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Trump slurrs through Jerusalem speech - WH says he had dry throat, but announces physical exam (video)

Donald Trump
© SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
Questions about the President's well-being were raised on Wednesday after he garbled the tail-end of a speech at the White House.
The day after President Trump slurred through part of a speech, the White House announced that he will undergo a physical exam.

Trump will take the exam at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., early next year and the results will be made public, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday.


Comment: Is there any significance to the fact that Trump appeared to be losing his ability to speak when making such a ground-breaking announcement that will no doubt carry serious global consequences? A psychological or symbolic significance, perhaps?


Arrow Down

Another demotion: DOJ official Bruce G. Ohr demoted as House investigators subpoena records of his Fusion GPS meetings

Bruce G. Ohr
© AP Photo
Bruce G. Ohr
A senior Justice Department official was demoted on Wednesday amid an ongoing House intelligence committee investigation into his contacts with Fusion GPS, the firm responsible for the Trump dossier, according to Fox News.

Bruce G. Ohr, who was until Wednesday associate deputy attorney general, met during the 2016 campaign with the author of the dossier, Christopher Steele, according to evidence obtained by committee investigators.

Ohr also met "shortly after" the election with Glenn Simpson, co-founder of Fusion GPS, investigators also found.

Comment: It seems like the DOJ and FBI are frantically trying to clean house. Or more likely, they need a couple of fall-guys to make it look like, rather than actively protecting Hillary, they've been bipartisan all along. For more on the demotion of Ohr, see: Top DOJ official demoted amid probe of contacts with Fusion GPS

See also:


Info

Fmr Judge: Case against Flynn could be dismissed since main witness against him was removed for bias

Flynnmueller
© mundoaguaysaneamiento.net/Salon
Michael Flynn and Robert Mueller


Glenn Reynolds
is a law professor, author and USA Today columnist.

Glenn runs the wildly popular Instapundit website at PJ Media and has an enormous following.

This afternoon Glenn Reynolds posted this comment from a former judge and reader on the General Michael Flynn arrest and plea deal.

Eye 1

Top DOJ official demoted amid probe of contacts with Fusion GPS

robert mueller
© Yuri Gripas/Reuters
Robert Mueller on Capitol Hill in 2013.
A senior Justice Department official was demoted this week amid an ongoing investigation into his contacts with the opposition research firm responsible for the anti-Trump "dossier," the department confirmed to Fox News.

Until Wednesday morning, Bruce G. Ohr held two titles at DOJ: associate deputy attorney general, a post that placed him four doors down from his boss, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein; and director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), a program described by the department as "the centerpiece of the attorney general's drug strategy."

Ohr will retain his OCDETF title but has been stripped of his higher post and ousted from his office on the fourth floor of "Main Justice."

Star of David

Mueller's investigation: Has the fake Russia-gate morphed into real Israel-gate?

As one fake scandal fades, a real one emerges
Flynn- Jared Kushner
© Unknown
Kosher Kollusion
Life is full of surprises. Like that time you were counting on a new bike for Christmas, and were totally certain your parents were going to come through, and then - lo and behold! - on Christmas morning there it was: a spanking brand-new Segway! The final evidence that, despite your best efforts, you'd always be a nerdy little dork. (And yes, a pocket calculator turned up in your stocking,)

That's just what happened to #TheResistance this holiday season. For months they've been salivating heavily in anticipation of the turning of Michael Flynn, the former National Security Advisor now charged with lying to the FBI. Flynn has admitted doing so on at least two occasions, both involving his answers to questions about his conversations with Russian ambassador Sergey Kisylak. During the transition - after Trump's election but before he took office - Flynn was talking to the Russians about two subjects: the possible blowback from the Obama administration's decision to impose more sanctions and close the Russian compound in Maryland, and the Russian position on the controversial UN resolution condemning Israel for building yet more "settlements" on Palestinian land.

Comment: See also:


Chess

Lavrov: Moscow 'ready to facilitate' dialogue between N. Korean & Washington

Sergei Lavrov
© Leonhard Foeger / Reuters
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
North Korea wants to engage directly with the US to assure its security, Russia's foreign minister has revealed. Sergey Lavrov said he has briefed US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on the developments and that Moscow is ready to "facilitate such talks."

"We know that, above all, North Korea wants to talk to the US about its own security assurances," he said in Vienna following his meeting with Tillerson. "Russia is ready to take part in facilitating such talks." Lavrov and Tillerson spoke on the sidelines of an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting.

Lavrov reiterated that all parties involved in the Korean crisis should "break the vicious cycle of confrontation, reckless schemes and sanctions" and engage in meaningful dialogue instead. He also pointed to American military exercises near the Korean Peninsula and Washington's aggressive rhetoric, which he said only leads to a further escalation of tensions. This is "unacceptable," Lavrov made clear.

