Democrats Aren’t ‘Interfering’ In 2024 Election With Trump Trial, They’re Blatantly Rigging It

News broke Monday that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, the judge overseeing the Jan. 6-related case against Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., set a March 4, 2024, trial date for the former president.

It just so happens that March 4 is the day before Super Tuesday, when more than a dozen states, from California to Texas to Virginia, will hold Republican primary elections. What a coincidence!

What this means is that Trump, the Republican front-runner by a wide margin, will not be able to campaign ahead of the most important date on the GOP primary calendar. It also means he’ll likely be tied up in court a week later on March 12, when four more states hold primary elections.

But this isn’t merely election “interference,” it’s a naked attempt to rig the 2024 election. The timing here is important, because not only will Trump be pulled off the campaign trail at a crucial time, he will almost certainly be convicted over the summer. After all, the jury in this case will be drawn from a pool that voted 92 percent for Joe Biden. No matter how outlandish and unconstitutional the charges are, no matter how utterly politicized the process is, a D.C. jury is going to convict Trump.

A summer 2024 conviction sets up the real play here, which is for blue states and counties to remove Trump from the ballot, citing a faulty and blatantly lawless reading of the 14th Amendment. Assuming Trump wins the GOP primary, this will leave Republicans with no candidate on the ballot across vast swaths of the country heading into the fall. Even if the Supreme Court steps in, if Democrats time it just right it will be too late to send out corrected, lawful ballots in time for Election Day.

Whatever one thinks of Trump’s post-2020 election challenges — whether they were legitimate, delusional, or downright treasonous — they were nothing compared to what Democrats are trying to pull here.

Consider the timeline alone. How on earth could a case involving millions of documents and hundreds of witnesses be ready for trial by March? And how does Trump already have a trial date set in his Jan. 6-related case when dozens of other Jan. 6 defendants have been rotting away in federal prison for years now?

One lawyer for Jan. 6 defendants explained on Twitter that he had a “relatively simple” Jan. 6 case that was indicted in late March in D.C., and at a recent status hearing dates were discussed for a trial in March or April 2024: “So I get a year between indictment and trial in a one-defendant relatively straight-forward J6 case. And Trump gets 8 months in a case with 12 million pages of discovery and well over 100 witnesses.”

The whole thing is a naked abuse of power — a violation of Trump’s Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel, to say nothing of his free speech rights, which DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith is trying to criminalize.

The Obama-appointed Judge Chutkan, who has a penchant for handing down harsher sentences for Jan. 6 cases than what federal prosecutors recommended, has already betrayed her politically motivated bias in this case. Her claim that Trump would get “no more or less deference than any other defendant” is contradicted by her observation that because Trump has “considerable resources” he is “not entitled to unlimited preparation time.”

https://thefederalist.com/2023/08/29/democrats-arent-interfering-in-2024-election-with-trump-trial-theyre-blatantly-rigging-it/

Top Israeli Ministers Witness Demolition of Bedouin Houses; Ben-Gvir: It's a 'Sacred Duty'

'This is the first time ministers arrives to cheer those who ruin a house and leave its inhabitants without an alternative,' says an Israeli-Bedouin activist. 'It's a cruel thing'

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Tuesday arrived together with Israel's Housing and Construction Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf to witness the demolition of houses in an unrecognized village near Tel Arad in the Negev, in Israel's south.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-08-29/ty-article/.premium/israeli-ministers-witness-demolition-of-bedouin-houses-ben-gvir-its-a-sacred-duty/0000018a-4134-d435-a59e-cffeff750000

Marine veteran Sarah Feinberg who tried to stop Booz Allen defense contractor from defrauding taxpayers is awarded $69 MILLION of the $377 million restitution the firm is ordered to pay under little-known law

Marine veteran Sarah Feinberg who tried to stop Booz Allen defense contractor from defrauding taxpayers is awarded $69 MILLION of the $377 million restitution the firm is ordered to pay under little-known law

Sarah Feinberg, 39, (main) was working as a financial analyst at Booz Allen Hamilton when she discovered the firm was overcharging the U.S. Government to the tune of $100 million a year. The military contractor last week settled to pay the United States $377 million to resolve the allegations - and Feinberg and her lawyers received $69 million for her part, thanks to the little-known qui tam procedure. The qui tam move allows an insider to sue on behalf of the U.S. and then recover between 15 and 30 percent of any settlement or judgment. Of the $69 million settlement, Feinberg was personally awarded $40 million for reporting her employer's alleged behavior - $12 million of which she intends to donate to charity. 'I've got three kids, and I tell them, "doing the right thing is the right thing, no matter what the outcome is," she said. The former Marine said she spent nine months trying to convince older, mostly male executives at the company to stop what she told them was fraud but bosses reportedly called it a 'gray zone' and claimed Defense Department auditors were 'too stupid' to figure it out and demand repayment.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12455355/Marine-veteran-Sarah-Feinberg-tried-stop-Booz-Allen-defense-contractor-defrauding-taxpayers-awarded-69-MILLION-377-million-restitution-firm-ordered-pay-little-known-law.html

US General Mark Milley: US Forces Will Remain in the Middle East for Years to Come

America’s top general said that Washington plans to maintain its force posture in the Middle East. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley stressed the region’s “significant” importance to America’s foreign policy.

