Hi there, !
Today Sun 11/17/2019 Sat 11/16/2019 Fri 11/15/2019 Thu 11/14/2019 Wed 11/13/2019 Tue 11/12/2019 Mon 11/11/2019 Archives
Rantburg
531688 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 71 articles and 280 comments as of 10:46.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT        Politix   
121 ISIS militants and relatives surrender to Afghan forces in Nangarhar, 300+ in past week
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 4: Opinion
5 15:13 JohnQC [3] 
23 23:10 Dron66046 [3] 
3 11:25 swksvolFF [2] 
4 14:07 Abu Uluque [1] 
5 17:51 Lex [1] 
12 12:07 rjschwarz [1] 
13 21:03 ruprecht [2] 
3 11:34 Bobby [1] 
8 19:13 European Conservative [2] 
1 00:19 3dc [1] 
6 14:59 JohnQC [1] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
4 17:57 USN, Ret. [1]
0 [3]
0 [2]
0 [2]
1 19:00 Roger Smith [3]
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 [3]
0 [1]
0 [2]
2 19:01 Rambler in Virginia [2]
0 []
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 [1]
1 08:49 lord garth [2]
Page 2: WoT Background
2 17:28 jpal [1]
0 [1]
4 13:44 Herb McCoy [4]
2 17:06 Jomock Squank9835 [1]
0 [3]
0 [3]
0 [1]
0 [1]
0 [1]
5 19:56 Dron66046 [2]
8 19:39 Frank G [2]
13 18:57 Frank G [4]
Page 3: Non-WoT
4 13:41 Skidmark []
3 15:20 swksvolFF [2]
4 19:28 Dron66046 [1]
11 23:59 Unirt McGurque6477 [1]
4 13:51 Skidmark [1]
5 20:37 KBK [2]
3 10:23 Skidmark []
2 14:01 Skidmark [1]
2 08:49 Procopius2k [2]
0 [2]
3 11:12 swksvolFF []
8 14:15 Skidmark [1]
1 01:10 g(r)omgoru []
1 19:27 Roger Smith []
6 22:13 swksvolFF [2]
15 19:09 Frank G [2]
2 16:03 Vernal Hatrick []
3 08:33 Rambler in Virginia []
Page 6: Politix
2 19:48 Dron66046 [3]
4 05:35 Lex [1]
11 18:56 Frank G []
8 12:52 SteveS [2]
12 23:01 Dron66046 [1]
1 04:57 Lex [3]
9 20:54 KBK []
17 21:31 Skidmark [2]
13 19:29 Procopius2k [3]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Adam Schiff's Star Witness Just Admitted Burisma Should Be Investigated For Corruption
[Federalist] Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent made the case for launching an investigation into the Bidens and their involvement in Ukraine related to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

Kent, the State Department’s top official on Ukraine, said during testimony before the House Intelligence Committee in the Democrats’ partisan impeachment proceedings Wednesday he was concerned about a, "perception of a conflict of interest," related to Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, serving on the board of the energy company while his father oversaw the Obama administration’s policy towards Ukraine.

Hunter Biden served on the board of the company for $50,000 a month despite having no prior experience in the energy industry while his father served as vice president deeply involved U.S.-Ukrainian policy.

Kent also testified in a private deposition that he voiced his discomfort over the situation to the White House in 2015 where administration officials brushed off Kent’s concerns.

"I raised my concerns that I had heard that Hunter Biden was on the board of a company owned by somebody that the U.S. Government had spent money trying to get tens of millions of dollars back and that could create the perception of a conflict of interest," Kent told lawmakers behind closed doors in October. "The message that I recall hearing back was that the vice president’s son Beau was dying of cancer and that there was no further bandwidth the deal with family related issues at that time... That was the end of that conversation."

During his testimony before the House on Wednesday, Kent reiterated his conviction that officials in Ukraine ought to be investigated to root out corruption related to Burisma.

"To summarize, we thought the [CEO of Burisma] had stolen money. We thought a prosecutor had take an bribe to shut the case," Kent said.

"Are you in favor of that matter being fully investigated and prosecuted?" asked Minority House Intelligence Committee Counsel Steve Castor.

"I think, since U.S. taxpayer dollars were wasted, I would love to see the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office find who the corrupt prosecutor was that took the bribe, and how much of it was paid," Kent said.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/14/2019 01:18 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Leaked Documents: Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office

BOMBSHELL:

Leaked documents from the Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s office indicate complex money transfers from foreign sources into the control of a “slush fund” owned and operated by Devon Archer, John Kerry Senior, John Kerry Junior, Heinz Jr, and Hunter Biden.

