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Zelenskyy ordered the evacuation of the city of Donetsk
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 6: Politix
1 17:44 DooDahMan [12] 
9 15:28 NoMoreBS [6] 
26 20:43 Dale [16] 
3 22:01 Anomalous Sources [12] 
5 17:18 Mercutio [5] 
14 19:47 SteveS [17] 
0 [16] 
7 13:50 irish rage boy [13] 
6 19:14 NN2N1 [12] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
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4 13:25 Lord Garth [8]
5 14:51 Skidmark [7]
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5 13:43 Dron66046 [13]
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4 20:01 Lord Garth [12]
1 08:18 Skidmark [14]
Page 2: WoT Background
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2 20:17 Seeking Cure For Ignorance [12]
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7 22:03 Anomalous Sources [11]
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3 13:17 irish rage boy [17]
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Page 3: Non-WoT
2 20:22 Silentbrick [9]
6 23:16 Chris [8]
5 20:10 Seeking Cure For Ignorance [18]
2 14:35 M. Murcek [14]
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1 11:25 Mike Kozlowski [8]
2 18:16 magpie [7]
2 11:00 M. Murcek [6]
2 16:32 Procopius2k [7]
8 18:43 Silentbrick [17]
2 16:37 Silentbrick [7]
1 08:34 Skidmark [7]
1 11:57 Deacon Blues [6]
1 15:07 Skidmark [8]
1 16:17 Silentbrick [8]
5 16:19 Silentbrick [7]
8 18:44 Silentbrick [12]
4 17:44 irish rage boy [11]
3 11:28 Rex Mundi [7]
Page 4: Opinion
2 11:01 George Pelosi2120 [7]
6 16:15 Silentbrick [7]
6 15:12 Skidmark [18]
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7 21:55 Seeking Cure For Ignorance [6]
2 11:03 Procopius2k [4]
12 16:21 trailing wife [14]
5 13:09 Lord Garth [4]
2 11:11 JohnQC [14]
5 07:58 Silentbrick [8]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
2 18:48 magpie [11]
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1 18:52 ed in texas [9]
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36 20:34 Dale [14]
7 07:08 Dale [11]
4 20:38 SteveS [10]
4 13:09 NoMoreBS [5]
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3 18:14 746 [7]
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2 08:20 Skidmark [12]
9 11:03 Rex Mundi [7]
-Short Attention Span Theater-
Nancy Pelosi's itinerary for Asia visit released – and there's no mention of Taiwan
[Yahoo!] US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her itinerary for a trip to Asia on Sunday but made no mention of a controversial reported plan to visit Taiwan.

In a statement, Ms Pelosi said she will be leading a congressional delegation to Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan this week to discuss trade, the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, security and "democratic governance".
Posted by: KBK || 07/31/2022 16:45 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That disgusting thing just needs to go away.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 07/31/2022 17:44 Comments || Top||


Biden gets Covid for 2nd time since 20 July
[CNN] President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19 again Saturday [30 July] morning,
Harris dies in a plane crash
Biden, 79, first tested positive on July 21. During his first bout with the disease, he experienced mild symptoms, including runny nose, fatigue, high temperature and a cough, according to his doctor. The President completed a five-day course of Paxlovid, which requires a doctor's prescription and is available via emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19 in people 12 and older who are at high risk of severe illness.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health alert to doctors on May 24 advising that Covid-19 symptoms sometimes come back, and that may just be how the infection plays out in some people, regardless of whether they're vaccinated or treated with medications like Paxlovid.

Biden is fully vaccinated and received two booster shots. He received his first two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine ahead of his inauguration in January 2021, his first booster shot in September and his second booster vaccination in March
Posted by: Lord Garth || 07/31/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [16 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So the first episode, "I worked every day. Trump went to the hospital." Was a lie.
Color me surprised.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/31/2022 0:09 Comments || Top||


#3  CNN? This isn't a credible source. How about a better article from anywhere else?
Posted by: Tiny Jeater6933 || 07/31/2022 2:33 Comments || Top||

#4  All I think is with third strike he is out.
Posted by: Dale || 07/31/2022 7:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Like his leg hairs drying off and standing up, this will happen again and again...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/31/2022 7:39 Comments || Top||

#6  Show us what you've got Tiny.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/31/2022 8:09 Comments || Top||

#7 

Could JB also be having major Covid-Brain Fog, causing even greater Mental Issue than he already has?

