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Suicide Attack Kills Taliban Prominent Cleric in Afghan Capital, Funeral in Jalalabad
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
'Want To Be One Of The New IRS Agents? Here Are The 17 Job Requirements
[BabylonBee] President Biden just solved the economy by creating thousands of IRS jobs! We know you've always dreamed of working for the IRS, but do you have what it takes?

Here are the job requirements in case you're interested:
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/13/2022 03:31 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



-Land of the Free
'MEGHAN MCCAIN: Gaffe by gaffe, it's sadly clearer every day Biden is too old and frail for office. Because when our president looks weak, America looks weak
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/13/2022 07:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bidet could learn from Meggie Moo. If you spend most of your time eating, you don't have much time for stupidity to come out of your mouth. In spite of all that, she still manages it, so maybe it's not such good advice.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/13/2022 9:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Despite all the 'wins' that President Biden has apparently accumulated


Ok, who turned on the sarcasm machine?
Posted by: AlanC || 08/13/2022 11:07 Comments || Top||

#3  who did Ms McCain vote for in the last election: Trump or Biden?
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/13/2022 11:14 Comments || Top||

#4  She should tell us which Democrat she supports to replace him. Is she an influencer or a herd animal?
Posted by: Super Hose || 08/13/2022 11:46 Comments || Top||

#5  Mooo!
Posted by: Frank G || 08/13/2022 12:08 Comments || Top||

#6  Her father being an arms broker for the Obama administration, the question answers itself.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/13/2022 12:44 Comments || Top||

#7  But she is a silly person, blaming the team record on the mascot.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/13/2022 12:45 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Beijing's Taiwan Aggression Has Backfired in Tokyo
[ForeignPolicy] Military exercises have stiffened Japanese resolve.

China’s four days of military exercises encircling Taiwan in response to a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week has clear ramifications for Japan. The show of military muscle just 70 miles from Japanese territory and the firing of ballistic missiles into waters controlled by Japan were clearly meant as a warning that the country risks being dragged into any future conflict in the region.

While China’s motives in indirectly targeting Japan are not known, the results are pretty clear. The surprisingly extensive military action is bringing a new sense of urgency to heighten Japan’s defense capability, substantially raise the defense budget, and, potentially, institute new rules that would for the first time allow preemptive military steps if Japan is at risk. It’s hard to see how any of these meet Beijing’s policy goals.

The military exercises included the firing of five missiles that overflew Taiwan and landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said the firings represented “serious threats to Japan’s national security and the safety of the Japanese people.” China’s foreign ministry brushed aside Japan’s protests. It said that there was no EEZ, because Japan had failed to negotiate with China over proper boundaries between Chinese territory and the string of islands that stretch from Japan’s Okinawa region, with the westernmost isle just 70 miles from Taiwan. Beijing, which claims 90 percent of the entire South China Sea as its own, is no stranger to sweeping maritime claims.

Japanese analysts saw China’s actions as a direct warning, especially in relation to Japan’s hosting of more than 50,000 U.S. service personnel, the largest offshore deployment of U.S. forces in the world. “The purpose of those kind of threatening [actions] is … make Japan recognize that if Japan cooperates with the United States to contain China or to block China conducting the unification operation of Taiwan, then Japan must be involved in the war, must be damaged by the Chinese military operation,” Bonji Ohara, a senior fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, told NHK television.

But, as Chinese officials should know well, intimidation seldom produces moderation from the other side. Witness the efforts to scare Taiwan in 1996 with missile launches a few weeks ahead of the country’s first direct presidential election. The result was a clear victory for the independence-minded Lee Teng-hui.

The new threats could instead create a “Finland moment” for Beijing. After threatening his neighbors, this year Russian President Vladimir Putin got what he least wanted: a massive expansion in NATO, with long-neutral Finland and Sweden moving to join the military alliance. The landing of missiles in waters close to Japanese territory, coupled with various threats and a claim that Japan is somehow responsible for the Taiwan situation, will do little to improve relations. It doesn’t help that China is in the middle of a surge of anti-Japanese public feeling, leading to the cancellation of cultural festivals and anime conventions across the country.

