ACTION

Maria Bartiromo Interviews Darryl Issa

by sundance

{ theconservativetreehouse.com } ~ Congressman Darrell Issa appears on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the ongoing DOJ and FBI investigation... by Inspector General Horowitz and Federal Prosecutor John Huber. It is important to remember when congress refers to “Main Justice” throughout the discussion, the “small group” of politically corrupt officials primarily worked inside a specific location within main justice; the Department of Justice National Security Division.  On the FBI side the group was assembled within the FBI Counterintelligence Division.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/04/01/sunday-talks-maria-bartiromo-interviews-darryl-issa/

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

.

Hamas to Swarm Israel’s Border, 

Sparking Fear of New ‘Passover War’ 

by Adam Kredo

{ freebeacon.com } ~ The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas is planning a mass demonstration along Israel's border on Friday... prompting fears of a new war with the Jewish state ahead of the Passover holiday, according to regional experts and U.S. officials who say they are closely monitoring the situation. On the heels of a recent military exercise that observers described as "unprecedented," Hamas leaders have called for some 100,000 Gaza Strip resident to engage in six weeks of mass demonstrations along the Israeli border as Jewish families gear up for the Passover holiday, which begins Friday evening. Regional experts closely tracking the situation say the demonstrations are meant as cover for a mass military campaign to swarm Israel's border and stoke violence against the Jewish state... President Trump should defund Palestinain's aid and ask EU to do the same.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/hamas-swarm-israels-border-sparking-fear-new-passover-war/?utm_source=Freedom+Mail&utm_campaign=7e36ea92bb-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_03_30&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-7e36ea92bb-45611665
.

At least 10 of the 15 killed at Gaza border 

were members of terror groups 

by JUDAH ARI GROSS and TOI STAFF

{ timesofisrael.com } ~ The Israeli military on Saturday night identified 10 of the 15 people reported killed during violent protests along the Gaza security fence... as members of Palestinian terrorist groups, and published a list of their names and positions in the organizations. On Friday, some 30,000 Palestinians took part in demonstrations along the Gaza border, during which rioters threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on the other side of the fence, burned tires and scrap wood, sought to breach and damage the security fence, and in one case opened fire at Israeli soldiers. The army said that its sharpshooters targeted only those taking explicit violent action against Israeli troops or trying to break through or damage the security fence. Video footage showed that in one case a rioter, whom the army included in its list of Hamas members, appeared to be shot while running away from the border. The army in response accused Hamas of editing and/or fabricating its videos...   https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-at-least-10-of-the-16-killed-at-gaza-border-were-members-of-terror-groups/?utm_source=The+Times+of+Israel+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=6e16004b9b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_03_29&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_adb46cec92-6e16004b9b-54638825
.

Iraq's Christians: Eighty Percent Have "Disappeared"

by Giulio Meotti

{ gatestoneinstitute.org } ~ Persecution of Christians is worse today "than at any time in history"... a recent report by the organization Aid to the Church in Need revealed. Iraq happens to be "ground zero" for the "elimination" of Christians from the pages of history. Iraqi Christian clergymen recently wore a black sign as a symbol of national mourning for the last victims of the anti-Christian violence: a young worker and a whole family of three. "This means that there is no place for Christians," said Father Biyos Qasha of the Church of Maryos in Baghdad. "We are seen as a lamb to be killed at any time". A few days earlier, Shiite militiamen discovered a mass grave with the bodies of 40 Christians near Mosul, the former stronghold of the Islamic State and the capital of Iraqi Christianity. The bodies, including those of women and children, seemed to belong to Christians kidnapped and killed by ISIS. Many had crosses with them in the mass grave. Not a single article in the Western mainstream media wrote about this ethnic cleansing...

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12076/iraq-christians-disappeared

.

Hogg's tantrum boycott about to crash headlong into a bigger one

by Monica Showalter

{ americanthinker.com } ~ Laura Ingraham apologized for a rude tweet about David Hogg's inability to get into the college of his choice, and, as may be expected of someone who's demonstrated both childishness and leftism... he refused to graciously accept, opportunistically coming up instead with a counter-demand for more apologies on unrelated matters, ahead of yet another counter-demand for more groveling if Ingraham were to be naïve enough to follow that, which I trust she won't. It was done with Hogg's full knowledge that his "friend "asking for a friend", who "wanted" and probably came up with the swift list of Ingraham's advertisers, had begun pulling ads from Ingraham's Fox News show.  At least a dozen of them pulled out in a show of solidarity for Hogg's hurt feelings over his inability to get into the college of his choice. The immaturity shown here sends a signal now to the public as to why he otherwise inexplicably didn't get into the college of his choice. Can you see how this guy would act if he didn't get the grade of his choice from his professor at one of these places if he somehow were to be allowed in? What if he didn't get the girlfriend of his choice, or the dorm of his choice, or the honors roll of his choice, or the school paper's editor job? It would be logical to infer that he'd be out calling for boycotts of the school from the school's donors if he didn't get the whatever of his choice. How much easier it would be to just grow up and be a man about the whole thing, starting with the admissions rejections. It might impress a few admissions committees...  https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/03/hoggs_tantrum_boycott_about_to_crash_headlong_into_a_bigger_one.html 

.

by Debra J. Saunders 
{ townhall.com } ~ What if they had negotiations to prevent a war and nobody came?