— Michael Coudrey (@MichaelCoudrey) November 14, 2019

Leaked transaction and bank records indicate an influx of large payments from Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings Limited to Rosemont Seneca Bohai LLC, in what appears to be monthly payments of $83,333.33. pic.twitter.com/BZXi61NnOO

— Michael Coudrey (@MichaelCoudrey) November 14, 2019
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/14/2019 3:12 Comments || Top||

#2  No wonder they're panicking.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/14/2019 3:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Boomerang!

Is there anything these morons have accused Trump of that they themselves haven't done?
Posted by: Lex || 11/14/2019 5:37 Comments || Top||

#4  "The message that I recall hearing back was that the vice president’s son Beau was dying of cancer and that there was no further bandwidth the deal with family related issues at that time... That was the end of that conversation."

Now, we need to get the time line straight here. Was that before or after Hunter Biden started boinking his sister-in-law?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/14/2019 14:07 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
A Nobel Prize for Trump?
The mainstream press has pilloried President Donald Trump for announcing that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi "died like a dog," and "a coward." To put icing on the mockery cake, Trump has invited "Conan," the military working dog that tracked al-Baghdadi and cornered him in a tunnel, to the White House and referred to Conan as "beautiful" and "talented."

...Churchill is also famous for referring to Gandhi, who had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, as "a seditious Middle Temple lawyer of a type well known in the east, striding half-naked up the steps of the viceregal palace . . . ."

British First World War Prime Minister Lloyd George apparently so loathed his political rival Churchill and considered him so unprincipled that George publicly announced that Churchill "[w]ould make a drum out of the skin of his own mother in order to sound his own praises."

...Other noted American statesmen have used similar insults to describe their opponents. John Quincy Adams referred to Thomas Jefferson as "a slur upon the moral government of the world." His father, John Adams apparently called Alexander Hamilton, of $10 bill fame, "a bastard brat of a Scotch peddler.

President Lyndon Johnson attacked then-House minority leader and future President Gerald Ford as "a nice guy [who] had played too much football with his helmet off."

Theodore Roosevelt, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating peace between Russia and Japan, thereby ending the Russo-Japanese War, is supposed to have referred to his boss, and then President, William McKinley as "having the backbone of a chocolate éclair."

Current British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, while he was a sitting member of Parliament, is also on record as having won a £1,000 prize for the "President Erdogan Offensive Poetry Competition" with the following entry: "There was a young fellow from Ankara, Who was a terrific wankerer. Till he sowed his wild oats, With the help of a goat, But he didn’t even stop to thankera."

...Any commenter with any knowledge of history would recognize that mocking, and even taunting an opponent, even at the highest levels of the political class, is a long-standing tradition.

Even when Trump follows these norms, he is pilloried. But perhaps, he should continue. After all, if he continues along this path he stands a good chance of earning a Nobel Prize in Literature like Sir Winston Churchill and a Nobel Peace Prize, just like fellow President Theodore Roosevelt. Judging by the standards applied to former President Barack Obama when he won the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump has certainly met or surpassed the requirements.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/14/2019 03:25 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Boris for President 2020!
Posted by: Mercutio || 11/14/2019 8:11 Comments || Top||

#2  I'd love to see this just to watch millions of lefties worldwide blow their gaskets.
Posted by: Raj || 11/14/2019 8:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Maybe impeach Trump for sending tweets that don’t rise to this level of statesmanlike eloquence.
Posted by: KBK || 11/14/2019 11:57 Comments || Top||

#4  The annual money would be nice but the prize is beyond tainted at this point.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 11/14/2019 12:16 Comments || Top||

#5  Barak Obama receive the Nobel Prize before he had done anything of worth. After 8 years in office he still did nothing of worth.

Yasser Arafat, Al Gore and the UN also received the Nobel.

As Groucho Marx said: "I won't belong to any organization that would have me as a member."
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/14/2019 15:13 Comments || Top||


Impeachment Committee Calls First Star Witness Greta Thunberg
[Babylon Bee] WASHINGTON, D.C.‐Rep. Adam Schiff and the House Intelligence Committee called on their first star witness to prove that Donald Trump committed high crimes and misdemeanors: Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg.

"Ms. Thunberg, thank you for being here today," Schiff began but was immediately interrupted by the girl:

"How dare you!" she shouted.

"Oh, heh, um... I'm on your side, here, let's take it easy," Schiff continued awkwardly. "What information do you have on Donald Trump and his blatant corruption when it comes to his phone call with Ukraine?"

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood!" she shouted, pounding the table in front of her. The crowd began to get emotional, weeping and shouting and screaming at the sky all at once. "This is all wrong! I shouldn't be here. I should be back in school!"

Even Schiff himself shed a few tears and led the committee in a standing ovation for Thunberg's bravery. "I think we've heard enough. I declare Donald Trump impeached!" Sadly, Schiff was later informed that he couldn't simply declare impeachment.

Thunberg concluded her testimony by shouting, "PEOPLE ARE DYING!" to thunderous applause.

