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How spygate has turned Democrats like me against our party

Saritha Prabhu
The Federalist
Fri, 03 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
BrenClapObumMcCabeComey
© Trumpulist
Brennan • Clapper • Obama • McCabe • Comey
I was a long-time Democrat who 'walked away' from the party because I couldn't stomach the Democrats' anti-democratic antics.

I don't much like Donald Trump and didn't vote for him (or Hillary) in 2016, but I've been feeling sorry for him for about 18 months now. It feels strange feeling sorry for someone who's a boor, a narcissist, an egomaniac, and a serial philanderer, plus the 37 other negative traits usually used to describe him. But it has something to do with the fact that he has been treated in a grossly unfair manner by the mainstream media and the political and cultural left, on a scale we've never seen before.

One story of the last two years is how this most alpha of alpha males has become an underdog of sorts in American politics today. Of course, you won't find this narrative in any of the mainstream media outlets. This narrative merely exists in the minds of millions of voters who are outside the core Democratic base: those of us who are Republicans, moderates, independents, former Democrats like myself. We've been silently watching, listening, observing the opposition to Trump in the last eighteen months, and it's been the most sickening thing to see, more appalling than what the right did to President Obama.

Comment: Well said! Informative to hear there is a portion of the traditionally left constituency taking a step back and observing the political lynching of this president and recognizing the necessity for his place in time and circumstance.

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Star of David

Jared Kushner reportedly asked Jordan to end refugee status for 2M Palestinians


Sputnik
Sun, 05 Aug 2018 00:26 UTC
Kushner
© AP
Senior Advisor to the President, Jared Kushner
This is said to be a part of the plan to dismantle United Nations' Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

Jared Kushner, a senior advisor to US President Donald Trump - and the US leader's son-in-law - has reportedly been pushing Amman to strip 2 million Palestinians in Jordan of their refugee status, according to Foreign Policy. Kushner raised the issue during a June visit to Jordan, in which he was accompanied by Trump's personal Special Representative for International Negotiations, Jason Greenblatt.

According to Palestinian officials, Kushner pressed Amman to strip 2 million Palestinians of their refugee status, which would effectively end the need for the UNRWA in the country, according to Foreign Policy.

"[Kushner said] the resettlement has to take place in the host countries and these governments can do the job that UNRWA was doing," said Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

This most recent example is just one episode in the work that Kushner is conducting to undermine the UN humanitarian aid agency, according to emails obtained by Foreign Policy.

Comment: Kushner, Haley and Greenblatt want to shield Israel from UN - hence world condemnation by eliminating the reporting agency. Do they have that power?

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Star of David

Kushner's push for an 'honest effort to disrupt' Palestinian refugee agency has Abbas up in arms


RT
Sun, 05 Aug 2018 04:58 UTC
Abbas Momani
© AFP/Getty Images
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
The Palestinian authorities have slammed a reported plan by the US President's special adviser Jared Kushner to dismantle the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, saying it's a plot to take a key issue off any future negotiations.

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has described the newly-surfaced plan, allegedly outlined by Kushner in internal correspondence in January, as a "continuation of the subversive plots to eliminate the Palestinian problem." By insisting on unraveling the decades-old United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Washington seeks to strike the issue of the Palestinians displaced during the Arab-Israeli war off the agenda of any future negotiations, which is unacceptable, Abbas said on Saturday.

On Friday, Foreign police magazine [sic Foreign Policy] revealed that Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law in charge of mediating a peace deal between Israel and Palestine, has been spearheading an effort to get rid of UNRWA. In an email to the US President's Middle East peace envoy Jason Greenblatt and several other officials, dated January 11, Kushner reportedly wrote that "it is important to have an honest and sincere effort to disrupt UNRWA."

Comment: Jared Kushner is not an unbiased arbitrator, given affiliations, business history, 'Uncle Benjamin' - the family friend for decades. Kushner is attempting to eliminate any judgements from international law, any recourse for the abuses and crimes to Palestinians and any recompense that might be evoked and demanded. His appointment should be outright rescinded and replaced with one of deference and equality.

