(L-R) Former FBI agent Dan Jones, billionaire George Soros, Fusion GPS founder Glen Simpson
Vachon made the admission to the Washington Post's David Ignatious - who has previously been accused of being a deep-state conduit.
Puppet Masters
(L-R) Former FBI agent Dan Jones, billionaire George Soros, Fusion GPS founder Glen Simpson
Vachon made the admission to the Washington Post's David Ignatious - who has previously been accused of being a deep-state conduit.
Many people have asked themselves at one time or another how soldiers are able to come to grips with the unspeakable horrors they must face as enemy combatants on some foreign battlefield, far from home. The tragic reality, however, is that many American men and women never actually come to grips with their war-time experiences, opting to cut their lives short instead.
From 2004 to 2008, the US Army witnessed something completely unprecedented in modern times: suicide rates among active and non-active troops surged 80 percent compared to the previous 'stable' period (1977 to 2003), according to a research report in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings journal. By 2012, the tragic irony was that US soldiers were actually more likely to die as a result of suicide than at the hands of a foreign enemy. And it is certainly no coincidence that the spectacular spike in suicides began not long after the US began two costly and protracted wars, one in Afghanistan and the other in Iraq.
© Huffington Post
US Vice President Mike Pence
US Vice President Mike Pence
US VP Mike Pence was "speaking on hearsay evidence, confusing right and wrong and creating something out of thin air," the foreign ministry said Friday, condemning a speech by the vice president at the Hudson Institute on Thursday. "Any malicious slander on China is futile."
Amid unprecedented tensions between the two nations, Pence accused China of trying, among other things, to influence the midterm elections to the extent that all the efforts perpetually undertaken by malicious Russian actors to obfuscate American minds and undermine US democracy "pales" in comparison. The vice president also challenged Beijing's vision for the Chinese people's future, noting that Taiwan's "embrace of democracy" shows a "better path" for the entire Asian nation.
© Politico
Senators Grassley and Feinstein
Senators Grassley and Feinstein
The new request, revealed in a late-Thursday press release sent hours after senators got a chance to read the FBI's report on its investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations levied against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, was coupled with Grassley's third attempt to ask Ford's attorneys Debra Katz, Michael Bromwich, and Lisa Banks to share evidence cited as part of their client's claim she was sexually assaulted by the judge when they were teenagers.
"I urge you once again, now for the third time in writing, to turn over the therapy notes, polygraph materials, and communications with The Washington Post that Dr. Ford has relied upon as evidence," Grassley wrote at the end of his letter.
© The National Interest/KJN
Speaking on a conference call on Thursday, Bolton said the US will seek to counter "all" terrorists and their ideologies, rather than a specific organization. The strategy he described involves pursuing terrorists at the source, isolating them from support and combating propaganda and radicalization. Defensive activities would include modernizing and integrating counter-terrorism tools, protecting US and allied infrastructure, and strengthening partnerships with allies.
"This is not the Obama administration, would be my message to Iran and anybody else," Bolton said.
Comment: So in order to include Iran and China as 'terrorists,' Bolton and cohorts have created a new and overarching definition, replete with penalties. Not likely a global consensus.
© Tasnim News Agency via/Reuters
While the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia have no diplomatic relations, Iran proposed to its arch-nemesis and regional foe to unite against the US to stop the arrogant American stance in the region.
"President Trump repeatedly humiliates the Saudis by saying they can't last 2 weeks without his support. This is the recompense for the delusion that one's security can be outsourced,"Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.
Comment: Iran is offering divide and conquer. Is Trump clueless or promoting shifts in the status quo?
© Paul Giamou/Getty Images/Brand X
The tiny chips, as small as the tip of a sharpened pencil and designed to be undetectable without specialist equipment, were implanted on to the motherboards of servers on the production line in China, the report in Bloomberg Businessweek said.
The chips were reportedly developed by a specialised computer hardware attack unit in the People's Liberation Army, and gave hackers unfettered access to anything the server did, allowing them to potentially manipulate the server to steal data, contact other servers and alter operations.
"Having a well-done, nation-state-level hardware implant surface would be like witnessing a unicorn jumping over a rainbow," Joe Grand, a hardware hacker and the founder of Grand Idea Studio, told Bloomberg.
Comment: True? Or another hit job on China to sabotage its industry connections to US products?
© Jim Bourg/Reuters
President Donald Trump and US Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh
President Donald Trump and US Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh
It's not clear whether the Senate will come to the same conclusion as the White House. The investigation, which was completed two days ahead of its Friday deadline, has been widely criticized by Democrats as incomplete.
The investigation was launched in the wake of a string of allegations leveled against Kavanaugh as the Senate Judiciary Committee deliberated on his confirmation.
FBI agents interviewed three people in connection with the allegations made by Christine Blasey Ford, who says that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school. However, investigators did not speak with Kavanaugh or Ford.
The Senate is set to review the findings on Thursday.
Comment: See also: Senator Grassley releases major statement upon reading FBI report on Kavanaugh
More from Townhall:
"With Leader McConnell's cloture filing, Senators have been given ample time to review this seventh background investigation," said Raj Shah, the principal deputy press secretary for the White House. "This is the last addition to the most comprehensive review of a Supreme Court nominee in history, which includes extensive hearings, multiple committee interviews, over 1,200 questions for the record and over a half million pages of documents. With this additional information, the White House is fully confident the Senate will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court."
Senators will be able to review the report on Thursday under tight security.
With a slim Senate majority, Kavanaugh's fate hinges on three GOP senators: Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Jeff Flake. Should Republicans lose any votes, Sens. Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp will be looked to as his next best hope.
© File Photo
Special Council Robert Mueller
Special Council Robert Mueller
The two prosecutors, who had worked on the criminal cases involving former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, are returning to their previous posts at the Justice Department. They join two other attorneys who left the team over the summer.
The pair's exit from the special counsel team comes less than a month after Manafort pleaded guilty to two criminal charges - neither related to the alleged collusion with Russia which Mueller's team set out to uncover. Manafort reportedly met with Mueller's investigators on Monday, as part of his cooperation agreement with the special counsel's investigation.
Some pundits reacted to the news by feigning surprise about the existence of the probe - perhaps a reference to the investigation's long but unfruitful attempt to fulfill its mandate.
Comment: The Mueller probe bought the Obama-Clinton-DNC-FBI-DOJ time.
© Laszlo Balogh LB/GB/Reuters
An Elderly Hungarian woman votes in Budapest.
An Elderly Hungarian woman votes in Budapest.
The chief of the Hungarian consular mission in Berehove was ordered by Kiev to leave Ukraine within 72 hours for "activities incompatible with the status of a consular officer", the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said kicking out the Hungarian diplomat was a matter of principle, but not a signal that Kiev wants its relationship with Budapest to worsen.
"Wherever the Hungarian side wants to continue cooperation, we will do so," he said. "We have a strategy of robust, consistent but constructive dialogue."
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto denied that Budapest's diplomat did anything to violate the laws of either of the two nations or any international diplomatic treaties, saying all of Hungary's missions in Ukraine "act within the law".
Hungary responded by expelling the Ukrainian consul in Budapest. Klimkin said Hungary's reaction was "absolutely and fundamentally inadequate" in a tweet, apparently referring to the Ukrainian diplomat's higher status as an embassy worker.
Comment: See also:
Pence believes Russia's influence and meddling pales in comparison to China's