TYB
Congress Has Released Its $738 Billion Defense Budget. Here's What's Inside
House and Senate negotiators have reached a deal on a defense policy bill aimed at avoiding a government shutdown, creating a Space Force, and getting rid of the so-called "widow's tax" that has been a main goal of military families for years.
A conference version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2020, released late Monday evening, preserves a 3.1% pay raise for the military. The $738 billion bill, which includes an additional $5.3 billion earmarked for emergency disaster recovery, charts out a three-year "phased repeal" of the policy that requires VA payments to survivors of fallen troops to be deducted from Defense Department survivor payments.
It also lays the groundwork for the long-awaited creation of a sixth military service branch, U.S. Space Force. According to planning, the new service would fall under the U.S. Air Force and be populated by transferred Air Force personnel as it stands up. The plan also creates a new service chief position: Chief of Space Operations, reporting to the secretary of the Air Force and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
While the bill does not do away with the Feres Doctrine, which prohibits U.S. troops from suing the government due to injury, it does include a new provision that authorizes the secretary of defense to settle and pay administrative claims to amend for the death or injury of troops due to DoD medical malpractice, a change hailed as a step in the right direction.
In remarks over the weekend, both HASC Chairman Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and ranking member Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said they expected a vote on NDAA in the full House could come Wednesday, with a Senate vote to follow.
The negotiators were working against a Dec. 21 deadline, when a continuing resolution on spending expires and could trigger a government shutdown unless compromise was reached on a range of issues.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/12/09/congress-has-released-its-738-billion-defense-budget-heres-whats-inside.html
‘The biggest thing you did for Israel’ was breaking Iran deal — Adelson tells Trump
Donald Trump’s speech to the Israeli American Council on Saturday night in the presence of his biggest donors, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, has caused some shock waves. Largely because he referred to Jewish wealth. Here are some surprises from the speech.
The biggest thing Trump did for Israel was breaking the Iran deal, per Sheldon Adelson:
I said to Sheldon, “What do you think was bigger? … Israel and the embassy going in, and it became Jerusalem, the capital of Israel? Or the Golan Heights [recognition as Israeli territory]?” He said, “Neither.” I said, “What do you mean ‘neither,’ Sheldon?” He said, “The biggest thing you did for Israel was breaking up and terminating the horrible, one-sided, catastrophic deal that was made by President Obama.” (Applause.) Right?
I said, “I never thought of it that way, Sheldon, but I agree with you. If you want to know the truth, I agree with you.”
(In 2015, Trump said of Adelson supporting a then-rival: “Sheldon Adelson is looking to give big dollars to [Marco] Rubio because he feels he can mold him into his perfect little puppet.”)
Trump says American Jews don’t love Israel enough — a continuation of his Jews are disloyal to Israel theme of last summer.
We have to get the people of our country, of this country, to love Israel more. I have to tell you that. We have to do it. We have to get them to love Israel more. Because you have people that are Jewish people, that are great people — they don’t love Israel enough. You know that. You know that. (Applause.)
https://mondoweiss.net/2019/12/the-biggest-thing-you-did-for-israel-was-breaking-iran-deal-adelson-tells-trump/
Pelosi says she knew Bush was lying about WMD to ignite a multi-trillion dollar war, but didn’t see it as impeachable.
https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/pelosi-says-she-knew-bush-was-lying-about-wmd-to-ignite-a-multi-trillion-dollar-war-but-didnt-see-it-as-impeachable/
We are the news NOW
Comey Claims Fox News Cancelled His Interview Over IG Report. Fox News Responds With Statement.
Former FBI Director James Comey claimed on Monday that Fox News had booked him to appear on one of its shows but cancelled because of the results of the Justice Department inspector general report.
Comey tweeted, “FYI: I offered to go on Fox & Friends to answer all questions. I can’t change their viewers on Donald Trump but hoped to give them some actual facts about the FBI. They booked me for tomorrow at 8 am. They just cancelled. Must have read the report.”
Fox News responded by essentially calling Comey a liar, saying in a statement to The Daily Wire, “James Comey was not booked and was never confirmed to appear on Fox & Friends.”
Comey repeated the false claim during an interview with hyper-partisan MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, saying that “Fox & Friends” had agreed to book him at 8 a.m.