Could they be using C-19/22 as a cover story for keeping him out of sight out of mind going into the Mid-terms?
Posted by: NN2N1 || 07/31/2022 8:17 Comments || Top||

#8  /\ You mean like a "Cover For Action?" Or in this case, Cover For Inaction.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/31/2022 8:21 Comments || Top||


#10  I was told that there was a rebound risk with Paxlovid, so went with the other stuff--got what felt like a 2nd (milder) go-round anyhow, while still taking the drug. This has felt like pneumonia. YMMV
Posted by: James || 07/31/2022 8:48 Comments || Top||


#12  Another 'miracle drug' that doesn't live up to its hype?

"The Miracle Drug" = aspirin.
Posted by: Bobby || 07/31/2022 10:46 Comments || Top||

#13  Infiltrating everything. CPAC Parent Organization Took Almost $200K From Soros-linked “Dark Money” Network
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/31/2022 10:49 Comments || Top||

#14  ^ Wrong thread. There's something wrong in there, this has happened to me before, and others have mentioned it too.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/31/2022 10:50 Comments || Top||

#15  So... the 'vaccine' he took prevented him from developing antibodies from the 1st Covid infection.

Good to know.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/31/2022 10:57 Comments || Top||

#16  But you better not mess with quinine.
Posted by: Jatle Sinatra9653 || 07/31/2022 12:09 Comments || Top||

#17  ^"Quinine is very diluted in tonic water. The likelihood of a person experiencing any side effects from drinking tonic water is slim." Never had problems myself. Still used in many parts of the world for malaria and so on.
Posted by: Dale || 07/31/2022 14:13 Comments || Top||

#18  Just gotta drink a bunch.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/31/2022 15:27 Comments || Top||

#19 
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/31/2022 15:35 Comments || Top||

#20  ^ Definitely quality stuff
Posted by: KBK || 07/31/2022 15:49 Comments || Top||

#21  This is the planned offramp, set up and on-call. When the other portions of the tranfer of power toa new Puppet Show are nailed down, he gets the "third" round and has to leave office because of health "for the good of the nation" and pardoning those at risk out the door.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 07/31/2022 16:43 Comments || Top||

#22  /\ Quite plausible.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/31/2022 16:44 Comments || Top||

#23  So Paxlovid isn't effective, either. What a friggen joke.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 07/31/2022 17:30 Comments || Top||

#24  None of Uncle Tony's Snake Oil Elixers work. Except for making the pharma outfits money and giving the gummint, military and corporations excuses to fire people for not playing ball.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/31/2022 17:34 Comments || Top||

#25  Not only do they not work, they KILL.
Gilead's Remdesivir is right up there.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 07/31/2022 17:36 Comments || Top||

#26  ^24 HA, Snake oil. I'd forgotten that one.
Posted by: Dale || 07/31/2022 20:43 Comments || Top||


Nancy's plane turned off its transponder - now we wait
RUMINT.
[Sputnik] Info on Plane Suspected to Be Carrying Pelosi Apparently Yanked From FlightRadar After Being Spotted

SPAR19, a United States Air Force Boeing C-40 Clipper aircraft thought to be carrying Nancy Pelosi, has disappeared from flight tracking service FlightRadar24 after being monitored by as many as 79,000 users at one point.

Searching for the SPAR19 callsign or the aircraft’s registration number – 09-0540, brings up a “live flight not found” popup indicating that the plane is “either out of coverage or has already landed.” Users who click “show aircraft history” are met with a “Sorry, historical data for this aircraft is not available” notice.
The plane was last spotted coming in for a landing at the Hickam Air Force Base outside Honolulu, after taking off from the Travis Air Force Base near Fairfield, California and making its way west across the Pacific to Hawaii. The plane arrived in California earlier in the day Saturday for a one hour stopover following a cross-continental flight from Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, DC.

