Puppet Masters

Democrats make mockery of Barr 'hearing'

Andrew C. McCarthy
National Review
Tue, 28 Jul 2020 20:39 UTC

US AG William Barr, worthy of the honorific.

If it's a "hearing," Bill Barr asked with an irked tongue in cheek, "aren't I the one who's supposed to be heard?"

His frustration was more than justified. Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler (D., N.Y.) and the other Democrats who control the House demanded for months that Barr come to a "hearing" and "testify." But of course, it wasn't anything like an actual hearing, and they didn't want him to testify — as in actually answer questions. The session was a coveted election-year opportunity for Democrats to berate the attorney general of the United States in five-minute installments, accusing Barr of corruption, perjury, violating his oath, betraying the Constitution — at one point, even of killing thousands of COVID-19 victims (apparently, by being attorney general during a pandemic).

Especially at the beginning of the hearing, Barr easily parried the hostile questions — soliloquies with question-marks at the end. He picked apart their misstatements and disingenuous premises, and answered with aplomb. Democrats thus dropped the threadbare pretense that this was a hearing. In the main, the rest of the afternoon was devoted to raging, mock-anguished perorations about how Trump is a dictator and how Barr is helping him destroy our democracy.

These were punctuated by the occasional petulant demand that Barr answer "yes or no" a question that was either loaded or incoherent. When Barr would begin to answer, there would be foot-stomping, indignant, "I'm reclaiming my time" interruptions, claims that there was no question pending (usually after a question had just been posed), and then more Democrat filibustering about how the American people could clearly see that Barr was afraid to answer their questions . . . that they wouldn't let him answer.

It was an embarrassing spectacle.

Comment: Here's just one 'questioning' of the United States Attorney General that took place yesterday. This basically went on for 4 hours! Barr was stoic and funny in handling the Democrazis on this occasion, but the author is correct that the hyper-partisan nature of US politics spells doom for the US...

Actually, hang on... here's another sample of yesterday's 'hearing':

Federal agents, officers head to Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee as Operation Legend expands

Kristine Phillips
USA Today
Wed, 29 Jul 2020 11:25 UTC

© Charlie Riedel/AP
Protesters demanding police reforms and end to Operation Legend lie in the street to block a downtown Kansas City intersection July 17, 2020.

The Justice Department plans to send nearly 100 federal agents and officers to Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee, in an expansion of Operation Legend, a federal crime initiative that began earlier this month.

The department will send 42 agents to Detroit and more than 25 each to Cleveland and Milwaukee - cities that officials said have seen rising violent crime rates. The federal officers, drawn from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies, will help local and state officials in criminal investigations, the Justice Department said Thursday.

The announcement comes as state and local officials, drawing from the unrest in Portland, Oregon, are increasingly skeptical and apprehensive of a surge of federal law enforcement resources to their cities. Several big-city mayors have decried the aggressive use of federal forces in Portland and have expressed reservations about the deployments of agents to their cities.

Attorney General William Barr has defended the expansion of Operation Legend, saying it's targeting cities with violent crime problems, and the deployments are different from the surge of officers in Portland, where federal agents have clashed with protesters. Barr said in a statement:

"The most basic responsibility of government is to protect the safety of our citizens. The Department of Justice's assets will supplement local law enforcement efforts, as we work together to take the shooters and chronic violent criminals off of our streets."

Comment: Mayors may squawk but funding makes everything more palatable. Not an election stunt, Barr and Trump are doing what is necessary, having given certain cities the space to self-handle their situations. The city-by-city 'crimedemic' has one (calculated?) outcome: Folks are more willing to remain in isolation the longer riots continue in the streets.

GOP 'Covid-19 relief' bill sets aside $7B for weapons, including F-35 fighter jets; Sanders calls it 'DOA'

RT
Tue, 28 Jul 2020 17:29 UTC

The coronavirus relief proposal released by Republican lawmakers seeks to inject $7 billion into tools presumably essential for fighting the virus... such as the Pentagon's favorite money sink, the F-35 stealth fighter program.