“I figured I can’t change the minds of Fox viewers about President Trump but I can change their minds, I hope, about the FBI by giving them actual facts,” Comey claimed. “Then, after the report came out, they cancelled my appearance. They must have read the report.”
Comey claimed that the network told him, “Maybe we can do it again after the Durham investigation was their answer.”
Numerous Fox News anchors responded to Comey’s apparent false claim by offering to have him on their shows.
Fox News anchor Bret Baier wrote: “We’d love to have you back on @SpecialReport Mr Comey – live or pretape. I have read the report. Just DM me.”
http://www.yourdestinationnow.com/2019/12/comey-claims-fox-news-cancelled-his.html
IG Report: FBI Official Higher Up Than Peter Strzok Involved in Opening “Crossfire Hurricane” to Spy on Trump
The DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz finally released his report on FISA abuses on Monday.
The report revealed what we knew to be true all along — the FBI defrauded the FISA court and purposely omitted exculpatory information from the FISA judges in order to obtain FOUR FISA warrants on Trump campaign advisor Carter Page.
According to Horowitz’s report, former FBI counterintelligence chief Peter Strzok wasn’t the sole or even highest-level decision maker in opening the CI investigation into Trump’s campaign dubbed “Crossfire Hurricane.”
In July of 2016, Peter Strzok opened a counterintel investigation into Trump’s camp dubbed “Crossfire Hurricane” on suspicions (based on no evidence) that the Russians had infiltrated Trump’s circle.
The FBI never even gave Trump’s camp a proper briefing warning him about a possible infiltration.
Attorney General Bill Barr blasted the FBI on Monday in a statement.
“The Inspector General’s report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” Barr said, adding, “It is also clear that, from its inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory.”
Comey, McCabe, Strzok and other FBI brass were all working together to take down Donald Trump during and after the 2016 election.
http://www.hideoutnow.com/2019/12/ig-report-fbi-official-higher-up-than.html
Emergency room physician for 37 years never saw anyone admitted for Marijuana complications. H.R.-1227 – Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2017
True Freedom presents Rep.Tulsi Gabbard and her very succinct and direct argument for Bill HR-1227 to amend America’s Marijuana Prohibition Laws for very financial, ethical, socioeconomic and health reasons. a must see
https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/emergency-room-physician-for-37-years-never-saw-anyone-admitted-for-marijuana-complications-h-r-1227-ending-federal-marijuana-prohibition-act-of-2017/
Barack Obama was the most corrupt president in American history.
• $6 trillion in new national debt under Obama…after he promised to decrease the deficit.
• Obamacare — A massive and incredibly convoluted bill which exponentially increases the federal government’s control over our personal lives…which neither Obama nor a single Democrat even read before passing, and which will likely bankrupt the nation.
• In both the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, the Obama campaign purposely disabled the credit card verification system for its Web site donations, allowing anyone from any foreign country to donate with no limit and no proof of identity; in both elections it was demonstrated that people overseas and people with obviously false identities were able to donate to Obama campaign, in direct violation of several laws. To this day it is not known what percentage of Obama’s campaign funds are illegally obtained, since there is no documentation.
• Billions of taxpayer dollars gambled on “green” companies like Solyndra, NextEra, Ener1, Solar Trust and many others — all of which went bankrupt.
• An intentional refusal to enforce federal immigration laws.
• Unemployment at or above 8% for almost his entire term in office (which was actually closer to 15% actual unemployment).
• Operation Fast & Furious — a government-sponsored illegal gun-running scheme designed to purposely go awry so as to induce public outcry for gun control.
• Spent 20 years listening to a racist anti-American pastor (Rev. Jeremiah Wright), whom Obama described as a mentor. On March 18, 2008, Obama gave a speech in which he said “I could no more disown Jeremiah Wright than I could disown my own grandmother” and “[Wright’s church, Trinity United] embodies the black community in its entirety.” Now Obama tries to pretend that Jeremiah Wright doesn’t exist, and that his extremist anti-white philosophy didn’t influence Obama’s worldview.
• Increased the percentage of Americans dependent on food stamps to unprecedented levels (now over 15% of the nation’s population).
• Militarily intervened in Libya in 2011 without the Congressional approval required by the War Powers Act — technically an impeachable offense.