The committee is now expected to call on other star witnesses like Alyssa Milano, Jane Fonda, and Debra Messing.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/14/2019 01:39 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "This is all wrong! I shouldn't be here..."

"Neither should we, don't let that stop you."
Posted by: Dron66046 || 11/14/2019 1:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Classic.

Reminds one of the trial scene from Woody Allen's Bananas.

Fielding Melish: "I object, your honor! This trial is a travesty. It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham."
Posted by: Lex || 11/14/2019 7:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Guessed Bee.

Didn't know until the click.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/14/2019 11:25 Comments || Top||


There's This Thing Called Due Process That We Ought to Try
[Townhall] I get a little picky about this whole due process thing, not just because I’m a lawyer and not just because I helped defend our Constitution overseas in uniform a couple times, but because I’m an American citizen. Let’s understand clearly the nature of the due process argument over impeachment. This is not about Donald Trump getting due process. This is about the American people getting due process.

It’s our choice for president that is being challenged. You get due process under our glorious Constitution when you are about to have your individual rights infringed ‐ like having your freedom or money taken. President Trump has no individual right to be president. It’s a position that we citizens gave him in order to work for us. The presidency is not his, any more than being a colonel meant the eagle belonged to me. The real due process rights at issue here belong to us, America’s citizens, who are faced with the prospect of having our right to choose our president infringed upon.

In other words, when no one is allowed to put on a defense to the impeachment inquisition, it’s not Trump who is being deprived of his due process rights. It’s the American people who are being deprived of their due process rights.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/14/2019 01:12 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We are all, mostly all, angry about what is going on. Some are close to picking up arms over this. Not sure who the author is, G(r)om???, but he sure states the core of our angers very well. Our right to choose the president is being infringed on, and he is not able to carry out the duties we elected him to do are being disrupted as well.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 11/14/2019 10:34 Comments || Top||

#2  It’s Kurt Schlichter from Townhall, 49 Pan. He is popular around here.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/14/2019 10:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Thanks TW, I really enjoyed it.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 11/14/2019 11:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Just not enough bullets.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/14/2019 16:54 Comments || Top||

#5  The real due process rights at issue here belong to us, America’s citizens, who are faced with the prospect of having our right to choose our president infringed upon.

This. Schlichter is often full of (highly entertaining, admittedly) sound and fury but this time he goes stone cold sober and gets right to the heart of the matter.

This is an attempt to nullify an election.

It's the kind of shite that happens all the time across the Chaos Nations of the third world. It has never happened to an American president, no matter how bitter or nasty the politics, in our history. Even in the most bitter struggles of D and R over the last half century, neither party crossed this Rubicon. Clinton and Nixon were both 2nd term presidents; Nixon had list the support of ~75% of his own party.

These f-----s are ripping up our history and our institutions. Because Orangeman Bad.

F--- these morons. This coup must not be allowed to stand.
Posted by: Lex || 11/14/2019 17:51 Comments || Top||


Illinois Democrat Claims 'Hearsay Can Be Much Better Evidence Than Direct' Evidence
[PJ] During Wednesday's public impeachment inquiry, Republicans rightfully reaffirmed the point that neither of the two witnesses, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent or Ambassador William Taylor, have any firsthand knowledge of President Trump's phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. In fact, neither man has ever spoken with or met President Trump.

In an attempt to counter that rather devastating and inconvenient fact for the Democrats, Illinois Democrat Congressman Mike Quigley offered a bizarre defense of Kent and Taylor's lack of direct knowledge of the pertinent details of the investigation.

"I guess to close, primer on hearsay, I think the American public needs to be reminded that countless people have been convicted on hearsay because the courts have routinely allowed and created, needed exceptions to hearsay," Quigley said. "Hearsay can be much better evidence than direct, as we have learned in painful instances and it's certainly valid in this instance," he added.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/14/2019 01:13 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lavrentiy Beria is ashamed.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/14/2019 1:17 Comments || Top||

#2 
"Also, we've seen 'opinion' is often far more factual than knowledge itself. And 'grudges' can replace common cause."
Posted by: Dron66046 || 11/14/2019 1:26 Comments || Top||

#3  In criminal cases hearsay is incompatible with the confrontation clause.

Impeachment is a matter of politics though.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 11/14/2019 3:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Giggle.

Shitshow, Part 184. Next: "Sentence first! Trial after!"

Which Congressman will be bold enough to play Alive?

'If any one of them can explain it,' said Alice, (she had grown so large in the last few minutes that she wasn't a bit afraid of interrupting him,) 'I'll give him sixpence. I don't believe there's an atom of meaning in it.'

The jury all wrote down on their slates, 'she doesn't believe there's an atom of meaning in it,' but none of them attempted to explain the paper.

'If there's no meaning in it,' said the King, 'that saves a world of trouble, you know, as we needn't try to find any. ..."