SPAR19 became FlightRadar24’s most tracked aircraft amid suspicions that Pelosi was onboard, with users tagging the plane with various comments, from “And so it begins” to “WW3 voyage” amid concerns over the implications of her possible trip to Taiwan amid warnings by Chinese officials to stay away.

Pelosi herself has not provided any details about her travel plans. On Friday, she told reporters that she never talks about her travel itinerary, “because, as some of you know, it’s a security issue.”
Posted by: Slenter Panda4300 || 07/31/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [17 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maverick: "splash one"
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/31/2022 0:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Pausing at Dr. Evil's secret Pacific lair Pelosi met her employer...
Posted by: magpie || 07/31/2022 1:00 Comments || Top||

#3  On a more serious note...

I have found the conduct of Nancy Pelosi reprehensible for many years. The usual corruption between her and her husband is only a mild irritation -- it is her arrogance. Nancy Pelosi wants America remade into a parliamentary democracy and she will preside as Prime Minister For Life™.

Arrogance personified in her attempts to usurp the foreign affairs authority of the Executive Branch. I remember her attempts to scuttle any relationship with al-Maliki and the the Iraqi government (corrupt and repulsive as he may be) in the period around the 2006 midterms. Today she wants to insert herself as THE Power Broker™ in Pacific Politics, perhaps for the corrupt money, but certainly because of Vanity. (At this point I feel no charitable impulse that her motives are for her duties as a elected US Representative under the US Constitution she swore to uphold.)

Invoke the Logan Act and impeach this harpy... (/rant)
Posted by: magpie || 07/31/2022 10:42 Comments || Top||

#4  ^ This is the downside of "years of experience in gummint." Term limits are the only answer.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/31/2022 10:45 Comments || Top||

#5  I was kinda hoping the pilot and crew would do right by America and jump, while she's drinking her Chianti up there.

Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/31/2022 11:03 Comments || Top||

#6  Aug 4th
Link on twitter

〔即時新聞/綜合報導〕美國眾議院議長裴洛西(Nancy Pelosi)展開亞洲行,官方公布的行程暫未列入受到國際關注的台灣。不過《法國國際廣播電台》今天(31日)表示,裴洛西有可能會在8月4日到訪台灣,之後前往日本。

根據《法廣》報導,裴洛西率團訪問亞洲,目的地包括馬來西亞、新加坡、日本、韓國,台灣未列入官方行程中,裴洛西本來也沒有透露相關計畫,指稱此行是為向亞洲盟友展現美國強力支持。

不過《法廣》引述知情人士消息稱,裴洛西將於本週四經菲律賓克拉克美國空軍基地(Clark Air Base)飛抵台灣,並於台北會見總統蔡英文。接著5日下午,裴洛西的座機將降落在日本東京橫田飛行場(Yokota Air Base),計畫與日相岸田文雄會面。

不用抽 不用搶 現在用APP看新聞 保證天天中獎  點我下載APP  按我看活動辦法
Posted by: 3dc || 07/31/2022 11:17 Comments || Top||

#7  Google Translate:
[Instant News/Comprehensive Report] U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi started a trip to Asia. The official itinerary has not yet included Taiwan, which has attracted international attention. However, "France Internationale" said today (31st) that Pelosi may visit Taiwan on August 4 and then go to Japan.

According to the "French Broadcasting Corporation" report, Pelosi led a delegation to visit Asia, destinations including Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan was not included in the official itinerary. Show Asian allies strong U.S. support.

However, the "French Broadcasting Corporation" quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that Pelosi will fly to Taiwan via Clark Air Base in the Philippines on Thursday and meet with President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei. Then on the afternoon of the 5th, Pelosi's plane will land at the Yokota Air Base in Tokyo, Japan, where he plans to meet with Fumio Kishida.

