator and former presidential candidate Gary Bauer, and Jeff Dunetz, creator of the blog The Lid, among others. The listing below was compiled by the above-mentioned people and represents many but not all of the non-stop accomplishments of President Trump--the juggernaut--during his first three months in office.
 
But the list does not elaborate on the accomplishments of the first three weeks of the fourth month, which include, among other things, the completion of his cabinet appointments, signing a cybersecurity executive order for a sweeping review of the federal government's digital vulnerabilities and the adoption of specific security practices; an unprecedented trade deal with China involving certain foods, natural gas, and biotech products; creating a voter-fraud commission to clean up the system; preparation for a devastating cyberattack against America's electric grid; and the firing of FBI Director James Comey. Nor is there any mention of the hundreds if not thousands of personal phone calls the president has made to shakers and movers in the U.S. as well as world leaders.
 
99 percent of the media--the jerks--are a de facto arm of the Democratic National Committee
 
If these accomplishments are not familiar, that's because 99 percent of the media--the jerks--are a de facto arm of the Democratic National Committee and the far-left fringe, and are so terminally distressed by the fact that Mr. Trump won the presidency that they obstinately refuse to report what by any objective standards is the news. This is because:
*They've been pushing leftist values for well over a half century and are unable to admit that their anti-Trump, pro/liar-Hillary message was an utter and complete failure.
*They are part and parcel of the vast, contaminated, rancid, crooked, pay-for-play, corrupt swamp that candidate Trump promised to drain, and President Trump is now draining.
*The man they mock--for his syntax and phrasing, style of governing, unpredictability, and so-called contradictions--has both confounded and trumped them at every turn.
This is why they remain fixated on the fairy tale of a Trump-Russian connection. They have nothing else--as in nothing!
 
LIGHTNING
After Pres. Trump's first month in office,
*235,000 jobs were added to our economy in February, 100,000 more than expected;
*40 percent fewer illegal immigrants crossed our border;
*$3 trillion was added to the stock market;
*Judge Gorsuch, a constitutionalist worthy of Justice Scalia's seat, was nominated to the Supreme Court.
In his first 100 days:
*appointments of Vice President Mike Pence, pro-life conservative;
*Justice Neil Gorsuch, an originalist committed to the Constitution;
*Attorney General Jeff Sessions, staunch conservative committed to the rule of law;
*Defense Secretary James Mattis, a warrior committed to restoring America's military;
*Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, a former general committed to border security;
*Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a former CEO who understands how the real world works;
*Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, a brain surgeon from a humble background;
*Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, a doctor who understands health care;
*Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, an advocate of school choice and educational reform;
*Energy Secretary Rick Perry, former governor of Texas and expert on the energy industry;
*Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, former CEO who understands the business world;
*EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, a conservative committed to reining in big government;
*U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, a fearless advocate for American values;
*U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, a true friend of Israel;
*White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, a conservative warrior against crony capitalism and the left;
*National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, an accomplished military commander;
*and White House Counterterrorism Adviser Sebastian Gorka, committed to defeating radical Islam.
President Trump;
 
*restored the U.S. alliance with Israel and welcomed Israeli Prime Minister *Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House;
*restored U.S. leadership in the world;
*enforced red lines against the use of chemical weapons in Syria;
*dropped the Mother of All Bombs (MOAB) on ISIS, sending a clear message to Iran and North Korea;
*secured the Chinese cooperation in pressuring North Korea and the release of Aya Hijazi, American charity worker held in Egypt since 2014;
*imposed a five-year ban on lobbying the government by former White House officials and a lifetime ban on lobbying for foreign governments by former White House officials;
*repeatedly called out the liberal media for "fake news";
*repealed liar-nObama mandate that forced states to fund Planned Parenthood;
*signed executive order reinstating Reagan policy against taxpayer funding of overseas abortions;
*stopped U.S. funding to the United Nations Population Fund, which promotes abortions;
*signed the following Executive Orders
*to mandate a comprehensive plan to defeat ISIS,
*to begin construction of the border wall and hire additional 5,000 border agents,
*to order the Justice Department to cut funding to sanctuary cities,
*to institute a temporary federal hiring freeze,
*to institute a travel ban on individuals from a select number of countries embroiled in terrorist atrocities;
*to withdraw from the Transpacific Partnership trade deal,
*to mandate that two regulations will be repealed for every new one issued,
*to institute a comprehensive approach to illegal immigration and crime; et al.
THUNDER
Further,
*Pres. Trump issued orders to seek increased penalties for crimes against police;
*to promote energy independence; to put American companies and workers first;
*to review federal regulations in education; to investigate national security impact of foreign steel imports;
*to require an audit of executive branch agencies;
*to order every agency to create a regulatory reform task force;
*to roll back liar-nObama environmental infringements on private property.
In addition,
 
*Pres. Trump issued orders to prevent future taxpayer-funded bailouts; to reverse liar-nObama restrictions on offshore energy development;
*for a major review of national monument designations on federal lands;
*to establish a new office to reform the Veterans Administration bureaucracy;
*to address concerns of Rural America;
*to establish a White House Initiative on historically Black Colleges and Universities;
*to create a commission on drug addiction and the opioid crisis;
*to combat transnational criminal organizations and international trafficking; to repeal the following:
1.liar-nObama's transgender public school bathroom mandate,
2.liar-nObama's "Stream Protection Rule" that has hurt the coal industry,
3.liar-nObama's Social Security Administration's gun ban,
4.liar-nObama's Labor "blacklisting" rule with $500 million in regulatory costs,
5.liar-nObama's Interior rule that restricted state and local authority in land use decisions,
6.liar-nObama's unfunded education mandate that created new standards for teachers,
7.liar-nObama's education rule that undermined state and local control,
8.liar-nObama's regulation that prevented drug testing for unemployment compensation,
9.liar-nObama's rule that banned some hunting in Alaska,
10.liar-nObama's regulation that created vastly more paperwork and reporting of worker injuries,
11.liar-nObama's regulations on Internet Service Providers,
12.liar-nObama's rule that allowed states to force workers into government-run savings plans, and the Dodd-Frank regulations that disadvantaged domestic companies.
Going further,
*Pres. Trump Imposed sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile violations and human rights violations;
*Ordered review of the Iranian nuclear deal;
*Produced a budget that cut $54 billion from bloated federal bureaucracies, that would eliminate 50 programs and more than 3,000 federal jobs, and that boosted spending for defense, homeland security and veterans; produced a tax-reform plan that simplifies the tax code and reduces taxes for businesses and families;
*Approved construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and the Dakota Access pipeline; shut down illegal immigrant advocacy program at Department of Justice;
*Established Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) office;
*Reduced illegal immigration at the border by 61 percent;
*Called for "major investigation" of voter fraud led by Vice President Mike Pence;
*Called for repeal of the Johnson Amendment, which limits free speech of pastors and churches;
*Called for 50 percent cut in funding to the United Nations; supported English as official language by dropping Spanish version of the White House website;
*Purged "climate change" alarmism from White House website;
*Returned bust of Winston Churchill to the Oval Office;
*Succeeded in getting NATO nations to boost defense spending by $10 billion;
*Halted $180 billion in liar-nObama regulations;
*Signed legislation expanding private healthcare options for veterans;
*Relaxed Rules of Engagement in the fight against ISIS;
*Imposed sanctions on Venezuelan vice president for international drug trafficking.
UP, UP & AWAY
 At this early point,
*Consumer confidence is the highest in 17 years;
*Small business confidence highest in 11 years;
*Stock market is up 10 percent since inauguration, up 15 percent since election;
*Exxon Mobil announced $20 billion-45,000 job expansion in U.S.;
*Charter Communications announced $25 billion expansion, creating 20,000 jobs in U.S.;
*Accenture announced $1.4 billion expansion, creating 15,000 jobs in U.S.;
*Intel announced $7 billion expansion, creating 10,000 jobs in the U.S.
*Pres. Trump ordered renegotiation of North American Free Trade *Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico;
*Named former Congressman Scott Garrett, an outspoken critic of the *Export-Import Bank to the bank's Board of Directors
*Today, U.S. unemployment is at its lowest level since 1988!
The U.S. debt decreased by $100 billion during Pres. Trump's first hundred days; the U.S. Manufacturing Index soared to a 33-year high! In the first month alone, he added 298,000 jobs; housing sales are off the charts right now...in 2011, the average time a house was on the market was 84 days, now, it's just 45 days; illegal immigration is down 67% since the Inauguration; NATO announced Allied spending is up $10 billion.
 
This Mt. Everest of accomplishments belongs to a man who is straight out of central casting. Every day, he looks like a million dollars and is stunningly successful in his dealings with everyone from heads of state to manual laborers to ardent fans to entrenched skeptics. Every day, he brings both ebullience and laser-like focus to a job he clearly relishes, displays admirable courage in making hard choices, and is zooming along at warp speed to Make America Great Again!
 
All this while never hesitating to take on the sacred cows of the leftist jerks among us--political correctness and global warming rank high--and to illuminate the public about the widespread scourge of the fake news and fake polls that those same leftist jerks tried but failed to foist upon us in the November election.
 
It was easy for the media when all they had to do was pretend that 94-million unemployed citizens, a weakened military, alienated allies, a genocidal Iran deal, and unprecedented escalation of Muslim Brotherhood operatives implanted in the highest reaches of our government, and an increase in the national debt by $9 trillion to almost $20 trillion, were nothing to worry about--all while they asked the guy in the Oval Office what his favorite ice-cream flavor was!
 
Now there's a grown-up in charge and the children among us Democrats, leftists, progressives, whatever they're calling themselves these days are as ineffectual--indeed, impotent--as they were when Donald J. Trump announced for the presidency in June of 2015.
 
 
Read more…

Friday Noon ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
On Capitol Hill, Growing Frustration With
FBI Secrecy About Russia Probe
by Byron York
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 Don't Believe the Hype 
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Reading the headlines from much of the mainstream media's news reporting has become eerily similar to browsing the latest salacious tabloid covers in the check-out line at the local grocery store.
          According to The Washington Post and its unnamed sources, Donald Trump disclosed "highly classified information" to the Russian foreign minister which "jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State." One problem: National Security Advisor Gen. H.R. McMaster says these sources were not even present during Trump's meeting. As we noted yesterday, per McMaster and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, this dezinformatsiya was not the case. And yet the Post stands by the charges of its unnamed sources, and the Leftmedia at large demand Trump answer for his supposed careless, dangerous and maybe illegal action. Talk about the tail wagging the dog.
          And then on Tuesday, tag-teaming off the Post's successful scandal spin, The New York Times threw out its latest hearsay hit piece — the supposed existence of a memo written by former FBI Director James Comey. Once again according to unnamed sources, the Times alleges that in a meeting this past January between Trump and Comey, the president requested that the then-FBI director end an investigation into Gen. Mike Flynn, Trump's then-national security advisor. Now, the Times admits that it hasn't actually seen the memo, but suggests that it's legitimate anyway. No comment yet from Comey. One would think a responsible journalist would seek to both obtain an actual copy of the memo in question, authenticate its veracity and seek a comment from its author, before basing a blockbuster on hearsay.
          On a side note: If the implication of the memo turns out to be true, then obviously Trump has something to answer for. But Comey would also find himself in hot water for breaking the law by failing to report immediately to the Justice Department an attempt to interfere in a federal investigation, irrespective of who made the request. In other words, Comey would know better, and since he didn't act then, it implies that there's little substance to this story. It's just more rumor and speculation being passed off by the Times as legitimate news.
          Why did The Washington Post lower its journalistic standards to those of the National Enquirer? And when did The New York Times start answering to the execs at the Globe? When did mere hearsay and rumors reach the level of need-to-know reporting, and at what point did the account of "unnamed sources" rise to a level of greater legitimacy than statements from senior officials on record? While those questions may be somewhat hyperbolic, the fact of the matter is that MSM journalistic standards have taken a nose dive in the era of Trump.
          Once again, the Leftmedia objective is to take Trump down because they both enjoy an increase in readership and ad revenue and they object to Trump's reforming agenda. But honestly, Trump has made himself an easy target, and he's all too willing to get dirty with the pig. This injures him in two ways: It lends greater legitimacy to the MSM and it proves to distract both him and Republicans from plowing forward with enacting government reforms. ~The Patriot Post
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Democrat Demands Met Again – Mueller
Special Prosecutor As War On Trump Escalates
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ They’re popping the champagne at the DNC and in various swamp watering holes across the sewer that is our nation’s capital, one of the many traitors within the Trump administration has, as is typical, given in to Democrat demands... Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has named former FBI Director Robert Mueller, a longtime associate of the fired former FBI Director James Comey, as the Special Prosecutor they’ve been lusting for. As Catherine Herridge noted, Comey and Mueller stood together in opposition to a White House surveillance program. We can only imagine whether or not their camaraderie extends to today and to what degree the firing has trigger an angry reaction within the former Director, Mueller. Now the charade begins in earnest. Perhaps his first act should be to recuse himself from the investigation due to that relationship, an act that we might see if Mueller were in actuality the man of integrity that is alleged. We remember when Comey was held in that same undeserved high regard... http://rickwells.us/democrat-demands-met-again-mueller-special-prosecutor-war-trump-escalates/
.
Have the Democrats and
the Media Signed a Suicide Pact?
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by M.J. Randolph
{truthrevolt.org} ~ Patricia McCarthy over at the American Thinker has a provocative article about how absolutely stark raving mad the media and the Democrats have gone over the election of Donald Trump... McCarthy believes their hyperbole is going to backfire: Yet the more they double- and triple-down on their strategy and tactics, the more the American people realize how thoroughly demented are the media and their Democrat lapdogs.  The more they contrive new tales of misconduct, chaos and/or incompetence, the more the rest of us realize how threatened they are by his  successes:   unemployment is down, illegal border crossings are down, the stock market is just fine, and the rescue of our medical care has begun. The more the media and the Democrats are driven mad by his policies -- the reining in of the EPA, reviewing liar-nObama's federal land grabs, enforcing immigration laws that liar-nObama did not, taking hard lines on Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, ISIS, the more we anti-establishment folks out here in flyover country cheer his every move... http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/have-democrats-and-media-signed-suicide-pact
.
While Media Distracts with Russia/Trump,
DNC Embroiled in Two Major Lawsuits
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by Trey Sanchez
{truthrevolt.org} ~ The 24/7 news cycle of the alleged Trump/Russia connection rages on. Meanwhile, it’s crickets all over the media about the major class action lawsuits against the Democratic National Committee... One lawsuit began back in October of 2016 over the Democrat Party, led then by Debbie Wasserman Schultz, putting its weight behind liar-Hillary Clinton for the nomination and leaving Bernie Sanders to fend for himself. But there’s another lawsuit alleging the DNC failed to pay 50 workers overtime at the convention, according to the Washington Examiner:... http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/while-media-distracts-russiatrump-dnc-embroiled-two-major-lawsuits
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Comey memo belies claims of high FBI morale
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by Paul Sperry
{wnd.com} ~ Former FBI Director James Comey’s decision last year to clear liar-Hillary Clinton of gross negligence in handling classified information was met with so much frustration within the FBI that Comey felt compelled to put out a bureau-wide memo to employees defending his actions... He chose to further explain himself in meetings with groups of disgruntled veteran FBI agents during visits to field offices around the country. The moves appear to contradict last week’s congressional testimony by acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who swore his newly fired boss “enjoyed broad support” among the FBI’s rank-and-file and that bureau “morale has always been good.”... http://www.wnd.com/2017/05/comey-memo-belies-claims-of-high-fbi-morale/
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FLASHBACK: Bannon - "If You Think They Are Going To Give You Your Country Back Without A Fight, You Are Sadly Mistaken"
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MARK LEVIN: "The Trump Administration Is Within Steps Of Being Destroyed"
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Hannity: The swamp wants to stop Trump and stay in power
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TUCKER: Tangles with Dem over the left's "hysterical" calls for Trump's impeachment
.
Trump References Comey Controversy: No Politician Has Ever Been Treated Worse Than Me
.
Congressman Louie Gohmert: I'm "Amazed Comey Appears to Be Confessing to a Crime"
VIDEO: http://video.insider.foxnews.com/v/5438398076001
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TUCKER: "Tell Maxine Waters Her Dream Just Died"
VIDEO:  http://video.insider.foxnews.com/v/5438681977001
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On Capitol Hill, Growing Frustration With
FBI Secrecy About Russia Probe
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by Byron York
{townhall.com} ~Calls for a special prosecutor to investigate the Russia-Trump affair have multiplied in the days since President Trump fired FBI director James Comey. Almost invariably, Democrats and others calling for a prosecutor say such a step is needed to "get to the bottom" of the matter.