• Before he entered politics, Obama worked as a lawyer suing banks in landmark cases, forcing them to give home loans to unqualified minority borrowers — a practice now understood as one of the primary initial causes of the eventual housing bubble and market collapse.
• Handed out over 1,200 waivers to politically connected donors exempting them from the onerous requirements of Obamacare.
• Greatly expanding the number of unaccountable “czars,” which essentially amounts to unilaterally adding new federal departments with no congressional oversight — leading to a true “bureaucracy” in the original sense (rule by unelected bureaucrats).
• Using taxpayer dollars to bail out the private pension funds of autoworkers’ unions at GM & Chrysler.
https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/the-complete-list-of-barack-obamas-scandals-misdeeds-crimes-and-blunders/
https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/barack-obama-was-the-most-corrupt-president-in-american-history/
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• Told Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher that it was good to “spread the wealth around.”
• Told small business owners nationwide in a 2012 speech that “you didn’t build that” — implying that they should not claim credit for their own success, since taxpayers (i.e. themselves and other business owners) had funded the national infrastructure.
• Insulted the British people by rudely returning to them a bust of Churchill which previously had been a ceremonial gift on display at the White House; when later confronted on this inexplicable action, he lied about it.
• Canceled plans to complete a missile defense shield in Poland, a move which was highly praised by Russia — the very nation whose missile threat would have been neutralized if the shield had been completed.
• By loudly publicizing (for personal political gain) the identity of exact SEAL teams who had killed Osama bin Laden, Obama made them a target for reprisals by Islamists; a short time later 22 SEALS were shot down and killed in Afghanistan, their worst loss of life ever.
• Established an extra-Constitutional top secret “kill list” of people (including Americans) Obama claims the right to kill on sight, and then bragged about it publicly.
• Set up a special email account, “Flag@Whitehouse.gov,” to which Americans were supposed to inform the government of anyone they heard spreading “disinformation” about Obama’s health care overhaul. (This was the first of three different “spy on your friends and neighbors” programs.)
• “Attack Watch” was Obama’s second Big Brother attempt, a Web site on which you would report “attacks” on Obama’s proposals and ideology; it was quickly shut down due to outrage and mockery.
• Finally, Obama set up the “Truth Team” program which encouraged citizens to report to the government any friends or relatives they hear repeating “lies” about Obama. The Truth Team site still exists.
• Twisted the arms of defense contractors to not issue layoff notices in early November, so as to avoid causing bad news for Obama right before the election — even though federal law (the “WARN Act”) requires such notices.
• After the attacks on American interests in North Africa on September 11, 2012, Obama gave a speech to the U.N. and declared “The future must not belong to those who slander The Prophet of Islam” — transferring the blame from the attackers onto the makers of a film trailer that supposedly “offended” the Islamists.
• Repeatedly snubbed and got into public tiffs with Benjamin Netanyahu, who as the leader of Israel is supposed to be Obama’s closest colleague in international affairs.
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US Army Prepares Biggest Deployment to Europe in 25 Years
In 2020, the US Army will be carrying out its biggest deployment in 25 years into Europe. The deployment will send 20,000 US troops, and 13,000 pieces of equipment across Europe for wargames beginning in May and running through June.
US Gen. Christopher Cavoli would not define the operation as aimed at Russia, but did tie it to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, saying it “changed everything.” The large deployment will be difficult.
That’s because as with most recent operations, the US will be sending forces largely into former Warsaw Pact countries, and those countries have railroads incompatible with Western Europe. Moreover, the bridges in those countries were built without envisioning having to support the heaviest of US tanks.
According to Gen. Cavoli, the large deployment of US troops is meant to “demonstrate the US military’s ability to quickly deploy a large force.” This comes amid constantly escalating rhetoric against Russia.
https://www.activistpost.com/2019/12/us-army-prepares-biggest-deployment-to-europe-in-25-years.html
The US spent $133 billion to build up Afghanistan as part of a plan officials secretly called 'idiotic'
The US has spent billions trying to rebuild Afghanistan, more than the US has spent in any other country, The Washington Post reports.
One US official, in documents obtained by The Post, characterized plans to build a strong central government in Afghanistan as "idiotic" while another said the only part of the market economy that was flourishing was the drug trade.