Democrats have been adamantly opposed to the GOP coronavirus relief package right from the onset, and to the surprise of no one, given the current ultra-partisan climate. But the bill, which was made public on Monday, really brings out the Republican party's generosity towards defense contractors. Of the $1 trillion financial injection, $29 billion is supposed to go to defense spending, according to a Defense News count.

Some $7 billion is to be spent on weapons programs under the draft law, paying for new or upgraded warships, warplanes, missiles and military satellites. The Navy would get to spend $1 billion on Boeing P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance planes, while the Air Force would enjoy an extra $686 million for additional Lockheed F-35A fighter jets.

Comment: Military has its own kind of viral package for which the American public has been in financial lockdown for decades.

'Why don't we focus on now?' Obama advisor 'recreates' Hillary's infamous Benghazi moment

RT
Tue, 28 Jul 2020 21:41 UTC

© Reuters/Larry Downing
Valerie Jarrett before US President Barack Obama steps off Air Force One at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

Former Barack Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett was grilled on the Steele dossier and the FBI spying on the Trump campaign live on TV, but tried to dodge the topic altogether, earning comparisons to Hillary Clinton from conservatives.

Confronted by a Fox Business anchor with mounting evidence that much of the dossier - which alleged illegal cooperation between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the Russian government - was unverified and not credible, Jarrett said Tuesday morning that it's time to move on from the issue because it was "nearly four years ago. I don't understand why our focus isn't on what's happening right now," she told the host Maria Bartiromo.

But Bartiromo continued trying to get clear answers on the dossier, which kicked off the 'Russiagate' investigation and was used to spy on Trump campaign member Carter Page. She asked the Obama advisor to respond to reports the document was not based on firsthand knowledge and could have been politically motivated to target officials like Michael Flynn.

Jarrett parroted her first deflection and tried to steer the conversation to the "integrity" of the upcoming November election. "Aren't you worried about how we are going to have a safe and fair election?" she asked Bartiromo. Later confronted with the question of whether she or Obama had any direct involvement in the dossier and the campaign spying that followed, Jarrett claimed "that's not how it works" and theorized the dossier was only "one piece" of the many reasons former FBI Director James Comey decided to investigate Trump and his campaign.

See the full exchange below:

Comment: Jarrett's Message: We mustn't poke at 'inconvenient truths' if it exposes 'convenient lies'. And, by the way, let's forget there are long-lasting and radiating ramifications to our actions.

Mush for brains: Dem rep equates Portland riot with anti-lockdown protest, attacks Barr for not sending feds to 'deal' with 'right-wing extremists'

RT
Wed, 29 Jul 2020 18:55 UTC

© Pool via REUTERS / Matt McClain
Pramila Jayapal questions Attorney General William Barr during the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, in Washington

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) has compared armed anti-lockdown protesters in Michigan, an open-carry state, to vandals and rioters in Portland, as she unleashed a tirade on AG Bill Barr for treating the groups differently.

Barr was accused of plenty by Democrats during Tuesday's hearing, from politicizing the Justice Department to being "unAmerican" for deploying federal officers to violent protests in Portland, Oregon. However, Jayapal went a step further and questioned the way the attorney general responds to protests involving black citizens and those involving white ones, while comparing and contrasting anti-lockdown protests in Michigan in April and May and the current Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Portland, Oregon.

"But in Michigan when protesters carried guns and Confederate flags and swastikas and called for the governor of Michigan to be beheaded and shot and lynched, somehow you are not aware of that," she told Barr.

Comment: Jayapal exaggerates. See below.

"There is a real discrepancy in how you react as attorney general when white men with swastikas storm a government building with guns. There is no need for the president to, quote, 'activate you,' because they're getting the president's personal agenda done," she continued.

While some of the anti-lockdown protesters against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) were armed and were indeed allowed into the state capitol, there were no reports of vandalism or violence against either lawmakers or officers who were protecting the building. Michigan is an open-carry state, and it is not illegal to bear firearms inside the statehouse.

USA - A nation under house arrest

John W. Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute
Wed, 29 Jul 2020 19:13 UTC

"It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens, and one of the noblest characteristics of the late Revolution. The freeman of America did not wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise, and entangled the question in precedents. They saw all the consequences in the principle, and they avoided the consequences by denying the principle." — James Madison

We have become one nation under house arrest.