Yet there is still uncertainty among the public about whether anything lies at the bottom of the Russia-Trump controversy. Is there a crime down there? No one seems to know. The reason is simple: The FBI, which has been investigating alleged ties between Trump campaign figures and Russia for ten months, won't say.

To question after question; not just from the press, but from lawmakers with a constitutional responsibility to oversee the FBI, the Justice Department, and the intelligence agencies -- answers have been withheld on the grounds that they are classified, or the subject of an ongoing investigation, or both.

"I can't answer that," said Comey on many, many occasions during oversight hearings on the Russia affair.

"My answer would require me to reveal classified information, and so I can't answer that," said former acting attorney general Sally Yates in the same setting.

"I can't comment on that," said former intelligence chief James Clapper.

Now, as the Russia-Trump controversy festers, there are signs of growing impatience with the secrecy. Some lawmakers -- among them the Republican chairman and the Democratic ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- are pushing the FBI and other agencies involved to let Congress know what they are doing. In particular, lawmakers want to see evidence -- if there is any -- to show why the investigation is focusing not just on Russian misdeeds -- there's no doubt there are plenty of those to investigate -- but on Trump campaign figures, and possibly on the president himself.

On Friday, Judiciary Committee chairman Charles Grassley and ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein sent a letter to FBI acting director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein demanding briefings on the latest in the Russia investigation. The last paragraph of the letter indicated that the senators' patience is running thin. "Please contact staff by 5:00 p.m. today to schedule the briefings," Grassley and Feinstein wrote. "Thank you for your immediate attention to these important matters."

Not by tomorrow, not by Monday, not by the end of the week. Grassley and Feinstein wanted a response by 5:00 p.m. on the day of the letter. Given that the power of both parties is behind the request, they will most likely get what they want.

The day before, on Thursday, Grassley and Feinstein made news when they strongly suggested that Comey told them President Trump is not under investigation in the Russia matter. In a public committee meeting, Grassley said that when Trump said recently he had been informed he is not under investigation, "Sen. Feinstein and I heard nothing that contradicted the president's statement."

"I very much appreciate what you've said," Feinstein said to Grassley. "And it's very accurate ..."

A short time later, a Republican aide explained that Grassley was deeply concerned by last week's events. "We've seen an uptick in speculation about what has or hasn't happened," the aide said, "and what has or has not been found -- and that's not helpful if it is speculation not based on anything other than rumor or anything factual."

Now, others on Capitol Hill are expressing similar concerns. "It's hard to do oversight, especially on counter-intelligence matters, with so little information," said a Senate Republican Sunday. "That's been true for months."

"There is a counter-intelligence investigation focused on Russia, but the media and the Democrats conflate that with there being a criminal investigation focused on Trump," added a House Republican. "The FBI has fed into this by being coy."

"Coy" is an understatement. The result of the dozens of questions left unanswered by Comey, Yates, Clapper, and others is that the public -- and, to a lesser extent, lawmakers themselves -- don't know the basics of the Russia-Trump matter.

But what to do? Classified information is still classified information. Ongoing investigations are conducted in secrecy except, of course, for leaks. How can Congress pry information out of the agencies?

"Congress can always coerce the FBI," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in an email exchange Sunday. "Power of the purse. Change the law."

"Senators can make it an issue in the confirmation process for a new FBI director," the House Republican quoted earlier said.

Maybe so. Right now, though, it appears that bipartisan pressure, like that coming from Grassley and Feinstein, might help get information out. Does all of the information the FBI and other agencies have classified actually need to be classified? Can nothing more be made public? Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate could push hard on those questions.

In addition, Grassley and Feinstein want the FBI to brief every member of the Judiciary Committee, not just the chairman and ranking member. Just as a practical matter -- multiplying the number of people on the committee who know the facts by 10 -- that will certainly make it more likely that information will get out.

If nothing changes, the country could be facing months and months of accusations without voters knowing their basis in fact -- or lack of basis in fact. Meanwhile, the FBI and other agencies could remain "coy" while Democrats seek to create the impression in the public's mind that Trump and his aides colluded with Russia to throw the 2016 election. If the Trump team did that, the public needs to know. If they didn't, the public needs to know that, too. Soon.

https://townhall.com/columnists/byronyork/2017/05/17/on-capitol-hill-growing-frustration-with-fbi-secrecy-about-russia-probe-n2327616?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=

Read more…

Friday AM ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
American Greatness and the PLO
by Caroline Glick
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Intel Agencies, 4th Govt Branch – Sabotaging
Trump For Pro-Russia Openness
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ For decades Stephen Cohen taught and researched Russian politics at Princeton and NYU. He joined Tucker Carlson for a discussion the frenzied Russia preoccupations of the media and Democrats targeting President Trump... He doesn’t buy the fertilizer the Democrats are shoveling, that President Trump passed critical intelligence to the Russians in a meeting at the White House. Not only does Prof Cohen not believe it happened, he adds, “Nor have I ever, in these decades you mentioned ever heard an elected member of Congress say that we should have no relations with the Russians at all. Presumably that would include nuclear weapons control.” Cohen presumes it’s a Democrat, likely from the level of the idiocy that was coming out of his mouth, who asked what are the Russians doing in the White House anyway. He says, “Well, they’re doing, with President Trump the national security of our nation. Because what’s at stake here is a proposal by Putin of Russia, by Trump of America, to join hands, in an alliance against international terrorism.”...http://rickwells.us/intel-agencies-4th-govt-branch-sabotaging-trump-pro-russia-openness/
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John Guandolo Discusses The
Muslim Brotherhood’s Network in America
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by Alex Nitzberg
{aim.org} ~ The Muslim Brotherhood operates a nationwide network of Islamic organizations actively working to subvert America and establish an Islamic State governed by Sharia law... former FBI agent John Guandolo explained during an interview on “The Alex Nitzberg Show.” Guandolo, the founder of UnderstandingtheThreat.com, said: “There are thousands of organizations whose stated objective, if they’re Muslim Brotherhood, is to wage civilization jihad in order to impose Islamic State here.” He says that he conservatively estimates that “well over seventy percent” of the “over 3000 mosques, Islamic centers in the United States right now,” belong to “the Muslim Brotherhood’s network.” During the interview, Guandolo explained:... http://www.aim.org/aim-column/john-guandolo-discusses-the-muslim-brotherhoods-network-in-america-attacks-the-media/?utm_source=AIM+-+Daily+Email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Email%20May-17-2017&utm_medium=email
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Robert Mueller to oversee
Russia election probe as special counsel
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{foxnews.com} ~The Justice Department announced Wednesday it has appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to oversee a federal investigation into the probe of alleged Russian influence of the 2016 presidential election... The appointment came amid a growing Democratic outcry for someone outside the Justice Department to handle the politically charged investigation. “In my capacity as acting Attorney General, I determined that it is in the public interest for me to exercise my authority and appoint a Special Counsel to assume responsibility for this matter," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a statement. "My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted.”... http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05/17/robert-mueller-to-oversee-russia-election-probe-as-special-counsel.html
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Robert Mueller to oversee Russia
election probe as special counsel
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{foxnews.com} ~ The Justice Department announced Wednesday it has appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to oversee a federal investigation into the probe of alleged Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election... The appointment came amid a growing Democratic outcry for someone outside the Justice Department to handle the politically charged investigation. “In my capacity as acting Attorney General, I determined that it is in the public interest for me to exercise my authority and appoint a Special Counsel to assume responsibility for this matter," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a statement. "My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted.”...The crybabies dems got what they wanted. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05/17/robert-mueller-to-oversee-russia-election-probe-as-special-counsel.html
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Ann Coulter names top politicos who should
be very worried about Mueller
by Scott Morefield
{bizpacreview.com} ~ Given the near-constant manufactured media hysteria surrounding supposed Russian meddling in the 2016 election and allegations of collusion with the Trump campaign... Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s appointment of former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III as an outside special counsel to get to the bottom of things may very well be the best thing to happen to President Trump’s agenda. Mueller is widely regarded by responsible people on both sides as being above reproach, so it will be difficult to argue with his conclusions, once reached, and now that he and his staff will be doing their jobs, perhaps Congress can get on with doing theirs. While most of Trump’s supporters remain confident that there’s nothing of substance behind all the collusion smoke and are anxious for it to be over and proven once and for all, another great thing could come out of someone like Mueller digging into the whole matter…http://www.bizpacreview.com/2017/05/18/ann-coulter-names-top-politicos-worried-mueller-trumps-not-one-492468?utm_source=BizPac+Review+Email+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a1f17a7ed7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_18&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fbf9323fb3-a1f17a7ed7-31515453
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American Greatness and the PLO
by Caroline Glick
{truthrevolt.org} ~ Eight years from now, China will outstrip the US as the world’s largest economy. In three years, Israeli GDP per capita will outstrip Japan’s. These two data points are useful to bear in mind as we consider the Trump administration’s sudden decision to go retro and embrace the liar-Clinton administration’s foreign policy on Israel from the early 1990s.

When then US president Bill liar-Clinton decided to embrace Yasser Arafat, the architect of modern terrorism, it seemed like a safe bet.

The US had just won the Cold War. With the demise of the Soviet Union, US dominance in the Middle East was unquestioned. Even then Syrian president Hafez Assad provided symbolic support for the US-led war against his Baathist counterpart Saddam Hussein.

Assad had no choice. His Soviet protector had just disappeared.

The PLO, for its part, had never been weaker. The Gulf states reacted to Arafat’s support for Saddam in the 1991 war by cutting the PLO off financially. The Palestinian uprising against Israel, which broke out in 1988, sputtered into oblivion in late 1990 because without Arab money, Arafat and his cronies couldn’t pay anyone to attack Israelis.

As for the Arabs, operating under the US’s protective shield, in 1993 the Arab world appeared impermeable to internal pressure. No one imagined that Arab nationalism or the reign of presidents for life, kings and emirs would ever be questioned.

As for Israel, its decision to bow to the US’s demand during the Gulf War to stand down and do nothing in response to Iraq’s unprovoked Scud missile attacks was informed by a sense that Israel could not afford to stand up to America. While many debated the wisdom of this conclusion, the fact was that Israel in 1991 was economically weak. Its per capita income stood at around $15,000. Its economy was entirely dependent on the US and Europe.

With America’s power at an all-time high, liar-Clinton and his people had every reason to believe that with minimal effort, they would be able to reach a peace deal between the Israelis and the PLO.

In the event, the assessment that peace would be an easy effort turned out to be entirely wrong. Arafat and his deputy Mahmoud Abbas played the Americans for fools. Worse, they humiliated liar-Clinton.

In July 2000, when Arafat rejected Israel’s US-supported offer of peace at Camp David, it wasn’t just the notion of peaceful coexistence with Israel that he rejected. He rejected the notion that you cannot stand up to America.

liar-Clinton aggravated the deleterious effect of Arafat’s action when rather than either retaliate against the PLO chieftain or at a minimum cutting his losses and walking away, liar-Clinton spent the last months and weeks of his presidency pursuing Arafat and begging him to agree to a deal. liar-Clinton went so far as to present his own peace offer to the PLO chief with less than a month left in office. And Arafat stomped away.

A lot of people were watching what happened. And a lot of people drew the logical conclusion: the US is a paper tiger. You can humiliate it. You can attack it. And the Americans, secure in their belief that unlike every other world power in history their primacy was permanent, would do nothing to you.

When liar-Clinton left office, it wasn’t just the peace process that lay in shambles. America’s reputation was also massively weakened. In contempt of Washington, North Korea was racing toward the nuclear finish line.

Iran was taking over south Lebanon through Hezbollah and murdering Americans in Saudi Arabia.

India and Pakistan went nuclear.

And al-Qaida bombed two US embassies and one US naval destroyer.

How could liar-Clinton pay attention to these things when he was captivated by the notion that once a peace deal was signed with the PLO, all the problems of the region would disappear?

He couldn’t.

And in time, neither could his successors. George W. Bush and Barack liar-nObama each in time adopted liar-Clinton’s near religious faith in the curative powers of embracing the PLO at Israel’s expense. Why should the world’s sole superpower deal with the difficult and bloody pathologies of the Islamic world? Why should it consider modernizing its alliances with its Asian partners as China rose seemingly inexorably? Why should it consider its inability to expand the US economy by 4% a year as a national security threat when all would be well the minute that the PLO agreed to a deal with a diminished and enfeebled Jewish state?

And so three American presidents have wasted 24 years ignoring serious and growing threats and changing global conditions while embracing the fantasy that the PLO holds the keys to global peace, or the ultimate deal or American exculpation of the sins of its past.

Israel for its part has followed its American friends down the garden path, even as the rationale for doing so has vastly diminished.

While the Americans surrendered their universities to the fantasies of anti-American multiculturalists and grievance mongers, Israel has modernized its markets, strengthened its society and revolutionized its economy.

One of the reasons Israel didn’t dare to question the Americans in the early 1990s was its terrible credit rating. In 1988 Israel’s credit rating was – BBB. And it needed to borrow billions of dollars to pay for the absorption needs of a million Jews from the former Soviet Union who moved to Israel from 1989 through 2006. US loan guarantees were the only way Israel could borrow money at affordable rates.

Over the intervening quarter century, those million Jews were the major driver in developing Israel’s information economy.

The main reason that Israel has maintained its slavish devotion to America’s PLO fetish is that our leftist elites, that dominate the media, share it. Like the American foreign policy discourse, Israel’s elites’ assessment of Israel’s priorities has remained frozen in time for the past 24 years.

The same cannot be said of the public.

The vast majority of Israelis have greeted President Donald Trump’s sudden embrace of his predecessor’s obsession with the PLO with surprise and at best bemusement.

“Well, good luck with that,” is the most polite response.

It isn’t simply that unlike the American foreign policy establishment, the vast majority of Israelis are convinced there is no deal to be had with the PLO. Most Israelis simply don’t care anymore. They view the PLO and the Palestinians as largely irrelevant.

