Dwayne Johnson backs Biden in first public presidential endorsement

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson endorsed Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Sunday morning, calling the November election “critical.”

“I’ve got friends in all parties, but the one thing we can always agree on is the conversation and the dialogue, and where that conversation lands is always the most critical part,” Johnson said in a video he tweeted Sunday.

The actor and former wrestler described a conversation on political issues he recently had with Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).

“I thought it was a great and extremely productive conversation that we had, and as a registered Independent for years now with centrist ideologies, I do feel that Vice President Biden and Sen. Harris are the best choice to lead our country, and I am endorsing them to become president and vice president of our United States,” Johnson said.

The video includes a clip of the remote conversation between the three, in which Johnson noted he has never made a public presidential endorsement before.

“You guys are both experienced to lead. You’ve done great things. Joe, you’ve had such an incredible career, and you’ve led with such great compassion, heart, drive and soul,” Johnson said. “Kamala, you have been a district attorney, a state attorney, a U.S. senator. You are smart and tough. I have seen you in those hearings.”

Johnson has been largely politically neutral in public in the past. He spoke at the 2000 Republican National Convention and the same year appeared at a nonpartisan World Wrestling Entertainment voter registration event at the Democratic National Convention. He told Rolling Stone in 2018 that he voted for former President Obama twice but did not vote in the 2016 election.

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/518471-dwayne-johnson-backs-biden-in-first-public-presidential

Lebanon's prime minister-designate quits in blow to French initiative

Lebanon’s prime minister-designate quit on Saturday after trying for almost a month to line up a non-partisan cabinet, dealing a blow to a French plan aimed at rallying sectarian leaders to tackle the worst crisis since the nation’s 1975-1990 civil war, Reuters reports.

Mustapha Adib, former ambassador to Berlin, was picked on Aug. 31 to form a cabinet after President Emmanuel Macron’s intervention secured a consensus on naming him in a country where power is shared out between Muslims and Christians.

A source close to Macron said the situation that led to Adib’s resignation amounted to “collective betrayal” by political parties but said France, the former colonial power, would not abandon Lebanon.

Under the French roadmap, the new government would take steps to tackle corruption and implement reforms needed to trigger billions of dollars of international aid to fix an economy that has been crushed by a mountain of debt.

Lebanon faced a further knock when a huge explosion at Beirut port on Aug. 4 ruined a swathe of the capital.

Adib – a Sunni Muslim, as the prime minister has to be under the sectarian power-sharing system – announced he was stepping down but said Lebanon must not abandon the French plan or squander Macron’s goodwill.

“I stress that this initiative must continue,” he said after meeting President Michel Aoun, a Christian. He wished his successor well in the “hard task” of forming a government.

Politicians, whose loyalties tend to follow confessional lines, had promised Paris they would have a government in place by mid-September.

But Adib’s efforts stumbled in a dispute over appointments, particularly the post of finance minister, who will have a key role in drawing up economic rescue plans.

“It’s a setback, but we’re not giving up,” a French diplomatic source said.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200927-lebanons-prime-minister-designate-quits-in-blow-to-french-initiative/

Erdogan transferring militants. Conflict erupts between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Reports Turkey is transferring Syrian militants to Azerbaijan as hostilities against Armenia increases.

https://youtu.be/W7RTyawRweY

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/25/reports-turkey-is-transferring-syrian-militants-to-azerbaijan-as-hostilities-against-armenia-increases/

https://theduran.com/erdogan-transferring-militants-conflict-erupts-between-armenia-and-azerbaijan/

Biden calls on Senate to 'take a step back from the brink' and not vote on Barrett

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Sunday called on the U.S. Senate to hold off voting on President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, after Trump predicted that Barrett could be confirmed well before November's election.

In remarks delivered Sunday morning, Biden claimed that the right thing to do would be to wait to fill the vacant seat on the court until after January's inauguration.

"The Senate has to stand strong for our democracy," Biden said in remarks Sunday afternoon. He went on to say that senators should "take a step back from the brink," and that "this is a time to de-escalate."

Biden went on to claim that "the very soul of our country is at stake" in November's election, as issues such as abortion, immigration and the environment hang in the balance. He said that is why people are going to the polls this year.

"Their voices may not matter to Donald Trump. They may not matter to [Sen.] Mitch McConnell," Biden said. "But there are Senate Republicans out there who know in their hearts that if they shut out the voices of those during a voting period, during an election, they’re closing the door on American democracy thereafter."

President Trump told "Fox & Friends" co-host Pete Hegseth in an interview that aired Sunday morning that he thinks Barrett could be confirmed ahead of the Nov. 3 election, saying there's a "tremendous amount of time." The confirmation process is currently scheduled to kick off Oct. 12.

"I think we could have it done easily before the election," he told Hegseth during an exclusive one-on-one interview following the nomination, which aired Sunday morning, adding that they were "going to try and have it done quickly."

"I think she'll be confirmed […] relatively long before the election," Trump said.

Biden's criticism focused in large part on concerns that if confirmed Barrett would vote to eliminate the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as the Supreme Court is readying to hear arguments in a case involving the law known as ObamaCare one week after November's election.

