ACTION

TERRORIST NEUTRALIZED: Iran vows “harsh” response to U.S. killing of top general, Qassem Soleimani; meanwhile, Americans are implored to leave Iraq “immediately” (Associated Press)

SANITY: Marine Corps authorizes concealed carry on bases following recent shootings (National Review)

Government & Politics

CIRCLING THE WAGONS: Media struggle to explain recent wave of anti-Semitic attacks without blaming Jews, Trump (The Washington Free Beacon)

LIMITED VAPING BAN: Trump administration declares ban on mint, fruit-flavored vaping products (The Hill)

Virginia

GUN-GRAB PROPOSAL: Virginia governor’s call for 18-person gun-ban force comes under fire (Washington Examiner)

STOCKING UP: Guns and ammo “flying off the shelves” in Virginia as Democrats pursue confiscation (The Daily Wire)

REVISIONIST HISTORY: Ralph Northam calls for removing statue of Robert E. Lee from U.S. Capitol (The Daily Wire)

Culture

“A RADICALLY UNSETTLED PRECEDENT”: Two hundred members of Congress are urging the Supreme Court to reconsider Roe v. Wade (The Daily Caller)

MOTHER, DOCTORS DISAGREE: Texas judge rules 11-month-old to be taken off life support against mom’s wishes (The Daily Wire)

“THE LIES … HAVE BEEN FOREVER EXPOSED”: First trans person to obtain legal “non-binary” sex status changes back to birth sex in blow to LGBT movement (PJ Media)

Closing Arguments

POLICY: Qassem Soleimani’s death a “major operational, psychological victory” for the U.S. (The Heritage Foundation)

POLICY: The surprisingly good news about American family life — for kids (American Enterprise Institute)

HUMOR: Racist Democrats kick another minority out of 2020 presidential primary (Genesius Times)  

Iran continues to be provocative in an effort to get Trump to back off his crippling sanctions, while the regime continues its pursuit of building a nuclear weapon. Thus far, Trump has avoided being pulled into a war with Iran, but as the Iranians get more desperate, expect an increase in the number of attacks against U.S. interests and allies.

At the same time, North Korea has once again ramped up its saber-rattling, with Kim Jong-un claiming to possess a “new strategic weapon” while also suggesting he will end the moratorium against testing long-rang missiles. For the moment, Trump seems content to hold the line on sanctions while continuing his charm offensive. He continues to avoid offering any heated criticism of Kim while effectively calling on Beijing’s puppet to uphold the denuclearization agreement “he did sign.”

Finally, the ongoing trade war with China. There was some recent positive news, as the White House announced that a “phase one” deal agreed to last month would be signed on January 15. The deal would cancel a new round of $156 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods as well as slash current tariffs on another $120 billion in goods. While it is undeniable that the trade war has hurt certain sectors of the U.S. economy, it has been necessary to fight against Chinese cheating. However, this fight is far from over, as Beijing would love nothing more than to see Trump lose his reelection bid with an aim to continue its unfair trade practices.

In short, as 2019 passes into 2020, there are some things that haven’t changed and will require continued American vigilance. 

~The Patriot Post 

https://patriotpost.us/articles/67648?mailing_id=4776&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4776&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

PROXY WAR: Iran-backed militiamen withdraw from U.S. embassy but Iraq tensions linger (Associated Press)

THANKS, scumbag/liar-nOBAMA: In 2011, scumbag/liar-nObama met with one of the leaders in Baghdad embassy attack (PJ Media)

Government & Politics

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM: Trump honored with “Bipartisan Justice Award” by black leaders (The Western Journal)

TOO GOOD TO IGNORE: CBS News reporter highlights minority improvements under Trump as most underreported story (The Daily Wire)

MASSIVE: commie-Bernie Sanders tops Democrat field with massive $34.5 million haul in fourth quarter (ABC News)

MORE MASSIVE: Trump camp raises $46 million in final quarter; reelect team says impeachment drove best haul to date (The Washington Times)

MAGA: Trump beats own record for fewest new regulations issued in a year (The Washington Times)

POLITICAL FUTURES: New census data suggests previous report wrong: Republican states gaining seats in Congress (The Daily Wire)

DECADE REWIND

PRESENTED IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER: The 24 most absurd PC moments of the 2010s (National Review)

DECADE OF DEBT: Federal debt up more than $10 trillion in 2010s (CNSNews.com)

Closing Arguments

POLICY: A New Year’s revolution for Iran (Issues & Insights)