When Israeli leaders outside the leftist elite’s echo chambers prefer to speak with foreign audiences about anything beside the Palestinians, it isn’t because they are trying to avoid an unpleasant conversation. It is because they don’t see the point anymore.

The notion that a PLO state will make the region more stable as far more coherent Arab states collapse is absurd.

The notion that it is necessary to empower the PLO to win Arab allies when the Arabs are beating a path to Israel’s door begging for help in defeating Sunni jihadists and Iran is ridiculous.

The notion that Israel’s ability to expand its markets is contingent on peace with the PLO when every week more world leaders descend on Jerusalem to sign trade deals with Israel is not even worthy of a giggle.

As for demography, the American hysteria is bizarre.

The Palestinians already have passports and vote – when they are allowed to – in their own elections. Why would Israel be expected to let them vote for the Knesset?

Beyond that, Jewish immigration to Israel remains high. Israel’s Jewish birthrates have surpassed its Muslim birthrates both within sovereign Israel and in Judea and Samaria.

So why would Israel give up Jerusalem for demography?

As for Israel’s Arab citizens, the truth it that but for the meddling of foreign governments, Israel’s Arab population would have integrated fully into Israeli society a decade ago.

Next week, President Trump will arrive here. His meeting last week with PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas and statements by administration officials since make clear that Trump intends to be the fourth US president to get sucked into the PLO vortex.

Trump will arrive in Israel believing that his campaign pledge to “Make America Great Again,” and his goal of reaching the “ultimate deal” with the PLO are complementary aims.

If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explains nothing else to Trump when they meet next week, he should explain to him that the two goals are mutually exclusive. And if he has any extra time, Netanyahu should give Trump the details of the massive price America has paid, since 1993, for its three past presidents’ obsession with the PLO.
Read more…

Thursday PM ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
Who Has Absolute Health Care Moral Authority?
by Michelle Malkin
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 Top Headlines 
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McMaster on Trump's conversation with Russians: "Real issue" is leaks. (CNS News)
 
liar-nObama ordered the U.S. intelligence community to share intel with Cuba. (The Federalist)
 
liar-nObama's CIA director leaked top secret bin Laden raid intel to Hollywood. (The Federalist)
 
Traitor Bradley "Chelsea" Manning walks free. (The Hill)
 
Petition to ABC to save Tim Allen's "Last Man Standing" draws intense interest. (The Washington Times)
 
Still great: GOP doubles campaign war chest for 2018 midterms. (Washington Examiner)
 
Californians finally striking back against Democrats who keep raising their taxes. (Hot Air)
 
These are the 15 most expensive U.S. states. (CNBC)
 
Report: Net neutrality leads to higher prices, less innovation. (The Washington Free Beacon)
 
Humor: The Venezuela Diet! Socialism works... for weight loss. (Reason)
 
Policy: How Maine reformed its welfare system. (The Insider)
 
Policy: Forging a consensus on Medicaid reform. (E21
~The Patriot Post
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DNC, DC Mayor’s Office Behind
Seth Rich Murder Cover Up
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Former Washington DC police detective Rod Wheeler, a Fox News contributor, will have a major release of information for the network which is set to be aired Wednesday morning... It regards the murder former DNC staffer Seth Rich and builds on information released today that Rich was in fact in communication with WikiLeaks and clearly was a source of information. Over 44,000 emails and 17,000 attachments passed between Rich and WikiLeaks, that’s still not a discussion of yoga positions or wedding plans. Reporter Marina Marraco of Fox 5 in DC, asks the question, “Why has DC Police, as the lead agency on the investigation for the past ten months, insisted this was a botched robbery, when til this day there is no evidence to suggest that?” Rod Wheeler tells her, “The police department nor the FBI has been forthcoming, they haven’t been cooperating at all. I believe that the answer to solving his death lies on that computer, which I believe is either at the police department or either at the FBI. I’ve been told both.”...  http://rickwells.us/dnc-dc-mayors-office-seth-rich-murder-cover/
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Maxine Waters Admits No Proof Exists
of Collusion between Trump, Russia
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{patrioticviralnews.com} ~ That’s what Democratic Congresswoman and perennial crank Maxine Waters ought to learn, as this revealing clip shows. Time and again, Waters has loudly called for Donald Trump’s impeachment... practically since the day the president was elected. But just as other prominent Democrats have admitted, no evidence has come to light to justify those actions. Activists from Michael Moore to Madonna would be on Cloud Nine if such evidence came to light, but so far, there’s absolutely nothing, as even former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has said. So angry has President Trump become over this issue that he’s essentially tweeted these very words, using Clapper’s quotes and calling out the media for publishing “Fake News” about the story, which is essentially a non-story...http://patrioticviralnews.com/articles/maxine-waters-admits-no-proof-exists-of-collusion-between-trump-russia/
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Napolitano Reveals Possible Extent
Of Surveillance Under liar-nObama
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by Jack Davis
{westernjournalism.com} ~ Surveillance during the liar-nObama administration might have even reached the Supreme Court, Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said Monday... Napolitano focused much of his interview with Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business Network on recent concerns voiced by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that he was a subject of surveillance. Napolitano also added something he was told by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. “Justice Scalia told me that he often thought the court was being surveilled. And he told me that probably four or five years ago,” Napolitano said...http://www.westernjournalism.com/napolitano-reveals-possible-extent-surveillance-obama/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=conservativevideos&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=libertyalliance
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MARK LEVIN: Let's See ALL The "COMEY MEMOS"
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TUCKER: Tells NYC Councilman to Worry About His City's Problems, Not Trump's Taxes
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Where is the outrage over the leaks about the president?
VIDEO:  http://video.foxnews.com/v/5437198404001
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LIMBAUGH: Americans Could DIE Because WaPo Has Decided To Interfere With U.S. Intel Decisions
VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzP0c6PC_us
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Former Reagan adviser: Non-Stop Trump Critics "Like Squirrels on Crack"
VIDEO:  http://video.insider.foxnews.com/v/5436819907001
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Senator Risch wants traitor who leaked Russian details identified
VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_02LrUr83uc
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Trump's Russia leak: The real scandal
behind the Washington Post story
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by FRED FLEITZ
{familysecuritymatters.org} ~ The Washington Post started a new anti-Trump firestorm late Monday when it reported that President Trump revealed highly classified information on terrorist threats from ISIS in Syria to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak... The Post's sources, current and former U.S. officials, portrayed this as a major scandal that put sensitive intelligence sources and methods at risk. The Post claims it did not reveal all the details of the disclosures from its sources because U.S. officials said this would "jeopardize important intelligence capabilities." Yes, there's a scandal here. It concerns former and current U.S. officials leaking classified information to the press to undermine a U.S. president... http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/trumps-russia-leak-the-real-scandal-behind-the-washington-post-story?f=must_reads
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Who Has Absolute Health Care Moral Authority?
by Michelle Malkin
{truthrevolt.org} ~ Here is what happens if you try to tell health care stories that defy big government orthodoxy:

When GOP Congressman Rodney Davis of Illinois tried to recount how his wife, a nurse and colon cancer survivor, struggled in the nationalized Canadian health care system, liberal protesters responded by uttering "Ugh!" and catcalling him.

When GOP Rep. Tom MacArthur of New Jersey attempted to tell a rowdy town hall audience about health policy insights he gained caring for his special needs daughter, Gracie, who passed away at age 11, he was booed. And jeered. Rude pigs yelled "Shame!" at the insurance executive turned public servant as he talked about his daughter's legacy.

When GOP Rep. David Kustoff of Tennessee wrapped up a meeting with agricultural educators in his district this week, a woman stalked him and an aide -- reportedly, nearly driving them off a road. According to the sheriff's department, the stalker approached Rep. Kustoff's car, "screaming, "striking the windows," "cursing" and blocking the vehicle, according to police.

After GOP Rep. Martha McSally of Arizona voted for the House liar-nObamacare repeal plan, an unhinged Tucson public school employee left voice messages on her congressional office phone line threatening to "wring" her neck and "pull the trigger" to shoot her between the eyes.

When I countered late-night joker Jimmy Kimmel's liar-nObamacare-cheerleading monologue tied to his newborn child's chronic illness with my own experience as a mother of a chronically ill child, left-wing readers called me an "insensitive b----" "mean-spirited" and "twisted." One reading comprehension-challenged letter writer, Diane Goldwater, wrote:

"Perhaps one day one of your children will suffer from a life-threatening disease... what goes around comes around we will see how you feel when it happens to someone you love."

Along similar bloodthirsty lines, in response to all Republicans who supported the House health insurance package, Newsweek writer Kurt Eichenwald seethed on Twitter that he wanted his political enemies and their loved ones to be "tortured:"

"I hope every GOPr who voted 4 Trumpcare sees a family member get long term condition, lose insurance & die."

As ever, absolute moral authority only belongs to those who preach civility and compassion for others -- while ramming their own policy preferences and values down our throats.

Millions of us who wanted our individual market health insurance plans left alone were branded selfish or liars for the past eight years. Our stories were stifled; our cancellation notices derided; our accounts of skyrocketing health insurance costs and diminished access to doctors mocked.

The partisan Beltway press shot down true stories of government-engineered pain and suffering, while hyping countless tall tales spun by the liar-nObamacare Fable Factory.

Remember when Organizing for Action previously liar-nObama for America peddled the "success story" of Chad Henderson, a supposedly random millenial who miraculously enrolled in liar-nObamacare while everyone else in America experienced major tech meltdowns and sticker shock? Chad was an OFA volunteer who had actually never enrolled in liar-nObamcare -- and then claimed he was just "joking" when he got caught lying.

Or how about Otto Raddatz, the Illinois cancer patient promoted by President liar-nObama who supposedly died after he was dropped from his plan when his insurer discovered an unreported gallstone the patient hadn't known about. The truth? He got the treatment he needed in 2005 and lived for nearly four more years.

The Mother of All Pre-Existing Condition Cons, of course, involved President liar-nObama's own mom, Stanley Ann Dunham. He invoked Dunham's alleged deathbed fight with her insurer repeatedly in his quest for top-down health insurance mandates:

"For my mother to die of cancer at the age of 53 and have to spend the last months of her life in the hospital room arguing with insurance companies because they're saying that this may be a pre-existing condition and they don't have to pay her treatment, there's something fundamentally wrong about that."

But Dunham's health insurer had in fact reimbursed her medical expenses with no objections. The actual coverage dispute centered on a separate disability insurance policy.

To left-wing liars and control freaks go the government spoils and political immunity shields.

To the rest of us who dare to tell our counternarratives? Ad hominem attacks, road rage, death threats -- and complete apathy from the selective news suppressers of the Fourth Estate.

http://www.truthrevolt.org/commentary/malkin-who-has-absolute-health-care-moral-authority

Read more…

Thursday Noon ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
The Other Half of the Comey Story
by Ed Klein
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 Trump's Messaging and Communication Debacle 
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By Thomas Gallatin: Kellyanne Conway, senior counselor to Donald Trump, recently described her boss as "an unconventional president who is an excellent communicator." While few would disagree with Conway's assessment of Trump being "unconventional," he's a far cry from the Great Communicator.
          While Trump's talking over the media while working toward reforming government is certainly Reaganesque, his temperament and inability to clearly communicate and stay on message set him apart. Where President Ronald Reagan went out of his way to find common ground and unite the country, Trump is more apt to go out of his way to pick fights with his opponents — many of them needless or without any clear objective. Where Reagan overlooked an insult, Trump insults back twice as hard.
          Trump is clearly and justifiably frustrated with the hostile mainstream media and loves to respond in kind. This "fighter" attitude brought supporters flocking to his banner. But it's become a war for control of the narrative — a war that he cannot win with his undisciplined and often confusing approach toward message communication.
          Trump's proclivity for tweeting has too often landed him into messaging troubles. He justifies the practice as an effective means of circumnavigating Leftmedia spin, allowing him to get his message directly to the people. He's right in a way, and, again, that campaign persona did propel him to popularity with the millions of Americans who tire of the seemingly spineless Republican. But a regular lack of clarity and some dubious claims or factually inaccurate tweets have provided more fodder for MSM criticism, rather than offer a clearly articulated statement on solid policy. He's campaigning, not governing, as we repeatedly said of Barack liar-nObama.
          As the negative media fallout over Trump's explanation for firing FBI Director James Comey came due to the inconsistency of his account with that of his staff, he responded via his favorite media platform, tweeting, "As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!" He then added what has proven to be yet another MSM talking point: "Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future 'press briefings' and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy???"
          Or maybe he and his staff could get on the same page before setting the narrative and then changing it.
          Predictably, the MSM had a field day claiming Trump is seeking to stifle the free press. Sending them on a wild goose chase may have been the intended aim of his tweet, but it's a long way from clear communication.
          Friday morning, after his previous evening interview with NBC in which he dealt with questions over Comey's firing, Trump seemed to feel the need to warn/threaten Comey. Trump tweeted, "James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!" Why did Trump feel the need to ring that Pavlovian bell? The Leftmedia was already referring to his firing of Comey as "Nixonian" before he fed the beast.
          The problem is that more often than not Trump's tweeting habit relays mere emotional outbursts rather than cogent arguments. His tweets often amount to little more than heckling and trolling than they do any form of substantive communications. This is his strategy — so as to connect him to his voting base — but that doesn't mean it's a good one. Trump is loath to recognize that his tweeting is hampering his agenda.
          The bigger question is this: Where is the leadership? Where is Trump leading on health care or tax reform? Besides a few brief mentions, there is little coming from Trump. He put out intriguing corporate and individual tax reform proposals ... and then promptly stopped talking about them. As he watched health care reform crash and burn in the House, he just tweeted a few accusations against conservatives before turning his attention elsewhere. He celebrated its later passage with a Rose Garden ceremony, but what's he doing to move it through the Senate?
          He has the bully pulpit but has been slow to use it because his focus has been, well, unfocused.
          Another point: In a strange way, Trump and the MSM are in a sort of symbiotic relationship, both feeding off each other. The MSM loves his chaos for the constant "scandal" news alerts with which it can sell advertising. And Trump seems to enjoy it for its reality-TV-like excitement, and for the pure joy of tormenting his opponents.
          Long gone are the excited feelings and hopeful statements after Trump's impressive speech given to the joint Congress at the outset of his term. Now, many conservatives and Republicans alike (particularly the staff he contradicts) are cringing at the thought of Trump's next tweet or press interview. While many of his decisions have been welcome changes, his confounding tweeting and the general failure of White House communication are simply agonizing. Again, tweeting and campaigning are different than governing, and it's time Trump put as much energy into the latter as he does the former.  ~The Patriot Post
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Trump Team Must Wake Up –
Left Declared War, It’s About Survival
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Lou Dobbs has a few thoughts on the communications room in the White House, “the concerted attacks now from all sides, the left-wing media, the Dems, weak-kneed Republicans... the latest feeding frenzy sparked by leaks in the Washington Post concerning whether Trump released classified information to the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador, a story curiously released at the same time Mr. Trump is about to begin his first foreign trip as President on Friday. Dobbs explains, “The fact is, the President has the right as the chief executive to declassify information if that’s what he chooses to do. The President was talking about intel that Israel developed regarding threats from the Islamic State.” He quotes a statement from the Israeli government dismissing the overblown treatment of the situation by the anti-American press. The Israelis downplayed the situation, saying, “Israel has full confidence in our intelligence-sharing with the United States and looks forward to deepening that relationship in the years ahead under President Trump.”... http://rickwells.us/dobbs-trump-team-must-wake-left-declared-war-survival/
VIDEO:  at the site
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Bill O’Reilly To Do Weekly Gig On
Glenn Beck’s Radio Show
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by Onan Coca
{lidblog.com} ~ Bill O’Reilly may be down, but he’s not out and he still has a lot of friends in the TV and radio game... One of them is a former colleague at Fox News who happens to run a very successful news and entertainment network called TheBlaze. His name is, of course, Glenn Beck, and he and O’Reilly will soon be teaming up to deliver content every Friday afternoon. Beck seemingly confirmed the story with a simple tweet of an article at The Hill article that confirmed O’Reilly’s claim... http://lidblog.com/bill-oreilly-glenn-beck/
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What Iran Fears Most
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by Shahriar Kia
{clarionproject.org} ~ Iranians will be taking advantage of the May 19 presidential election to voice their apathy and respond to calls being made to boycott the so-called polls. They may also use the sham elections to spark an uprising against the regime... The Iranian people have lost all hope in any form of real elections in Iran, knowing the theocratic regime vets all candidates based on their loyalty to the ruling establishment. This leaves no room for free and fair elections, and thus any expectation of changes inside Iran or in the regime’s foreign policy through elected officials is utterly naïve. Even the past four years under the so-called “moderate” or “reformist” President Hassan Rouhani, Iran has executed over 3,000 people, enhanced its ballistic missiles program, openly backed the ruthless regime of Bashar Assad in Syria and further funded proxy wars in Iraq and Yemen. These regional crusades have deprived the Iranian people of dozens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars... https://clarionproject.org/what-iran-fears-most/
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McMaster Tries Explaining Russian
Intel Sharing To Thick-Headed Libs
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ The press briefing conducted by National Security Adviser HR McMaster on Tuesday illustrates the reality of the futility of trying to reason with or even have a conversation with a leftist... Nothing penetrates their thick skulls, everything is dismissed for one reason or another as invalid, and they leave just as dissatisfied, critical and belligerent as they were when they arrived. Perhaps they’re even more hostile if their empty arguments and unfounded positions were completely vaporized by truth and reality. McMaster does what the administration still insists on doing, accommodating the sharks by swimming with them rather than closing the beach and opting for the calmer waters of a pool, where only the civilized, objective, true journalists are welcome. At some point they need to stop enabling their antagonists and attackers... http://rickwells.us/mcmaster-tries-explaining-russian-intel-sharing-thick-headed-libs/
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Susan Rice Seeking Immunity Deal
by MIchael DePinto
 