"It doesn’t matter what the American people want," Biden said Sunday. "President Trump sees his chance to fulfill his explicit mission: steal away the vital protections of the ACA from countless families that have come to rely on them for their health, their financial security and the lives of those they love.”

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-senate-vote-amy-coney-barrett

'Permanent Coup': Just as Mueller probe fizzles, anti-Trump cabal hatches new collusion tale

"According to the story the CIA officer and his colleagues would tell, Trump was again in league with a foreign power to defeat a rival candidate. They rotated Ukraine in for Russia and Biden for Clinton." — From "The Permanent Coup," by Lee Smith

Below follows the second installment of a two-part excerpt from Just the News contributor Lee Smith's book "The Permanent Coup: How Enemies Foreign and Domestic Targeted the American President":

Robert Mueller's July 24, 2019 congressional testimony about his nearly two-year long investigation seemed to bring an end to the conspiracy theory holding that Donald Trump had colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. And yet the very next day, the anti-Trump resistance seized on another opportunity to try to destroy his presidency. He would again be accused of colluding with a foreign power to defeat a Democratic rival.

On July 25, Trump spoke with new Ukrainian president Volodmyr Zelensky on the phone and asked him to cooperate with Attorney General William Barr. He and Trump were both determined to discover the origins of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign.

"They say a lot of it started with Ukraine," Trump told the Ukrainian president. "I would like to have the attorney general call you or your people, and I would like you to get to the bottom of it," he said. "Whatever you can do, it's very important that you do it, if that's possible."

Trump had another matter he wanted to raise. "There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution, so if you can look into it. It sounds horrible to me."

Other senior U.S. officials whose duties and areas of expertise required it were listening in on the call. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was listening, and so was Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, the NSC's Ukraine director. After the morning call, Vindman registered his concerns with two NSC staff lawyers, one of whom was his twin brother, Yevgeny. In the afternoon, Alexander Vindman phoned Eric Ciaramella, who also worked on Ukraine and Russia issues.

The next day Ciaramella wrote a memo about his conversation with Vindman: "The official who listened to the entirety of the phone call was visibly shaken by what had transpired and seemed keen to inform a trusted colleague within the U.S. national security apparatus about the call."

The official described the call as "crazy," "frightening," and "completely lacking in substance related to national security."

Cont. from images:

Schiff had first promised that Ciaramella, the whistleblower, would testify, but he changed his mind soon after it was reported that Schiff's staff had met with him before he was passed on to Atkinson, even though the HPSCI chair had publicly denied the committee had any contact with him. It seems Schiff was reluctant to subject Ciaramella to Republicans' questions about his secret contact with Schiff staffers, but there may be another reason Schiff kept his whistleblower under wraps.

"At a certain point he must have found out that he was Biden's guy on Ukraine," says Ciaramella's former colleague in the intelligence community. "If he testifies and the Republicans start asking him questions about Biden and Ukraine, it's over."

https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/permanent-coup-just-mueller-probe-fizzles-anti-trump

Judicial Watch Statement on Supreme Court Nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court:

What a brave, wonderful Supreme Court pick by President Trump! President Trump has once again stood up for the U.S. Constitution with his nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Judge Barrett has a demonstrated record of applying the rule of law rather than legislating from the bench. Her record shows that she will not only respect but apply the U.S. Constitution as written and intended by our Founding Fathers. And it would be a wonderful milestone that Judge Barrett would be the first conservative woman member on the Supreme Court. She seems to be a full spectrum conservative who is likely to be a force on the Supreme Court for years to come.

This nomination is another great victory for constitutional government and a blow to politicized decision-making on the Supreme Court. Most Americans agree with Judge Barrett that the Supreme Court should apply the law as it is written and leave the legislating to the people’s elected representatives.

The U.S. Senate should move quickly to work with President Trump to consider and approve Judge Barrett before Election Day. There is not much radical liberals can do to stop this excellent Supreme Court pick. Leftist threats of violence and court-packing should not slow the Senate one bit. And all Americans should reject the growing un-American campaign by the radical left to attack her family and oppose Justice Barrett because of her religious faith.

Judge Barrett cannot be confirmed soon enough.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-releases/scotus-pick-barrett/

Tesla, Volvo, Ford and Mercedes sue US over 'unlawful' tariffs on Chinese parts

Major carmakers, including Elon Musk’s electric car company, say the levies imposed last year on crucial components were ‘arbitrary’

Tesla, Volvo, Ford and Mercedes-Benz have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, aiming to end what Elon Musk’s electric car manufacturer called “unlawful” tariffs imposed on certain parts imported from China.

The lawsuits, filed in New York this week, target the 25% tariffs imposed by the US trade representative on a list of products including spare parts such as terminals.

Tesla’s filing to the Court of International Trade said the leveies were “arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion”.

Could the US and Chinese economies really 'decouple'?

Isabella Weber

Read more

The suit names the US trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, as a defendant. His office last year turned down Tesla’s request to be exempted from tariffs on computer and display screens imported from China that it uses in its Model 3 electric car. The company, which was funded by Elon Musk, said it would be harmed by having to pay higher costs for components.

Tesla seeks their cancellation along with a “refund, with interest” of duties already paid, according to the filing.