POLICY: GOP should “double down” on tax cuts 2.0 (The Heritage Foundation)

SATIRE: scumbag/liar-Hillary Clinton slams Trump for not taking a more “hands-off” approach to embassy attack (The Babylon Bee)  

If the report had dispensed with the Trump administration’s claim that a handful of top government bureaucrats who supported scumbag/liar-Hillary Clinton, most notably Barack scumbag/liar-nObama’s former FBI Director scumbag-James Comey and former CIA Director scumbag/commie-John Brennan, used the FISA court search warrants as a layup for Robert Mueller’s investigation — in effect a bureaucratic coup d'etat to take Trump down — the report would have been the top headline this morning. That would have teed up subsequent headlines about the House impeachment inquisition and Articles of Impeachment.

scumbag/commie-Brennan and scumbag-Comey, and their corrupt scumbag/liar-Clinton cronies, used their “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation to set Trump up for a takedown. And the best evidence supporting that fact provided by Horowitz: Of the 17 most egregious “errors” a handful of corrupt FBI managers committed in order to justify the FISA warrants and launch the Mueller investigation, every one favored the scumbag/liar-Clinton campaign.

As you recall, the Russia-collusion investigation  originated with the FBI’s “evidence” for unaccredited FISA warrants linked to the fake Trump dossier they knew was funded by the scumbag/liar-Clinton campaign.

And that has been the fundamental basis for our objection to these “investigations” from their inception.

According to Horowitz’s report: “We identified at least 17 significant errors or omissions in the Carter Page FISA applications, and many additional errors in the Woods Procedures. While we did not find documentary or testimonial evidence of intentional misconduct on the part of the case agents … we also did not receive satisfactory explanations for the errors or problems we identified. In most instances, the agents and supervisors told us that they either did not know or recall why the information was not shared with the OI (Office of Investigations), that the failure to do so may have been an oversight, that they did not recognize at the time the relevance of the information to the FISA application, or that they did not believe the missing information to be significant. On this last point, we believe that case agents may have improperly substituted their own judgments in place of the judgment of the OI, or in place of the court, to weigh the probative value of the information.”

In other words, members of the deep-state cabal who set Trump up proceeded on the basis of their opinion, which was obviously a reflection of their bias.

To that end, the Horowitz report concludes: “We also found that the FBI did not aggressively seek to obtain certain potentially important information from Steele author of the fake Trump/Russia dossier. For example, the FBI did not press Steele for information about the actual funding force source for his election reporting work.”

So, we are to believe that nobody involved in this setup thought to ask the critical question, “Who funded the dossier?” — even though it had been suggested the scumbag/liar-Clinton campaign was behind it. How convenient! Again, we now know, as scumbag/liar-Clinton’s FBI backers knew then — that the funding was from the scumbag/liar-Clinton campaign and the Democrat National Committee.

And a note regarding the report’s assertion that, based on the mandate of what Horowitz was tasked to investigate, there was no evidence of “bias.” scumbag/liar-Clinton’s backers were high-ranking FBI bureaucrats — of course they did not leave an official trail of evidence pointing to their political bias in kicking off this investigation. However, there is no question that each of the individuals involved in the chain of command demonstrated significant personal bias against Trump. Horowitz was not tasked with evaluating their personal bias, only the evidence directly related to the FISA warrants.

The FBI’s predication for those FISA warrants is what prompted Attorney General William Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham to declare the Horowitz report woefully incomplete.

According to AG Barr: “The Inspector General’s report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken. It is also clear that, from its inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory. Nevertheless, the investigation and surveillance was pushed forward for the duration of the campaign and deep into President Trump’s administration. In the rush to obtain and maintain FISA surveillance of Trump campaign associates, FBI officials misled the FISA court, omitted critical exculpatory facts from their filings, and suppressed or ignored information negating the reliability of their principal source. The Inspector General found the explanations given for these actions unsatisfactory.”

Barr was highly critical of the implications of the FBI’s “gross abuses” of FISA: “I think from a civil liberties standpoint, the greatest danger to our free system is that the incumbent government use the apparatus of the state…both to spy on political opponents, but also to use them in a way that could affect the outcome of an election. As far as I am aware, this is the first time in history that this has been done… And here I felt this was very flimsy… I think our nation was turned on its head for three years based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by a completely irresponsible press. I think that there were gross abuses of FISA and inexplicable behavior that is intolerable in the FBI. I think that leaves open the possibility that there was bad faith.”

