Wed/Noon ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
 The Events of the Week -- Featuring: 
US Intel Is Fighting Blind Against ISIS
by Pete Hoekstra
 
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 Why Elections Today Are So Contentious 
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John J. Bastiat: It wasn't that long ago when national elections were more perfunctory, less volatile and certainly less contentious. Those halcyon days are long gone! Today the bile and vitriol spewing over the airwaves mirrors that of society generally, and the seemingly innocent question, "Can't we all just get along?", is body-slammed with a resounding "Hell NO!!" So what happened?
          To borrow a meme from infamous liar-Clintonista James Carville, "It's the power, stupid!" That is, it's the tremendous power the American people have allowed (demanded, even) to coalesce inside the DC Beltway, and particularly at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Decisions that used to be made by individual states or local governments are now decided somewhere in Washington, DC, often by a single branch, or even worse — and more often the case — an unaccountable sub-entity within that branch. As a result, elections nowadays are "for all the marbles."
          We offer as a case-in-point the Supreme Court of the U.S. One facet of the current election is that it is effectively a referendum on who will replace the late, great Antonin Scalia and give the winning party a 5-4 majority on an otherwise (arguably) evenly divided bench. Less than a century ago, the Court was largely apolitical; now it's an ideology-based "final arbiter" of national law. Instead of faithfully interpreting the plain text and intent of a given law, many justices skew their judgments to "outcome-based" jurisprudence, in which they decide the outcome they want and then "walk-back" their logic — and, unfortunately, their "law" — to support the desired result. Thus whichever party chooses the next justice "wins," by-and-large, any issue arriving at the doorstep of SCOTUS. But the problem doesn't stop there.
          No, it worsens exponentially because every branch of the federal government has too much power, in one way or another. For example, the Executive Branch has arrogated to itself the power of all three federal branches, temporarily relenting only when checked by another branch of government. As His Worship is fond of saying, "If Congress won't act, I will" or, alternatively, "I've got a pen and a phone." Translation: "I don't need the Legislature: I am the Legislature!" In any case, the current Occupation Force inside the Executive Branch does not consider the Separation of Powers doctrine as an impediment to its reach or effectiveness.
          As for Congress, with the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment morphing senator selection by state legislature into popular election, senators are no longer accountable to their states, but only to "the people." That might sound good at first blush, but it crippled states' abilities to check federal government power. Moreover, Congress generally has too much power. The Constitution enumerates specific responsibilities for Congress, the president and the Supreme Court. Those not specifically granted to these branches are supposed to be reserved either to the states or to the people — the Tenth Amendment. Today, the Tenth Amendment is all but a dead letter. Like the Executive Branch, Congress — using the courts as well as the Executive Branch — has assumed far more power than "We The People" ever granted it under the Constitution.
          The aggrandizement of power by the federal government was a primary concern of the so-called "Anti-Federalists," who opposed ratifying the Constitution on the grounds that the federal government would eventually become all-powerful and too distant from those it governed. They were also concerned that the states would become mere conduits through which the federal government would exercise its overwhelming power. Fast-forward to today and the Anti-Federalists have been prophetic. An increasingly distant government brandishes immeasurable power over a vast expanse, over hundreds of millions of people with conflicting ambitions and needs. The input of the average American citizen to the federal Leviathan is so remote that the output — the federal government's influence upon that individual in daily life — seems totally arbitrary. "No taxation without representation"? What about the case of "no representation," period?
          However, the real issue here is not "who's right" in a national election, but rather the broader issue of "good governance." Originally, the Founders viewed the states as individual "experiments" on how to "get along" as a people. The idea was that if a particular state went awry with respect to governance, people would "vote with their feet" and relocate to a better state. With the power of the federal government increasing and the power of the states diminishing over time, these "experiments" became less and less distinguishable: Today all is now "federal."
          Contentious elections are merely a symptom of a much bigger problem: Too much power amassing in the federal government and a discontinuity between its applied power and the will of the people who have no real say in its control. The solution to both problems is to again disperse the federal government's power by redistributing it across all three branches of the federal government and among the states. But such an act won't happen from any initiative within the Beltway, which has become so drunk with the mass-accrual of power that the vast majority of today's members of Congress and senior Executive Branch leaders are millionaires — another clear indicator of the magnitude of the problem. No, it will only happen if the states and the people resolve to cage the tiger.  ~The Patriot Post