In its filing, Mercedes accused the Trump administration of “prosecution of an unprecedented, unbounded, and unlimited trade war impacting over $500bn in imports from the People’s Republic of China”.

It argued US law “did not confer authority on defendants to litigate a vast trade war for however long, and by whatever means, they choose”.

The tariffs comes amid a wider trade dispute between Washington and Beijing, and

The levies were imposed as part of an effort by Washington to wean its manufacturers off Chinese technology and reduce the yawning trade deficit with China.

The US and China engaged in months of trade conflict after Trump took office in 2017, and despite a “phase one” deal signed earlier this year marking a partial truce in the dispute, additional tariffs of 25% remain on the equivalent of $250bn in Chinese goods.

Beijing has retaliated for these levies, while Washington is aiming both to reduce its trade deficit and reform Chinese commerce practices it considers “unfair”.

The US commerce department reported the country’s trade deficit in July surged nearly 11% to $63.6bn, with the deficit with China climbing to $28.3bn.

China is the world’s biggest auto market and the main growth driver for many car manufacturers – especially for Tesla, which intends to benefit from the country’s ambitious targets for reducing CO2 emissions.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/sep/24/tesla-sues-trump-administration-over-unlawful-tariffs-on-chinese-parts

US tells Kenya to publicly support Israel or forget free trade deal

The US wants Kenya to support Israel’s political and commercial interests, or forget a free trade deal (FTA) with the world’s biggest economy.

This is one of a raft of conditions set in the ongoing FTA negotiations between Nairobi and Washington.

The US has indicated in its objectives seen by The EastAfrican that the deal with Kenya should, with respect to commercial partnerships, discourage actions that prejudice or discourage business between the US and Israel.

Washington argues that the FTA should “discourage politically motivated actions to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel.”

The US also wants the “elimination of politically motivated, non-tariff barriers on Israeli goods, services, or other commerce imposed on Israel; and the elimination of State-sponsored, unsanctioned foreign boycotts of Israel, or compliance with the Arab League Boycott of Israel.”

The inclusion of a third party, Israel, in the negotiation agenda, has seen lobby groups in Nairobi warn that the agreement could be too risky for Kenya.

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/us-tells-kenya-to-support-israel-or-forget-free-trade-deal-2304192

New Stage Of Armenian-Azerbaijani Conflict Already Turned Into Regional War

On September 29, the first open regional war started in the South Caucasus region since the South Ossetia in 2008. The 2008 conflict started after the Georgian attack on South Ossetia, which led to the Russian peace-enforcement operation and the defeat of the US-backed Saakashvili regime. The 2020 war became the result of the Armenian-Azerbaijani standoff for the Nagorno Karabakh region. Azerbaijani forces have been advancing in Nagorno-Karabakh to restore control over the area.

HINT: The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic a de facto independent state with an Armenian ethnic majority established on the basis of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh War (February 1988 – May 1994). This territory is de-facto controlled by Armenia, while Azerbaijan still seeks to restore control over the region.

An intense fightin between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces has been ongoing in the Nagorno-Karabakh region since early September 29. According to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, the country’s forces have already captured at least 7 villages, located close to the Iranian border.

Azerbaijani forces have been actively shelling positions of Armenian forces and territories controlled by them, including the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic – Stepanakert.

Both sides claim that they caused multiple casualties and destroyed dozens of equipment pieces of the ‘enemy’. Azerbaijani sources even destroyed Armenia’s “S-300 system” in their Twitter claims. In turn, Armenia claims that it destroyed at least 21 military drones of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani strikes on positions and equipment of the Armenian military:

https://youtu.be/4BCXy7EMiMY

https://youtu.be/S9IMCdI_Jlg

The Azerbaijani Parliament approved the martial law bill, while the country’s president Ilhal Aliev already signed it.

“I have said many times, and I want to say today that we must resolve this issue so that the people of Azerbaijan are satisfied with this. We must restore historical justice. We must do this to restore the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan,” Aliyev said at a meeting of the Security Council.

“I have repeatedly said that we do not need an incomplete solution to this issue, this conflict. We are on our own land, we do not need the lands of other countries. But we will not give our land to anyone. I have repeatedly said that we will never allow the creation of a second so-called “Armenian state” on Azerbaijani soil. We will never allow this, and today’s events show it again,”Aliyev added.

Destroyed Azerbaijani military equipment:

More

https://southfront.org/new-stage-of-armenian-azerbaijani-conflict-already-turned-into-regional-war/

>>10812123

End of cash, digital currency backed by social credit score. So basically do as you are told or you won't be able to buy and sell.

Get your vaccine and tattoo or

Revelation 13:17

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Military Situation In Syria And Northern Lebanon On September 27, 2020 (Map Update)

A brief overview of the recent developments in Syria:

20 civilians, including two children, were killed in a car bomb explosion at the southern entrance of the city of Ras Al-Ain;

US Military is building a new base at Al-Baghuz area near the Al-Bukamal;

HTS claimed that it had killed a senior ISIS commander, Yusuf Nouman, known as Abu Hareth, the brother of the former ISIS Iraq “Wali” Hajj Taysir in the west of Idlib;

SAA artillery shelled Turkish-backed militants’ positions in the village of al-Barah;

Turkish-backed militants’ artillery shelled SAA positions in the Kafr Nubl and Hazarin.