Durham, whose criminal investigation report into the origins of scumbag-Comey’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation is still months away from conclusion, took the unusual step of commenting: “I have the utmost respect for the mission of the Office of Inspector General and the comprehensive work that went into the report prepared by Mr. Horowitz and his staff, however, our investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department. Our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S. Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.”

Additionally, FBI Director Christopher Wray issued a response to the FISA report, concluding: “We will review the performance and conduct of certain FBI employees who were referenced in the Report’s recommendations – including managers, supervisors, and senior officials at the time. The FBI will take appropriate disciplinary action where warranted. Notably, many of the employees described in the report are no longer employed at the FBI.”

The Wall Street Journal notes, “The FBI corrupted the secret court process for obtaining warrants to spy on former Trump aide Carter Page. And it did so by supplying the court with false information produced by Christopher Steele, an agent of the Hillary Clinton campaign.” The editors noted further, regarding the report’s finding that “the Crossfire Hurricane team’s receipt of Steele’s election reporting on September 19, 2016 played a central and essential role in the FBI’s and Department’s decision to seek the FISA order,” that “This confirms what Rep. Devin Nunes and House Republicans first disclosed in February 2018, which was denied by Rep. scumbag/liar-Adam Schiff and sneered at by the press at the time.”

Senior Senate Judiciary Committee member Charles Grassley added: “Anyone who values fundamental civil liberties in the United States should be disgusted and terrified by what the inspector general uncovered…on the FBI’s spying on an American citizen. The FBI’s job is to protect Americans, our democracy and our rights. Its actions have done great harm to the public trust and jeopardize the important work that rank-and-file agents do every day for our nation.”

Predictably, Senate Minority Leader Chuck scumbag-Schumer declared: “For years, President trump and his Republican allies in Congress and the media have speculated wildly about deep-state conspiracies against his presidency. They’re based on the claim that the FBI opened an investigation into the president’s campaign with political motives. Yesterday we…got a report from the Department of Justice inspector general that puts these conspiracy theories to rest once and for all. This report conclusively debunks the baseless conspiracy that the investigation into Mr. Trump’s campaign and its ties to Russia originated with political bias.”

That is an award-winning obfuscation!

His House sidekick scumbag/liar-Adam Schiff piled it on, “It may be too much to hope that this report will put to rest the conspiracy theories about the 2016 election — especially now when the president and his allies are eager to distract from mounting evidence of his abuse of power with respect to Ukraine.”

That notwithstanding, seasoned political analyst Brit Hume concludes, “The 17 instances of misconduct cited in the report — they are damning… The FISA court was clearly taken for a ride by the FBI … up and down the chain of command. … The FBI has had some dark days in its past, but nothing like this recently. … This was very serious misconduct on the part of the FBI.”

Of course, the now-demented scumbag-James Comey is out taking a victory lap, laughably insisting, “The FBI fulfilled its mission — protecting the American people and upholding the U.S. Constitution.” While most rank-and-file agents are devoted to that mission, scumbag-Comey was not among them. The report indicates that, among other things, scumbag-Comey lied to Congress when he asserted he did not open a counterintelligence investigation into Trump prior to the 2016 election, leading to the FISA warrants. But in fact, he did just that.

Finally, responding to the FISA report, Trump said: “They got caught, they got caught red-handed. … Never ever should this happen again in our country.” And he is right.

Stay tuned for the Durham report…  

~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/alexander/67271-the-doj-fisa-report-trump-was-right-2019-12-10?mailing_id=4775&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4775&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Reviewing everything the Left spews is a dirty job, but somebody has to do it!

Over the last decade, the political and policy positions of the CPUSA and those of the Socialist Democrat Party leadership increasingly constitute a distinction without much difference — Democrats are just more tactful than communists (sometimes). It’s no small irony that we observed “The Communist Centennial of Tyranny and Terror” during the same year that, thank goodness, Donald Trump defeated scumbag/liar-Hillary Clinton.

Ahead of 2020, the cadres of assorted statists who make up the Democrats’ presidential primary plethora hope to defeat Trump with their collective constituencies strategy. Their socialist pacesetter is commie-Bernie Sanders, who was sandbagged by the Democrats in the 2016 primary, and his loudmouthed gaggle of socialist sycophants includes four congresswomen — commie-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, worthless-Ilhan Omar, worthless-Rashida Tlaib, and worthless-Ayanna Pressley, collectively labeled “The Squad,” but more accurately, “The Gang of Four.”