X

Obama blocked deportation of 550,000 illegal aliens

ICE illegal immigration US
During Barack Obama's time in the White House, it was clear to many that he was far more concerned with protecting illegal immigrants inside the U.S. than he was with actually enforcing immigration laws.

Now that Donald Trump is in office, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials are free to actually do their jobs again, and they are opening up about just how bad things got under Obama's leadership.
U.S. immigration officials have revealed that they face a deportation backlog of 550,000 illegal immigrants who were given temporary amnesty by former President Obama or simply let off the hook by liberal judges.

The massive backlog is being tackled by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but the sheer numbers - bigger than the populations of Atlanta or Sacramento -- is overwhelming the agency's enforcement and removal department.

This week as ICE and other immigration officials reviewed successes under President Trump, a reporter asked Matthew T. Albence, executive associate director for enforcement and removal operations, if he knew the number of outstanding deportation orders. The conversation went this way:

Comment: It's at least possible to come up with a justification for why liberals would want to stop some deportations: "compassion" for immigrants' family members, for example. But what could the justification possibly be for making an active effort to keep criminal illegal aliens in the country? Anybody?


SOTT Logo S

Armageddon? World Reacts to Trump's Jerusalem Decision - Hamas, Fatah, Hezbollah Warn of New Intifada

Ramallah
© Abbas Momani / AFP
Palestinian protesters take cover from tear gas during clashes with Israeli troops near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, on December 7, 2017
Yesterday, Trump made good on his promise to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Given that the whole world (minus Israel) is against him - along with international law - he moderated his decision slightly by delaying the decision to move the U.S. embassy there for six months. Predictably, his decision has been unanimously condemned by pretty much everyone not a raving Zionist - and that includes so-called allies of the U.S. (again minus Israel).

As Piers Morgan put it yesterday in the Daily Mail,
"Today, President Donald Trump has taken a million-ton barrel of oil and tipped it all over the Middle East."
Russian MPs made similar comments:
"Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and the plan to relocate the US embassy [in Israel] to this city is a continuation of a string of provocations in American foreign policy, which we are continuously witnessing in relation to Syria, Iran and North Korea, among others," said Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma Committee for International Relations, RIA Novosti reported on Thursday. The lawmaker also noted in his comments that Trump's move could potentially "explode the situation in the zone of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

Head of the Upper House Committee for Information Policy, Senator Aleksey Pushkov, wrote on Twitter that the US president's decision was a global shock with potentially dire consequences. "The whole world except for Israel is in a state of shock because of Trump's decision. He has brought a new fuse to the old powder keg. I am confident that this is not the last shock," he said.
Dmitry Peskov gave the Kremlin's reaction:
"What is to be done? We have to continue to search for a diplomatic solution, though, the situation definitely became complicated." The Russian ambassador to Israel reaffirmed that Jerusalem's status will not be determined by some guy in the U.S., but rather as agreed upon in "direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations".

Russian Flag

Syrian and Russian Forces Have Completely Destroyed ISIS in Syria, US Says it Plans to Remain

Russia in Syria
More than six years after the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar sowed the seeds that led to a brutal conflict in Syria that killed upwards of 400,000 Syrians and caused millions more to flee their homes - causing a massive immigration problem for Europe in the process - the Russian General Staff has declared that all of Syria has been liberated of ISIS fighters.

"All terrorist units of ISIS on Syrian soil have been destroyed, and the territory is liberated. Therefore, as of today, there is no territory controlled by ISIS in Syria," Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov reported Tuesday. Senior military officer Sergei Rudskoi provided more details, saying that, "There is not a single village or district in Syria under the control of ISIL. The territory of Syria has been completely liberated from fighters of this terrorist organisation."

Snakes in Suits

Such a loss! US considering not sending its athletes to 2018 Winter Games in S. Korea

nikki haley
© Brendan McDermid / Reuters
US ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Nikki Haley, says sending American athletes to the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games remains uncertain amid security fears on the Korean Peninsula.

"There's an open question," Haley said Wednesday, responding to a Fox News question whether it's a "done deal" that Team USA will take part in the upcoming Winter Games.

"I have not heard anything about that, but I do know in the talks that we have - whether it's Jerusalem or North Korea - it's about, how do we protect the US citizens in the area?" she said.

Her comments follows escalating tensions between the US and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear program and recent ballistic missile tests. Haley also outlined that US officials' ultimate goal is to "take every precaution" to make sure their athletes are safe and protected.

Comment: If the US is afraid of its athletes' safety on the Korean peninsula, they have only their warmongering leaders to blame.