{freedomoutpost.com} ~ Trump said that he would drain the swamp and much to the surprise of his detractors, he appears committed to his campaign pledges. Comey’s unceremonious but well-deserved firing was a warning shot across the bow... and it appears that former National Security Advisor to liar-nObama, Susan Rice, has heard the shot loud and clear. For the record, let's be very clear here. Regardless what nonsense the Democrats or the mainstream media will be spouting in the coming days ahead and there will be plenty of it, make no mistake, it will all be pure B.S., and it will all be in an attempt to distract Americans from what is easily going to be the largest scandal in our nation's history…In the following video, Right Wing News looks at reports which claim that Rice is now seeking immunity in exchange for spilling the beans on higher ups... http://freedomoutpost.com/bombshell-susan-rice-seeking-immunity-deal/
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The Other Half of the Comey Story
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by Ed Klein
{
townhall.com} ~ Much of the media’s coverage of James Comey’s firing has focused on Donald Trump’s frequent self-defeating decision-making process.

Without warning and while Comey was out of town, Trump fired him in a manner that many people—even those who thought Comey deserved to be fired—considered demeaning.

But how did Comey, who’s often described as the last Boy Scout in Washington, handle his public humiliation?

Here’s the other half of the story.

Shortly after he was fired, a furious Comey boarded a Department of Justice Gulfstream G550 at Los Angeles Airport and began barking orders at his assistants.

He tried several times to reach Trump by telephone to get an explanation why he was fired in such a disrespectful manner. No one at the White House would take his call.

He was far from pleased that Trump appointed his deputy, Andrew McCabe, as acting director of the bureau. When McCabe’s wife ran for the Virginia state senate, she received thousands of dollars from a super PAC controlled by liar-Hillary Clinton’s close friend, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe.

Comey questioned whether McCabe was too close to the liar-Clintons during the FBI’s investigation of liar-Hillary’s e-mails.

After Comey landed in Washington, he called his wife, Patrice, who was in tears. She told him that the way he was treated by the president made it look as though he had committed some horrible crime.

Comey vowed to his wife that he would fight back and not allow his firing to be a stain on his character.

He also told friends that he wouldn’t be cowed by President Trump’s threatening tweet— “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”

In fact, Comey does not believe there are any incriminating tapes in Trump’s possession, and he intends to give interviews, pen Op-Ed pieces, and write a book about his experience.
Read more…

Thursday AM ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
Government Punishes Disfigured Combat
Vet Thousands of Dollars - For Working
by Rachel Alexander
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Despicable clown-Schumer Ignored Secrets
On liar-Clinton Server, Blasts Trump...
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Senator Chuck clown-Schumer oozes hypocrisy and reeks of sleaze as he steps to the podium of the Senate and embarks on another lie-based, innuendo-laden political attack on President Trump... clown-Schumer, the swamp snake, quotes a leak from the Washington Post which states that classified information was shared by President Trump with the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador regarding the terrorist threat from ISIS, the group that Hussein liar-nObama and liar-Hillary Clinton created. clown-Schumer seizes on the opportunity to attack not only President Trump, but Russia as well, highlighting every negative aspect of their conduct that he can. He included a reference to the still unproven hacking hoax as being a fact, and failing to note that they are fighting the same Democrat-created terrorist organization and could be considered an ally in that effort...What lies. http://rickwells.us/despicable-schumer-ignored-secrets-clinton-server-blasts-trump-sharing-intelligence/
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US Approves $2 Billion Missile
Sale to United Arab Emirates
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by Jason Ditz
{antiwar.com} ~ The Pentagon has issued a statement confirming that the US State Department has signed off on a $2 billion sale of US-made Patriot missiles to the United Arab Emirates... adding to the tiny Gulf nation’s ever growing military arsenal. The sale includes 65 PAC-3 interceptors and 100 GEM-T missiles. It is unclear when the UAE intends to do with all these missiles, though the State Department was willing to sign off on it being in the “national security” interest of the US to make the sales... http://news.antiwar.com/2017/05/11/us-approves-2-billion-missile-sale-to-uae/
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Show Us All The Comey Memos –
What Else Was Comey Sitting On
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Mark Levin, obviously disgusted with the incessant political chicanery of the Democrats in their effort to remove or seriously diminish President Trump... addresses the latest angle of attack, the supposed memo that disgraced former FBI Director Comey wrote to himself about a meeting in February with President Trump. Levin says, with sarcastic feigned excitement, “Comey wrote a memo after he met with Trump in February. February, in February? Oh yes, yes.” Levin quotes the supposed memo, in its recounting of the alleged conversation and President Trump asking Comey to “just let it go,” to forget that whole investigation into Flynn. Levin notes that if it were true, “he’s interfering with an investigation.” He points out that “the information comes from senior officials at the FBI who Comey worked with, former associates and others. So Comey is putting it out.”... http://rickwells.us/levin-show-comey-memos-comey-sitting/
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Republican Asks For Comey Memo On
liar-Clinton Meeting With Loretta Lynch
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by Kerry Picket
{dailycaller.com} ~ “If the New York Times has Comey’s memo that means we’re going to be able to see it and I would assume that would be fair... I assume that Mr. Comey also kept, if he’s disturbed by the same memos, that he gave to or about when Mrs. liar-Clinton’s husband appeared in the jet with the attorney general,” Texas Republican Rep. Pete  Sessions told The Daily Caller Tuesday. “So I assume that memo would be available to us also. And I would assume that we will see a number of disturbing trends that took place at the Department of Justice during the liar-nObama administration for whatever he’s claiming and I’ll look forward to seeing all those,” Sessions said. “But I cannot comment, because I have not seen them but I would assume that Mr. Comey that if he kept one on this visit, evidently, he has others. Now I look forward to seeing those.”... http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/16/republican-asks-for-comey-memo-on-clinton-meeting-with-loretta-lynch/
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Trey Gowdy Stops Just Short Of Calling
Collusion On The liar-Clintons And The DOJ
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by Amber Athey
{dailycaller.com} ~ Republican South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy said on Fox News Tuesday night that the liar-Clintons’ “entanglements” with the Department of Justice run much deeper than the average viewer may know... On Fox News’ “The Story,” Gowdy cryptically told host Martha McCallum that he believes “history will be much kinder to Jim Comey in that July press conference than the Democrats were.” “I think he had access to information that, because he is a stand-up guy he’s not gonna disseminate classified information though God knows everybody else is…so all your viewers see is this meeting on the tarmac,” he explained... http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/16/gowdy-clinton-doj-connections-run-deep-video/
VIDEO:  at the site
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Government Punishes Disfigured Combat
Vet Thousands of Dollars - For Working
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by Rachel Alexander
{
townhall.com} ~ Ellis “Jerry” Majetich served our country in both the Army and the Marine Corps. He was Security Team Leader, Captain's Orderly and Squad Leader with Weapons Company 1/7 during Desert Shield/Storm and a Tactical Team Leader with PSYOP, 7th Group during Operation Iraqi Freedom. In October 2005, his vehicle was struck with an IED. He suffered incredible injuries, including 100 percent face and scalp burns. He was unrecognizable.

Majetich was honorably discharged and given several awards, including the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. His recovery has been a long, uphill battle. He has had 73 surgeries, including extensive facial reconstruction. Parts of his fingers have been amputated; his right hand is basically a nub.

He was eligible for full-time disability, but Majetich thought if he was capable of working and supporting himself, he would. He discovered Drexel Hamilton, a Wall Street firm that trains returning combat veterans in finance. Up until then, it hadn’t been easy for him to find a job. He had no ears, and many employers did not want to deal with his appearance.  

Things finally started to look up for Majetich, and he married a longtime friend. He had no idea of the bureaucratic financial nightmare he was about to embark upon. He told me that he has received nothing less than outstanding medical treatment from the VA. But I am skeptical about its administrative side.

About two and half years ago, Majetich received a bill from the Social Security Administration for about $68,000. He was told that he must repay disability income that he had wrongly received. But he hadn’t done anything wrong.

When Majetich began working, he asked the Social Security Administration to discontinue the disability income. He was told that the pay would continue for six months, on a sort of trial period before being stopped, and would not have to be repaid. After the six months passed, the pay continued but was reduced a little. He immediately went to the agency again to tell them this, and was informed that his benefits had been halted and whatever he was receiving was because he was a combat veteran, or for his children because they were in college. He told them that he did not believe this was a proper benefit and that everything should stop, but they refused.

Over the next year, Majetich went to or called the Social Security office 13 times, which was documented in their computer system, telling them to stop paying him. If he attempted to pay them back, all payments made were simply paid back to him. On one of the last few trips there, his then-fiancee came with him and they both refused to leave until the agency produced something in writing showing he was entitled to the benefits. After almost an hour of research, the agency admitted he was right and finally agreed to halt the benefits. While Majetich was receiving the extra pay, he used it for what they told him it was for. He paid for his children’s schoolbooks and helped with their rent and other expenses.

Majetich again went to the Social Security office to at least try and have part of the $68,000 written off — but in the fine print there were three rules in order to have any part of the bill withdrawn. First, that it was a mistake by SSA. This was easy, it obviously was. Second, the SSA had to have been notified of their error. Again, easy, as shown in their own computer system, Majetich had been in their office 13 times to do this. But, ah, that third and final clause: Were you financially capable of living without the benefit? Due to the work Majetich was doing, he could have survived without it.

He began paying Social Security back $2,000-$2,500 every month.About a month before his wedding, Majetich received a bill from the IRS for about $9,800 saying that because he wasn’t entitled to the Social Security payments, they were being taxed. He dutifully paid the IRS debt off last year.

But then his disability pay from the VA stopped. When he inquired about it, he was told that he had been overpaid $17,600 because he never told them about a 2009 divorce to a previous wife. They said he’d received an extra $200 a month for his spouse after the divorce — curiously providing him with no evidence of this. But Majetich did tell the VA of his divorce immediately after it was finalized, because he didn't want his ex to have any access to his records. The response? It was a different division of the VA and the two departments did not communicate with each other.

How are veterans supposed to know they have to contact several different branches within the VA? He was told there are five different branches that should be notified with any marital changes, dependent changes or moves (the VA Medical Center, the VA Regional Office, Vocational Rehabilitation, Benefits and Finance). None of these offices use the same computer system and their computer systems cannot communicate with each other!

The VA said they sent Majetich a letter last October notifying him of this action and how to set up a payment plan — but the letter was sent to an address he had seven years ago.

Majetich was told if he didn’t set up a payment plan with the VA, he would not receive his $3,360 monthly payments for the next six months. But without this money, how could he pay Social Security back every month? He eventually obtained a partial benefits payment, but in return the veteran had to set up a monthly repayment plan of $1,400 for the next year.

In the past two and a half years, Majetich has received approximately $96,000 in bills from the government, of which he has paid back $55,000 so far. He now must pay Medicare premiums, since he is no longer receiving Social Security. This is ridiculous given that someone who is considered 100 percent disabled is not charged premiums!

Considering what Majetich went through due to his injuries, and the extensive efforts he took in order to clear up the disability payments, he should not be penalized for the government’s gross mistakes. He is one of the last Americans this should happen to.

Majetich is still undergoing extensive medical procedures. He is being treated for pre-cancerous cells on his lip and is waiting to receive laser treatment on his lips where the skin grafts are ripping at the corner of his mouth. He needs surgery on his right elbow for heterotopic ossification, where bone forms in the soft tissues, typically after a trauma or burn. He also needs surgery on what remains of his right hand to loosen the tendons, because it puts his hand into a fist and pulls it down at the wrist, causing significant pain.

Some medical issues he will live with the rest of his life. If he reads more than an article or something brief that requires comprehension, he has severe headaches due to traumatic brain injury. When he's overtired, his speech slows down and it is very difficult for him to speak. He aches from his injuries. He suffers from PTSD that worsens when he takes pain medication.