Posted by: 3dc || 07/31/2022 11:19 Comments || Top||

#8  If China knocks her plane down I am sure they will make it look like the Russians did it.
Posted by: Airandee || 07/31/2022 15:24 Comments || Top||

#9  As much as I admire the might of the Ronald Reagan, it will need backup. 3 Carrier battle Groups for starters, will be impressive enough to cause the Chicoms to 2nd guess themselves! Shore up Guam, loiter a few B2s and be prepared to meet the 100 fighters Beijing will try to swarm The Speaker's plane with. My gut tells me she will back down if a bipartisan representation of the Congress do not accompany her.
Posted by: Waldemar Gromorong9327 || 07/31/2022 16:17 Comments || Top||

#10  $1 bet she stiffs Taiwan out of fear of the Chi-Coms.
Posted by: Cletle Shinese1880 || 07/31/2022 16:41 Comments || Top||

#11  Show Asian allies strong U.S. support.

Eh... I'm not an International Diplomat, nor stayed in a Holiday Inn last night. But sending the Drunk current Speaker of the House is probably not the best wat to show strong support. Probably the opposite.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/31/2022 16:43 Comments || Top||

#12  this whole admin. is in bed with china and has been for years, we know this....
whatever their up to now is really anyones guess, but it sure aint diplomacy for the people of the USA
Posted by: 746 || 07/31/2022 18:18 Comments || Top||

#13  Biden's sick.
Harris is an idiot.
Nancy's gonna get shot down.
Who's left?
Milley.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/31/2022 19:19 Comments || Top||

#14  Who, indeed! Once the knives come out, we might end up with the Postmaster General as President.
Posted by: SteveS || 07/31/2022 19:47 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
We're not finishing the border wall - just cleaning up Trump's mess: Karine Jean-Pierre says Biden is plugging gaps in Arizona to 'save lives' and calls border walls 'ineffective' in stopping migrants
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday denied that the Biden administration was completing former President Donald Trump's border wall

  • 'We are not finishing the wall, we are cleaning up the mess the prior administration left behind in their failed attempt to build a wall,' she said

  • She was asked why the Biden administration had authorized U.S. Customs and Border Protection to close gaps in a section of Arizona's wall

  • The Yuma Morelos Dam Project will close four gaps located within an 'incomplete border barrier project' near Arizona's Morelos Dam to protect migrants from drowning as they crossed the Colorado River
Posted by: Skiidmark || 07/31/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats

#1  to protect migrants from drowning

And to get Mark "what's his name" re-elected.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/31/2022 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  'We are not finishing the wall, we are cleaning up the mess the prior administration left behind in their failed attempt to build a wall,'

For once, she does have a point, however small - then speaker Ryan and The Turtle in the Senate (2016) did everything possible to stop & hinder border wall construction with the pitifully small amounts allocated to that effort, amongst other monkey wrenches they threw into Trump's agenda.

Also - never underestimate the power of 2 million Federal employees who were actively working against Trump.
Posted by: Raj || 07/31/2022 0:44 Comments || Top||

#3  They cleaned up the low inflation mess, the energy independence mess, the no foreign wars mess,,,,, lots of clean up.
Posted by: Airandee || 07/31/2022 7:31 Comments || Top||

#4 

Hell, even I could develop a better Spin Story that these WH PR amateurs.

Maybe I should apply and then have FOX-News hire me away after a few weeks.


Posted by: NN2N1 || 07/31/2022 8:45 Comments || Top||

#5  We got another Baghdad Bob in the WH. Why climb a tree to tell a lie when you can stay on the ground to tell the truth?
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/31/2022 10:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Ineffective at stopping migrants? I thought that was Joe.
Posted by: Jatle Sinatra9653 || 07/31/2022 12:14 Comments || Top||

#7  no border = no country
Posted by: irish rage boy || 07/31/2022 13:50 Comments || Top||


Economy
Baby formula crisis WORSENS as out-of-stock levels hit 70%: Parents accuse Biden of forgetting about them and mom struggling to feed twins says 'I'm sure these politicians' babies eat'
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • The US reported a 30% out-of-stock rate for formula nationwide, based on data from the week ended July 24

  • Arizona and Wyoming reported the highest out-of-stock rates in the country, at 44% and 42% respectively

  • Biden tried to alleviate the crisis by making it it easier for foreign manufacturers to get shipments into the US

  • Regardless, parents struggling to feed their babies feel like the Administration 'just forgot' about the crisis