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Limbaugh Sniffed Out Comey “Reopening Investigation Stunt”- Predicted As It Happened
by Rick Wells
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{rickwells.us} ~ FBI Director James Comey is up to his eyeballs in the liar-Clinton/liar-nObama corruption machine, leveraging his erroneous former reputation as a straight shooting lawman into the biggest hoax perpetrated against the American people since climate change... From their perspective, The White House crime syndicate recognized early it was vital that they have a loyal partisan hack occupying the seat from which either prosecution or protection would emanate, FBI Director. It was a base they covered early, using the sanitizing label of Comey’s Republican affiliation to attach a false perception of objectivity...
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Iran and Turkey Jostling for Power in Iraq
by Jonathan Spyer
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{meforum.org} ~ The most intriguing aspect of the Mosul campaign, however, has been the differing and often opposing agendas of the various components of the attacking force... These, with surprising rapidity, have now have come to the fore. Just two weeks into the offensive, two of its most prominent backers – the Baghdad government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the Turkish government – are engaged in a war of words. How has this crisis emerged, and what may be the direction of events in the next phase?...  http://www.meforum.org/6350/iran-and-turkey-jostle-for-power-in-Iraq
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FBI Director Confirms that liar-Hillary Lied,
and Mishandled Classified Material
by Roger Aronoff
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{aim.org} ~ Democrats and their allies in the media were outraged that Comey would drop this bomb into the campaign with 11 days until the election, and not explain the urgency or the substance of his findings... Many Republicans, and their allies, who were outraged by Comey’s conclusions back in July—namely that liar-Hillary Clinton was guilty of serious violations of the law, but that he didn’t believe that she had any criminal intent, nor that “any reasonable prosecutor” would attempt to prosecute the case against her—were saying that maybe Comey was going to implicate liar-Hillary in serious criminal activity after all. He wouldn’t have reopened this matter, they believed, if he didn’t have something new and serious that he had seen...
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Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett has convinced President
liar-nObama to FIRE FBI director James Comey
by Ed Klein
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{dailymail.co.uk} ~ After persistent prodding by senior adviser Valerie Jarrett to remove James Comey from his job as director of the FBI, President liar-nObama has agreed the time has come to fire America's top cop... According to a White House source familiar with liar-nObama's decision, Jarrett and the president held lengthy discussions over the past several days about the political and legal ramifications of firing the FBI director. The president was furious with Comey for reopening the FBI's investigation of liar-Hillary's emails 11 days before the election, then admitting two days before the election that he couldn't find any cause for taking action against the Democratic nominee...  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3914340/Senior-adviser-Valerie-Jarrett-convinced-President-Obama-FIRE-FBI-director-James-Comey-election.html
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On Eve of Election, Benghazi BOMBSHELL
Rains Down on liar-Hillary
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{conservativetribune.com} ~ Guards hired by liar-Hillary Clinton’s State Department to protect the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi had ties to terrorist groups and joined in the attack that resulted in the deaths... of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in September 2012, an explosive new report charges. Multiple sources told Fox News that “an obscure private firm hired by the State Department over internal objections” had hired locals in haste and without adequate vetting, with the result that multiple members of the supposed “security team” turned on the Americans and participated in the killings for which current Democrat presidential nominee liar-Clinton has repeatedly denied responsibility...  http://conservativetribune.com/election-benghazi-bombshell/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=PostUp&utm_campaign=ConservativeBrief&utm_content=2016-11-08
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US Intel Is Fighting Blind Against ISIS
by Pete Hoekstra
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{investigativeproject.org} ~ Gathering intelligence about the plans, intentions, and capabilities of one's enemies has always been difficult. The United States has always committed to do exactly that. The financial investment has been tremendous.