The new missile launches come at an important time for Japan. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, fresh from a strong showing in parliamentary elections, has promised a significant increase in Japan’s defense spending. Japan’s military (officially the Self-Defense Forces) is one of the largest and considered among the most capable in the world, but the spending level has been unofficially capped at around 1 percent of annual GDP, half the level requested for NATO countries and well below the 3.7 percent racked up by the United States in 2020. Some influential members in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have called for it to be doubled over the next five years. Kishida has been more circumspect, no doubt considering the implication for Japan’s already massive debt load at an estimated 250 percent of annual GDP. In addition to the fiscal impact, opponents of higher spending fear a return to Japanese militarism and see the potential for a new arms race. The pressure will now be on, however, for Kishida to come up with something sizable at the very least.

“When you look at the problems in Taiwan, the stronger the recognition that Japan is in a very harsh international environment. As a result, I think the debate about strengthening Japan’s defense capabilities will intensify,” Harukata Takenaka, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, said on TV Tokyo.

As always in a country given to gradualist politics, the move toward a stronger military has been gaining traction for many years. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, killed in an attack last month, had pushed through legislation in 2015 that allows Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to take part in collective defense with its U.S. allies. The move was highly controversial in light of Japan’s constitution that bans the use military force except in direct defense of the country.

With that bedded down (and the concept now given an inadvertent boost by Beijing), defense hawks within the ruling LDP, many from the faction previously headed by Abe, are now pushing the envelope further to authorize preemptive strikes against a country threatening Japan. The ostensible target is nuclear-armed and always bellicose North Korea (largely forgotten recently as global attention has shifted to Taiwan). But the rules could conceivably apply more broadly. Polls show fairly solid support for the concept, although advocates prefer calling it “counterstrike capabilities” to avoid the image problems raised by the idea of a preemptive attack.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/13/2022 12:27 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


A blockade of Taiwan would cripple China's economy
[ASPIstrategist] China’s live-fire drills surrounding Taiwan over the weekend simulated an economic blockade, with Chinese forces positioned to halt access to the island nation’s main ports.

Dozens of ships heading to or from North Asia were forced to shift their routes or slow down to keep clear of the danger zones in both the Taiwan Strait and on the island’s eastern seaboard. An average of 240 ships a day normally pass through the area.

However, the demonstration of China’s military prowess, showing how easily it could seal both Taiwan’s maritime and air access to the rest of the world, served to underline China’s own economic vulnerability.

If a real Chinese blockade were challenged by the United States and the Taiwan Strait were designated a war zone, trade finance and insurance would evaporate for all shipping in the area.

Any real-life disruption of the sea lanes to the east and west of Taiwan would have a crippling effect on China’s own economy, since its major ports of Shanghai, Dalian, Tianjin and others are dependent on passage through waters near Taiwan.

The Taiwan Strait is the major conduit for shipping from North Asia, including China, Japan and Korea, to the rest of the world, and it’s also the most direct route from South China to the US.

The great majority of Australia’s iron ore trade passes Taiwan en route to the northern Chinese bulk ports, as do its shipments to Japan and Korea.

Analysis by Bloomberg showed that just under half the world’s container ships passed through the Taiwan Strait in the first seven months of this year. Among the largest 10% of the global container fleet, 88% made use of the waterway. Tankers carrying around 1 million barrels of oil transit the strait every day.

Although it is possible for ships bound for North Asia to avoid the strait, which is only 130 kilometres wide at its narrowest, the alternative route to the east of Taiwan through the Luzon Strait with Philippines is vulnerable to cyclones.

China’s foreign ministry earlier this year asserted that it had ‘sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait’ and that it was false to claim it was an international waterway. China’s military operations serve to underline its claims.

The US State Department responded that it was an international waterway ‘where high seas freedoms, including freedom of navigation and overflight, are guaranteed under international law’.