How do you fix this? Ellis Majetich doesn’t want pity. There needs to be a veterans’ advocate for seriously injured veterans. Congress can do this. And the rules need to be standardized across the board within the VA. Overall, the VA has provided Majetich with excellent medical care. But the lack of communication within the agency and with veterans is a real problem that needs work. All Majetich wanted to do was work to support himself and his family, instead of having taxpayers pay for his regular living expenses. President Trump said he is fixing problems within the VA. He or Congress need to fix this one, fast. 
Read more…

Wednesday PM ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
Everything you want to know about Seth Rich story
by Chelsea Schilling
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 The Latest WaPo Dezinformatsiya on Trump 
 and the Russians 
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According to the old adage, there are two sides to any story — unless it's a Leftmedia hit piece, and then there is only their side.
          Monday the Washington Post trumpeted, "Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador." The Post claimed that Donald Trump disclosed classified information that "jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State." The Post asserted the sources of this information were current and former unnamed U.S. officials. How's that for ambiguity.
          Of course, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Reuters, CNN and BuzzFeed all got the same memo from the same "official sources" with the same objectives.
          Monday evening, both National Security Advisor H.R. McMasters and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson insisted the Post's "story is false." McMasters stated, "At no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed and no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly." Tillerson released a similar statement which read, "During President Trump's meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov a broad range of subjects were discussed among which were common efforts and threats regarding counter-terrorism. During that exchange the nature of specific threats were discussed, but they did not discuss, sources, methods or military operations."
          Tuesday morning Trump weighed in with the following social media post, "As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism." That brought howls of accusations, claiming that according to the Post, "Trump just threw his top advisers under the bus ... again." We're not sure how that phrase applies here because he didn't contradict anything they said, even though that's what the Post would have you assume.
          Here's a reality check: Nations with shared national security interests, in this case concerns about bombs on civilian airliners, share classified information on a regular basis. The ostensible reason for the Post report is not that sensitive information was shared, but a much more nuanced and complicated question of what protocols, sources and methods might have been compromised by sharing some piece of information. "Nuanced and complicated questions" are the stuff of great conspiracy theories, and lots of MSM advertising revenue.
          It's not like Trump kept classified information exposing sources and methods on a private unsecured server in a bathroom closet, as was the case with liar-Hillary Clinton. Nor was it like Barack liar-nObama, who whispered in the ear of Dmitry Medvedev that after his re-election he could cut a deal with Vladimir Putin and sell out U.S. national security.
          The Leftmedia, of which the Washington Post is a flagship outlet, are propagating this story for two reasons. First, it sells. It's the life blood of tabloids — and WaPo has devolved into little more than that. Second, the Washington establishment is terrified of this administration's policy objectives, restoring Rule of Law and disenfranchising central government power — and the MSM is doing everything possible to disable and undermine those objectives. ~The Patriot Post 
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.
Turkey’s Erdogan Is No Ally Of America
WRU9URw3fAZ4eCndRKykhviEoWs3e1d2cgfWFhs2XQVR8YW6TFgO3OFuBAqk0bAqDyVEqIHDGIq1lRRvpN5nmao5hByIJAjI8zr6B0Y1-HP5jieTVGWyBNe_z4EGLgc=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
by George Rasley
{conservativehq.com} ~ Today, President Trump is meeting with Turkey’s Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. You will hear a lot in the establishment media, and maybe even some from the White House, talk about what an important “ally” Turkey is to the United States... Don’t believe it. It is true that Turkey is part of NATO and was once part of our bulwark against the old communist Soviet Union, but those days are long past. Today, Turkey’s government is part of the Islamist assault on the West and President Erdogan is one of the Muslim world’s leading advocates of cultural jihad and hijra – Muslim invasion by immigration... http://www.conservativehq.com/node/25676
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Arkansas Joins Ranks of States Standing Up to
Protect Constitutional Rights Against Foreign Law
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by CHRISTOPHER HOLTON
{familysecuritymatters.org} ~ Thanks to the tenacity and persistence of two key legislators in the Arkansas state capitol, Arkansas has joined the growing ranks of states that have moved to protect their citizens and residents from foreign laws and foreign legal doctrines... including Shariah, in state courts. The U.S. Constitution especially under the Bill of Rights, the first Ten Amendments to the Constitution, has a unique set of rights that are truly unique around the world. Rights like Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Expression covered under the First Amendment, the Right to Bear Arms in the Second Amendment, Due Process, Equal Protection-all of these rights are uniquely American and are specified in our Constitution. Many foreign laws and foreign legal doctrines, including Sharia as just one example, as practiced around the world are in direct contravention of these rights. In fact, such rights do not exist in many foreign laws and foreign legal doctrines. When court cases arise in the United States involving foreign laws, there are inevitable conflicts with the U.S. Constitution... http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/arkansas-joins-ranks-of-states-standing-up-to-protect-constitutional-rights-against-foreign-law?f=must_reads
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TUCKER: Hate of Trump has blinded media
.
Sen. Sasse: The Russians do not have our interests at heart
VIDEO:  http://video.foxnews.com/v/5435343778001
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Dr. Peter Pry on N. Korea’s claim that they have successfully tested a ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead
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McMaster: WaPo Story About Trump Sharing Classified Materials With Russians is "False"
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Vice President Pence: "Radical Islamic Terrorists" Are "the Embodiment of Evil in Our Times"
VIDEO:  http://www.mrctv.org
.
Ted Cruz may be the only man who
can save the GOP health bill
ByUUKgwiT8JCCu7ccotmsyu-WBByo7T2B_xAgqjcHkkY2kQbkjEzqhPuCfYWAh6dmPCNaleQ7ffkgzo2JiYg8-9hODti36mHd5VH_ahMMchT9S6PBMUd0oEeIuTaM5DjDXRuE_czf7CqQFbuHyJY_iJ68Gw52kcPQeZ4BJyij_CrGjIHBbW9h-vJFnKEEpdWnVUmAd3dyFg7yJY=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
by Jake Novak
{cnbc.com} ~ Senator Ted Cruz has spent much of his tenure in Washington angering Democrats, Republicans, and the Trump team to boot. It often seems like he may be the most hated man in American politics... But now, he just might be the most needed. This is all because the GOP liar-nObamacare replacement bill is on life support on arrival in the U.S. Senate. As it stands now, it's a lot like Cruz in that it's almost universally hated by everyone. Of course the bill is a non-starter for Democrats, but many Republicans are terrified by the fact that it basically keeps almost all of liar-nObamacare intact without maintaining even its currently insufficient sources of funding. And then comes the White House, which seems to only be interested in getting a replacement bill passed and then declaring victory no matter what's in the measure. So who can save this damaged bill that has almost no fervent supporters?...http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/11/ted-cruz-may-be-the-only-man-who-can-save-the-gop-health-bill-percent-u2014commentary.html
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Comey Do-It-Yourself Fabricated
Evidence Against Trump
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ There are two questions that immediately come to mind when learning of the “new evidence” from James Comey that President Trump supposedly attempted to influence him... the first being why would anyone believe a word this political hack and likely crook has to say and secondly, why would we trust an accounting of it in the New York Times to be anything other than a partisan, anti-Trump hit job? Of course the answer to both questions is “we shouldn’t.” The New York Times is the same trusted “news” source that was busted for fabricating stories about the President and some of the women in his life, such as Rowanne Brewer Lane, a year ago to the day. If anything they’ve gotten less credible since that time. They labeled a document written by Comey, supposedly his own notes of a February meeting with President Trump, as “evidence that the President has tried to directly influence the Justice Department and FBI investigation into links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia.”...http://rickwells.us/comey-diy-fabricated-evidence-trump-nyt-dems-run/
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Everything you want to know about Seth Rich story
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by Chelsea Schilling
{
wnd.com} ~Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, who was murdered nearly one year ago, was communicating with WikiLeaks before his death, according to the family’s private investigator.
 
Investigator Rod Wheeler, a former D.C. police homicide detective who was hired by a third party to investigate for the Rich family, told Fox 5 in Washington, D.C., Rich’s laptop had evidence indicating he had been in contact with the organization.
 
“Now, questions have been raised on why D.C. police, the lead agency on this murder investigation for the past ten months, have insisted this was a robbery gone bad when there appears to be no evidence to suggest that,” the news station reported Monday.
 
“The police department nor the FBI have been forthcoming,” said Wheeler. “They haven’t been cooperating at all. I believe that the answer to solving his death lies on that computer, which I believe is either at the police department or either at the FBI. I have been told both.”
 
A federal investigator who reviewed an FBI forensic report detailing the contents of Rich’s computer generated within 96 hours after his murder told Fox News that Rich made contact with WikiLeaks through Gavin MacFadyen, a now-deceased American investigative reporter, documentary filmmaker and director of WikiLeaks who was living in London at the time.
 
MacFadyen, an early mentor and defender of the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, died of lung cancer in October 2016.
 
The investigator, who requested anonymity, said 44,053 emails and 17,761 attachments between DNC leaders, spanning from January 2015 through late May 2016, were transferred from Rich to MacFadyen before May 21.
 
Fox 5 asked Wheeler if his sources have connected Rich to WikiLeaks, and he replied: “Absolutely. Yeah. That’s confirmed.”
 
Wheeler said he believes there’s a big cover-up that involves the FBI and the police department.
 
“My investigation shows someone within the D.C. government, Democratic National Committee or liar-Clinton team is blocking the murder investigation from going forward,” Wheeler told Fox News. “That is unfortunate. Seth Rich’s murder is unsolved as a result of that.”
 
Wheeler also told the station: “I have a source inside the police department that has looked at me straight in the eye and said, ‘Rod, we were told to stand down on this case and I can’t share any information with you.’ Now, that is highly unusual for a murder investigation, especially from a police department. Again, I don’t think it comes from the chief’s office, but I do believe there is a correlation between the mayor’s office and the DNC and that is the information that will come out Tuesday.”
 
WND contacted Metropolitan Police Department and asked: “Can you confirm or deny your department has a laptop owned by murder victim Seth Rich that had evidence of contact with WikiLeaks on it, or that your department was ‘told to stand down on this case.'”
 
The police department sent WND a statement:
The Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) Homicide Branch is actively investigating Mr. Rich’s murder and we continue to work with the family to bring closure to this case as we do with all homicide investigations. If there are any individuals who feel they have information, we urge them to call us at 202-727-9099 or text us at 50411. The department is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information on this case that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible.
A spokesman for Rich’s family on Tuesday said Wheeler was not authorized to speak for the family and denied the report that Rich had been in contact with WikiLeaks.
 
“As we’ve seen through the past year of unsubstantiated claims, we see no facts, we have seen no evidence, we have been approached with no emails and only learned about this when contacted by the press,” spokesman Brad Bauman said in an emailed statement. “Even if tomorrow, an email was found, it is not a high enough bar of evidence to prove any interactions as emails can be altered and we’ve seen that those interested in pushing conspiracies will stop at nothing to do so.”
 
The family’s statement continued:
 
“We are a family who is committed to facts, not fake evidence that surfaces every few months to fill the void and distract law enforcement and the general public from finding Seth’s murderers. The services of the private investigator who spoke to press was offered to the Rich family and paid for by a third party, and contractually was barred from speaking to press or anyone outside of law enforcement or the family unless explicitly authorized by the family.”
 
Bauman said the family condemned what they see as an attempt to politicize Rich’s death.
 
“It’s sad but unsurprising that a group of media outlets who have repeatedly lied to the American people would try and manipulate the legacy of a murder victim in order to forward their own political agenda,” Bauman told Business Insider. “I think there is a special place in hell for people like that.”
 
Bauman is a professional Democratic crisis public-relations consultant with the Pastorum Group in Washington, D.C.
 
“Progressive politics is my passion, it is more than just my life’s work,” said Bauman in a company press release announcing his hiring in 2016.
 
The slain man’s parents, Mary and Joel Rich of Omaha, Nebraska, said in an August 2016 interview with the Daily Mail that their son had been asked to join liar-Hillary Clinton’s campaign four days before he was murdered.
 
“He had just found out they wanted him and he was probably going to be moving up to Brooklyn through the election. He was really excited about that,” said Joel Rich.
 
WND reported Rich was murdered near his affluent neighborhood in Washington, D.C., on July 10, 2016. He was shot in the back at 4:18 a.m. while he walked home.
 
Rich had been at Lou’s City Bar a couple of miles from his house until about 1:15 a.m.
 
An employee offered Rich a ride home because he appeared intoxicated and unsteady on his feet. Rich refused and said he was planning to walk over to Wonderland Ballroom, a popular late-night bar a few blocks away, reported the London Daily Mail.
 
However, no one at the Wonderland recalls seeing Rich there, and his whereabouts from the time he left Lou’s until the time he was shot remain a mystery.
 
Rich, who called several people as he later walked home, was talking on the phone with his girlfriend, Kelsey Murka, when he was accosted a block from his house.
 
“If it was a robbery it failed because he still has his watch, he still has his money, he still has his credit cards, still had his phone, so it was a wasted effort except we lost a life,” said Joel Rich, shortly after the murder.
 
Police have declined to say whether he was able to describe his assailants.
 
Rich previously worked on the failed U.S. Senate campaign of Nebraska businessman Scott Kleeb, whose clean-energy business had come under investigation after losing $300,000 in 2010 and another $300,000 in 2011 despite having been subsidized by the liar-Clinton Global Initiative.
 
Rich is on WND’s list of 33 people associated with the liar-Clintons who have died mysterious and often violent deaths.
 
On July 22, just 12 days after Rich was killed, WikiLeaks published internal DNC emails that appeared to show top party officials conspired to stop Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont from becoming the party’s presidential nominee.
 
A commentary by Rachel Alexander at Townhall suggested possible corruption between the liar-Clinton Global Initiative and Kleeb “led to Sanders’ cronies pressuring Rich to leak what was going on.”
 
In an August 2016 interview on the Dutch television program Nieuwsuur, Assange appeared to suggest that Rich, 27, was the source of the WikiLeaks-exposed DNC emails.
 
“Our whistleblowers go to significant efforts to give us material, at often very significant risks,” Assange said. “There was a 27 year old, works for the DNC, who was shot in the back, murdered just a few weeks ago for unknown reasons other than that he was walking down the street in Washington.”
 
The interviewer interjected, “That was just a robbery, I believe, wasn’t it?”
 
Assange replied, “No, there’s no finding.”
 
The interviewer asked, “What are you suggesting?”
 
"I’m suggesting that our sources take risks and they become concerned to see things occurring like that,” Assange said.
 
“But was he one of your sources then?” asked the interviewer.
 
“We don’t comment on who our sources are,” Assange said. “We have to understand how high the stakes are in the United States. Our sources are, you know, our sources face serious risks. That’s why they come to us, so we can protect their anonymity.”
 
Assange continued: “Others have suggested that Rich was murdered. We are investigating. If you understand what happened in that situation with Seth Rich, I think it is a concerning situation. There’s not a conclusion yet. We wouldn’t be willing to state a conclusion, but we are concerned about it. More importantly, a variety of WikiLeaks sources are concerned when that kind of thing happens.”
 