  • Amber Bergeron, who took to Facebook about the hardships of finding formula for her preemie twins, has described the ongoing crisis as 'disgusting,' noting she is 'sure these politicians' babies eat

  • Chris Arroyo, whose daughter needs a speciality formula, said he is frustrated that the Administration keeps giving families the vague timeline of 'upcoming weeks' when discussing solutions to the ongoing shortage

  • The rising out-of-stock rates come as it was revealed Abbott Laboratories, the largest formula producer in the US, was hit with another lawsuit this week by a parent alleging their products contributed to a baby death

  • A new report also revealed the FDA started probing the factory after a stun gun was deployed at the facility and a fed-up employee complained about plant safety
And let us not forget the empty shelves that were the hallmark of the Trump years... No. Wait...
Posted by: Skiidmark || 07/31/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why aren't all the "Mrs. Buttgigs" of the ghey couple world offering to pump "chest milk" in a sort of WW II victory garden gesture?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/31/2022 7:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Put socialists in charge of the Sahara and there'll be a shortage of sand.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/31/2022 8:34 Comments || Top||

#3 
SHORTAGE????
3 days ago, was in the Grocery Story line, held up for about an extra 10 mins. As a woman using "WIC vouchers" got a case of baby powder milk, all 1 can at a time.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 07/31/2022 8:50 Comments || Top||

#4  /\ Years ago, I stayed at a nice Extended Stay in Herndon, VA between assignments. There were three large grocery stores nearby. I frequently observed similar SNAP events. One evening I discreetly asked the checkout clerk; "how many of your customers use SNAP or similar products?" She replied "between 80 and 90 percent."
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/31/2022 9:05 Comments || Top||

#5  held up for about an extra 10 mins.

What's your hurry NN?
You could'a helped her carry it out.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/31/2022 15:31 Comments || Top||

#6 
#5^ Give the number people that are selling powder baby formular at Flea. I often wonder how many were purchased with SNAP/WIC VOUCHERS. Either way...my life and my LTOE saw her loaded shopping cart minus a baby anywhere to be seen rolled as good as mine.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 07/31/2022 19:14 Comments || Top||


Government Corruption
Withheld Records Reveal 19,000 Mail-In Ballots Illegally Received AFTER Deadline in Maricopa County 2020 Election
[Gateway] After numerous records requests and months of waiting for responses, Verity Vote found that Maricopa County received and counted tens of thousands of ballots after the election day deadline.

This evidence was not mentioned by the weak Arizona Attorney General during his failed investigation into the 2020 Election.

There was also a spike in votes accepted and counted in the days after the November 3rd Presidential Election.

The Epoch Times reported,

Voters were instructed to mail ballots by Oct. 27 to be sure their ballots arrived on time. By Oct. 30, the number of ballots coming by mail dropped sharply, but then spiked the day after the election.

On Oct. 28, the county received 58,500 ballots from the post office, then:

This can be explained by Dinesh D’Souza and True the Vote’s "2000 Mules" investigation, which discovered a nationwide ballot trafficking ring that was used to steal the 2020 Election through unsecured dropboxes. The film explains how the ballot Mules created a large influx of late-early ballots to overwhelm the system and rush ballots through the counting process.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/31/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lemme ask a question: Do c@$inos let you add to your bet after the dic@ stop rolling?

Deadlines serve a purpose. Ignoring them serves a purpose too.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/31/2022 7:41 Comments || Top||

#2  solution simple: no mail-in, show-up.
Posted by: irish rage boy || 07/31/2022 13:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Try this with your 1040...
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 07/31/2022 22:01 Comments || Top||


DOJ official named in FBI politicization allegations played role in Lois Lerner IRS scandal
[JustTheNews] Richard Pilger pushed idea of criminal prosecution of Tea Party groups' political speech, congressional evidence shows.

A senior Justice Department official recently flagged by a U.S. senator in an FBI whistleblower probe into alleged politicization of prosecutions played a key role in the Lois Lerner IRS scandal a decade ago in which conservative Tea Party groups were improperly targeted for scrutiny, government emails and congressional evidence shows.