''Let the jury consider their verdict,' the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.

'No, no!' said the Queen. 'Sentence first - verdict afterwards.'

'Stuff and nonsense!' said Alice loudly. 'The idea of having the sentence first!'

'Hold your tongue!' said the Queen, turning purple.

'I won't!' said Alice.

'Off with her head!' the Queen shouted at the top of her voice. Nobody moved.

'Who cares for you?' said Alice, (she had grown to her full size by this time.) 'You're nothing but a pack of cards!'
Posted by: Lex || 11/14/2019 6:18 Comments || Top||

#5  * play Alice
Posted by: Lex || 11/14/2019 6:18 Comments || Top||

#6  If hearsay is enough, demand that Obama and Clinton be tried for treason on Benghazi.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 11/14/2019 6:22 Comments || Top||

#7  So much for Dems upholding the Constitution, as if that was in any doubt.
Posted by: Raj || 11/14/2019 8:24 Comments || Top||

#8  In the past, other trials have performed under the same idea.

Salem witch trials
Inquisitions
Protestant persecution
Etc.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/14/2019 8:34 Comments || Top||

#9  ....you just figured it out. It's all a facade to keep the gullible in line. It's an oligarchy that currently is undergoing a mental crisis because the people actually selected their leader not the caste so they need to use any means necessary to fix that from ever happening again.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/14/2019 8:37 Comments || Top||

#10  A BINGO at number 9.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/14/2019 9:49 Comments || Top||

#11  I hear democrats eat aborted babies and bathe in blood. While they were having secret meetings, there was a secret trial and they were all found guilty of treason and sentenced to be gently flogged to death with scented bootlaces.

/sarc for Herb.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 11/14/2019 9:49 Comments || Top||

#12  In a sane world the voters in Mike Quikgley's district would be looking for recall paperwork right now. Clearly an idiot.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 11/14/2019 12:07 Comments || Top||


Fox News' Chris Wallace: Taylor Testimony ‘Very Damaging' To Trump
[Daily Caller] Fox News host Chris Wallace said that Ambassador William Taylor’s House testimony Wednesday was "very damaging" to President Donald Trump.

"I think that William Taylor was a very impressive witness and was very damaging to the president," Wallace said. "First of all, as you pointed out, he took very copious notes at almost every conversation when he put quotes in his opening statement, he said those were direct quotes from what was said." (RELATED: House Republicans Release 18-Page Memo Featuring Their Case Against Impeachment)
He could've been deaf and mute and Chris "Son of Mike" would've still given him a tongue-bath. Pffft
"It also doesn’t hurt that he has a voice like Edward R. Murrow. He is a pretty impressive presence up there," he added.

"And I think very non-political. He went out of his way to talk about what he knew, what he was specifically testament to. The only thing he talked about was a strong feeling that it was in the U.S. national security interest to support Ukraine in the fight against Russia. But, he certainly wasn’t taking any partisan position." (RELATED: President Trump Promises Release Of ’Tantalizing’ First Phone Call With Ukraine)
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/14/2019 01:08 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He went out of his way to talk about what he knew, what he was specifically testament to. The only thing he talked about was a strong feeling that it was in the U.S. national security interest to support Ukraine in the fight against Russia.

So the only think he knew was he had a strong feeling.

Bombshell! Or maybe a tingle.
Posted by: Bobby || 11/14/2019 7:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Stop lying, you gullible sack of shit.

Here's this bullshitter a year ago after Day One of serial liar and partisan activist Christine Blowsey Ford's slander-fest, the Shitshow that was the Kavanaugh hearings:

During a break that followed the first 90 minutes of the hearing, Wallace said on Fox of Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony, “This was extremely emotional, extremely raw and extremely credible.”

“Nobody could listen to her and talk about the assault and the impact it had on her life and not have your heart go out to her. And she obviously was traumatized by an event,” he continued. Referring specifically to the bizarre format of the hearing, Wallace added, “This is a disaster for the Republicans.”
Posted by: Lex || 11/14/2019 7:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Wallichinski is picking up the slack since Sheppy left.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/14/2019 8:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Any news on Sheppy? Antiretrovirals, weight loss ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/14/2019 8:14 Comments || Top||

#5  Any news on Sheppy?

Ran outta condoms & Astro Glide?
Posted by: Raj || 11/14/2019 8:26 Comments || Top||

#6  So it was damaging when the Ambassador sat like a lump for several seconds when asked about Hunter? Or when there was any impeachable offenses?

