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{ bizpacreview.com } ~ Head of the former Special Council Robert Mueller’s highly anticipated public hearing is finally here. He is testifying before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees on his final report regarding the Russian collusion and obstruction investigations... Democrats have been trying for quite some time to make this hearing happen. despite insistence from Mueller that he did not want to be brought before Congress – and that his final report was his final word on the topic. In his opening statement to the bi-partisan committees, which according to reportshad not been seen by the Department of Justice, Mueller said that he took the role as the head of the Special Council because he believed it was an issue of national importance. “In addition to the criminal charges we brought, as required by Justice Department regulations, we submitted a confidential report to the Attorney General at the conclusion of our investigation. The report set forth the results of our work, and and reasons for our charging and declination decisions. The Attorney General later made the report largely public. As you know I made a few limited remarks about our report when we closed the Special Council’s office in May of this year. There are certain points that bear emphasis. First, our investigation found that the Russian government interfered in our election in sweeping and systematic fashion. Second, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in its election interference activities.  We did not address “collusion” which is not a legal term. Rather, we focused on whether the evidence was sufficient to charge with any member with taking part in a criminal conspiracy, and it was not.” Mueller reiterated that the Special Council “would not make a determination as to whether the president committed a crime. That was our decision then and it remains our decision today.”  Republicans and Democrats alike will get the chance to grill Mueller on his handling of the Russia investigation, why he refused to pursue obstruction charges against President Trump, and ultimately whether the president will or should face impeachment proceedings...

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{ theconservativetreehouse.com } ~ After a few rounds of questioning it is now clear that Robert Mueller was selected by a pre-existing group of DOJ and FBI officials... Mueller didn’t pick his team; the DOJ/FBI team that was already carrying out the “insurance policy” against Trump, selected him. During questioning from Representative Louie Gohmert, special counsel Robert Mueller said he was not in the Oval Office May 16th, 2017, for a meeting with President Trump as “a candidate” to be the FBI Director.   And thus a picture gains clarity…Unfortunately Louie Gohmert did not follow up with questions about why Robert Mueller was in the Oval Office on May 16, 2017, or whose idea it was for the meeting. However, putting together the information previously provided by Andrew McCabe it’s now likely DAG Rod Rosenstein guided Mueller to the meeting – by telling President Trump one reason; and telling Robert Mueller something completely different. Mueller implies in his testimony his appearance was to discuss the general qualifications of an FBI Director. Mueller specifically says he was not there as “a candidate” for the position. However, President Trump and Vice-President Pence were advised that Robert Mueller was applying for the job of FBI Director...

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{ freebeacon.com } ~ President Donald Trump's Middle East peace envoy on Tuesday delivered a scathing rebuke of the United Nations before the body's Security Council... telling member states that the organization's constant Israel bashing does nothing to help the parties get any closer to worthwhile negotiations. Jason Greenblatt, the administration's special representative for international negotiations, took an unprecedented stand at the U.N., telling international leaders their anti-Israel "drumbeat of tired rhetoric" is "designed to prevent progress and bypass direct negotiations." Palestinians will not earn themselves a state by continuously bashing Israel, sponsoring terrorism, and using the U.N. as cover to delegitimize the Jewish state, Greenblatt said. His remarks come as the Trump administration works to garner support for the economic portion of its Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. This includes galvanizing regional leaders to back multi-million dollar investments in the Palestinian territories in order to help build the infrastructure for a future state. The second portion of the administration's plan, which still remains secret, will focus on land swaps and other mechanisms meant to facilitate a final peace agreement. The Palestinian government's continued use of the U.N. to bash Israel, the furor from it and its international partners at the U.N. at the Trump administration's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital city, as well its unilateral demands that East Jerusalem be the future capital of its state, will not alter the factual realities on the ground Greenblatt said, in some of the most direct comments on the matter to date. "It is true the PLO [Palestinian Liberation Organization] and the Palestinian Authority continue to assert that East Jerusalem must be a capital for the Palestinians," Greenblatt said. "But let's remember: An aspiration is not a right."...

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{ freebeacon.com } ~ The State Department has warned China to halt "bullying" in the South China Sea as part of a dispute with Vietnam over oil and gas exploration in the disputed waterway... In a blunt statement issued Saturday, department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said China was interfering with Vietnam's "long-standing" exploration and production of undersea energy resources. "China's repeated provocative actions aimed at the offshore oil and gas development of other claimant states threaten regional energy security and undermine the free and open Indo-Pacific energy market," Ortagus said. "China should cease its bullying behavior and refrain from engaging in this type of provocative and destabilizing activity," she stated. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier this year that China has been blocking development in the South China Sea through coercive measures and as a result is preventing regional states from developing an estimated $2.5 trillion in energy reserves...