Richard Pilger, the current chief of the DOJ Elections Crime Branch of the department's Public Integrity Section, engaged in discussions in 2010 and 2013 with Lerner and other IRS officials about ways to pursue criminal prosecutions of conservative nonprofits, the records show.

The discussion led the FBI, with Pilger's direct help, to obtain and review 1.1 million pages of documents from conservative groups and even ponder charging the groups with making false statements on their IRS applications as nonprofits because they had engaged in political speech activities, according to congressional investigators.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired then by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), concluded in 2014 that Pilger's discussions were part of a larger effort by the Obama administration to criminalize political speech by conservative groups that opposed the administration's agenda.

"These documents suggest that the Department actively considered prosecuting non-profit groups for their political activities," the final report concluded. "The Department went so far as to meet with the IRS about the investigation and to gather a 1.1 million-page database of information as potential evidentiary material. Even more astounding, the Department considered prosecuting non-profit groups for actions that are legal for 501(c)(4) groups under federal tax law — that is, for engaging in political speech."

The committee made public emails showing that in spring 2013 Pilger and Lerner discussed an idea Pilger had heard raised by a Democrat in Congress of bringing false statement cases against the conservative groups for the ways they filled out their IRS applications as 501c3 and 501c4 nonprofits.

"I got a call today from Richard Pilger, Director Election Crimes Branch at DOJ," Lerner wrote IRS colleagues in a May 8, 2013 email obtained by congressional investigators and Just the News. "I know him from contacts from my days there. He wanted to know who at IRS the DOJ folks could talk to about Sen. [Sheldon] Whitehouse idea at the hearing that DOJ could piece together false statement cases about applicants who 'lied' on their 1024s — saying they weren't planning on doing political activity, and then turning around and making large visible political expenditures.

"DOJ is feeling like it needs to respond, but want to talk to the right folks at IRS to see whether there are impediments from our side and what, if any damage, this may do to IRS programs."

The emails were first brought to light by a lawsuit a decade ago by Judicial Watch.

A DOJ spokesperson did not immediately respond to a call Thursday seeking comment on behalf of Pilger.

But in an interview with congressional investigators in 2014, Pilger revealed he actually began discussing strategies with Lerner for pursuing the conservative nonprofits for prosecution back in fall 2010, a few months after the Supreme Court opened up political spending through its landmark Citizens United ruling, the final report stated.

Pilger sent an email in October 2010 asking for a "good IRS contact re criminal tax enforcement against tax exempt organizations," the emails show.

Nancy Marks, an IRS criminal investigator, wrote an email back identifying a contact Pilger's team could use, but she also cautioned that there was no evidence of criminality known to the agency.

"Let him know that because this has not been an area which we've seen activity that rises to the level of criminal investigation it is pretty unfamiliar ground for anyone in the criminal tax enforcement area," Marks wrote in response to Pilger's inquiry.

Eventually, according to the congressional report and FBI emails, Pilger asked the IRS to provide him copies of the groups' tax filings and worked with Lerner to forward the evidence to the FBI.

"Thanks Lois. FBI says Raw format is best because they can put it into their systems like Excel," Pilger wrote Lerner in early October 2010.

Emails showed Pilger's boss in the Public Integrity Section, Jack Smith, started the entire process when he reacted to a New York Times article.

"Check out [the] article on front page of ny times [sic] regarding misuse of non-profits for indirectly funding campaigns," Smith wrote. "This seems egregious to me — could we ever charge a [18 U.S.C. §] 371 conspiracy to violate laws of the USA for misuse of such nonprofits to get around existing campaign finance laws + limits? I know 501s are legal but if they are knowingly using them beyond what they are allowed to use them for (and we could prove that factually)? IRS Commissioner sarah ingram [sic] oversees these groups. Let's discuss tomorrow but maybe we should try to set up a meeting this week."

The House committee sharply criticized the IRS-DOJ collaboration, concluding it wasn't driven by evidence of wrongdoing but rather by President Barack Obama's anger over the Citizens United court decision and bureaucrats' desire to show the president they could take some form of action.