Meanwhile, the clashes took place in the northern Lebanon:

Artillery fire exchange between Lebanese Internal Security Forces and terrorist cells took place in Wadi Khaled border area when the Lebanese security forces raided a hideout where terrorists from different cells were holding a meeting. At least 13 terrorists were killed, 15 were arrested;

Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a Lebanese army post in the area of Araman, two soldiers and one gunman were killed in a shootout.

https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-syria-and-northern-lebanon-on-september-27-2020-map-update/

Schumer says Trump tweet shows court pick meant to kill off ObamaCare

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) pointed to a tweet Sunday by President Trump as evidence Judge Amy Coney Barrett, his nominee to the Supreme Court, would strike down the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

“Obamacare will be replaced with a MUCH better, and FAR cheaper, alternative if it is terminated in the Supreme Court. Would be a big WIN for the USA!” Trump tweeted Sunday morning.

“President Trump just admitted his nominee will strike down the Affordable Care Act,” Schumer tweeted immediately in response.

President Trump just admitted his nominee will strike down the Affordable Care Act. https://t.co/kdKIkbEwy8

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) September 27, 2020

Senate Democrats are seeking to focus their arguments about the court and the election on the Affordable Care Act, former President Obama's signature law.

The Supreme Court is set to consider a challenge to the law immediately after the election.

Senate Democrats have highlighted Barrett’s judicial record to argue that, if confirmed, she will rule in favor of the Trump administration’s lawsuit seeking to eliminate the health care law.

On “Fox News Sunday,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) pointed to Barrett's past criticism of high court rulings upholding the ACA’s provisions and said she would vote against the nomination based on that.

"It’s very clear from her writings, multiple writings, that she will be the vote that takes away health care for millions of Americans, including 130 million people and counting with preexisting conditions, and of course those are going up every day because of the health pandemic," Stabenow said.

Republicans have said it would be a mistake to focus on Barrett's past remarks to try to guess how she would decide on a specific case.

The remarks from Democrats on Sunday suggest health care will be a dominant part of the conversation as the Senate GOP seeks to confirm Barrett before Election Day.

The lawsuit against the ACA would undo the entirety of its provisions, including its protection of coverage for people with preexisting conditions.

Trump has signed an executive order declaring preexisting condition protections the “policy” of the United States but has repeatedly pledged a full legislative replacement for the ACA that has yet to materialize.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/518482-schumer-says-trump-tweet-shows-court-pick-to-do-away-with-obamacare

>>10812175

This is very interesting

Explains what we are seeing unfold.

Released 15 Jun 2017

Trump ‘STRONGLY’ demands drug tests before debate says Sleepy Biden’s unnatural performance questionable

It’s literally only days before one of the most – or the most – anticipated presidential debate in modern political history and President Donald Trump is demanding both candidates be administered drug test.

Why? Because there is growing speculation that former Vice President Joe Biden – who is known for his mix-ups and gaffes – suddenly seems to have a burst of questionable lucidity. That lucidity is seemingly unexplained, said Trump.

In an early Sunday morning Tweet the President laid down the challenge. Trump was reportedly headed to his private golf club in Virginia when he called out Biden into accepting the ground rules for a drug test.

Trump said “naturally, I will agree to take one also.”

There was lots of joking around on Twitter after Trump challenged Biden.

Matt Taibbi, a writer for Rolling Stone magazine, joked that instead of the test, maybe both candidates should be administered drugs publicly by a “road manager of a metal band.”

Drugs should be administered to both candidates in equal doses, live and before opening statements, by someone with expertise – like the road manager of a metal band. https://t.co/vFwLf4jbpc

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) September 27, 2020

However, Trump is making a serious point. Why? Because the main stream media isn’t questioning Biden’s strange past statements, or his recent seemingly good performances that come out of nowhere and after days out of the public eye.

I will be strongly demanding a Drug Test of Sleepy Joe Biden prior to, or after, the Debate on Tuesday night. Naturally, I will agree to take one also. His Debate performances have been record setting UNEVEN, to put it mildly. Only drugs could have caused this discrepancy???

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2020

Here’s some Biden gaffes below.

Remember when Biden promised to ‘get our kids to market swiftly.’ Of course, it was another one of his famous gaffes but at first I thought it was part of his efforts to cut back on gas emissions, as I previously reported.

Joe Biden is apparently unveiling a bold new plan "to get our kids to market swiftly" pic.twitter.com/mL8oYGezwI

— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) July 14, 2020

And who can forget the ‘corn pop’ gaffe. It’s the best one yet.

He taught Corn Pop a lesson that one day… pic.twitter.com/9VmRZ9jaaR

— Michael David (@michael_david41) July 14, 2020

https://saraacarter.com/trump-strongly-demands-drug-tests-before-debate-says-sleepy-bidens-unnatural-performance-questionable/

Michael Bloomberg Buys $40 Million In Florida TV Ads To Boost Joe Biden’s Campaign

With Florida considered among the most coveted prizes in the upcoming presidential election, former New York mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg announced he is spending $40 million in video ads to boost Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign in the state.