Go over to ABC Chris where you can have your dick sucked by young interns all you want and leave the rational adults alone.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/14/2019 9:00 Comments || Top||

#7  From a bureaucrat loving reporter that has openly hated Trump, and I'm supposed to care what he says???
Posted by: 49 Pan || 11/14/2019 9:25 Comments || Top||

#8  Very damaging indeed. Now I'm only going to vote for him two times, rather than three like I planned.
Posted by: SteveS || 11/14/2019 10:58 Comments || Top||

#9  Steve, multi-voting only happens on one side of the aisle.
Posted by: BA || 11/14/2019 11:21 Comments || Top||

#10  I was impressed by Ambassador Taylor, just not the way that Chris Wallace was.

Top one percent of his class at West Point, Vietnam veteran, 50 years in the DoS, blah, blah, blah...and most importantly: Deep State devotee. Tells us all what a war hero he was as if that means we're supposed to trust him. Sorry. I know that many Rantburgers are veterans but then there are veterans like Taylor who give you a bad name. Just because a guy joins the army doesn't mean he's a good guy.

Got his panties in a wad because Trump didn't trust him and left him out of the loop. Trump knows a reptile when he sees one.

And, exactly, why is a little dust up between a rag-tag bunch of ethnic Russian rebels and the Ukrainian Army in Donbas a threat to U.S. security? Do you really believe that Vlad is about to roll his tanks into Poland? I don't.

And, as far as I'm concerned, Crimea has always been a part of Russia. All Putin did was take it back after Obama and McCain organized a coup in Kiev, or Kiyv, or whatever you call it.

I don't understand about the quid pro quo either. If Ukraine is as corrupt as I hear it is, and if Hunter Biden was getting his pockets lined, wouldn't it be wise for the President to find out what the fuck is really going on before he gives them half a billion dollars of tax payer money?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/14/2019 13:40 Comments || Top||

#11  Ref #10: Top one percent of his class at West Point, Vietnam veteran, 50 years in the DoS, blah, blah, blah...and most importantly: Deep State devotee.

New handler,...new day.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/14/2019 14:32 Comments || Top||

#12  Standard Principal-Agent Problem in action: Wallace may be acting in own interest by toadying to the people he is interviewing and/or following the wishes of his progressively (pun intended) Leftward trending management at Fox -- but he doesn't seem to be dealing fairly with his consumers, the public...

Or he is R.O.A.D. (Retired On Active Duty) and is only going through the motions and just drawing his salary...
Posted by: magpie || 11/14/2019 19:53 Comments || Top||

#13  #NeverTrump and liberal folks seem to be living in an alternate world. It's really bizarre how different their take-away form events is.
Posted by: ruprecht || 11/14/2019 21:03 Comments || Top||


The Real Mystery About C*aramella and Vindman
h/t Instapundit
[PJMedia] I was chatting with Terry, my writing partner, this morning. He was in the Intelligence Community for years, as was I; Terry on the analysis side, me in collection and later as a computer security researcher. Both of us had, at one time, an "Extended Background Investigation" clearance, the clearance you need for that stuff people like to say is "beyond top secret." (It's not, but that's another topic I explored in detail back when Edward Snowden turned.)

Now, Terry is a Democrat, pretty liberal, not at all impressed with Trump. But we were talking about Eric Ciaramella who was fired from the White House staff because he was leaking confidential information to the media. According to all the sources, he then returned to the CIA, where he currently works.

Which is, frankly, odd.

How, exactly, do you lose a job for security violations and return to the CIA? One would normally lose one's clearance, and even janitors and cafeteria workers at CIA are cleared.

Then there's LTC Alex Vindman, NSC staffer and active-duty Army officer. He has testified that he disobeyed orders, advised foreign governments to resist Trump, leaked internal information to others, and was actively working to subvert the president's foreign policy.

Now, Gods know I'm not a UCMJ lawyer, but if you look at the Uniform Code of Military Justice, that sounds like an Article 88 (Contempt to officials), Article 92 (Failure to obey order), and Article 133 (Conduct unbecoming an officer). There's an argument to be made for Article 94 (Mutiny) as well.

So this too is odd. Normally, under these circumstances, a serving officer would at least be relieved and very possibly confined awaiting court-martial.

The third thing that struck us both was the complaint that Trump's conversations with Zelensky were being stored on a classified server.

Now if you look at the Department of State's regulations, conversations between American officials and foreign heads of state are automatically classified CONFIDENTIAL and NOFORN.

You normally ‐ at least if you're not Hillary or one of her minions ‐ store classified information on classified servers. Even confidential. (This one hasn't been as exciting since it became clear the Obama administration was using the same server for the same stuff.) Some people want to argue that this shouldn't be classified, but they miss a couple of points: first of all, classification is another one of those Article II powers of the president (see Executive Order 13526). If he says it's classified, it's classified. The second is that the White House was concerned about stuff being leaked and warned Vindman explicitly about talking about it.

So why is it surprising that material is being stored on a classified server? Why the hell was it ever stored on anything BUT a classified server?