You think we're any different from the Kentucky couple fitted out with ankle monitoring bracelets and forced to quarantine at home?

We're not

Consider what happened to Elizabeth and Isaiah Linscott.

Elizabeth took a precautionary diagnostic COVID-19 test before traveling to visit her parents and grandparents in Michigan. It came back positive: Elizabeth was asymptomatic for the novel coronavirus but had no symptoms. Her husband and infant daughter tested negative for the virus.

Now in a country where freedom actually means something, the Linscotts would have the right to determine for themselves how to proceed responsibly, but in the American Police State, we've only got as much freedom as the government allows.

That's not saying much.

Indeed, it's a dangerous time for anyone who still clings to the idea that freedom means the right to think for yourself and act responsibly according to your best judgment.

In that regard, the Linscotts are a little old-school in their thinking. When Elizabeth was asked to sign a self-quarantine order agreeing to check in daily with the health department and not to travel anywhere without prior approval, she refused.

"I shouldn't have to ask for consent because I'm an adult who can make that decision. And as a citizen of the United States of America, that is my right to make that decision without having to disclose that to somebody else," said Elizabeth. "So, no, I wouldn't wear a mask. I would do everything that I could to make sure that I wouldn't come in contact with other people because of the fear that's spreading with this. But no, I would have just stayed home, take care of my child."

Impressions from an informal meeting with Asma al-Assad, Syria's first lady

Eva Bartlett
ingaza.wordpress.com
Wed, 29 Jul 2020 18:28 UTC

I had been sitting in a small entrance room for what seemed less than a minute when the door opened and Syria's first lady, Her Excellency Asma al-Assad, greeted me with a warm smile, welcoming me inside a slightly larger sitting room. In official meetings I had had over the years in Syria, I was accustomed to a secretary or assistant escorting me into the meeting room. Asma al-Assad, however, does things up close and personal.

Over the years in Syria, I had heard from people I encountered that she and President Assad routinely meet with their fellow Syrians in crowded venues, mixing and engaging with the people. I had also seen countless photos and videos of the Assads visiting Syrians in their homes around the country.

While I have been to Syria over a dozen times in the past seven years, it had never occurred to me to request a meeting with the first lady. But when that opportunity recently presented itself, I leapt at the chance to speak with one of the most beloved figures in Syria, and to hear her thoughts on her country, her fellow Syrians, and on the plights they are all in. And as it turned out, it was a chance to hear her poignant insights on her role as a mother, a citizen, the wife of the President and a leader in her own right.

Even before assuming the role of Syria's first lady, Asma al-Assad made it a priority to focus on the development of Syria, and over the years since she's headed organizations focusing on a range of development issues, including financial, educational and vocational. To effectively work on the many issues she does, her level of awareness of Syrians' situation on the ground is crucial.

Taliban, Afghan government declare three-day cease-fire during Eid holiday

RFE/RL
Wed, 29 Jul 2020 16:54 UTC

The Taliban has instructed its fighters "not to carry out any operation against the enemy during the three days and nights of Eid."

The Taliban and Afghan government have announced a three-day cease-fire for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday starting on July 31, as the United States presses for the start of delayed intra-Afghan peace talks.

"All mujahideen (Taliban fighters) are instructed not to carry out any operation against the enemy during the three days and nights of Eid," the Taliban said in a July 28 statement, adding that if the Taliban were attacked, they should "respond strongly."

The Afghan government said it had ordered its security forces to observe the cease-fire.

Ross Wilson, charge d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, welcomed the announcements, saying Afghans "deserve to celebrate the holiday in peace."

Sinclair to delay segment featuring 'Plandemic' conspiracy theory UPDATE

Aubree Eliza Weaver
Politico
Sat, 25 Jul 2020 04:31 UTC

The report sparked an immediate outcry on social media, where the video has been largely banned on Facebook and YouTube.

Sinclair Broadcasting on Saturday said it will delay its scheduled airing of a news segment featuring a viral conspiracy theory surrounding Anthony Fauci's role in the Covid-19 pandemic.