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{ news.usni.org } ~ The United States and Canada must maintain a “clear-eyed” view of new security challenges in the Arctic, to include the ability of Russian submarines to launch cruise missiles from the region... the head of U.S. Northern Command said on Monday. The region could be “an avenue of approach” for the Russians to exploit, Air Force Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. O’Shaughnessy specifically mentioned improved Russian submarines carrying cruise missiles and the country’s development of hypersonic weapons as being growing concerns that he and all the regional commanders are facing. To that end, it’s important that air, land and sea forces “have the right kit, the right experiences” to understand how to operate under the harsh conditions of the region, and he called for more exercises in the region. When asked about the Coast Guard’s role in the region, he said, “we’re reliant on its capability,” particularly for heavy icebreaking missions – a capability that is questionable now. The old heavy icebreaker “Polar Star (WAGB-10) is not the answer. … It’s way beyond its service life.” In terms of new of new hulls, “we need that capacity; we need to accelerate that,” the general said. On countering or deterring hypersonic weapons that could be used in the Arctic or Europe by Russia or in the Pacific by China, O’Shaughnessy said the “trajectory it flies” poses the challenge that needs to be addressed. He expressed hope that a mix of high-tech and low-tech space-based sensors in different orbits using a single architecture could provide the necessary tracking of these weaponsthat can be maneuvered to different targets. O’Shaughnessy also serves as commander of North American Aerospace Defense, a bi-national organization with Canada. Although relations between Ottawa and Washington over trade and economic issues have been testy, he said on security strategy the two governments are in alignment on assessing the international challenges posed by Moscow and Beijing. He added “military-to-military relations remain rock steady. NORAD is stronger than it has ever been.”...

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{ gatestoneinstitute.org } ~ When Saudi blogger Mohamed Saud arrived at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on July 22, he apparently thought he would peacefully pray at the site before proceeding to tour the markets of the Old City of Jerusalem... Moreover, Saud apparently believed that as an Arab Muslim, he would be warmly welcomed by his Palestinian brothers. He was wrong. The moment Palestinians noticed the Saudi blogger at one of Islam's holiest sites, they demonstrated to him how they treat their Arab brothers. Videos that surfaced on social media showed a number of Palestinians hurling insults and spitting at Saud. One Palestinian later threw a plastic chair at him as he left the compound. What did the Saudi visitor do to deserve this humiliation and physical abuse? What crime did he commit to be denounced as "garbage," "animal," and "traitor" and "Zionist?" The unfortunate Saudi's crime -- in the eyes of the Palestinians -- was that he was part of a delegation of Arab journalists invited to visit Israel. Such visits are often condemned by Palestinians as actions that lead to promoting normalization between Arabs and Israel. The Palestinians are strongly opposed to any form of normalization with Israel and consider it tantamount to treason. They are afraid that if the Arabs normalize their relations with Israel, they will stop caring about the Palestinians. The Palestinian position is that there can be no normalization between Israel and the Arabs before the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved. This humiliating treatment was far from an isolated incident. The moment Palestinian media organizations learned about the arrival of the journalists to Israel, they rushed to issue statements denouncing the delegation and calling on Arabs and Muslims to blacklist the visitors...  https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14588/palestinians-assault-saudi-blogger  

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{ americanthinker.com } ~ In the lead-up to the 2016 election, an array of economists, financial media, and academics were making rosy predictions of where financial markets would be headed after scumbag/liar-Hillary Clinton won... and correspondingly dire forecasts for the markets if “somehow Donald Trump shocked the world on Election Day.” Typical was a CNN financial writer who gloomily wrote: “If Donald Trump wins the election, U.S. stocks and likely many other markets overseas will almost certainly tank… A Trump victory would be ‘America’s Brexit’… it would shock U.S. and global markets… A Trump triumph would likely cause investors to flee stocks to the safety of gold and bonds.” Another in Politico expressed the sentiment of the Democratic Party by saying that, “Wall Street is set up for a major crash if Donald Trump…wins the White House.”  In a Brookings Institution paper, university professors projected a “10-15% nosedive” and noted that “Wall Street clearly prefers a scumbag/liar-Clinton win certainly from the prospective of equity prices … Should Trump somehow manage to win you could see major Brexit-style selling.” One Wall Street money manager went so far as to place a value on a scumbag/liar-Clinton victory, confidently asserting that “the stock market is worth 11 percent more under a scumbag/liar-Clinton presidency than a Trump presidency.” On post-election Wednesday, Noble laureate Paul Krugman warned “the economic fallout of a Donald Trump presidency will probably be severe and widespread enough to plunge the world into recession.” How did that all work out? Stock market performance during the Trump administration’s first two years was the second-best first two years on record, trailing only that of Franklin D. Roosevelt. As this past June ended, President Donald Trump celebrated the strongest second quarter stock market performance in more than the two decades. When U.S. markets closed on Friday, June 29, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) hit 26,599. The S&P 500 reached 2,941, and the NASDAQ Composite Index eclipsed 8,000. The S&P, the index many analysts hold as the best indicator of market strength, increased 3.8% from the previous quarter and 17% since the beginning of this year. The former represents the largest increase since 1997. Since then, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has surpassed the 27,000 mark for the first time in history...    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/07/wall_street_main_street_and_2020.html  

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