Read more…

Wednesday Noon ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
 
Russia: 'Our correspondents feel
like Jews in 1933'
by Adam Taylor
AGHnzvDgAIc_dkrUO59jF21LrUmiQ79dA3RIshU-YlAdfSFPOhc54BmJs1OTRtvnrEX-cCbeiMVXdurlydL03p7YzXsWg_6cAavWTIOYU1PogQU4ftAjtXM=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
.
 The Significance of the Murdered DNC Staffer 
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The Democratic National Committee is back in the news, and it's not just because its being sued for not paying workers $15 an hour to campaign for a federal minimum wage of ... $15 an hour. No, the real story is the DNC staff who was murdered in DC last summer. Why's that a story? Let's look at the history.
          Last summer, WikiLeaks released a huge cache of emails from key Democrats revealing the DNC's conspiracy to sabotage Bernie Sanders' campaign on behalf of liar-Hillary Clinton. We suppose liar-Hillary's "reset" with the Russians worked, because the DNC blamed Moscow for the leaks. Democrats have been screaming about Russia "hacking" the election ever since.
          A few weeks later, Donald Trump hit liar-Clinton over her illegal unsecured email server by taunting, "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 [liar-Hillary Clinton] emails that are missing." What began as the Democrats' Russia hacking narrative soon became the story of Trump colluding with Vladimir Putin. Trump's tease caught liar-Clinton in an obvious contradiction, but Democrats used it to build a narrative.
          Thus the import of what we learn today. Fox News reports, "The Democratic National Committee staffer who was gunned down on July 10 on a Washington, D.C., street just steps from his home had leaked thousands of internal emails to WikiLeaks." Julian Assange, the tool who runs WikiLeaks, suggested this last summer, but he's not exactly a credible source. Now, a federal investigator has confirmed it.
          In any case, 12 days after Rich was shot from behind, WikiLeaks published the damning internal DNC emails — damning not because WikiLeaks released them or "the Russians" hacked them, but because of what Democrats themselves were saying behind closed doors. And then you've got John Podesta emailing, "I'm definitely for making an example of a suspected leaker whether or not we have any real basis for it."
          Death and liar-Hillary Clinton have a long history, but this is getting ridiculous.  ~The Patriot Post
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Moving U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem
Wouldn’t Harm Peace
I0PrZ8uTRNKFKmQ25ZC5qWL4vW47DaC46jJXQbFpp5gviRqltZr8Q82kfEYK20PAklifnXPqXaoUlkb1O8wlUZgC2_oJx7wM0l4GzM-OAaLJ8DSEwKWqovW7jEjKIMDo0ZqGPVLM8z6n5X-fr0cph2pGBpN5ew6xsFg=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
by Geller Report Staff
{pamelageller.com} ~ “‘Israel’s position has been stated many times to the American administration and to the world,’ Netanyahu said in a statement, which his office said was in response to Tillerson’s remarks... “‘Moving the American embassy to Jerusalem would not harm the peace process,’ the prime minister said. ‘On the contrary, it would advance it by correcting an historical injustice and by shattering the Palestinian fantasy that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel.’ “For months Israeli and regional media outlets have speculated that while Israel has long sought embassies to move from Tel Aviv and surrounding areas to its declared capital, the government worries that should President Trump make good on his campaign promise to move the U.S. mission the benefits could be outweighed by negative consequences... http://pamelageller.com/2017/05/benjamin-netanyahu-moving-u-s-embassy-jerusalem-wouldnt-harm-peace.html/
.
Littering Argument With US Citizen Leads
To Arrest For Weapons, Explosives
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ If you’re a terrorist you probably don’t care too much about the environment, littering, city ordinances, state laws or being a productive member of society... A positive interaction with another human would be one in which the other person ends up scattered over a wide area. A meaningful discussion would include convincing your fellow terrorist that the target you selected held the most potential for mayhem. It’s therefore understandable that an average American citizen might be a bit caught off guard expecting all of those things to carry some weight in an interaction with a foreigner. Even if he’s trying to educate him as to American customs,  how we do things over here, and respect, American style, he still might be prone to be too generous in granting basic levels of civility to the barbaric import... http://rickwells.us/littering-argument-us-citizen-arrest-weapons-explosives/
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Dems Ignored liar-Hillary’s Security Issues
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by Amber Athey
{dailycaller.com} ~ Charles Krauthammer blasted the Democratic National Committee and Sen. Mark Warner Monday for statements denouncing Trump’s alleged sharing of “highly classified” information with Russia, calling them “irresponsible.”... The Washington Post reported Monday that President Trump incidentally leaked “highly classified” information to senior Russian officials. The DNC and Sen. Warner slammed Trump for the alleged leaks, with Warner calling it a “slap in the face” to the intelligence community. Fox contributor Charles Krauthammer, however, had no patience for what he viewed as hypocrisy from the Democrats... http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/15/krauthammer-dems-ignored-hillarys-security-issues-video/
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DNC Staffer In Touch With Wikileaks Before
He Was Murdered...
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by Jeff Dunetz
{lidblog.com} ~ A new investigation claims that a DNC staffer was in touch with Wikileaks before he was killed last July and that the information was covered up by either the DC police or the FBI... Last summer DNC Staffer Seth Rich was shot and killed in an upscale DC neighborhood. The police said it was an attempted robbery…but nothing was taken. At the time there were rumors that Rich was the person who gave Wikileaks the emails about the party fixing the primary process for liar-Hillary Clinton, the emails that led to Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigning as party leader... http://lidblog.com/bombshell-dnc-staffer-seth-rich-wikileaks-murdered/
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Palestinians: The Threats Trump Needs to Hear
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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem next week, U.S. President
Donald Trump might put aside the sweet talk of Abbas, and listen instead for the
unsettling truths voiced by other Palestinians such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad
by Bassam Tawil
{gatestoneinstitute.org} ~ As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to hold his second meeting with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem next week, two Palestinian terror groups have announced that the new U.S. administration is planning to "liquidate the Palestinian cause."... The warning by Hamas and Islamic Jihad is directed not only against Trump and his new administration, but also against Abbas and any Arab leader who dares to "collude" with the U.S. The two Palestinian terror groups, which control the Gaza Strip and its two million residents, also renewed their pledge to pursue the armed fight against Israel; they said they would not give up one inch of Palestine, from the Mediterranean sea to the Jordan river... https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10369/palestinians-trump-visit
.
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.
Russia: 'Our correspondents feel
like Jews in 1933'
0nHl3Drb7vDtnYHzC_ZdtEUmvD0ujWtDkCZfk5NEqNjqUdWsTCQKCB8nTla8Wgy_FmpWUAmTg7Giy_Sbg0pgXsYc_X7ZRjwpTlMMbatSQieY1EeukIJFrjDV-YdR-rvGq4a7GUIPbGzUrg=s0-d-e1-ft#%3Ca%20rel%3Dnofollow%20href=
by Adam Taylor
{jewishworldreview.com} ~ The presence of a Russian photographer working for a state-owned news agency during President Donald Trump's meeting Wednesday with Russian diplomats in the Oval Office sparked criticism from media advocates as well as concerns over the risk of a security breach.

White House officials seemed caught off-guard by the controversy, initially saying they had not anticipated that the state news agency Tass would post photographs from the meeting. "They tricked us," one unnamed official was quoted as saying by CNN.

American news organizations were not granted access to the Oval Office meeting; an official White House photographer was present. Officials said they were unaware that photographer Alexandr Scherbak would be shooting for both Tass and the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Russian officials have fired back fiercely by taking aim at the U.S. media.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized a Washington Post story about the meeting on the sidelines of Thursday's Arctic Council meeting in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Washington Post story, published soon after the Oval Office meeting, had quoted a number of former intelligence officials who said that White House visitors could hide surveillance equipment such as a listening device in a camera or other equipment.

"Here he is -- the spy!" Zakharova said sarcastically after being approached by a Post reporter, referring to Scherbak, standing nearby. "Your newspaper is making our correspondents feel like Jews in 1933."

In Facebook postings on Thursday, Zakharova also criticized CNN's coverage of the Oval Office meeting, accusing the news network of reaching "rock bottom."

The spokeswoman shared a Web page made by the Russian Embassy in Washington that was simply a list of more than 200 tweets by journalists and other public figures discussing the meeting.

Scherbak issued his reply Thursday in a Facebook post written in Russian and later translated to English. Addressing the "U.S. media" directly about the "hysteria surrounding my photo shoot at the White House," Scherbak said he had covered similar meetings around the world before and there was "nothing unusual" about Wednesday's session.

After the Russian foreign minister met with his U.S. counterpart, "I was taken by a U.S. representative to the White House. I was scanned, patted down, and then sniffed by canines," Scherbak wrote.

Inside the Oval Office, he was accompanied by an official White House photographer, he said. "I took only two cameras to the photo shoot, I left all my stuff, including my cellphone, in another room as I was told to do."

On Friday, the Russian Journalists' Union issued a statement in support of Scherbak, suggesting that he had "become another target of attacks by CNN journalists."

Wednesday's White House meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other officials, including Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, came at a time of renewed scrutiny over ties between the Trump campaign and Moscow. Kislyak in particular has featured in one of the new administration's most notable controversies, with national security adviser Michael Flynn forced to resign in February after misleading Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with the ambassador last year.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded with "high confidence" that Russia tried to affect the outcome of the 2016 election, an allegation Lavrov has denied repeatedly.

The Post reported after the meeting that although all visitors entering the White House were subjected to a security screening, some former intelligence officials suggested that such a screening could not detect a sophisticated device. Todd Morris, founder and chief executive of the countersurveillance advisory company BrickHouse Security, told The Post that a covert device could be as small as a matchbook and that though it might eventually be found, it could transmit its data quickly.
Read more…

Wed/Mid-AM ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
A Moroccan hero to Jews
by Richard Hurowitz
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 Trump's Agenda Blocked by Distractions 
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Donald Trump is way behind on naming government appointments and, no surprise, Democrats aren't helping. Thus far in his presidency, Trump has made only 85 nominations, which is lagging significantly behind the numbers posted by his three predecessors; Barack liar-nObama had nominated 212, George W. Bush 161 and Bill liar-Clinton 182. Even George H. W. Bush had made 135 by this point in his presidency, which is interesting given the fact that he was following Ronald Reagan.
          "Leadership matters a lot, as does having the right people in place," said Mallory Barg Bulman vice president of research and evaluation at the Partnership for Public Service. "You can't start the game until the whole team is on the field."
          According to the White House, the slow walking is intentional. Press Secretary Sean Spicer stated, "We're actually going through the Office of Government Ethics and FBI clearances before announcing most of these individuals. And so, there's a little bit of a difference in how we're doing this. But we are well on pace with respect to many of these [appointments] to get the government up and running." However, it's interesting to note that Trump has yet to nominate anyone for director of the Office of Personnel Management, the agency tasked with managing the federal workforce. One would think that would be a priority nomination.
          But with Democrats pledging to throw up road blocks to any and all of Trump's nominees, all while demanding that a special prosecutor be named to investigate the phony Russia-Trump collusion allegations, it would seem counterintuitive to be moving this slowly.
          There's another seemingly growing problem — Republicans, holding a slim majority, are showing some signs of splitting from supporting Trump, especially since the firing of James Comey. The lack of consistently disciplined and cohesive communications coming from Trump and his administration, which is an intentional strategy to keep his opponents guessing, is proving to sow an increasing amount of confusion and frustration on Trump's own side — particularly with congressional Republicans. Often they're left scrambling to both understand and answer for statements from Trump's White House with little to no warning. Instead of being on the offensive, the GOP is seemingly playing from behind, as if they were the minority party.
          Robert Moffit, a former assistant OPM director during Ronald Reagan's presidency and current senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said, "The bottom line is that the president can't run the federal government out of the White House and secretaries can't run giant agencies huddled in an executive suite. Unilateral disarmament is a victory for the swamp. The swamp creatures have won the fight. Unless you control the bureaucracy, the bureaucracy controls you."
          Trump needs to ramp up his nomination rate, encourage Republicans to stand firmly united and call out Democrats for being the party of obstructionists, if he hopes to get more of his swamp-draining agenda enacted. Americans are on Trump's side when it comes to reforming the bureaucracy of DC, but he needs to end his distraction campaign and focus on getting his total team in place. ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/digests/49087
 
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So-Called Judge Reveals Liberal Bias Against Trump
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Strictly based upon the question the judge asks in the opening of the video, things aren’t looking so good for President Trump’s anti-terrorist entry executive order... and the Americans he had hoped to protect with it. A scruffy, libtard judge from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals misses the point completely. He asked the acting Solicitor General, Jeffrey Wall, “Has the President ever disavowed his campaign statements? Has he ever stood up and said, ‘I said before I wanted to ban all members of the Islamic faith from entering the United States of America. I was wrong; I consulted with lawyers. I am now addressing simply to security needs.’ Has he ever said anything approaching that?”...http://rickwells.us/judge-reveals-liberal-bias-trump-protecting-america/
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Germany Won’t Step Up Fight Against
ISIS Even If NATO Does
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by Saagar Enjeti
{dailycaller.com} ~ German Chancellor Angela Merkel does not plan on increasing the country’s commitment to the fight against the Islamic State even if NATO increases its commitment to the fight, she declared Thursday... Merkel appeared with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg who has indicated he is amenable to President Donald Trump’s insistence that the alliance increase its commitment to the U.S. led anti-ISIS effort. Trump pushed Stoltenberg to “adapt to the challenges of the future” during his April 12 visit. “This includes upgrading NATO to focus on today’s most pressing security and all of its challenges, including migration and terrorism,” he continued...She is making one big mistake for Germany. http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/12/merkel-germany-wont-step-up-fight-against-isis-even-if-nato-does/
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US Cuts Millions in United Nations
Funding - EU Upset
by Tim Brown
{freedomoutpost.com} ~ One of the good things to come of the $1.1 trillion government-wide spending bill that was passed earlier this month was the fact that $640 million in United Nations funding was slashed... According to the Associated Press, "Funding for U.N. agencies is cut by $640 million from current levels." While that is a good thing, we should have entirely defunded the United Nations and kicked them off US soil... http://freedomoutpost.com/us-cuts-millions-in-united-nations-funding-eu-upset/
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Whiny Clapper Perverting Constitution –
Corrupt Comey Deserved Firing
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Jay Sekulow clears up the fog that former DNI James Clapper tried to create as part of the Sunday shows coordinated attack on President Trump, citing the same talking points in the same manner as Rep Adam Schiff did later in the day... Sekulow described the Clapper spew as including a statement that “President Trump is interfering with institutions inside the United States because he fired the then-FBI Director James Comey. Sekulow says, “James Clapper, with respect to the office, I think he is way off base here. The idea that the executive, the President can fire an executive member, staff member, the FBI Director, isn’t some constitutional mischief. That’s exactly what the Constitution allows. So I think the left and the media is getting into this entire Trump attacking the institutions of government.” He reminds the audience, “It is the left that’s saying ‘we will not put in place an FBI director, no matter who it is, until a special prosecutor, independent prosecutor is put in place. That is the violation of the institutions. It is the FBI, after all, that reports and responds to the Department of Justice... http://rickwells.us/sekulow-whiny-clapper-perverting-constitution-corrupt-comey-deserved-firing/
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McMaster on WaPo claim Trump gave Russians highly classified info: “I was in the room, it didn’t happen”
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by William A. Jacobson
{legalinsurrection.com} ~ The Washington Post ran a story late this afternoon claiming Donald Trump, in his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador, disclosed highly classified information... including information that could reveal sources and methods. It took a couple of hours for the White House to respond, and the response was fairly emphatic that the story was a lie. Every single person in the room denied the WaPo story... http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/05/mcmaster-on-wapo-claim-trump-gave-russians-highly-classified-info-i-was-in-the-room-it-didnt-happen/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LegalInsurrection+%28Le%C2%B7gal+In%C2%B7sur%C2%B7rec%C2%B7tion%29
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A Moroccan hero to Jews
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by Richard Hurowitz
{jewishworldreview.com} ~ This year marks the 75th anniversary of the release of "Casablanca," which immortalized quiet acts of resistance against fascism at the murky crossroads that was wartime Morocco.

The legendary scene at Rick's Cafe where refugees, led by Paul Henreid, drown out Nazi officers by singing "La Marseillaise" became an instant inspiration to moviegoers as World War II was raging.

The location of the film was no accident: Casablanca was a haven for those fleeing for their lives. And it was also the scene of a much greater -- and real life -- act of heroism, one far too little known or recognized: the protection of the Jews of Morocco by the young Sultan Mohammed V.