Commercial flights were also interrupted by China’s military exercise. Korean Air, Singapore Airlines and Asiana Airlines suspended flights to Taipei, while other airlines, such as Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific, said they were avoiding the designated zones. Airlines are accustomed to diverting around warzones and military exercises; however, any blockade of Taiwan’s airspace would have profound economic effects.

A large share of Taiwan’s exports is carried by air freight rather than by sea. Taiwan is the undisputed king of the integrated circuit, responsible for 63% of the global contract manufacture of microchips, with the lion’s share of that accounted for by a single company, TSMC, which is the major supplier to Apple, Intel, Qualcomm and Nvidia. Taiwan’s market share for high-value integrated circuits smaller than 10 nanometres is 92%.

Alongside its fabrication is an ecosystem of integrated circuit design, packaging and supplies such as silicon wafers. Taiwan’s total integrated circuit exports earn around US$140 billion a year, and it is also an important supplier of other high-technology and high-value equipment.

China is itself the destination for about half of Taiwan’s exports of integrated circuits. Taiwan-sourced chips are central to China’s exports of electronic goods.

Concern about the fate of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry in the wake of any conflict with China contributed to the US Senate approving a US$280 billion bill over the weekend to bolster its domestic chip manufacturing. Any companies taking up the generous grants on offer must commit not to upgrade their Chinese plants for a decade. TSMC has built a US$12 billion fabrication plant in Arizona in response to US concerns.

The firm’s chairman, Mark Liu, last week sought to refute the notion that China could gain control of its operations by seizing Taiwan by force. ‘Nobody can control TSMC by force. If you take a military force or invasion, you will render TSMC[’s] factory not operable,’ Liu said. ‘Because this is such a sophisticated manufacturing facility, it depends on real-time connection with the outside world, with Europe, with Japan, with [the] US, from materials to chemicals to spare parts to engineering software and diagnosis.’

Any sustained blockade of Taiwan would make the disruption to microchip supplies during the Covid-19 epidemic look trivial. An analysis of Taiwan’s microchip sector by the Hong Kong–based Hinrich Foundation notes that integrated circuits are now the fourth most widely traded category of goods, behind crude and refined oil and automobiles.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/13/2022 12:25 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Government Corruption
'Another Huge Red Flag in the Trump Raid Story
BLUF:
[PJ] Well, Mr. Attorney General, if they’re so professional and full of integrity, can you explain why the Wall Street Journal apparently knows the contents of all the classified documents and supposedly "top secret" documents removed from Trump’s home and has apparently reviewed some of them?

"FBI agents who searched former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home Monday removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked as top secret and meant to be only available in special government facilities, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal," the outlet reported. "The Federal Bureau of Investigation agents took around 20 boxes of items, binders of photos, a handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency for Mr. Trump’s ally Roger Stone, a list of items removed from the property shows. Also included in the list was information about the ’President of France,’ according to the three-page list. The list is contained in a seven-page document that also includes the warrant to search the premises which was granted by a federal magistrate judge in Florida."
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/13/2022 03:23 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hello all - this is deeply disturbing
I note that WSJ does not say it reviewed the classified docs but documents that claim the FBI seized such documents
A subtle but important difference
I cannot say whether or not Trump committed any crime but I can say that Hillary did the same thing when she improperly stored cassified intel on her private email server
Hillary was not prosecuted
And what of Huma Abedin and the Pakistani brothers who fled?
American laws need to be impartially and fairly applied
That is the terrible structural damage that has so obviously just been done
The whole world now sees a banana republic where political opponents of the democrats really are persecuted
I am not a fan of Trump, i far prefer Rand Paul, De Santia and Tulsi Gabbard

But this raid is an obvious disgace, an obvious politicisation of America’s law enorcement apparatus
Posted by: Anon1 || 08/13/2022 3:43 Comments || Top||


#3  Hillary cannot claim, doesn't even bother to claim, that the documents on her bathroom email server were declassified.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/13/2022 12:10 Comments || Top||

#4  From the link:

“Let me address recent unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors,” he said. “I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked. The men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated patriotic public servants every day. They protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism and other threats to their safety while safeguarding our civil rights. They do so at great personal sacrifice and risk to themselves. I am honored to work alongside them.”