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Document

Lawmakers are demanding declassification of Bruce Ohr FBI interviews

Sara Carter
saraacarter.com
Thu, 02 Aug 2018 08:19 UTC
Grassley
© Getty Images
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) have been stonewalled since last year by the Department of Justice, which has refused to turn over interviews the FBI conducted with former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr.

Ohr was demoted twice for failing to disclose his involvement with significant figures (including his wife) associated with the unverified dossier from the now-embattled research firm, Fusion GPS, which alleged President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.

The lawmakers say Ohr's close relationship with former British spy and dossier author, Christopher Steele is deeply troubling. Also concerning to lawmakers is the fact that even after Steele was terminated by the FBI (he worked as a source until he was fired for "unauthorized disclosure to the media of his relationship with the FBI"), Ohr continued to supply documents from the ex-spy to the bureau.

Lawmakers tell SaraACarter.com that the interview documents (known as 302s) should be declassified because they believe it will reveal the extent of Ohr's involvement with Fusion GPS, his relationship with Steele and Fusion GPS owner Glenn Simpson, and his communications with FBI officials investigating Trump's campaign.

Comment: Limited agency and department cooperation has restricted the flow of information and slowed the legal process to a crawl. In one sense it has allowed for seemingly incidental facts to find their proper emphasis as the grand, multi-faceted scheme continues to unfold. Understandably the country is divided and angry. Elections are upcoming. Time to piece it all together and begin the adjudication process?

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Attention

US wants Nicaragua to fall - it poses an undesirable threat of a good example

Roger D. Harris
MintPress News
Fri, 03 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
Nicaragua Rally
© Alfredo Zuniga/AP
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega arrives to the Juan Pablo II plaza to celebrate the 39th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution, in Managua, Nicaragua, July 19, 2018.
The US has targeted Nicaragua for regime change. Some former supporters of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his Sandinista party echo the US talking points: Ortega's "entire government has been, in essence, neoliberal. Then it becomes authoritarian, repressive."

One would think that a neoliberal regime, especially if it were authoritarian and repressive, would be just the ticket to curry favor with Washington.

The Threat of a Good Example

In Noam Chomsky's words, Nicaragua poses a threat of a good example to the US empire. Since Ortega's return election victory in 2006, Nicaragua had achieved the following, according to NSCAG, despite being the second poorest country in the hemisphere:
  • Second highest economic growth rates and most stable economy in Central America.
  • Only country in the region producing 90% of the food it consumes.
  • Poverty and extreme poverty halved; country with the greatest reduction of extreme poverty.
  • Reaching the UN Millennium Development Goal of cutting malnutrition by half.
  • Free basic healthcare and education.
  • Illiteracy virtually eliminated, down from 36% in 2006.
  • Average economic growth of 5.2% for the past 5 years (IMF and the World Bank).
  • Safest country in Central America (UN Development Program) with one of the lowest crime rates in Latin America.
  • Highest level of gender equality in the Americas (World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2017).
  • Did not contribute to the migrant exodus to the US, unlike neighboring Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
  • Unlike its neighbors kept out the drug cartels and pioneered community policing.
The World Bank, IMF, and EU countries have certified Nicaragua for its effective use of international loans and grants. Funds were spent for the purposes they were given, not siphoned off into corruption.

Before April 18, Nicaragua was among the most peaceful and stable countries in the region. The otherwise inexplicable violence that has suddenly engulfed Nicaragua should be understood in the context of it being targeted by the US for regime change. Nicaragua has provoked the ire of the US for the good things it's done, not the bad.

Comment: Unsurprising. The US can't leave well-enough alone. It is a disease infecting all its foreign relationships (except one).

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Target

WaPo fact check: 'Wringing Sarah Sanders neck' is different from 'choking her'

John Nolte
Breitbart
Fri, 03 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
Sarah Sanders
© Alex Wong/Getty Images, Washington Post
WH Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Washington Post Columnist Aaron Blake
The far-left Washington Post fact checked White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and smeared her as a liar because "wringing" her neck is different from "choking" her.

In a reaction piece, WaPo's Aaron Blake, a left-wing columnist who considers the harassment of Trump supporters "understandable," blasted away at Sanders Thursday after she calmly listed the horrors she and other Trump officials have dealt with due to an increasingly rabid establishment media.