In an interview with Jordan’s Al-Mamlaka TV on Thursday, Milley said,

“I can’t imagine that the United States would ever walk away from the Middle East. I think we’ll remain committed for many, many years and decades to come.”

“We have very close friendships and partnerships. And we want to make sure that the region is stable. Obviously, the region is a primary source of oil and energy resources for other parts of the world.” Milley added that the region is “very important and very significant to the United States for a lot of reasons.”

For decades, Washington has used its military in an attempt to control the Middle East. The US has spent trillions of dollars and killed millions of people in dozens of military campaigns conducted over the last 30 years.

The wars have failed to accomplish America’s stated goals: to bring peace, stability and democracy to the Middle East. Instead, Washington’s wars and financing of various militaries have stoked sectarian tensions. Additionally, the US has armed a multitude of tyrannical governments, enabling them to brutally oppress their citizens.

Washington currently has thousands of soldiers in various countries across the region, including hundreds of troops in Syria. Milley said,

“There are still fighters in small groups in and around Syria and around Iraq…and if we were to somehow suddenly withdraw, [Islamic State] could reconstruct themselves. So the situation is much, much better than it was.” He continued, “But it still requires a level of commitment. So we’ve got some modest amount of forces in Syria and we’ve got forces in Iraq.”

However, American troops in Iraq and Syria often find themselves in conflict with forces supporting the Syrian government, not jihadists. Additionally, American warplanes in Syria have regularly had near misses with Russian fighter jets.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/gen-milley-us-forces-remain-middle-east-years/5830640

Forever wars

Billy Smith: 'Tradie', 46, on parole for child sex charges was allowed to live NEXT DOOR to a daycare centre and a kid's playground where he's accused of filming himself raping a 14-year-old girl in a public toilet

Teenage girl was allegedly raped at Sydney park

A man on parole for child sex offences was allowed to live next door to a kid's playground where he is accused of filming himself raping a 14-year-old girl in a public toilet.

Billy Smith, 46, has been charged with multiple child sex offences including aggravated sexual intercourse child aged under-16, using a child aged over-14 to make child abuse material and producing child abuse material.

Smith allegedly took the cognitively impaired girl into a toilet block and sexually assaulted her at Pole Depot Park in Penshurst in Sydney's south between 7:30am and 8:30am on Monday.

Police launched a manhunt to find him after the girl reported the alleged assault.

Smith is a registered sex offender and was on parole serving a prison sentence for similar offences at the time of the alleged crime.

He had been released from jail back in May but was permitted to live in a unit block next door to a daycare centre and the children's park where the attack is alleged to have occurred, according to court documents.

Police attended the park a short time after the girl made the report, established a crime scene and arrested Smith at his unit about 5pm Monday.

NSW Police on Tuesday released a photo of Smith donning hi-vis work gear and handcuffs while he was being escorted away by officers.

Detectives allege Smith not only raped the teenager but also filmed the alleged assault.

He was taken to Kogarah Police Station and also charged with breaching a prohibition order relating to the parole matter.

Smith spent the night in custody and appeared in Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday, where he was formally refused bail.

He will remain behind bars until his next court appearance in Downing Centre Local Court on October 26.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12456293/Billy-Smith-Tradie-parole-allowed-live-play-filming-raping-14-year-old-girl-public-toilet.html

More than 100 students and staff at University of Sydney victims of sexual assault, harassment

A leading Australian university has revealed it received 121 reports of sexual misconduct last year.

More than 100 staff and students from the University of Sydney reported sexual misconduct last year, according to an inaugural annual report.

The University of Sydney report, released on Monday, revealed it had received 121 reports of sexual misconduct in 2022, including 74 cases of sexual assault and 47 cases of sexual harassment.

Referrals for sexual harassment had increased by 105 per cent, while sexual assault referrals had increased by 34 per cent in 2022 compared to 2021; a rise that aligned with the return of students to campus after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Of the 121 incidents reported, 55 were categorised as “university-related conduct”, meaning it either happened on campus, or during university activities (at an event, student exchange, or internships), or was perpetrated by a student or staff member.

Another 66 incidents were categorised as “non-university related conduct”, meaning those which had “no connection” to the university beyond it being reported by a student or staff member.

The report is part of the university’s commitment to “increased transparency and accountability” in addressing issues of sexual misconduct on campus and within the university community.