"The Committee has uncovered evidence that the IRS sought to use its tremendous power to unilaterally rein in politically active non-profits soon after Citizens United," the final report stated. "From 2010 until 2013, the IRS planned and even attempted several methods of measuring and curbing the political activities of tax-exempt groups. These plans and attempts went beyond the IRS's duties as a neutral administrator of tax law, amounting to the informal regulation of non-profit political activity. Succumbing to the political pressure it faced, the IRS sought ways to make its actions public — in essence, to show that it was cracking down."

The committee's conclusions were backed up by numerous emails showing what the IRS and DOJ talked about during the time of Pilger's approach to Lerner. The emails referenced the "practicalities of criminally enforcing non-profit political speech" and the possibility that prosecutors might go "6103 fishing," a term meaning reviewing privacy-protected tax documents in hopes of finding evidence of wrongdoing, the congressional report concluded.

Jason Foster, a former Senate investigator who investigated the IRS scandal a decade ago and now heads the Empower Oversight whistleblower group, said the "fishing" reference was one of the more damaging pieces of evidence to emerge in the congressional investigations.

"So 6103 is this section of the tax code that's supposed to make sure that your tax records are protected from political abuse by bureaucrats like this," Foster told the "Just the News, Not Noise" television show Thursday night. "But that's exactly what they sort of explicitly talk about. That's what they were doing: fishing."

In the end, the Obama administration repudiated the efforts of its own IRS to target conservative nonprofits as "inexcusable," and Lerner invoked her 5th amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid testifying before Congress.

The House also voted to find her in contempt of Congress. But the Obama DOJ chose not to pursue criminal charges against Lerner, unlike the prosecution the department recently completed of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

And while the IRS scandal has now mostly been relegated to the history books, Pilger's name resurfaced Monday when Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Foster's old boss in the Senate, revealed in a letter to FBI Director Chris Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland that multiple FBI whistleblowers have raised concerns that agents and DOJ officials are politically tampering with investigations.

Grassley's letter did not mention Pilger, but he cited the DOJ official in an official statement from his Senate office.

"Whistleblowers allege that Washington Field Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault disregarded agency guidelines requiring substantial factual predication to trigger investigations, while declining to move forward with other investigations despite proper predication," the senator wrote.

"Thibault and Richard Pilger, director of the election crimes branch within the FBI's public integrity section, reportedly were instrumental in the opening of an investigation into the Trump campaign and its associates based in substantial part on information from left-aligned organization," he added. "Whistleblowers claim that Thibault, Pilger and others didn't always adhere to agency policies in their supervision of various election-related matters, including campaign finance investigations across multiple presidential election cycles."
Posted by: Skiidmark || 07/31/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [16 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Report on Reconciliation Confirms Joe Manchin Is a Pathetic Coward
[Red State] I have an embarrassing confession to make: I once, sort of, respected Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always known he’s a flakey Democrat, and though it’s been fun to entertain him possibly switching parties and causing a meltdown on the left, those hopes were always far-fetched. Still, his stance over the last year against a boondoggle, green scam-filled reconciliation bill was laudable. Even in the face of intense pressure, including personal harassment and threats, Manchin stood firm — until he didn’t.

In a sudden reversal, Manchin stabbed Republicans in the back. Despite assurances that if the GOP voted for the CHIPS Act that the West Virginia senator wouldn’t support another gut-busting spending bill, Manchin came in off the top rope to announce he and Schumer had made a deal. What was in it? $400 billion in wasteful spending on "climate change" initiatives. It also includes tax hikes on corporations which will exacerbate inflation.