Comment: Pushing buttons, triggering responses, verbal target practice - media venom takes a turn for the worst.
See also:

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Jet4

Russia's use of cutting edge electronic warfare in Syria has US military concerned

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ News
Sun, 05 Aug 2018 17:23 UTC
Krasukha-2 russia electronic warfare
© Said Aminov
The Krasukha is a highly mobile and powerful electronic warfare system mounted on an 8×8 Baz truck, designed for offensive and defensive electronic warfare.
According to recent publications in both American and Russian intelligence-oriented media, Russia has taken advantage of its military operation in Syria to test new weapons, including against US forces, and Russia's electronic warfare has proven so highly effective that American analysts are scrambling to learn from it.

In his article in the Russian government's official newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, journalist Anton Valagin has collected from American media the views of senior US Army officers and American experts on the subject.

"In northeastern Syria, we face unprecedented resistance on the radio as I've never seen anywhere else," says US Colonel Brian Sullivan, whose unit has also operated in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and Syria in the past.
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Gear

'Attempt to destabilize Venezuela': Russia condemns attack on Maduro - US denies involvement


RT
Sun, 05 Aug 2018 18:55 UTC
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
© Juan Barreto / AFP
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
The Russian Foreign Ministry slammed the assassination attempt on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in which seven people were injured, saying the use of terrorism is absolutely inappropriate for political purposes.

"We strongly condemn the assassination attempt on the President of Venezuela [Nicolas Maduro]," reads a statement from the foreign ministry, which calls "the use of terrorism for political struggle" unacceptable.

The message comes shortly after Venezuelan officials said explosives-laden drones were detonated near Maduro during a grand military parade in Caracas. It said, "these acts were obviously aimed to destabilize situation in the country," in which the government and the ruling Socialist party are doing their utmost to revive the national economy.

Comment: Washington is by no means involved in what is described as an attempted attack on the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the US President's national Security Advisor John Bolton said. Caracas blamed "ultra-right" and Colombia.
There was "no US involvement at all," Bolton told Fox News Sunday when asked about the incident. His words came shortly after Maduro's speech at a military event in Venezuela was interrupted by loud explosions.

"I can say unequivocally that there was no US government involvement in this at all," Bolton said, referring to the incident.
See also: Venezuelan President Maduro survives assassination attempt during public speech (UPDATES)

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Dollar Gold

FEC hits corrupt Maxine Waters with complaint after daughter rakes in $750k from campaign funds

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Thu, 02 Aug 2018 16:44 UTC
maxine waters not happy

Maxine Waters
California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, 79, has been slapped with an FEC complaint after funneling $750,000 in campaign funds to her daughter since 2004 to manage a mailer program, as extensively detailed by the Free Beacon's Joe Schoffstall.

The scheme managed by Karen Waters has raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars from California politicians who pay to be included in her "slate mailers" - sample ballots mailed out to around 200,000 Los Angeles voters which promote who Waters endorses.

Comment: At this point, not getting an endorsement from mad Maxine Waters would be an endorsement in and of itself.

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Star of David

A New Wave Of Hardline Anti-BDS Tactics Are Targeting Students, And No One Knows Who's Behind It

Josh Nathan-Kazis
Forward
Fri, 03 Aug 2018 15:22 UTC
anti bds canary list israel hasbara
© GWU SJP / Nikki Casey
This is the first story in a series on covert tactics targeting Israel's critics.

Strange things started happening at George Washington University this April, as their student government prepared to vote on a resolution supported by pro-Palestinian campus activists.

Anonymous fliers, websites, and social media campaigns appeared out of nowhere to attack the student activists. And, on the day of the vote, two adult men dressed as canaries showed up to do a weird dance in the lobby of the college building where the student government was set to vote.

It was the canaries that really freaked out Abby Brook, a Jewish GW student active in pro-Palestinian campus groups. "I honestly didn't believe it at first," said Brook, who arrived at the building where the canaries were dancing a few minutes after they left. Friends showed her pictures of the two men. One had worn a full-body Tweety Bird costume, his face painted yellow; the other a yellow plague doctor mask with a long, curved beak.

Read the rest here
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