I'll say one thing for Merrick the Weasel. He has a lot of damn nerve.

Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/13/2022 12:19 Comments || Top||


'Trump spy chief on classified documents: 'Virtually impossible to prosecute'
[Washington Examiner] Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe argued that it is "virtually impossible" to prosecute his onetime boss, former President Donald Trump, for alleged mishandling of classified material.

While chiding the FBI for "acting as the muscle" of the Democrats, the Trump-era spy chief hearkened back to Hillary Clinton's email situation and surmised that Trump possessed the "ultimate declassification authority," shielding him from liability.

"I thought, surely this is not about classified documents and the president being in possession of those. It has to be more than that because the Department of Justice and the FBI have already set a standard that makes it virtually impossible to prosecute a case like that," Ratcliffe told Fox Business's Larry Kudlow, who is another former Trump administration official.

Although no president has ever been prosecuted for mishandling classified material, some experts dispute the notion that one could suddenly deem something declassified and argue that the president must instead follow a formal process.

"I’ve seen thousands of declassified documents. They’re all marked ’declassified’ with the date they were declassified," Richard Immerman, assistant deputy director of national intelligence in the Obama administration, told NBC News.

During a Monday raid, FBI agents carried out a search warrant of Trump's lavish Mar-a-Lago resort and reportedly retrieved some 20 boxes of material while seeking documents with details about nuclear weapons.

A warrant released to the public Friday revealed that authorities were looking for material retained in violation of three federal laws, including the Espionage Act.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/13/2022 02:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The current EO governing classified information was issued in 2009 by Barak Obama and is pretty clear that a president (or vice president) has unfettered authority to declassify without following any procedural review as is required by all other entities

Executive order 13526
Classified National Security Information

See Section 3.5(a)(3)(b) in large bold text below:

Sec. 3.5. Mandatory Declassification Review.
(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, all information classified under this order or predecessor orders shall be subject to a review for declassification by the originating agency if:

(1) the request for a review describes the document or material containing the information with sufficient specificity to enable the agency to locate it with a reasonable amount of effort;
(2) the document or material containing the information responsive to the request is not contained within an operational file exempted from search and review, publication, and disclosure under 5 U.S.C. 552 in accordance with law; and
(3) the information is not the subject of pending litigation.
(b) Information originated by the incumbent President or the incumbent Vice President; the incumbent President’s White House Staff or the incumbent Vice President’s Staff; committees, commissions, or boards appointed by the incumbent President; or other entities within the Executive Office of the President that solely advise and assist the incumbent President is exempted from the provisions of paragraph (a) of this section.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/13/2022 3:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Trump should have pardoned Assange and strengthened Wikileaks
He should have taken action against the social media platforms
Posted by: Anon1 || 08/13/2022 3:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Is this how the Democrat regime prepares for midterm elections?
Like a Latin American junta?
Posted by: Anon1 || 08/13/2022 3:52 Comments || Top||

#4  When the Founders wrote the Constitution they left a flaw. They did not anticipate powerful, unelected bureaucracies that will partner with one of the political parties to crush political opposition.

SOLUTION:. Convene a Constitutional Convention to pass another Amendment To The Constitution that requires Deep State to maintain neutrality or be hung in the gallows.
Posted by: Phons Omert2327 || 08/13/2022 4:56 Comments || Top||

#5 
"it is "virtually impossible" to prosecute... "
Spoken like a citizen that follows the law.

However.... we are discussing the LSD's & DC Swamp/Deep State that is facing charges of TREASON and SEDITION, IF a Constitutional Government is restored.


"Treason is a federal crime that consists of acts against the United States government.