Australian universities have been under pressure to improve their handling of sexual misconduct in the years since the Australian Human Rights Commission’s landmark Change the Course report in 2017.

Alarmingly, by 2022, the high rates of sexual violence perpetrated at campuses around the country had barely shifted according to the National Student Safety Survey (NSSS).

The NSSS – which was a key recommendation of the report and was commissioned by peak body Universities Australia in 2021 – found one in six students had been sexually harassed since starting university, while one in 20 students had been sexually assaulted since commencing their studies.

In response to the 2017 report, all 39 Australian universities promised to be transparent about their handling of sexual harm on campus; but as of April this year, the Australian Human Rights Institute found 29 of them either weren’t reporting them in an accessible way, or at all.

University of Sydney Vice Chancellor Mark Scott told the Nine newspapers the university’s report reaffirmed the institution’s commitment to improve support for victim-survivors, “given the considerable doubt surrounding the university’s efforts in this area”.

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/more-than-100-students-and-staff-at-university-of-sydney-victims-of-sexual-assault-harassment/news-story/d49751bb71ed6e3ba785a586da446f6c

Former FOI boss drops some truth bombs about his old agency

Anyone who wandered into the Senate hearing on Australia’s freedom-of-information regime on Tuesday must have thought they’d entered some ghastly Utopia-style nightmare. And that’s even by Senate hearing standards.

In what is surely a public servant dummy spit for the ages, ex-FOI commissioner Leo Hardiman spoke of a culture of gaslighting, incompetence and resistance to reform that may actually wring a few drops of sympathy from anyone who’s ever waited on the other end of an FOI request.

When Hardiman quit the FOI commission in March, less than a year into the gig, he mentioned its whopping FOI request backlog and measly resources.

Turns out his budget was so tight, a frugal Hardiman was forced to catch the bus from Sydney every time he needed to visit Canberra. (Having repeatedly made that infamous trek up in the Hume in a Murrays bus, CBD really does sympathise.)

“Ridiculous was the word used,” Hardiman told senators on Tuesday. News would come nearly every day of another government cash splash (or expensive jet trip if you’re a certain Defence minister), and here was Hardiman, asking for just “a few million bucks”.

Not only were the purse strings tight, but what few staff Hardiman had were constantly diverted to obscure side tasks, he said. That included a revolving door of “process changes” that staff saw as a push by their overlords to “progress a narrative something was being done” when it wasn’t. Not to mention, “cycles of panic” that rippled down from on high related to Senate estimates hearings – or even more terrifying – fronting notorious FOI warrior Senator Rex Patrick. There was so much staff turnover, some spent most of their time onboarding newbies, Hardiman said.

Australia’s FOI regime is notoriously brutal. Take this case in 2018 when one concerned punter, requesting documents on “what happens when the Queen dies” was made to wait five years – after the Queen had actually died – only to be told the single document they’d requested was “unavailable”.

When the ex-commissioner tried to push through reform to fix things, a “flabbergasted” Hardiman said he was told not to involve himself in the running of his own commission.

Candidates must be knocking down the door.

Still, the suitably flustered government officials who had to follow Hardiman’s act at the hearing said they’d been “surprised” by the commissioner’s resignation. A new appointment “will be finalised in the coming months”.

Candidates must be knocking down the door.

But, as for the requests for information senators levelled at those government reps on Tuesday, it will surprise no one to hear that often the answers were “unavailable”.

Expect a response in three to five … years?

https://www.smh.com.au/cbd/former-foi-boss-drops-some-truth-bombs-about-his-old-agency-20230829-p5e0fo.html

Shocked by Niger coup, Victoria Nuland appeared “desperate” during Africa tour

A veteran South African official detailed meeting with an unprepared and “desperate” Acting Deputy Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, begging for local help rolling back the popular coup in Niger. The recent BRICS conference might give Nuland even more to fret about.

When US Acting Deputy Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, traveled to South Africa on July 29, her reputation as a blunt instrument of Washington’s hegemonic interests preceded her.

According to a veteran South African official who attended meetings with the senior US diplomat in Pretoria, however, Nuland and her team were demonstrably unprepared to grapple with recent developments on the African continent — particularly the military coup that removed Niger’s pro-Western government hours before she launched her multi-stop tour of the region.

“In over 20 years working with the Americans, I have never seen them so desperate,” the official told The Grayzone, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Pretoria was well aware of Nuland’s hawkish reputation, but when she arrived in Pretoria, the official described her as “totally caught off guard” by winds of change engulfing the region. The July putsch that saw a popular military junta come to power in Niger followed military coups in Mali and Burkina Faso that were similarly inspired by mass anti-colonial sentiment.