America This Week host Eric Bolling was scheduled to air an interview with Judy Mikovits, a medical researcher featured in the "Plandemic" video that claims Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, was responsible for the creation of the coronavirus, Media Matters reported.

The report sparked an immediate outcry on social media, where the video has been largely banned on platforms including Facebook and YouTube. "I recognize that this segment does need to be reworked to provide better context, and as such we are delaying the airing of the episode for one week," Bolling said in a statement posted to his Twitter feed on Saturday afternoon.

Comment: Hard to believe Bolling didn't do his homework as Dr. Mikovits has been forthcoming with her viewpoints for months. There may be more to this media threat than he is willing to reveal, given CNN is openly forcing censorship while the public puppets, on cue, buttress their mind wall:

CNN has whipped up an army of outraged Twitter liberals after it slammed a network of local news stations for airing an interview with a disgraced scientist who blamed Dr Anthony Fauci for the coronavirus.

Her appearance alone rubbed CNN the wrong way. In an article slamming Sinclair for airing such a "baseless conspiracy theory," CNN hammered Bolling for allowing Mikovits to "continue to make her case" without pushing back enough. CNN even texted both Bolling and Mikovits' fellow guest Larry Klayman, a lawyer who backed up her claims, to ask them about the segment.

Taking a page from the Media Matters playbook, CNN asked Bolling if he had any "second thoughts" about airing the segment. Bolling simply replied "I don't second guess my producers and bookers."

Online, CNN's liberal viewership clamored for a boycott of Sinclair. Some even demanded that anyone spreading such "dangerously false propaganda" be imprisoned.

CNN's gripe with Bolling seemed to stem from the fact that he didn't appropriately ridicule Mikovits. Bolling did call her claim "hefty," and afterwards interviewed Dr Nicole Saphier, a medical contributor for Fox News. Both Bolling and Saphier agreed on air that it was "highly unlikely" that Dr Fauci created the coronavirus, calling the allegation a "conspiracy theory."

Whatever its standing in the information war, CNN is losing the ratings war against Sinclair and its affiliates. Local broadcasters like the 294 owned or operated by Sinclair and its subsidiaries draw in five times as many primetime viewers as cable networks like CNN. Among these local broadcasters, Sinclair is king, reaching 40 percent of American households.

Proponents of the boycott celebrated their victory on Twitter:

Amid a recent upsurge in 'cancel culture,' few campaigns have brought a company to its knees as fast as Saturday's blitz by CNN. For Bolling and his colleagues at Sinclair it's back to the studio to reshoot their offending segment at CNN's behest.

How LGBT nonprofits and their billionaire patrons are reshaping the world

Jennifer Bilek
The American Conservative
Mon, 27 Jul 2020 00:01 UTC

Transgender ideology is being pushed on us by corporate interests through their philanthropic arms.

In an August 2018 New Yorker article, Elizabeth Kolbert asks, "Are today's donor classes solving problems or creating new ones?" Kolbert describes a form of charity that aims to not just help people but to improve them. This "improvement" aligns with the giver's particular vision of what constitutes improvement, of course. And the people who need to be improved are treated as children — for whom the donor, naturally, gets to decide what is best.

Kolbert describes how this form of giving becomes exploitation. We might add: not just exploitation, but elite-driven, highly self-interested social engineering. We see these characteristics on brilliant display in the philanthropy behind the modern LGBT movement.

Comment: See also:

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Puppet Masters

Democrats make mockery of Barr 'hearing'

Federal agents, officers head to Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee as Operation Legend expands

GOP 'Covid-19 relief' bill sets aside $7B for weapons, including F-35 fighter jets; Sanders calls it 'DOA'

'Why don't we focus on now?' Obama advisor 'recreates' Hillary's infamous Benghazi moment

Mush for brains: Dem rep equates Portland riot with anti-lockdown protest, attacks Barr for not sending feds to 'deal' with 'right-wing extremists'

USA - A nation under house arrest

Impressions from an informal meeting with Asma al-Assad, Syria's first lady

Taliban, Afghan government declare three-day cease-fire during Eid holiday

Sinclair to delay segment featuring 'Plandemic' conspiracy theory UPDATE

How LGBT nonprofits and their billionaire patrons are reshaping the world

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