Sedition is a state crime that consists of inciting rebellion or violence against the government."
Posted by: NN2N1 || 08/13/2022 7:40 Comments || Top||


#7  The raid was planned to demonstrate power, create an impression of grave wrongdoing, to intimidate Trump but more importantly, those allied to him and those thinking of it, to ascertain exactly what holdings he had regarding the entire history of criminal abuse of classified monitoring systems, and create a media firestorm and predicate for years of slow-rolling "Russia-hoax" V 2.0 to thwart 2024.

Should he return to power in 2024...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XUu3_pLPUE
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 08/13/2022 13:07 Comments || Top||

#8  ^ Exactly. 100%.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 08/13/2022 13:28 Comments || Top||


'The raid on Trump's home is a tipping point: The FBI and DOJ are enemies of the people
[American Thinker] There was a time past when Americans knew the FBI was corrupt.

J. Edgar Hoover headed the agency from 1924 until his death in 1972.

Hoover habitually used the FBI's enormous surveillance and information-gathering powers to collect damaging information on politicians throughout the country, and he kept the most scurrilous data under his own personal control.

He used his possession of these secret files to maintain himself as the FBI's director and was apparently able to intimidate even sitting presidents by threatening to leak damaging disclosures about them.

By the early 1970s, he had come under public criticism for his authoritarian administration of the FBI and for his persecution of those he regarded as radicals and subversives.

He retained his post, however, until his death at age 77, by which time he had been the FBI's chief for 48 years and had served 8 presidents and 18 attorneys general."

Hoover was the same kind of man that Jeffrey Epstein was: have enough dirt on others, and one's own job will be secure.

There have been ten more heads of the FBI until Robert Mueller took the job. Mueller and his successors — Comey, McCabe, and now Wray — have each been corrupt, willing tools of the anti-American left. They have each used their positions of power to, like Hoover, go after political opponents by any means necessary, no matter how unconstitutional or illegal. Anyone who has watched any of these last four "testify" before any congressional committee knows that they all consider themselves above the law. Their crimes against the country are too many to list here, but the raid on President Trump's Florida home is the worst crime the bureau has ever committed.

Does it mean the end of America as a nation of laws and due process? It just might. Bob Maistros at Issues and Insights thinks it is.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/13/2022 02:40 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



The FBI and its media allies scramble to justify the Mar-a-Lago FBI raid
[American Thinker] After considerable public pressure, missing-in-action U.S. attorney general Merrick Garland finally addressed the media yesterday, saying he "personally approved the decision" for the FBI to execute a search warrant at President Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago. Garland declined to provide details about the investigation, such as what the documents retrieved by the FBI were.

Reading from his text, Garland piously intoned:

Faithful adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the Justice Department and of our democracy. Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly without fear or favor. Under my watch, that is precisely what the Justice Department is doing.

Following claims of honor, morality, and legal egalitarianism, Garland's FBI then leaked information to the Washington Post, a notorious Democrat mouthpiece, proving in itself that the agency had been politicized and compromised, and not for the first time.

The WaPo reported that the FBI was looking for classified documents related to nuclear weapons during their raid. The sources were obviously anonymous. It's unclear what type of documents the FBI claimed to be seeking or if they pertained to nuclear weapons belonging to the U.S. or other countries.

The FBI also claim that their agents killed a shooter in Ohio on Thursday who allegedly tried to force his way into the bureau's Cincinnati office.

The WaPo is claiming that the Ohio shooter, a man named Ricky Shiffer, had "possible ties to extremist groups, including the Proud Boys, whose leaders are accused of helping launch the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol." They also claimed that Shiffer told his followers on Truth Social that he was "ready for combat" after the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago. They are even claiming the shooter called upon his followers to "kill the F.B.I. on sight."

The Washington Post, however, could not confirm whether the account actually belonged to Shiffer.

Garland defended FBI agents as "dedicated, patriotic public servants" and said he would not "stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked. ... They do so at great personal sacrifice and risk to themselves."

So clearly, the spin will be two-tiered.

The first is that Trump stole nuclear weapons—related documents.

The second is that Trump-supporters are domestic terrorists preventing the FBI from doing their job.