“This fall, the path to the presidency goes through Florida — and with mail-in ballots going out this week, voters will soon start deciding who gets its 29 electoral votes,” Bloomberg told Politico. “That’s why we’re doing everything in our power to tell the story of Donald Trump’s failed presidency and why we need Joe Biden as the next president of the United States.”

The ads will target networks in major Florida cities such as Miami, Tampa and Orlando. The advertisements will focus on President Donald Trump’s response to COVID-19 and his administration’s attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Bloomberg has previously pledged a $100 million investment in Florida to help Biden. He recently spent over $16 million to help thousands of Florida felons pay off their debts so they can vote. In 2016, Bloomberg spoke at the Democratic National Convention, where he called Trump, who is from New York, a "totally incompetent."

Recent polls show a tight race in Florida between Biden and Trump. Florida's bounty of electoral votes makes the state a must-win for the Trump campaign. Trump, who campaigned in Florida on Thursday, won the state in 2016 but may have a more difficult task of carrying it in November.

A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll shows Trump leading Biden by 4 points in Florida, 51% to 47%. A survey released by St. Pete Polls shows Biden ahead of Trump, 50%-47%.

After previously identifying as a Republican and Independent, Bloomberg launched his own Democratic presidential campaign in November but dropped out of the primary race in early March. Bloomberg spent millions to advertise his campaign in Florida and held campaign events in cities such as Miami and Tampa.

Bloomberg, 78, has an estimated net worth of $54.9 billion, according to Forbes. He founded Bloomberg L.P. in 1981, which developed the Bloomberg Terminal, a computer software system providing real-time financial market data.

https://www.ibtimes.com/michael-bloomberg-buys-40-million-florida-tv-ads-boost-joe-bidens-campaign-3052083

Trump Suggests Nominee Could Tip Supreme Court to Overturn Roe V. Wade

President Donald Trump said he believes his Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett could tip the high court toward a decision to overturn Roe v. Wade by possibly allowing individual states to decide whether they should ban abortion.

“She is certainly conservative in her views, in her rulings, and we’ll have to see how that all works out but I think it will work out,” Trump told Fox News on Sunday.

When asked about whether the landmark abortion ruling could be overturned, Trump said, “It’s certainly possible. And maybe they do it in a different way. Maybe they’d give it back to the states.”

“You just don’t know what’s going to happen,” he noted, adding that Barrett as well as Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh would “rule on a life issue.”

In the interview, Trump noted that justices that he appointed wouldn’t necessarily hand over rulings after some decisions by the court that he didn’t favor, including one in July about whether Trump could ignore a subpoena calling him to release his tax returns. Gorsuch also joined the liberal wing of the Supreme Court that declared workplace discrimination against LGBT employees as illegal.

“I’ve been surprised by some of the rulings that we’ve already had over the last year. You know, you think you know somebody and then you get rulings that are a little bit different than you think could happen,” Trump said, adding that he is “mostly” looking for a justice who “can interpret the Constitution as written.”

Epoch Times Photo

President Donald Trump, left, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, second from left, first lady Melania Trump, center, and Barrett’s family walk to the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington on Sept. 26, 2020. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

On Saturday, Barrett was named as his nominee to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died earlier this month of cancer complications. The Senate nomination fight, which comes just weeks before the November election, is expected to be particularly bitter.

Senate Republicans are aiming for a speedy confirmation process and hope to confirm Barrett before Election Day, as the court could possibly hand down a ruling on the election should it be contested.

Democrats have been forcefully critical of Republicans’ move to nominate Barrett, with members of the progressive wing threatening to “pack the courts” with more justices if Trump’s pick is confirmed and they win the presidency or control both chambers of Congress. They have also said that the winner of the election should be the one who picks the nominee.

But Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that it is the president’s Constitutionally-mandated requirement to select a Supreme Court justice.

At the White House on Saturday, Trump called for a respectful nomination process.

Gallup: Americans Tend to Trust Only News That Confirms Their Beliefs; Highly Educated Americans Are by Far the Most Closed-Minded Group

On September 11th, Gallup headlined “Bias in Others’ News a Greater Concern Than Bias in Own News”, and reported (based upon polling a randomized sample of 20,046 American adults) that:

“69% of Americans say they are more concerned about bias in the news other people consume than its presence in their own news (29%).” In other words: 69/29, or 2.38 times, as many Americans are closed-minded (prejudiced) regarding information-sources which don’t fit their ideology, than are not. Overwhelmingly in America, only Democratic Party information-sources are trusted by Democrats, and only Republican information-sources are trusted by Republicans. Each side distrusts the other’s information-sources. Gallup’s news-report aptly noted the important fact that “This plays into the political polarization in the U.S. national discourse.” The more prejudiced a population are, the more polarized it will be. Of course, one would expect this to be the case, but Gallup has now found striking new empirical evidence for it — that the public’s closed-mindedness is greatly increasing America’s political polarization. Each side is craving propaganda instead of truth, but each side’s voters want only the type of propaganda that is funded by the billionaires who also fund that side’s politicians and control that side’s ‘news’ media. Consequently, American politics is controlled by the conflict between liberal billionaires versus conservative billionaires — totally controlled by billionaires (instead of by the public). There is the liberal herd, and the conservative herd, but they’re both herds — not by the public in an actual democracy. And each of these two herds is controlled by its shepherd, who are its billionaires. (Here is how that’s done.) Billionaires control each Party and thereby control the Government. This is why the Government ignores the preferences of America’s public. As will be shown here, the September 11th Gallup findings help to explain how and why that results.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans can become exposed to the other side’s evidence and arguments unless they see those — the other side’s evidence and arguments, both for its own case and against the opposite side’s case (i.e., against the case that oneself believes). Not to see the opposite side’s viewpoint is to be blind to it, and thus to become locked into whatever oneself believes. This 69/29 is like a jury’s rendering its verdict and nearly three quarters of the jurors having not listened to — and thus not considered — the opposite side’s presentations. That’s a frightening situation to exist in any court of law, and it is an equally frightening situation to exist in any nation’s electorate.