The point here is that all of these things would, in the normal course of events, be security violations punishable by everything from actually losing a job to extended terms in Kansas making small rocks.

Why was this not the normal course of events?

I'd really like someone in Congress to ask those questions.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/14/2019 01:05 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As the VDH piece said yesterday, we are seeing the exposed part of junta politix in America. I'm sure these are yet the lower echelons of the deepState. Expendables.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 11/14/2019 1:45 Comments || Top||

#2  How, exactly, do you lose a job for security violations and return to the CIA? One would normally lose one's clearance, and even janitors and cafeteria workers at CIA are cleared.

Home court rules. Not a problem.

Posted by: Besoeker || 11/14/2019 1:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Is it too much to hope that AG Barr and IG Horowitz and (I got two out of three) the attorney working for Barr will answer these questions?
Posted by: Bobby || 11/14/2019 11:34 Comments || Top||


Schiff: Who, Me? I Don't Know The Whistleblower's Identity
[Hot Air] And we should believe Adam Schiff because of, er, his long track record of honesty about his contacts with the whistleblower? Come on, man. The chair of the impeachment inquiry hearings accused Rep. Jim Jordan of issuing a "false statement" in claiming that he knew the identity of the whistleblower. After getting four Pinocchios from the Washington Post for lying about contacts between his office and the whistleblower, Schiff’s hardly in position to complain ‐ or to be taken at his word:

"The only times I prevented witnesses from answering questions" in prior closed-door hearings "was when it was apparent that members were seeking to out the whistleblower," Schiff responded.

"We will do everything necessary to protect the whistleblower’s identity, and I’m disturbed to hear members of the committee who have in the past voiced strong support for whistleblower protections, seek to undermine those protections by outing the whistleblower," he added.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, an aggressive defender of Trump, then chimed in.

"You are the only member who knows who that individual is," Jordan said, referring to the whistleblower, "and your staff is the only staff of any member of Congress who has had a chance to talk with that individual. We would like that opportunity. When might that happen in this proceeding today?" ...

Schiff shot back: "First, as the gentlemen knows, that’s a false statement. I do not know the identity of the whistleblower and I’m determined to make sure the identity is protected."

But, the chairman added, "you’ll have an opportunity after the witnesses have testified to make a motion to subpoena any witness and compel a vote."
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/14/2019 01:03 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
"As you know, we are committed to protecting identities we know absolutely zero about."
Posted by: Dron66046 || 11/14/2019 1:55 Comments || Top||

#2  When honorable men disagree, the truth comes out, when liars run the conversation, there is no truth and it never allows the truth to rise.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 11/14/2019 9:28 Comments || Top||

#3  So all Trump has to do now is prove otherwise and Schifferbrains is toast.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/14/2019 13:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Maybe not an easy thing to do but it would sure solve a lot of problems.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/14/2019 13:14 Comments || Top||

#5  I bet the NSA/FBI/CIA know whether Schiff knows, but Trump would have to find an ally therein.
Posted by: Bobby || 11/14/2019 14:34 Comments || Top||

#6  The name of the whistleblower was in a deposition released by Schiff. What-a-doofus. Is he going to haul himself up on an ethics charge?
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/14/2019 15:02 Comments || Top||

#7  Call him out as a liar. Discredit him. Get Jim Jordan to do it on TV at one of the hearings.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/14/2019 15:13 Comments || Top||

#8  His second name is Schultz.
Posted by: European Conservative || 11/14/2019 19:13 Comments || Top||


Capitol Building To Be Decorated As Giant Circus Tent For Duration Of Impeachment Hearings
[Babylon Bee] WASHINGTON, D.C.‐In honor of the impeachment hearings beginning this week, the Capitol Building has been decorated to look like a giant circus tent.

As soon as congressional maintenance staff heard that the impeachment hearings were going to begin, they went into storage and got out "the Big Top," also used during the Kavanaugh hearings last year.

"We keep the Big Top on hand for certain situations," said one staff member. "Usually these big inquisition-style trials, that kind of thing. They're great entertainment. And the kids love the monkeys."

Congressional vendors will be selling peanuts, popcorn, programs, and those big foam fingers to enhance viewers' experience.

Rep. Adam Schiff was furious with the changes, saying they make a mockery out of a serious show trial.

"These are serious proceedings, and we will not have them mocked!" Schiff cried, wearing a clown nose, riding an elephant, and juggling fourteen flaming bowling pins. "The American public needs to know how super serious we are about this."

"And now for my last stunt, I will create evidence for impeachment out of thin air!"
Posted by: Frank G || 11/14/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why isn't that classified as "Hate Speech"?
Posted by: 3dc || 11/14/2019 0:19 Comments || Top||


Impeachment Has Jumped the Shark
[Townhall] Impeachment has jumped the shark ‐ now that the American people have seen the truth about the ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, they are rejecting the Democrat Party’s fictional Ukraine narrative.