Though Washington has so far refused to characterize developments in the Nigerien capital of Niamey as a coup, the South African source confirmed that Nuland sought South Africa’s assistance in responding to regional conflicts, including in Niger, where she emphasized that Washington not only held significant financial investments, but also maintained 1,000 of its own troops. For Nuland, the realization that she was negotiating from a position of weakness was likely a rude awakening.

Serving both parties and advancing empire, one regime change op at a time

Throughout the past decade and a half, Victoria Nuland has established herself as one of the most heavy-handed – and effective – agents of Western-directed regime change ops within the State Department. As the wife of the arch-neoconservative strategist, Robert Kagan, who advised both Republican presidential contender, Mitt Romney, and Democrat, Hillary Clinton, Nuland embodied the interventionist consensus that prevailed across both parties in the pre-Trump era. In fact, her first high-level job came under the watch of Vice President Dick Cheney, when he appointed her to serve as his deputy chief of staff.

When Nuland returned to government as a Russia specialist in Obama’s State Department, she spearheaded the covert campaign to destabilize Ukraine, driving the 2014 Maidan Coup that sparked the country’s ensuing civil conflict and, ultimately, a Western proxy war with Russia that rages to this day.

“Since Ukraine’s independence in 1991, the United States has supported Ukrainians as they build democratic skills and institutions,” Nuland, then Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, boasted during a December 2013 talk before the US-Ukraine Foundation in Kiev, flanked by a promotional panel for the Chevron corporation.

“We’ve invested over five billion dollars to assist Ukraine in these and other goals,” she continued, articulating Washington’s support for what she described as Ukraine’s “European aspirations.”

Nuland repeated the unintentionally revealing boast during a 2014 interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

https://thegrayzone.com/2023/08/29/niger-coup-victoria-nuland-africa-tour/

Taibbi: YouTube Demonetizes Montage Of Election-Denying Dems Under "Dangerous Organizations" Policy

When you know you’re being censored, you can protest. But what to do about silent editorial punishment, dished without announcement, by tech platforms that appear to be learning fast how to avoid public outcry?

A year ago, this site had to throw a public fit to resolve a preposterous controversy involving videographer Matt Orfalea and YouTube. The issue centered around the above video, “‘Rigged’ Election Claims, Trump 2020 vs. Clinton 2016,” which despite total factual accuracy was cited under its “Elections Misinformation” policy. YouTube in July of last year demonetized Orf’s entire channel over his content, saying “we think it violates our violent criminal organizations policy.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/taibbi-youtube-demonetizes-montage-election-denying-dems-under-dangerous-organizations

Jury Reaches Verdict In Major Pro-Life Case

A jury determined Tuesday that pro-life activist Lauren Handy and her associates are guilty of violating federal law by obstructing access to an abortion clinic, according to WUSA9, a local media outlet.

Handy, along with activists John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, Will Goodman and Herb Geraghty, was charged in March 2022 by the Department of Justice for violating the Freedom of Access To Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which “prohibits threats of force, obstruction and property damage intended to interfere with reproductive health care services,” according to the law. The trial began on Aug. 16 and after nearly two days of deliberating, the jury determined that Handy, Hinshaw, Idoni, Goodman and Geraghty were guilty on all counts, WSUA9 reported.

“We are, of course, disappointed with the outcome,” Martin Cannon, senior counsel with the Thomas More Society, said in a prepared statement. “Ms. Handy has been condemned for her efforts to protect the lives of innocent pre-born human beings, something she should never have been arrested for. We are preparing an appeal and will continue to defend those who fight for life against a Biden Department of Justice that seems intent on prosecuting those who decry abortion and present it as it is—the intentional killing of children in utero.”

The jury found each defendant guilty of two counts of conspiracy against rights and violating the FACE Act, according to WUSA9. Handy and the others now face a potential “maximum sentence of of 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $350,000,” according to the DOJ.

In 2020, Handy gained access to the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington, D.C., by reportedly scheduling an appointment under the name “Hazel Jenkins,” according to WUSA9. Handy and several other activists then proceeded to chain and rope off the entrance to the clinic in order to prevent abortions from taking place.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sanjay Patel argued during the trial that the whole event, which he called an “invasion” and a “blockade,” was orchestrated by Handy, according to WUSA9. The judge had to remind the gallery on multiple occasions to not interfere with the jury or speak with witnesses, according to WUSA9. One individual attempted to make the sign of the cross at a witness and said “Hail Mary” to her in a hallway.

Attorneys with the Thomas Moore Society wanted to make the argument that she was acting out of a desire to defend unborn children. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, however, said in her decision on Aug. 7 that the claim was not “legally viable” and that she would not condone citizens donning a “vigilante’s hood.”

https://dailycaller.com/2023/08/29/jury-verdict-major-pro-life-case/

EU to stick with climate ambitions despite mounting backlash, Bloomberg reports, as Maros Sefcovic will now head up the bloc's efforts of the "net zero" transition.

https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1696573115512352829