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/09/27/gallup-americans-tend-trust-only-news-that-confirms-their-beliefs-highly-educated-americans-far-most-closed-minded-group/

Gavin Newsom's Brilliant Plan to Create More Energy Shortages

California Governor Gavin Newsom had a pretty bad summer. His state is still in the throes of a coronavirus pandemic, he’s had problems with riots and political unrest, and he can’t beg, borrow, or steal enough power to keep the lights on.

Fortunately, he has a plan. Close the beaches to deal with the pandemic, make nice with rioters so they don’t totally burn down the cities, and promise the people that he has a plan to deal with the rolling blackouts.

Will he throw open his state to offshore oil drilling? Will he allow drilling on state lands? Will he expand hydraulic fracturing?

Nothing so mundane, I’m afraid. You see, Gavin is allergic to fossil fuels. To prove it, he ordered that within 15 years, no gasoline-powered cars will be sold within the state. He is also demanding an end to fracking.

Assuming that residents of California haven’t suddenly developed an interest in walking, they are going to have to be driving something. So Newsom wants Californians to use electric vehicles to get around.

As Forbes‘ David Blackmon points out, there’s only one teensy-weensy problem with that plan.

Think about it this way: Newsom contemplates the elimination of millions of cars that generate their energy through the use of gasoline and diesel in just 15 years. He proposes to replace them all with EVs or supposedly hydrogen powered cars as their feasibility continues to advance.

The thing is, those millions of new EVs have to have their batteries charged regularly, just as users of gas-powered cars must fill up their tanks every few hundred miles. The energy needed to power the charging stations which charge those batteries must be generated either by hooking them up to the state’s power grid, or by hooking them up to a generator, most often one that is powered by either gasoline, diesel or natural gas.

Oh.

California’s electrical needs will grow at exactly the same time Newsom is reducing the amount of electricity the state can generate. I’m sure the governor has all sorts of charts and graphs showing that the energy shortfall from the ban on fracking and a massive increase in the use of electrical power can disappear if the state puts up enough windmills and solar panels.

Sort of like the last time someone raised that point when he assured Californians that despite the decline in power-generating plants, the wind and solar industry could make up the difference.

How’d that work out for ya, Gav?

Maybe he could initiate an electrical plant building crash program to make up the difference?

The big complication for Gov. Newsom here is that the policies he and his predecessors have adopted for his state’s power generation sector have rendered the building of substantial new baseload power plants fired by fossil fuels or nuclear economically and environmentally unfeasible. In fact, the state’s final nuclear facility is scheduled to be decommissioned by 2025, eliminating that source of clean energy for California consumers entirely.

What Newsom and his supporters propose to affect here is a massive transfer of energy generation capacity from the state’s transportation sector, in the form of internal combustion engines, to its power sector. They apparently believe that enormous transfer of generation capacity can be handled entirely through the installation of more windmills and solar panels, given that they have basically made the building of any other energy generating source unfeasible, if not illegal.

This seems like energy hubris on an historic scale.

More like stupidity and arrogance.

Newsom blamed the summer power shortages on the industry. His friends in the solar and wind industries had overpromised how much power they could deliver in a crunch. Why should Californians believe them now?

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/09/27/gavin-newsoms-brilliant-plan-to-create-more-energy-shortages-n973355

‘Confirmed’ Is a Meaningless Word In MSM News Reporting

When the MSM says a report has been ‘confirmed,’ what it really means is it has been agreed upon, says Caity Johnstone.

Last week Politico published a major exclusive report that the “Iranian government is weighing an assassination attempt against the American ambassador to South Africa” in retaliation for the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani earlier this year, citing (you guessed it) anonymous government officials.

The claim was nonsensical on its face; the idea that Iran would see the assassination of some random ambassador to an irrelevant country as a proportionate response to the killing of its wildly beloved top military commander would only make sense to someone with a very U.S.-centric worldview who knows nothing about Iran.

On top of that, the South African government published a statement that “the information provided is not sufficient to sustain the allegation that there is a credible threat against the United States Ambassador to South Africa”.

The flimsy nature of this allegation was of course not enough to prevent bombastic Twitter threats from America’s manchild-in-chief that this nonexistent assassination plot “will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!” if carried out.

It also wasn’t enough to prevent the Politico article’s co-author, Natasha Bertrand, from falsely claiming that The New York Times had “confirmed” her reporting.