For days, those in the political sphere racked their brains trying to figure out what caused Manchin to change his mind. A new report from The Washington Post gives us the answer, and the short of it is that he’s a pathetic coward.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/31/2022 02:54 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Tales from Across the Aisle."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/31/2022 7:38 Comments || Top||


#3  ^ Also be a "Second Coming" level miracle given the current DoJ.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/31/2022 7:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Back when Manchin first made noises about voting against BBB, I remember some WV guy saying he was just negotiating his price.
Posted by: Mercutio || 07/31/2022 10:14 Comments || Top||

#5  Maybe Joe was promised a new position when the other Joe, uh, goes away?
Posted by: Bobby || 07/31/2022 11:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Manchin was promised a gas pipeline in West Virginia.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/31/2022 12:11 Comments || Top||

#7  i grew up in a democrat town, fall river, mass. I remember being perched on my dads shoulder to see harry truman campaign from a train flatbed in 1947.
Now, i don't like any of them. there should be two parties, conservative and liberal. the liberals must be liberal ie "open to new ideas" and the conservatives should conserve.
Posted by: irish rage boy || 07/31/2022 13:45 Comments || Top||

#8  I do not believe that anyone (Schumer, Manchin, McConnell…) are out maneuvering anyone. This is all agreed upon. These 800+ page bills are somehow magically created overnight. We are all just being played. Enjoy the $hitshow.
Posted by: Airandee || 07/31/2022 15:22 Comments || Top||

#9  Lifted directly from CTH this afternoon:

BRASS TACKS – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was gleeful last week promoting Manchin’s new green energy proposal because, with steel and aluminum tariffs removed, Canada will be one the biggest beneficiaries of $370 billion congressional spending package. Canada has no heavy industry left, they are the assembly economy for foreign manufacturing that uses loopholes, and the senate bill creates a USMCA loophole for this exact purpose.

The West Virginia windmills and solar panels will be shipped as raw materials from China and the EU into Canada. Canada will assemble the parts and ship the finished goods into the United States for placement by illegal alien workers employed by the contractors. The batteries to store the solar and windmill power will come from Mexico, after they receive the raw materials from Africa and Asia.

Canadian workers, Mexican workers, Chinese Workers, African workers and ASEAN workers will all benefit from the generous Joe Manchin spending package.

Unemployed West Virginia coal miners will watch Joe Manchin run for office in 2024 on Japanese televisions powered by China, while eating cheese puff flavored cricket snacks sourced from Canada. Brilliant plan, Joe.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/07/31/sunday-talks-senator-manchin-says-his-energy-deal-will-bring-windmills-to-west-virginia-faster-with-batteries-made-in-mexico-and-canada/#more-235914
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 07/31/2022 15:28 Comments || Top||


US House passes bill to ban assault weapons with slim chance of Senate approval
Posted by: Fred || 07/31/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Slim" chance probably includes, Murkey, Droopy and Toomey voting to disarm us. I don't like our chances.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/31/2022 7:50 Comments || Top||

#2  It won't pass, because they are deathly afraid that the USSC will strike it down and end the possibility of doing that in the future after they pack the court.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 07/31/2022 8:00 Comments || Top||

#3 

Another example of the LSD's total disregard of the US Constitution and the Citizen's owned Bill of Rights.

Given, they already have information censorship, food, medical and freedom of travel pretty much under control. They must act before Mid-terms due to their inability to win elections honestly.

They understand, CITIZENS are fed up with their increasingly Socialist style of governance. Which is naturally forcing them to take the ability of the Citizen's Serf class to protect themselves from Foreign and Domestic threats away, in order to protect their immoral and illegal activities.

Posted by: NN2N1 || 07/31/2022 8:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Earlier in the week, a couple of gun-grabbing Senators has the Wuhan flu. If we're lucky, Joe infected a few more, making a vote even more slim.
Posted by: Bobby || 07/31/2022 11:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Re:#2 - that's why the Dems' backup psycho will make another try for a conservative judge or 3.
Posted by: Mercutio || 07/31/2022 17:18 Comments || Top||



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Wed 2022-07-27
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Tue 2022-07-26
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Mon 2022-07-25
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Sun 2022-07-24
  Biden Expects Bad Econ News This Week
Sat 2022-07-23
  Extremists have attacked Mali’s Kati military base on the outskirts of the capital city Bamako
Fri 2022-07-22
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Thu 2022-07-21
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Wed 2022-07-20
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Tue 2022-07-19
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Mon 2022-07-18
   Zelensky fires security service chief and prosecutor general
Sun 2022-07-17
  Swift Capture of the 7-Eleven Spree Killers Shows What Taking Crime Seriously Looks Like


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