According to a recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs poll, 59 percent of Americans believe that President Trump’s Interactions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were not illegal, with 30 percent of respondents going so far as to say there was "nothing wrong" with the phone call between the two leaders.

The AP poll, however, isn’t the only sign that people are tuning out of the impeachment show Democrats launched on Inauguration Day 2017. Several other reputable surveys have also found that voters have lost their appetite for the Democrat-led impeachment effort.

A recent poll from The New York Times Upshot/Siena College, for example, concluded that 53 percent of voters in the crucial battleground states of Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona don’t want Congress to impeach the president. Another recent survey from Marquette Law backed up that result, finding that 51 percent of Wisconsin voters oppose impeachment.
It will be a very interesting election, indeed. Clarifying, even.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/14/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Now how many want to Expel Adam “the liar” Schiff?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/14/2019 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Let's see if anyone asks Schiff about his mate Hensel.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/14/2019 4:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Place your bets!

1) After this is done Pelosi pulls it back and the house censors Trump for naughtiness

2) The Demoncrats stomp down on the accelerator and take this clown car off the edge of the Grand Canyon.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/14/2019 9:03 Comments || Top||

#4  I bet in 3 days, only MSNBC will be reporting on it and everyone else will flee in terror when US Marshals begin arresting their fellow coup conspirators.

Death to to the #Resistance.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 11/14/2019 13:11 Comments || Top||

#5  Ever notice how Schiff's eyes bug out big time whenever Republicans ask difficult questions? My wet dream is that they break him on live, nation-wide TV so that he foams at the mouth, blathers incoherently and needs to be escorted out of the room, needs to be installed in a padded cell with a straight jacket. I can dream, can't I?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/14/2019 14:23 Comments || Top||

#6  According to SNL comedian Rob Schneider: ‘People in California would vote for a bowl of $h*t if it had D next to it’

"In 2013, Schneider switched political parties from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, explaining: "The state of California is a mess"
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/14/2019 14:59 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Something Very Strange Seems To Be Synchronzing Distant Galaxies
[Futurism.com] Galaxies millions of light years away seem to be connected by an unseen network of massive intergalactic structures, which force them to synchronize in ways that can’t be explained by existing astrophysics, Vice reports. The discoveries could force us to rethink our fundamental understanding of the universe.

"The observed coherence must have some relationship with large-scale structures, because it is impossible that the galaxies separated by six megaparsecs [roughly 20 million light years] directly interact with each other," Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute astronomer Hyeop Lee told the site.

There have been many instances of astronomers observing galaxies that seem to be connected and moving in sync with each other. A study by Lee, published in The Astrophysical Journal in October, found that hundreds of galaxies are rotating in exactly the same way, despite being millions of light years apart.

And a separate study, published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics in 2014, found supermassive black holes aligning with each other, despite being billions of light years apart.

SPOOKY ACTION
While current cosmological principles support the alignment and movement of ancient stars at a smaller scale, astronomers are puzzled by the much, much larger patterns across vast distances.

But before they can draw any conclusions, they’ll need more data ‐ the body of work is still limited, as Vice points out.

READ MORE: There’s Growing Evidence That the Universe Is Connected by Giant Structures [Vice]

More on the universe: Scientists: Something About the Universe Doesn’t Look Right
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/14/2019 01:46 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Intelligent re-design ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/14/2019 2:06 Comments || Top||

#2 
'I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.' - Gawd

'Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.' - Book of Hebrews

'By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.' - Psalms

Scientists of the sort that blindly deify Stephen Hawkings cannot come to grips with one simple idea that should occur to everyone who ever read about relativity.

I state my primary assumption. That 'what is perceived by every empirical device as 'entropy' from one frame of reference, may be highly ordered from another'. It is my belief that there is only one frame of reference wherein the universe appears ordered. That frame of reference is Christ's. And it does not appear in the tangible universe, but is reachable only in the Spirit of the Lord.
____________________________________________

The universe that we see conjectured out in bright colours and graphs for us is filtered in by our limited consciousness. Instruments see more than we can, and machines have to interpret that data for us in quantifications we can interact with. Our best minds, those purveyors of pretend pluralities - mathematicians; they design elaborate structures of interplay between forces and quantities to barely explain the music of reality. Those that can read their language are blessed, but still deaf. The ones that know God, hear it but may not be able to explain. It would greatly aid the scientist to acknowledge the existence of God and start his/her search from there. I'm not talking crazed apologetics, but just acceptance of intelligent causality would be a start. At the very least, the scientist should shun hostility toward the frame of reference of faith.