“The NYT has confirmed Nahal Toosi and my reporting about Iran,” Bertrand tweeted today with a link to a new Times article, quoting the excerpt “Lana Marks, the American ambassador to South Africa and a political supporter of Trump, was a potential target of an Iranian attack…Politico earlier reported that Ms. Marks was a target.”

The New York Times has in fact not confirmed Bertrand and Toosi’s reporting, and Bertrand omits a very significant portion of text from her excerpt. Here is the quote in full, bold mine:

Lana Marks, the American ambassador to South Africa and a political supporter of Mr. Trump, was a potential target of an Iranian attack, according to national security officials. But some briefed on the intelligence said Iran has not decided to directly target any American official, and other current and former officials accused the Trump administration of overstating the threat. Politico earlier reported that Ms. Marks was a target.

Awful lot of important information hiding in that ellipsis of yours, Ms Bertrand.

So the NYT had in fact merely spoken to unnamed officials (probably some of the same ones) and found there to be misgivings about the claim Bertrand had promoted, and then Bertrand deceptively omitted text which contradicted the claim she was making that her report had been “confirmed”.

More

https://consortiumnews.com/2020/09/27/confirmed-is-a-meaningless-word-in-msm-news-reporting/

Bartiromo: “Sources Confirm No Interim Durham Report or Indictments Before Election”…

Fox News host Maria Bartiromo announced earlier today that sources have shared not to expect any interim report or outcomes from the probe by John Durham prior to the election. Obviously for many CTH readers this will not be an unanticipated outcome; however, that alone does not mitigate disappointment. WATCH:

A decision not to pursue honest justice due to the election is ultimately a political decision. The dynamic of worrying about the optics of the political calendar, is itself a political decision. This is the great dichotomy and weirdly irreconcilable conflict CTH previously outlined.

What Ms. Bartiromo encapsulates is in-line with my own research and interactions with people very close to the DC events. In essence, this sentiment; in combination with AG Bill Barr having a keen awareness of the undercurrent frustration outside the DC bubble; is at the heart of why USAO Jeff Jensen has been channeling information to Michael Flynn’s defense counsel Sidney Powell.

Perhaps some expanded opinion is prudent…

When I wrote on September 2nd that we need to focus intensely on winning the 2020 election, my focus was based on accepting this inherent reality. Regardless of what AG Barr may want to do – he has defined evidence and consequence through the prism of political silos.

No single proposition so brutally outlined the intent of the Bill Barr DOJ than an institutional agreement to carve the fourth amendment into two parts; with two different standards for a FISA application. One standard for DC elites, the second standard for everyone else. There is no excusing this. The institutions operating within Washington DC are echo-chambers; penetrating that bubble with common sense discussion about what is already known to those outside the system is fraught with frustration.

President Trump is unique in that he is inside the bubble yet ideologically aligned with Americans outside the bubble. One can only imagine how frustrating it must be to be part of a machine of government that is self-actuating. It took decades of the system to be created; and it will take some seriously targeted effort to disassemble that same system.

Foolishness and betrayal of our nation have served to reveal dangers within our present condition. However, that said, misplaced corrective action, regardless of intent, is neither safe nor wise.

To the extent the severity of the DC corruption is outlined, it becomes completely understandable how people would throw up their arms and walk away disgusted and disenfranchised. We cannot lose people like this.

We cannot afford to lose a single voter…. we need everyone in this fight.

More

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/09/27/bartiromo-sources-confirm-no-interim-durham-report-or-indictments-before-election/

The Barnett 302 Released Last Week Proves Weissmann Ran the Mueller Gang and Wanted It to Last For Trump’s Term

The release of the Barnett 302 last week tells a story about the Durham investigation.

Sidney Powell recommended to followers to look into an article online about the release of the Barnett 302 last week:

Some comments on the article:

Mueller and Gang wanted to find a Trump Russia connection:

An interesting but all too brief passage concerns Robert “Bob” Mueller, and highlights his Captain Ahab-like tendency to get fixated on erroneous theories of a case–a tendency that he has repeatedly exhibited throughout his career. Speaking of the attempt to prove some sort of “quid pro quo” in the Flynn – Kislyak phone calls that could also involve Trump, Barnett relates:

MUELLER described [KT] MCFARLAND as the “key to everything” because MCFARLAND was the link between TRUMP, who was at Mar-a-Lago with MCFARLAND, and FLYNN, who was in the Dominican Republic on vacation, when [REDACTED: calls?] were made.

MCFARLAND was interviewed on numerous occasions.

In other words, Mueller–and presumably the rest of his “all stars,” had a conviction of Trump’s guilt and a theory to match it, and couldn’t let the facts get in the way. In the most benign interpretation, Mueller’s conviction was based on the assumption that the communications between Flynn and Kislyak couldn’t possibly have been normal course of business–collusion and a quid pro quo was a given. However, a less benign interpretation is possible, since Mueller and the entire Team Mueller had the transcripts of the phone calls.

That mentality led to interview tactics that Barnett considered questionable from an objective investigative standpoint. Barnett describes the numerous interviews of McFarland as being very “general,” lacking in follow up questions. He attributes this tactic to a desire to elicit general responses that could be spun by Team Mueller for their desired ends. He describes that interview tactic also with regard to interviews–also numerous–of Michael Flynn. The picture we get is of prosecutors attempting to wear down people into saying things in a way that could be used against Trump.