At a time when anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are on the rise globally, we should honor this overlooked but remarkable example of enlightened leadership.

Born the third son of the reigning sultan's younger brother, Mohammed was an unlikely ruler from the start and certainly an unexpected hero.

A series of international disputes between France and Germany led to the Treaty of Fez in 1912 and French control of Morocco. Mohammed's father, Moulay Yousef, replaced his older sibling on the throne when his brother abdicated because of the treaty.

Fifteen years later, upon his father's death, 16-year-old Mohammed was named sultan largely because the French viewed him as more docile than his older brothers. This turned out to be one of the great misjudgments in French colonial history.

When Paris fell to the Germans in July 1940, the sultan, then 30, was put in a precarious position as Morocco came under the rule of the collaborationist French Vichy regime.

Among their first acts, the new overseers sought to impose anti-Semitic laws in Morocco, as per Nazi protocol.

Jews had lived in that part of the world since well before Carthage fell, and over a quarter of a million called Morocco their home in 1940.

Members of the community had served the sultans' court as ministers, diplomats and advisors. Mohammed V took seriously his role as Commander of the Faithful, which he viewed to include all "people of the book," meaning everyone belonging to the Abrahamic faiths -- Jews, Christians and Muslims. He bravely, publicly declined to assist in the persecution of his own Jewish citizens.

"There are no Jews in Morocco," he declared. "There are only Moroccan subjects."

Vichy authorities soon forced Mohammed V to promulgate two laws restricting certain professions and schools to Jews and requiring them to live in ghettos. In an act of resistance, the sultan declined to fully enforce the laws. A direct descendant of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, through Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, the sultan refused to be intimidated. A French government telegram, discovered in Paris archives four decades later, reported that relations between France and Morocco became "much more tense since the day" the laws went into effect. In 1941, for the first time, Mohammed V made a point of inviting senior representatives of the Jewish community to the annual banquet celebrating the anniversary of his sultanate and placing them in the best seats next to the French officials.

"I absolutely do not approve of the new anti-Semitic laws and I refuse to associate myself with a measure I disagree with," he told the French officials. "I reiterate as I did in the past that the Jews are under my protection and I reject any distinction that should be made amongst my people."

Although there were limits to his power, Mohammed V ensured that there were never roundups of Jews in Morocco; it remained a haven to the extent possible. During Vichy rule -- which lasted a little more than two years -- no Moroccan Jews were deported or killed; nor were they forced to wear the yellow star. When Allied troops liberated North Africa in November 1942, the Moroccan Jewish community was essentially intact.

The sultan's actions offer a contrast with other leaders who rallied to the side of the Axis powers in hopes of driving the Jews from Palestine and the British from the Middle East. The grand mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Husseini, for example, spent the war years in Berlin, courting Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, plotting the extermination of the Jews and recruiting Eastern European Muslims to fight for the Nazi cause.

Mohammed V, on the other hand, was a strong supporter of the Allies and welcomed President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and French President Charles de Gaulle for four days in 1943 at the historic Casablanca conference. Throughout the sultan's reign, he continued to protect his Jewish subjects. When the Arab world reacted violently to the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948, the sultan reminded Moroccans that Jews had always been protected in their country and should not be harmed.

Mohammed V died suddenly in 1961, just four years after Morocco became an independent constitutional monarchy and he gained the title king. The outpouring of grief was immense. Some 75,000 Jews publicly mourned, the chief rabbi delivered a memorial address by radio, and Jews were prominent participants at the coronation of his son Hassan II and at the new king's initial prayer services.

The Moroccan Jewish community has dwindled, but in commemorations to this day, its members declare their "eternal gratitude" to Mohammed V and recall his heroism. At a time when such selflessness is in short supply, we should do the same.
Read more…

Wednesday AM ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
 
Off The Bucket List
by Tom McLaughlin
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 Top Headlines 
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Pulosi pushes back on impeachment calls: Without facts, it's hearsay. (Washington Examiner)
 
WH: Despite reports, ransomeware software not developed by the NSA.. (CNS News)
 
North Korea possibly behind global cyberattack, researchers say. (Fox News)
 
North Korea's missile launch a "litmus test" for Trump and South Korean leader. (The Daily Signal)
 
U.S. accuses Syria of mass murder camp. (ABC News)
 
Trump cuts all health care aid to international groups performing or promoting abortion. (The Washington Times)
 
State troopers wrote 12,000+ more tickets in NYC so far this year than all of last year. (Reason)
 
Chicago violence fuels gun sales surge, despite national dip. (LifeZette)
 
Policy: Trump advances life-affirming policy in foreign aid. (Daily Signal)
 
Policy: How a billion dollars is being wasted in the war on sugar. (Hudson Institute~The Patriot Post
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liar-nObama Cowardice Reason US Cyber Defense Threats Laughed Off
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ There is probably no greater testament to the extreme level of one’s corruption than the assessment made by Lou Dobbs regarding Hussein liar-nObama...  Dobbs noted the lucrative speaking fees paid to the former pretend ‘president,’ ” liar-nObama, who has accepted millions of dollars per speech, making the liar-Clintons look pristine when it comes to the level of greed.”  Dobbs referenced the awarding of the JFK Profile in Courage Award to the criminal who formerly squatted in the White House and how he praised his own courage for backing down in the face of international challenge from Syria and Russia, the failure to follow through on his Syria red line ultimatum. liar-nObama said that non-action required “the most political courage.” Dobbs says, “Never have we heard such self-accredited heroism about one’s own passivity.” As Dobbs introduces Lt Col Tony Shaffer, he’s almost at a loss for words, stating two points, that liar-nObama in his $3.5 million speech in Milan referenced himself in the first-person singular 216 times and that he seems to have bestowed upon himself a Profile in Courage Award... http://rickwells.us/dobbs-shaffer-obama-cowardice-reason-us-cyber-defense-threats-laughed-off/
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Florida Judge Gives Go-Ahead For Lawsuit Alleging Anderson Cooper Purposefully Ran Misleading Story
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by Charles Campbell
{westernjournalism.com} ~ CNN anchor Anderson Cooper is being hit with a defamation lawsuit after a Florida Judge refuse to have it thrown out of court, according to a new report from The Daily Mail... The plaintiff, Dr. Michael Black, is a heart surgeon who operates out of St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Black claims that Cooper’s show, Anderson Cooper 360, knowingly sensationalized a story to grab ratings, even though the evidence presented was false...  http://www.westernjournalism.com/flordia-judge-gives-go-ahead-lawsuit-alleging-anderson-cooper-purposefully-ran-misleading-story/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=patriotupdate&utm_campaign=weeklypm&utm_content=libertyalliance
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Mark Of Beast System Almost Complete
In India, Coming To America
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ The Mark of the Beast is being rolled out in the form of a universal ID in the world’s most populous nation, India... a non-Christian nation that is largely unaware of the warnings in the Bible against what they are implementing. It’s a version of our Social Security System that moves their society to the threshold of complete government control over the individuals in every aspect. Perhaps it’s no longer accurate to refer to them as individuals but more correctly as members of the collective. The government of India is building what is described in the LA Times and exposed in the video from Grindall61 as the “biggest and most ambitious biometric database ever conceived. It follows that the Social Security system may have been a project that has fulfilled its purpose in its current stage... http://rickwells.us/mark-beast-system-almost-complete-india-coming-america/
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Dilbert Exposes Great Global Warming Fraud
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by Adrian Vance
{ipatriot.com} ~ While the men and women who do comic strips are often “off-the-wall,” they occasionally “nail it” and this is one such case, and it serves as an opening to a profound discussion... How did the man-caused global warming fraud happen and what supports it?

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For most of the history of physical science, chemistry and physics, the work was done by two kinds of men, those who inherited wealth and those who were stealing it. In-between there were the few who could afford to do an occasional experiment, make a discovery and prosper as a result. They were few and far between. Corporations and governments have changed that with discoveries that lead to new products and more lethal weapons as well as cross fertilization with capital, some borrowed and some taken as taxes... http://ipatriot.com/dilbert-exposes-great-fraud/

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DNC Faces Another Class Action Lawsuit
After $1 Million in Bonuses Given Out
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by Michael Sainato
{observer.com} ~ The Democratic National Committee and former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz are currently facing a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of Bernie Sanders supporters in federal court for rigging the Democratic primaries... in favor of liar-Hillary Clinton. On May 12, CBS reported another class action lawsuit was filed against the DNC for stiffing dozens of field organizers all over the country for overtime work during the 2016 election while the DNC gave out $1 million in bonuses, including more than $300,000 to Democratic National Convention Host Committee Executive Director Kevin Washo. The lawsuit was filed by Justin Swidler of Cherry Hill, N.J. on behalf of 40 to 50 field organizers against the DNC, Pennsylvania state Democrats, and five other state Democratic Parties... http://observer.com/2017/05/dnc-class-action-lawsuit-field-organizers-convention-bonuses/
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Off The Bucket List
by Tom McLaughlin
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{tommclaughlin.blogspot.com} ~ Crossed “Grand Canyon” off my bucket list last week and, according to weather reports, it was a good time to be away from Maine. We stayed in Flagstaff, Arizona and took day trips, but only one to the big canyon last Thursday. It was cool and windy, but the sun was out. I got a sunburn on my face, arms, and that alleged bald spot on the back of my head I can’t see but people tell me is there. It feels sensitive under a hot shower now.
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Hard to photograph how steep the drop-off is
My wife and I checked out cliff dwellings of the Sinagua Indians in Walnut Canyon the first day. They were western cousins of the better-known Anasazi. The National Park Service did a nice job building a path along what would otherwise have a treacherous hike for older tourists like us. My wife, Roseann, said raising toddlers on those narrow trails must have been a nightmare. I’d have put them in harness and roped them to a juniper growing out of a crevice. On the canyon rim, pottery sherds and chips left from knapping stone tools abounded on the surface. Archaeologists call it debitage — waste from manufacture of stone knives, scrapers, and projectile points. We both enjoyed it.
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Then it was down to Sedona where aging hippies and young hipsters comprise a critical mass. Vogue describes a visit there as: “…basking in the pink glow of Sedona, Arizona’s red rock canyons and its aura-obsessed, pleasantly frozen-in-time, hippie-dippie community.” We drove around as I photographed red sandstone formations — some sun-lit, others in shadow.
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Loopy people, but beautiful countryside
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Vogue said Sedona contains, “an array of healers and their own breed of eccentric methodologies.” They were everywhere but we avoided them. The landscape was interesting, but I felt even more out of place in Sedona than when I visit Whole Foods back in Portland, Maine. I’m just not organic enough, not sustainable enough, and I eat gluten. I like preservatives and I’m free-range only in an intellectual sense that’s threatening to both hippies and hipsters.
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Next day we visited a national park called the Wupatki Monument and Sunset Crater. It was fun listening to the female robotic voice in my dashboard GPS unit pronounce it. Looking north from the long road in was a pale-green sea of grass stretching to the horizon. Tasseled tops waved in a steady wind with small evergreens here and there resembled grazing buffalo. To the east were round, grassy hills. To the south were the snow-capped San Francisco Peaks — highest in Arizona.
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But the flatness of the grass sea was illusory. Along the way were ravines and small, box canyons offering shelter from relentless wind. Beside these were pueblo ruins. Getting out and walking, the grass sea that seemed unbroken, down at my feet was actually sparse. Pottery sherds littered dry, gravelly soil. Here and there were small, sharp bits of chert and obsidian debitage from ancient tool-makers right on the surface. No wonder westerners find artifacts so easily. Here in New England, they’re covered with accumulated soil from decayed leaves and pine spills.
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Nearby was Sunset Crater, formed in a volcanic eruption less than a thousand years ago — very young in geologic time and still in the traditional memory of nearby Hopi, Sinagua, and Navajo Indians. There were lava bombs strewn around and incorporated into the limestone walls of pueblo ruins. Black cinder covered entire hills between which were rivers of solidified lava that looked as if it hardened only yesterday. A Wupatki Park Ranger said Clovis points from 12,000 years ago were found in the region indicated a human presence then to now. What’s buried under that lava? I’ll never know.
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Pueblo on the rocks
Lastly, we went the giant hole in the ground that is the Grand Canyon. It was warm and sunny when we got to the south rim and we walked along for a few hours until it got crowded. I heard many languages spoken and Asians were everywhere taking pictures of themselves and each other. We had to stop often so as not to walk between photographer and subject and that got tedious.
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Neither of us would get close to the edge of the mile-deep canyon because it drops off sharply. It’s not as if you’d slide down an incline should you fall. It’d be more like a free fall until that thud at the bottom — although you might bounce off a stone spire here and there depending on where you fell off.
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The Grand Canyon is aptly named. I’d call it awesome if that word hadn’t lost its literal meaning after decades of misuse. The views are truly awe-inspiring. We allowed two days to see it and were even ready to take a helicopter ride across. We didn’t go back though. It was the crowds.
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Tuesday PM ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
 Leftist Ideology's Greatest Threat:
by Arnold Ahlert
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Limbaugh Praises Trump’s Ability To Bring
Out The Worst In Democrats
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by Charles Campbell
{westernjournalism.com} ~ Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said he is having a good laugh over the firing of former FBI Director James Comey... Limbaugh used the opening monologue of his program Wednesday to discuss how President Donald Trump was trolling the “hate-filled Democrats” and how former Democratic nominee liar-Hillary Clinton was being used as political fodder and had become utterly irrelevant. “The Democrat Party has once again thrown liar-Hillary Clinton overboard. liar-Hillary Clinton is the most cheated-on woman in America by people in her own party, and it’s happened again,” Limbaugh said... http://www.westernjournalism.com/rush-praises-trumps-ability-bring-worst-democrats/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=conservativevideos&utm_campaign=weeklypm&utm_content=libertyalliance
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Tom Brokaw Slams Media Over
Assumption-Based Narrative
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by Robert Chambers
{citizen-action.com} ~ NBC Nightly News longtime host and veteran anchor, Tom Brokaw, slammed the mainstream media last week, during a discussion regarding President Donald Trump’s decision to fire James Comey as FBI director... Many in Washington believe that Trump fired Comey to hide a potential connection to Russia. Critics are further arguing that Trump was finding it very difficult to handle the FBI’s ever-expanding probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race. However, thus far, allegations and claims that Trump’s campaign colluded with Moscow have been unsubstantiated with solid evidence. However, Brokaw had his reasons to disagree with the comparison. He also advised Mitchell and members of the media to not assume facts that are simply not there in Trump’s case of Comey’s dismissal...http://www.citizen-action.com/tom-brokaw-slams-media-assumption-based-narrative/article5329
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Former Egyptian Terrorism Official Exposes
the Muslim Brotherhood's Terror Networks
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by Patrick Poole
{pjmedia.com} ~ On my recent trip to Egypt, I met with Col. Khaled Okasha (ret), one of Egypt's top former counter-terrorism officials, to discuss the developing security situation and to address a question that has received a lot of international media attention... Is the Muslim Brotherhood directly engaged in terrorism? Okasha, the director of the National Center for Security Studies, has literally written the books on the development of militant networks in Egypt. He graciously met with me for five hours upon my arrival in Cairo to discuss these issues. He later sat down for a three-hour, on-the-record interview on the Muslim Brotherhood's terror networks, the transcript of which is presented below... https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/2017/05/15/exclusive-former-egyptian-terrorism-official-exposes-the-muslim-brotherhoods-terror-networks-part-1/
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North Dakota Oil Production Jumps as
Access Pipeline Nears Completion
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by Bob Adelmann
{thenewamerican.com} ~ The latest report from North Dakota’s state oil and gas division showed that crude oil production for March is back up over a million barrels a day... an increase of nearly nine percent since December and almost double what the state produced five years ago. The boom is back. In Bismarck there are hundreds more jobs being offered than takers, according to the Associated Press (AP), with “for hire” signs appearing once again in stores, shops, and restaurants downtown. In Williston there are 500 more job listings today than there were a year ago. Williston Republican state senator Brad Bekkedahl, whose district sits on top of the massive Bakken oil shale deposits, told the AP, “There is a long-term optimism that was not here a year ago.” In the oil business, “long-term” is measured in months, not years or decades. In March 2012 there were 6,954 oil wells producing 580,000 barrels of crude every day. In March this year 13,632 wells produced 1.025 million barrels daily. And it’s not all due to the Dakota Access pipeline, which be operating at full capacity within a month, either... https://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/energy/item/26027-north-dakota-oil-production-jumps-as-access-pipeline-nears-completion
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 Leftist Ideology's Greatest Threat: Guilt-Free Americans 
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By Arnold Ahlert: "In the last 50 years of culture wars in America, there has been no stronger weapon than guilt. It is the Left's great hammer of progress." —Mark Bauerlein, Professor of English at Emory University
          In an insightful column for American Greatness, Bauerlein nails the Left's fundamental reason for despising Donald Trump. "He has no white guilt. He doesn't feel any male guilt, either, or American guilt or Christian guilt," Bauerlein explains. "He talks about the United States with uncritical approval — 'America First' — and that's a thought crime in the eyes of liberals."
          That particular thought crime roils leftists most, because it is the antithesis of Barack liar-nObama's eight-year effort to "fundamentally transform the United States of America" into a nation where collective guilt would supplant American exceptionalism as society's prevailing ethos. "Donald Trump would never refer to America as beset by the original sin of racism, as Barack liar-nObama did frequently, and that makes him worse than a conservative," Bauerlein writes. "President Trump is a bigot."
          Is there a drum the Left beats louder than the assertion America is an inherently racist nation? For leftist demagogues, history is more about the failure of "dead white Europeans," a.k.a. the Founding Fathers, to eliminate slavery when it was impossible to do so, than it is about America being one of the first nations to end the worldwide-accepted practice, enduring a bloody war that cost 600,000 lives.
          Moreover, more than 150 years after the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, Americans must remain guilty. Thus Georgetown Professor Michael Eric Dyson, who accused Trump of having a "vast ignorance of black life," advocates the establishment of Individual Reparations Accounts, whereby white Americans who never practiced slavery compensate black Americans who never experienced it. In New Orleans, history itself is being eliminated, as workers remove Confederate monuments that "offend" progressive sensibilities.
          All while black students demand — and receive — segregated housing accommodations on campuses across the nation.
          Trump buys none of it. "When during the course of the campaign Mr. Trump refused to accept any guilt, the frustration and disbelief among the Democrats and the media were obvious," Bauerlein notes.
          That's hardly surprising. Guilt — brilliantly sold as "political correctness" to make it more palatable for an unsuspecting public — has enjoyed a long and prosperous run. One that allowed leftists to dismiss every challenge to their agenda with epithets designed to simultaneously induce guilt and end debate. Americans opposed to open borders, or sanctuary cities? Xenophobes. Americans who eschew the LGBT agenda? Trans- and homophobic. Americans who question "refugees" from terror-torn nations being granted asylum? Islamophobic. And so on and so forth.
          "If you can persuade an opponent that he's wrong about a political issue, you can win the day's debate," Bauerlein explains. "But if you can make him feel guilty about his opinion, you've got him on the defensive forever."
          In two sentences the professor has described an eternally defensive GOP that controls Congress, the White House, and a plethora of legislative seats nationwide, yet still allows the Left to frame the agenda.
          This dynamic of leftist guilt-mongering and GOP acquiescence to it set the stage for a man who "was going to shake things up, drain the swamp, expose that there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between the parties, and if he offended his adversaries along the way, well, so be it," writes Washington Beacon columnist Matthew Continetti, who nonetheless believes Trump "doesn't face crises so much as manufacture them."
          No doubt. But for millions of Americans those crises, and the character flaws that engender them, pale in comparison to Trump's ability to put the American Left on the defensive.
          Instead of "bitter clinging" Americans in "flyover country" being forced to defend themselves, the focus shifted to bi-coastal progressive elitists with flimsy explanations regarding why "net" gains for the nation as a whole were more important than economically devastated Americans left behind by an emerging New World Order — one that disproportionately benefited the globalist-minded "progressive" elitists who championed it.
          "Progressives" who couldn't imagine their systematic contempt for "deplorable" Americans would ultimately cost them the election.
          "Progressives" who still don't get it. According to a PPRI-Atlantic survey, Trump voters were motivated by fears of "cultural displacement," a rationalization rightly dismissed by National Review columnist Michael Brendan Dougherty as "one of the latest attempts to assure liberals and leftists that Trump supporters are unsympathetic."
          What's really wearing out millions of Americans is $20 trillion of national debt, out-of-control agencies like the NSA, DOJ, FBI, EPA and IRS, a de facto invasion by millions of illegal aliens, public schools and universities that resemble indoctrination centers, and a mainstream media virtually indistinguishable from George Orwell's Ministry of Truth.
          And maybe, just maybe, the real reason Trump prevailed was an electorate faced with a binary choice decided to go with a highly problematic candidate instead of a thoroughly corrupt one — or the great unknown rather than an utterly untenable status quo.
          "Donald Trump's success, then, amounts to a calamitous disarmament of the Left," Bauerlein concludes. "Not his occupation of the White House, but his termination of the game of guilt — for now, at least. Since the election, progressives have only amplified the charges. More and more, the protests look less like political speech and more like tantrums."
          That's because they are tantrums, thrown by people who never imagined their "immutable truths" would be unmasked as the self-serving, guilt-inducing opinions they truly are. Moreover, leftists may be digging a much deeper hole than they realize: Trump's dismissal of leftist guilt games is hugely problematic for them. Millions of Americans dismissing a burden they never should have carried around in the first place?
           For America's "social justice warriors," that's a calamitous disarmament of potentially catastrophic proportions. 
~The Patriot Post
 