The U.S. ability to utilize breathtaking tools to steal and manipulate electronic communications and data, as well as operating in the cyber world has proven effective. Spy satellites have unbelievable methods to penetrate enemies' defenses, and to be able to see the unseeable.

The intelligence community now trains skilled professionals to "connect the dots" from these divergent data sources. These are remarkable capabilities of modern technology and human analysis that is being implemented by the U.S. to keep its citizens safe, but there is a massive gap.

Throughout time there has always been one indispensible tool of espionage – the human spy also known as HUMINT, or human intelligence. History has proven time and again that human intelligence is the focal point of great intelligence. It is dangerous and risky, yet fundamental to a successful integrated intelligence effort.

In Iraq, the lack of substantial human intelligence resulted in the mistake of assessing that Iraq had acquired weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Signals intelligence (SIGINT) and imagery intelligence (IMINT) had presented a compelling case. Human intelligence was almost non-existent. The result, a wrong conclusion based on partial information.

It is crucial to note that spy networks take years to validate and develop. It is not something you can easily turn on and off. As the United States now enters the next phase of the war against ISIS, it's time to rebuild our HUMINT capabilities, to be our eyes and ears in the Middle East and Africa.

Any objective analysis of today's HUMINT capabilities will indicate that the U.S. is almost blind against the Islamic State.

President Bill liar-Clinton's decision to reduce reliance on HUMINT in the 1990's because of the inherent risk has left analysts forced to analyze situations with limited information. The 1990's action left us weakened but not blind.

More recently, severe errors were made. Egypt and Libya were two countries that provided the U.S. with extensive HUMINT capabilities. Egypt and Libya have now been marginalized as sources. The U.S. support for overthrowing Mubarak in Egypt has limited cooperation since then, and has resulted in Egypt growing closer to Russia. Correspondingly, HUMINT assistance was eliminated in Libya. When the U.S. overthrew Gaddafi they also destroyed Libya's HUMINT network that had been of substantial help.

Other U.S. "allies" in the region are currently being called into question. Can the U.S. rely on obtaining substantial intelligence from states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar who are known for supporting the Islamic State? Are there any other options for the U.S.?

Turkey constantly disagrees with U.S. policy vis-a-vis the Kurds. Their inability to back the 2003 war in Iraq signals their limited reliability and cooperation in defeating ISIS today.

Support from Iraq proves improbable that the Shia-dominated government in Baghdad, a proxy for Iran, will not afford the U.S. much help.

Syria is now a failed state.

The bottom line is, after being involved in a decades-long war against radical jihadists, America has lost almost all of its HUMINT capabilities in the region. The only real and reliable allies in the region today are Israel and Jordan.

After losing capabilities in Egypt, Libya, and Syria, recognizing the limitations and reliability of Saudi Arabia and Qatar due to their ties to ISIS, and the complex and arduous relationships that the U.S. has with Turkey and Iraq, the outlook is grave.

Those who know and understand the ominous threat of ISIS are the countries in that region. Today they are not aligned to provide the HIMINT that America needs to keep the country safe.

The next president will make decisions on how to confront, contain, and ultimately defeat ISIS with one hand behind their back. They will not have the one profound asset, human intelligence, which will help the President of the United States eradicate ISIS and other jihadist groups from the world.

Our next President will be forced to make tactical and strategic decisions with limited insights into the threat.

The decisions in the 1990s by President Bill liar-Clinton and the actions by the liar-nObama Administration will handicap future Presidents because of the destruction of almost all HUMINT in the Middle East and Northern Africa.

It will be important for the next President and the American people to know of the limited resources and information that will be available as decisions are made. The loss of HUMINT will practically guarantee that more "mistakes" will be made.

http://www.investigativeproject.org/5696/pete-hoekstra-us-intel-is-fighting-blind-against

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