Mueller’s goon attorneys were in charge:

My references to “Team Mueller” in the foregoing account suggests the other major focus for Jensen. When I referred to “Team Mueller” it is very apparent from the 302 that it’s the attorneys who took the lead in everything. The investigative agents were pretty much just along for the ride. Here’s how Barnett describes it:

BARNETT said working with the SCO was a very unique environment for him. Typically investigators push for legal process and have to explain the need for the request to the attorneys. BARNETT said the SCO attorneys were pushing for legal process and just wanted investigators to sign affidavits they prepared. Everything was “green-lighted” by the SCO, i.e., you could get whatever legal process you wanted. BARNETT did not see the investigator/attorney relationship as 50/50. At the SCO, BARNETT believed the investigators were looked at as a “speed bump” to the attorneys who were leading the investigation. BARNETT said the investigators assigned to the [REDACTED] and RAZOR investigations were doing what they were assigned to do.

Weissmann wanted to stick around for the duration of Trump’s term and continue his criminal actions in harassing the President of the United States.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/09/barnett-302-released-last-week-proves-weissmann-ran-mueller-gang-wanted-last-trumps-term/

>>10812434 Listen

Rabbi says (2019) Nothing will happen until after the election, if so it'll prove Trump is run by the cabal

CHABAD Rabbi says Trump has 4 tasks, that "are his Job"

Start at 14:45

1. Assist the Jewish people to get Israel back, Jerusalem, Golan, Jordan Valley…..

1. Protect the Jewish people from Anti-Semites,

1. Raise America back to Morale law, NOAHIDE LAWS.

1. Make Israel Great Again, not America.

Sidney Powell’s Speech From March Is Now Making Waves as New Reports Indicate Clinton Foundation Is Under a Criminal Investigation

A speech by Sidney Powell back in November is now given more attention with word that the Clinton Foundation is now under a criminal investigation.

In her speech in March, Powell shared the following:

The Anthony Weiner laptop, which I don’t know if you heard this. I wrote an article about that too. 675,000 Clinton emails when they got Anthony Weiner’s laptop in a search warrant because of all his sex perversion issues. It was all the Clinton emails, the Clinton Foundation, her Secretary of State emails, Huma Abedin emails, lots of people emailed Huma as a proxy for Hillary, and it included what Comey called…the golden emails, because they were the blackberry backup emails. That they were supposedly just looking for very diligently, well guess what they did when they found them on the Weiner laptop? They got a search warrant for things that didn’t include the blackberry backup emails.

So when they told us, when he stood there and said that day, oh we’ve reviewed all the emails now, there is nothing there. That was a bald face lie.”

Here is Sidney Powell’s entire speech:

https://youtu.be/LTV1Y_QuZOM

Of course most of Hillary’s emails were never examined by Comey’s FBI:

This is, in part, why the Clinton Foundation is now under a criminal investigation.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/09/sidney-powells-speech-march-now-making-waves-new-reports-indicate-clinton-foundation-criminal-investigation/

Sri Lanka Returns Containers of 'Hazardous' Medical Waste to the United Kingdom

Authorities in Sri Lanka have long demanded that the United Kingdom take back the 'hazardous' or unrecyclable waste that the nation sent to the Southeast Asian island country.

Sri Lanka returned 21 containers full of "recycling" to the UK on Saturday after they were discovered to be full of decomposing medical waste, according to the Daily Mail.

The Sri Lankan government said that container loads of waste were shipped into the country in violation of international law relating to the moving of hazardous material.

Customs spokesman Sunil Jayaratne said that the shipper had agreed to take back the 21 containers.

"We are working to secure compensation from those responsible for getting the containers into the country", he added.

According to officials, the illegally-imported containers were loaded with rags, bandages, and body parts from mortuaries. It has not been revealed what kind of hospital waste was included, but customs confirmed their departure yesterday.

The containers were intended to carry used mattresses, carpets, and rugs, but officials said they also contained hospital waste. Between September 2017 and March 2018, the canisters containing 260 tonnes of rubbish had arrived by ship in Colombo's primary port.

As the Sri Lankan government is engaged in legal action to have them removed from the country, a further 242 containers from the UK sit at the same port and at a free trade zone outside of the capital.

An investigation last year into nearly 3,000 tonnes of illegally-shipped hazardous waste discovered that the importer had redirected around 180 tonnes to India and Dubai.

Several Asian countries, no longer accepting trash from the developed world, have turned back container-loads of waste in recent years.

In 2018, Cambodia said it intended to return 1,600 tonnes of waste to the US and Canada. The same year in May, the Philippines returned 69 container-loads of rubbish to Canada, and Malaysia returned five containers to Spain one month later.

The global trash system, where wealthy companies often use their developing counterparts as a trash dump, shifted in 2018 after China banned the import of plastic waste. This led to Southeast Asia becoming the recipient of waste shipments - much of it unrecyclable plastic.

https://sputniknews.com/uk/202009271080590788-sri-lanka-returns-containers-of-hazardous-medical-waste-to-the-united-kingdom/