Indicative of the backroom alliance between Tom Perez’s Democrat National Committee (DNC) and John Bachtell’s CPUSA was a recent email I received. No, it didn’t announce the merger of the two organizations, but it did do something much more subtle.

In order to track incoming email from various sources, I use more than 30 email address variants. But three weeks ago, I started receiving duplicate emails from the DNC — and I noted that those duplicates were using the specific address I use for incoming email from CPUSA. Not that I was surprised, but how revealing. For the record, when one organization integrates the email list of another, without the knowledge or permission of those being merged, it violates a lot of email double-opt-in protocols. When this happens, the email from the sender will typically be marked “spam” and this will hinder delivery of the sender’s email — in this case, that of the DNC. Not a problem! (For the record, Patriot Post subscribers have to double-opt-in to receive our publications, and we do not share or sell that information to any third party, which is why our email lists are “spam free” and our delivery rates are very high.)

So, what objectives and strategies do the Democrat Party and CPUSA have in common? Well, how much time do you have?

Most notably, both are advocates of the Cloward-Piven Strategy, which is the ‘60s-era brainchild of two hard-left academics to “end poverty” by creating an economic crisis that would lead to the collapse of capitalism resulting in its replacement with socialism.

As one of our political analysts, Arnold Ahlert, wrote: “In 1966, Columbia University sociologists Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven formulated the Cloward-Piven Strategy. It was a plan to overthrow America’s capitalist system by overloading the welfare state bureaucracy with demands that were impossible to meet, thereby precipitating a revolution.” Ahlert noted that the latest “effort to 'crash the system’” is to overload it with illegal immigrants.

This explains the Demos’ 2020 platform: “Open Borders and Free Stuff.” Indeed, the party that was once the champion of blue-collar workers now supports the greatest threat to labor, wage growth, and the economy overall: the influx of millions of illegal aliens competing for jobs, willing to take lower wages, and soaking up enormous taxpayer resources in terms of medical care, welfare, housing, and education.

According to Cloward and Piven, to achieve their goal, it would necessitate “a massive drive to recruit the poor onto the welfare rolls,” followed by “a federal program of income redistribution … necessary to elevate the poor en masse from poverty.” That income redistribution would take the form of “a guaranteed annual income and thus an end to poverty.” Except the only thing that’s equal under socialism is poverty — except, of course, for the political class.

Cloward and Piven insisted: “Republicans are always ready to declaim the evils of public welfare, and they would probably be the first to raise a hue and cry. But deeper and politically more telling conflicts would take place within the Democratic coalition. … Whites — both working class ethnic groups and many in the middle class — would be aroused against the ghetto poor, while liberal groups, which until recently have been comforted by the notion that the poor are few … would probably support the movement. Group conflict, spelling political crisis for the local party apparatus, would thus become acute as welfare rolls mounted and the strains on local budgets became more severe.”

Their strategy is similar (albeit more radical) to the failed model Franklin Delano Roosevelt called “The New Deal.” FDR infamously proclaimed, “Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.” Of course, that “American principle” is merely a paraphrase from Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, in which he declared, “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”

FDR’s failed programs were reincarnated as the Democrats’ so-called “Great Society,” which, in effect, enslaved millions of poor Americans on urban poverty plantations and coincided with the first publication of the Cloward-Piven Strategy.

Today, 50 years after the Left’s so-called “War on Poverty,” many Americans are now “institutionally impoverished,” unprepared and unwilling to rise above the poverty line because they’ve been generationally disabled from doing so.

As Cloward and Piven noted: “As the crisis develops, it will be important to use the mass media to inform the broader liberal community about the inefficiencies and injustices of welfare.” The Demo/MSM propaganda machine is just waiting for the signal from its leftist puppeteers! The organizing arm this plan utilizes Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” model for “community organizers.”

The Democrats almost achieved critical economic overload in 2008, when their statist “economic equality” policies resulted in the near-collapse of our economy. I detailed this in “How Democrats Seeded the 2008 Financial Crisis.” That was a near miss, but they did get an ideological socialist as a consolation prize: eight years of Barack scumbag/liar-nObama as president of the United States.

As I wrote eight months ago, Democrats are desperately hoping for a recession before the 2020 election. And they’re ready to pounce on the next opening to overload the system and create a crisis, adhering to the advice of scumbag/liar-nObama’s former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”

Fellow Patriots, stand ready and keep your powder dry! 

~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/alexander/64501?mailing_id=4763&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4763&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body