So let's look at the nuclear documentation claim first.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/13/2022 02:32 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Phons Omert2327 || 08/13/2022 3:05 Comments || Top||


#3  Obama/Kerry/Biden pay Iranians to get nukes; Hillary sells Uranium... But FBI raids Mar-a-largo for Presidential napkins.
Posted by: Airandee || 08/13/2022 11:11 Comments || Top||


Victor Davis Hansen - FBI, RIP ?
[ZERO] Take the FBI’s deliberately asymmetrical application of the law. This week the bureau surprise-raided the home of former President Donald Trump — an historical first.

A massive phalanx of FBI agents swooped into the Trump residence while he was not home, to confiscate his personal property, safe, and records. All of this was over an archival dispute of presidential papers common to many former presidents. Agents swarmed the entire house, including the wardrobe closet of the former first lady.

Note we are less than 90 days out from a midterm election, and this was not just a raid, but a political act.

The Democratic Party is anticipated to suffer historical losses. Trump was on the verge of announcing his 2024 presidential candidacy. In many polls, he remains the Republican front-runner for the nomination — and well ahead of incumbent President Joe Biden in a putative 2024 rematch.

In 2016 then FBI Director James Comey announced that candidate Hillary Clinton was guilty of destroying subpoenaed emails — a likely felony pertaining to her tenure as secretary of state. Yet he all but pledged that she would not be prosecuted given her status as a presidential candidate.

As far as targeting presidential candidates, Trump was impeached in 2020 ostensibly for delaying military aid to Ukraine by asking Ukrainian officials to investigate more fully the clearly corrupt Biden family — given Joe Biden at the time was a likely possible presidential opponent in 2020.

The FBI has devolved into a personal retrieval service for the incorrigible Biden family. It suppressed, for political purposes, information surrounding Hunter Biden’s missing laptop on the eve of the 2020 election.

Previously, the FBI never pursued Hunter’s fraudulently registered firearm, his mysterious foreign income, his felonious crack cocaine use, or his regular employment of foreign prostitutes.

Yet in a pre-dawn raid just before the 2020 election, the FBI targeted the home of journalist James O’Keefe on grounds that someone had passed to him the lost and lurid diary of Ashley Biden, Biden’s wayward daughter.

At various times, in Stasi-style the FBI has publicly shackled Trump economic advisor Peter Navarro, swarmed the office of Trump’s legal counsel Rudy Giuliani, and sent a SWAT team to surround the house of Trump ally Roger Stone. Meanwhile, terrorists and cartels walk with impunity across an open border.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/13/2022 02:23 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Decline and Fall of this US republic increase their respective velocities.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 08/13/2022 3:04 Comments || Top||

#2  This is really terrible and damaging to the fabric of America
This damage goes way beyond trump

This shows every american and people around the world that American law enforcement has become a plaything of the ruling junta

Justice is not impartial in the US any more

This is just a terrible, terrible development
Posted by: Anon1 || 08/13/2022 3:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Civil Service Act - preserve our jobs, kill your republic
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/13/2022 9:07 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Are Democrats setting a trap for Trump ?
[American Thinker] In Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Admiral Ackbar believes he is ambushing a partly built "death star," only to find that it is fully operational and an enemy fleet has arrived. In a famous movie understatement, now embedded in pop culture, Ackbar exclaims, "It's a trap!" Now Democrats have planted an even more nefarious trap by having their minions in the FBI raid Donald Trump's home at Mar-a-Lago.

The former president's estate in Palm Beach, Florida was the subject of an FBI search warrant in the late hours on Monday by two dozen agents, with 15 boxes of documents removed from the premises. The papers allegedly contain classified national security information and correspondence between Mr. Trump and leaders of other countries.

Okay, that's a raid, not a trap. The trap is what the Democrats hope the volatile and impulsive ex-president does in response.

Perhaps the worst kept secret in politics is that Donald Trump will, sometime this year, announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. The 2022 elections are still before us, however, and the Republicans are thought to have a good chance of reclaiming the House of Representatives in November, if not the Senate — that is, as long as no one rocks the boat.