Mankind shall forever endeavor to learn and explain what is closed off to us by the prison of our bodies. It's healthy to ask and wonder and gaze at the sky. It also wouldn't hurt to acknowledge Him for all you can see. But scientists today are increasingly prodded by the tenets of their profession to try to find a way to deny Him. The heavens that they look to unerringly declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 11/14/2019 2:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Probably a glitch in the analysis program.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/14/2019 2:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Since the universe all came from one small point it's not exactly a shock that these old structures are correlated?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/14/2019 3:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Oh, I thought that "science" was settled...
Posted by: Spanky Whuter1088 || 11/14/2019 6:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Obviously some sort of collusion from Trump...t
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/14/2019 6:07 Comments || Top||

#7  Are we sure it's not global warming?

What Would Greta Say? (WWGS)
Posted by: Bobby || 11/14/2019 7:39 Comments || Top||

#8  "Who will go for us, who can we send" ....to investigate ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/14/2019 7:51 Comments || Top||

#9  Genesis 1:1 is all you need to know.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 11/14/2019 8:05 Comments || Top||

#10  If electrons can be "entangled" per quantum theory, why not galaxies? One is no more bizarre than the other. Only the scale has changed.
Posted by: Mercutio || 11/14/2019 8:13 Comments || Top||

#11  Could it be... aliens?
Posted by: Raj || 11/14/2019 8:23 Comments || Top||

#12 
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/14/2019 8:32 Comments || Top||

#13  Dante figured it out long before modern physicists stumbled their way into a solution.

It's an artifact of the S3, the 3-sphere, as posited by the non-Euclidean Geometry in Friedmann et al's closed solution to the Einstein field equations.
Posted by: Lex || 11/14/2019 8:33 Comments || Top||

#14  Thank you, Lex. Very illuminating. I'm still reading it.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 11/14/2019 9:28 Comments || Top||

#15  Vogon Constructor Fleet
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/14/2019 9:56 Comments || Top||

#16  The answer is 42
Posted by: Warthog || 11/14/2019 10:14 Comments || Top||

#17  The question is: how many generations (begats) are there between Adam and Jesus?
Posted by: The peanut gallery || 11/14/2019 11:27 Comments || Top||

#18  As long as we’re on the subject and speaking of entropy, some leading physicists are writing interesting papers referenced here: The Universe is Made of Tiny Bubbles Containing Mini-universes.
Posted by: KBK || 11/14/2019 11:45 Comments || Top||

#19  Tiny bubbles go up my nose and make me sneeze in a Big Bang!
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/14/2019 14:18 Comments || Top||

#20  It's a vast Don Ho conspiracy.
Posted by: gorb || 11/14/2019 16:00 Comments || Top||

#21  LOL
Posted by: Frank G || 11/14/2019 18:39 Comments || Top||

#22  As long as we’re on the subject and speaking of entropy, some leading physicists are writing interesting papers referenced here: The Universe is Made of Tiny Bubbles Containing Mini-universes.

So you are saying it is beer?
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/14/2019 22:59 Comments || Top||

#23  Hmmm... you might just be on to something there.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 11/14/2019 23:10 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
36[untagged]
6Govt of Iraq
5Sublime Porte
4Taliban
4Commies
4Islamic Jihad (Palestian)
2Haqqani Network
2Islamic State
1Hezbollah
1Arab Spring
1Moslem Colonists
1Palestinian Authority
1Govt of Iran
1Govt of Syria
1Govt of Pakistan
1Hamas

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2019-11-14
  121 ISIS militants and relatives surrender to Afghan forces in Nangarhar, 300+ in past week
Wed 2019-11-13
  Live: the House’s Trump Impeachment hearings starting at 10 a.m. ET
Tue 2019-11-12
  Israel hit by rockets after killing Islamic Jihad leader Abu al-Ata in Gaza
Mon 2019-11-11
  Thanks to all the veterans on Veterans Day!
Sun 2019-11-10
  Bolivia's president announces his resignation
Sat 2019-11-09
  Will Julian Assange Die in Prison? Is that why a "dead man" data dump just took place?
Fri 2019-11-08
  WikiLeaks just dropped their databomb
Thu 2019-11-07
  Extremist outfit Allahr Dal banned in Bangladesh
Wed 2019-11-06
  Mexico Deploys Forces to Northern State After Nine US Mormons Killed
Tue 2019-11-05
  Three American Mormon mothers and six of their children are EXECUTED
Mon 2019-11-04
  Report: Turkey-backed militia attacks American troops in Syria
Sun 2019-11-03
  Three people detained in connection with Swedish explosion
Sat 2019-11-02
  Iraqis pour into streets for biggest protest day since Saddam
Fri 2019-11-01
  Iraqi President Salih says PM Abdul-Mahdi willing to resign, vows early polls
Thu 2019-10-31
  Confirmed: The Emir is dead! Long live the new Emir!

Better than the average link...



Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
54.226.155.151
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (21)    WoT Background (12)    Non-WoT (18)    (0)    Politix (9)