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Tuesday Noon ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
 The Ethanol Boondoggle Will Continue 
by Lewis Morris
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 Last Conservative No Longer Standing 
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In March, conservative comedian Tim Allen stirred trouble when he told late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that it's tough being conservative in Hollywood. "You've got to be real careful around here," Allen said. "You get beat up if [you] don't believe what everybody believes. This is like '30s Germany. I don't know what happened. If you're not part of the group — [They say,] 'You know, what we believe is right' — I go, 'Well, I might have a problem with that.'" Allen has also been vocally supportive of Donald Trump from time to time.
          Lo and behold, the next contract renewals come up for his hit sitcom, "Last Man Standing," and ABC axes its third highest-rated scripted show.
          ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey just said in December that the network wanted to make a concerted effort to reach Trump voters. "With our dramas, we have a lot of shows that feature very well-to-do, well-educated people, who are driving very nice cars and living in extremely nice places," Dungey said. "But in recent history we haven't paid enough attention to some of the true realities of what life is like for everyday Americans in our dramas." So much for that.
          Deadline Hollywood reports the cancellation was due to contract haggling between ABC and Fox's production studios: "The Tim Allen-starring multi-camera sitcom often had gone down to the wire on renewals, with ABC and producing studio 20th Century Fox TV wrangling over the series' license fee. ABC is supposed to cover the cost of the show at this point in its run, and LMS is on the higher end for a multi-camera sitcom because of the marquee salary Allen commands, but 20th TV had agreed to license fee reductions in the past and reportedly were open to another one. This time, there was no negotiating or bargaining, with ABC simply deciding against another season."
          Come on, we're supposed to believe that it's licensing fees and not politics? This can't be coincidence, can it? 
~The Patriot Post
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Schiff Repeats Clapper Talking Points In
Orchestrated Attack On Trump
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Shifty Adam Schiff (D-CA) is the kind of sleazy politician that taints all of Congress just by his mere existence. He’s the kind of kid that anti-bullying regulations were created to protect... hiding behind the skirt of a teacher or the threat of sanctions against the many who surely must have detested him throughout his school years. Clearly in that regard little has changed for the California Democrat. The dishonest with the helium balloon head went on Face the Nation Sunday, spewing his vitriol immediately with the first question, one in which he’s asked, “There’s a lot happened this week, so for you, what’s the most important thing?” Schiff responds, “Well the most important thing to me is that the President fired the FBI Director all because of the Russia investigation. That first justification given, again, the White House misleading the country about a major action the administration was taking.” He goes on to call the President unethical and maybe beyond unethical Shifty repeats the same talking points that his comrade James Clapper had spewed earlier in the day on another program...I don't understand why Americans have not woke up to these idiots. http://rickwells.us/schiff-repeats-clapper-talking-points-orchestrated-attack-trump/
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The 10 College Administrations Most Friendly
to Terrorists and Hostile to the First Amendment
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by Sara Dogan
{frontpagemag.com} ~ Over the past two weeks, the David Horowitz Freedom Center has named 10 prestigious college and university campuses to its list of the “Top 10 College Administrations Most Friendly to Terrorists and Hostile to the First Amendment.”... These campuses provide financial and institutional support to terrorist-linked campus organizations such as the Hamas-funded hate-group Students for Justice in Palestine while actively suppressing speech exposing the truth about Israel’s terrorist adversaries and their allies in the United States. The Freedom Center placed posters exposing the links between the terrorist group Hamas and SJP on each of these ten campuses, both to inform students about the allies to terror in their midst and to challenge these campus administrations to do what they so far have refused to do—to uphold the First Amendment and promote free expression even when doing so means facing down radical students and faculty who demand otherwise... http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/266703/top-10-college-administrations-most-friendly-sara-dogan
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Liberal Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand RIPS INTO
Marine Corps General Neller…
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by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Liberal Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-NY lost control of her bodily functions—primarily her mouth—while questioning Marine Corps Commandant, General Neller... The scandal involves the posting of nude photographs of female Marines on various social media platforms with the “Marines United” Facebook Group being the central hub. General Neller responds to Senator Gillibrand in the most unusual way, a way which they are not too familiar with in Washington, D.C.,…  The response is EPIC!...http://rickwells.us/liberal-senator-kirsten-e-gillibrand-rips-marine-corps-general-neller-response-epic/
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President Trump Makes Remarks at the Liberty University Commencement - tells audience that future belongs to dreamers, not critics - 2017
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions: "Shake the Hand of a Police Officer and Say, Thank You for Your Service"
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U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley: The Russians Have "Always Been Full of Themselves"
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TUCKER: "Why Do You Lock Your Doors?": Tucker Battles Jorge Ramos On 'Racist' Border
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Watchdogs Push for Full Recovery of liar-Clinton’s ‘Unlawfully Removed’ Emails
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by Joe Schoffstall
{freebeacon.com} ~ Watchdog groups are pushing back against the U.S. government's motion to dismiss a case brought against former secretary of state liar-Hillary Clinton and the U.S. archivist in hopes of recovering all of liar-Clinton's email records that were "unlawfully removed."... Cause of Action Institute and Judicial Watch, both D.C.-based government watchdog groups, filed its opposition against the motion to dismiss on Friday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Cause of Action said that the government's motion to dismiss revealed that the FBI had issued grand jury subpoenas related to liar-Clinton's Blackberry accounts during its investigation. "The subpoenas confirm that the FBI investigation of Secretary liar-Clinton was criminal in nature, but details about the scope of the subpoenas remains unknown," Cause of Action said... http://freebeacon.com/issues/watchdogs-push-full-recovery-clintons-unlawfully-removed-emails/
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 The Ethanol Boondoggle Will Continue 
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By Lewis Morris: Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue informed reporters this past weekend that one promise Donald Trump intends to keep is his support for ethanol. At a farming event in Iowa with Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and Rep. Steve King, Perdue said, "Ethanol is here to stay, and we're going to work for new technologies to be more efficient."
          Unfortunately, this is one Trump campaign promise that would have been good to break. The Renewable Fuel Standard — known as the ethanol mandate — is a classic example of what happens when the government interferes in the marketplace, with an agenda to boot. Through presidential administrations both Republican and Democrat, the government has heavily subsidized the production and distribution of ethanol, as well as required a certain amount of its use, in the hopes of making renewable fuels the next great thing. That hope hasn't been realized.
          The EPA, which last November called for 19.28 billion gallons of ethanol to be blended into the nation's gasoline supply, has maintained for years that ethanol is just what the environment needs. As the legend goes, ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline, which is good for the air, and it relieves our dependency on oil, which is good for the Earth.
          So, when corn prices are forced higher because 40% of the crop is grown specifically for ethanol production, we shouldn't mind. Nor should we care that this starts a chain reaction of price fluctuations that lead to more expensive food. And we shouldn't trouble ourselves that gasoline is comparatively more expensive per gallon with ethanol or that the biofuel harms automobile engines. We're doing a good thing for the environment. Except we're not.
          Farmers are so eager to plant corn to sell to ethanol producers, they are foregoing planting other crops that have real value in the nation's food supply (and the world's, for that matter). Too much planting of any one crop on the same land will eventually lead to nutrient-poor soil, which saps the land of its ability to produce good crops.
          Soil depletion and erosion are just one part of it. Billions of gallons of water that could be used for other purposes are diverted to produce ethanol. The additional fertilizers used to produce more corn are polluting the water table at a greater rate than would otherwise take place.
          All this abuse to the land and to taxpayer's pocket books has not yielded any positive change to the environment. There is no substantive proof that ethanol consumption is leading to lower CO2 levels, or that it is having any effect on the global surface temperature, which has remained relatively unchanged for 19 years.
          Knowing all these things, why is Trump backing ethanol so vigorously? One would think that the man who campaigned on "draining the swamp" and getting the engine of American commerce running again would look at the ethanol mandate and consider it a relic of a bygone "progressive" era. Surely he sees that it's exactly the kind of cronyist graft that typifies the swamp.
          Well, Trump made a promise to farmers when he was on the campaign trail in Iowa in 2015. Like virtually every other presidential hopeful, with the notable exception of Ted Cruz, Trump praised ethanol, and promised to support its mandated use as president.
          Farmer and grain futures trader Jerry Gulke put it as plain as can be: "The farm states put Trump over the top," Gulke told CNBC. "You could say Trump owes us something."
          Trump recognized the sway that the farming community had on his victory last month when he made an about-face on dumping NAFTA. Perdue and other members of his administration told him it would be a terrible political mistake, pointing out that his rural, blue-collar base would be hardest hit in a post-NAFTA America.
          "It shows that I do have a very big farmer base, which is good," Trump said. "They like Trump, but I like them, and I'm going to help them."
          As far as ethanol is concerned, what this shows is Washington, DC, at its worst, churning along on cronyism and wealth-redistributing political favors despite all the signs pointing to bad decisions being made worse by reaffirmation of a failed policy. Evidently there are some parts of the swamp that will never be drained.  ~The Patriot Post
 
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