The Democrats have had some limited success regaining momentum as a result of the January 6 committee hearings and the untimely decision of the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. Their spin doctors are hard at work making small drops in gas prices and the rate of inflation look like a roaring economy despite two straight quarters of negative growth. Crime, immigration, and multiple other issues remain a burden for the left.

Despite their best efforts, the relatively dim prospects for the Democrats in 2022 have led them to throw a Hail Mary: raiding the home of Donald Trump in the hopes that he will angrily announce his 2024 candidacy before the midterms. If the documents they confiscated allow them to fabricate "crimes," even better! The desired result is to rile liberals and moderates enough to have a massive anti-Republican turnout in November. Remember the 2020 vote totals: 81 million Democrat votes compared to the Republican ticket's 74 million.

Donald Trump may well take the bait. He has wanted to run again since the day after the 2020 election. Aggrieved for good reason, it's taken every one of his advisers their mightiest efforts to delay him until now. They hope he'll wait until after the midterms like most presidential candidates, but they worry that he'll make a sudden announcement that will upset a number of toss-up races and cost the GOP the House.

If you watch Fox News, you'd think the world is outraged by the unprecedented invasion at Mar-a-Lago. Donald Trump is a former president! Well, change the channel, and you'll find many outlets barely able to contain their glee at the prospect of taking down the Orange Man. For every conservative angered by the outrageous actions of the Department of Justice, there's a liberal singing, "Hallelujah!"
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/13/2022 02:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Dems leak any potential plan they hope to use against Trump immediately. They are like deer hunters with a boom box. By the time we get to Oct 2024, they will be down to staging whopper cushions at his press conferences.
Posted by: Super Hose || 08/13/2022 11:52 Comments || Top||


Five Lingering Questions In the Wake of the Mar-a-Lago Raid
[Johnathon Turley] Former President Donald Trump has waived any objections to the release of the warrant and property receipt after the filing of a motion by the Justice Department. The motion, however, did not seek the release of the most important document in this controversy: the supporting FBI affidavit. That is the document that would reveal what the FBI told the magistrate about the prior communications with the Trump team and the specific allegations of the status of the documents in question.

There are reports that the documents involved material of the highest possible classification dealing with nuclear weapons. There is no question that the former President has no authority to retain classified material and that the government has a legitimate right to retrieve such material.

We should see the warrant and property list relatively soon in light of the DOJ motion and the Trump waiver. My greatest interest is the specificity of the information. Here are a few questions as we wait for the warrant and list:
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/13/2022 02:26 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:



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Sat 2022-08-13
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Fri 2022-08-12
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Thu 2022-08-11
  Russians advance in the Kharkiv and Bakhmut directions, were repulsed and then retreated
Wed 2022-08-10
  Senior TTP leader Omar Khalid Khorasani killed in Afghanistan, Taliban spokesperson confirms
Tue 2022-08-09
  Pakistani Taliban Commander Allegedly Killed in South-Eastern Afghanistan
Mon 2022-08-08
  Gaza ceasefire takes effect, per agreement by Israel, Islamic Jihad
Sun 2022-08-07
  All senior Islamic Jihad officials in Gaza eliminated
Sat 2022-08-06
  Day 2: Gaza: Palestinian militant Tayseer Jabari Tango Uniform as Israel strikes after threats
Fri 2022-08-05
  Russian invaders shell Dnipropetrovsk region at night
Thu 2022-08-04
  Iraq's Sadr demands new polls as political crisis escalates
Wed 2022-08-03
  Afghanistan Needs India’s Help ‘Desperately’ to Secure Peaceful Environment: Taliban Interior Minister Haqqani
Tue 2022-08-02
  Nancy does Taipei
Mon 2022-08-01
  US takes out Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri in 'successful' Afghanistan counterterrorism operation
Sun 2022-07-31
  Zelenskyy ordered the evacuation of the city of Donetsk
Sat 2022-07-30
  Yale study shows sanctions are crippling Russia's economy

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