That's the prospect staring down at President Donald Trump who says he wants to remake U.S. foreign policy, but doesn't have a fully staffed army of diplomats and national security figures to lead the charge.

Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson two weeks ago and nominated CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him. Even if a speedy confirmation puts Pompeo in charge at Foggy Bottom in short order, he'll end up as the boss of a lot of empty seats.

The American Foreign Service Association lists 188 ambassadorial positions, but fewer than 75 have been filled. The administration has failed to name individuals to fill the usual ambassador positions except for a number in the high 30s, according to the administration.

The White House points the finger at the antics of Senate Democrats for slow-walking the confirmation of able administration picks.

"A stunning 43 percent of the president's highly qualified nominees are still waiting for confirmation in the Senate," Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said of the overall pool of unconfirmed nominees during a recent briefing. Senate Minority Leader Chuck clown-Schumer's "tactics have led to 102 fewer confirmations than the next closest administration."

Observe the Democrats' treatment of Richard Grenell, whom Trump's nominated to be ambassador to Germany in September. Grenell is clearly qualified. A frequent Fox News contributor, he ably served as spokesman to four U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations from 2001 to 2008.

In 2012, Grenell served as national security spokesman for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney -- which made him the first openly gay spokesman for a GOP presidential hopeful -- before he resigned amid objections from social conservatives. His confirmation would be a win for gay Republicans, which one would expect to be embraced by Democrats who support gay rights.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced Grenell in October. Then nothing happened.

Republicans complained that the Democrats' use of secret "holds" prevented them from knowing which Senate Democrat stood in Grenell's way.

It wasn't until March 22, when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., asked the Senate to approve a floor vote on Grenell, that a name presented itself. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., effectively blocked the vote. Under Senate "cloture" rules, one objection can delay a confirmation vote until after 30 hours of debate. Those 30 hours of debate mean real work doesn't get done.

Merkley explained he objected to Grenell's "lengthy track record of tweets attacking both prominent Democratic and prominent Republican women," as well as his tweets that were "dismissive of the Russian threat."

Merkley also has criticized Trump for taking so long to nominate diplomats in troubled regions.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., also has faulted the Trump administration for slamming Democrats' delay tactics while the president neglected to nominate individuals for a large tranche of posts.

To be sure, the Trump White House has been slower than other recent administrations to name individuals to key posts. Trump has yet to nominate an ambassador to South Korea, even as he prepares for negotiations with North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un, thanks to an invitation transmitted by Seoul diplomats.

The process of vetting potential appointees and clearing would-be ambassadors with host nations has become so time-consuming that this administration cannot move as swiftly as past White Houses moved, an administration official maintained. Also, when senior level aides are frozen, the positions below them are held up as well.

The bottom line, noted McConnell spokesman Don Stewart, is, "The Democrats have gone out of their way to block even the most highly qualified nominees that the president has put forward and it has caused necessary delay for our foreign service and national security around the world."

Put another way: Trump is taking the slow route because he's a non-politician trying to put other novices in the government. Senate Democrats are dragging confirmations precisely because they are political animals.

Rules designed to make the Senate a more deliberative body have been perverted to make the Senate nastier and less effective.

When President Barack liar-nObama owned the Oval Office, Democrats complained about Republican obstructionism. Now they extol obstructionism as resistance.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., sees a pattern in cloture votes on nominations in the Senate. There were 12 overall from 1949 to 1992, then nine in 2005, then more than 13 a year from 2009 to 2012. In 2017, there were 63 cloture votes.

"We all know the direction of this body," Lankford told the Senate last year. When the Democrats next win the White House, "Republicans will say they did 63 to us, we'll do 120 to them."

There is a way to put an end to Senate rule antics. In 2013, when liar-nObama controlled the White House, Senate Republicans helped pass a resolution to reduce post-cloture debate time from 30 hours to eight hours for most executive branch nominees. Lankford wants the Senate to pass another such measure to stop the monkey wrenches through 2018, and let nominees rise with 51 votes or fall without them.

They've made it too easy to get nothing done.