Another US official revealed that the biggest achievement of pouring $133 billion into Afghanistan since 2001 was likely "mass corruption."
The US has spent billions of dollars trying to turn Afghanistan into a functional state, one with a strong central government and a thriving economy, but the plan has largely failed, in part because the US flooded a weak state with more money than it could reasonably be expected to handle responsibly.
The war in Afghanistan has raged for 18 years, and it continues with no immediate end in sight. Thousands of documents obtained by the Washington Post reveal that top US officials knew the situation, despite America's best efforts, was a mess but tried to mislead the public on how bad the situation actually is.
Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump have all promised to halt the nation-building process in Afghanistan, but they have not done as promised.
The US has spent more than $133 billion trying to build a modern, stable Afghanistan. That figure is more than the US spent, accounting for inflation, to rebuild all of Western Europe after the end of World War II, the Post reports.
Unlike Europe, the US has been unsuccessful in its efforts to rebuild war-torn Afghanistan.
https://outline.com/CVEAMk
Pakistan: Royal family among Qataris arrested for poaching rare bird
Pakistani police have arrested seven Qatari nationals for illegally hunting precious birds in the Nushki district of the Balochistan province.
The arrestees are said to include members of the ruling Al-Thani family.
The arrested foreigners did not have a license or a no-objection certificate, according to Nushki Deputy Commissioner Abdur Razzak Sasoli, reported The Express Tribune.
Last week, Pakistan Today reported that 12 people, including four Qataris, were arrested in Balochistan for the same offence.
For decades, as a form of soft diplomacy, royal families from Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia forming hunting expeditions have travelled to Pakistan during hunting season in pursuit of the houbara bustard, a shy, rare bird the size of a chicken, whose meat they believe is an aphrodisiac.
They are usually hunted using the predatory falcon bird – falconry is an ancient sport which is popular especially among Emirati and Qatari elites. The UAE issues falcons their own passports and the birds travel with their owners in airplane cabins, sometimes dozens at a time for the hunting trips.
It was illegal in Pakistan to hunt the houbara until 2016, when the Supreme Court lifted a hunting ban after the government argued it hurt lucrative relations with Gulf states.
The government of Balochistan has set a fee of $100,000 for the hunting of 100 houbara bustards, however, hunting parties often exceed their quota. In 2014, Saudi prince Fahd bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz killed more than 2,000 birds in a 21-day hunting spree causing a backlash from conservationists.
In a bid to win over local residents, Arab hunters have been known to construct roads, schools and mosques. Imported four-wheel-drive vehicles brought in for the hunt are sometimes left behind as gifts for regional leaders.
The houbara is listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species as threatened with extinction. It is on the verge of extinction in the Arabian Peninsula through falconry, hunting and habitat loss, although there have been efforts to reintroduce them.
In 2017, 26 Qatari hostages, including members of the royal family and two Saudis as part of a hunting expedition, were freed after being kidnapped and held for a ransom of $90 million in Iraq after being held for nearly a year and a half.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191210-pakistan-royal-family-among-qataris-arrested-for-poaching-rare-bird/
The Israel Lobby’s Hidden Hand in the Theft of Iraqi and Syrian Oil
The outsized role of U.S. Israel lobby operatives in abetting the theft of Syrian and Iraqi oil reveals how this powerful lobby also facilitates more covert aspects of U.S.-Israeli cooperation and the implementation of policies that favor Israel.
KIRKUK, IRAQ — “We want to bring our soldiers home. But we did leave soldiers because we’re keeping the oil,” President Trump stated on November 3, before adding, “I like oil. We’re keeping the oil.”
Though he had promised a withdrawal of U.S. troops from their illegal occupation of Syria, Trump shocked many with his blunt admission that troops were being left behind to prevent Syrian oil resources from being developed by the Syrian government and, instead, kept in the hands of whomever the U.S. deemed fit to control them, in this case, the U.S.-backed Kurdish-majority militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Though Trump himself received all of the credit — and the scorn — for this controversial new policy, what has been left out of the media coverage is the fact that key players in the U.S.’ pro-Israel lobby played a major role in its creation with the purpose of selling Syrian oil to the state of Israel. While recent developments in the Syrian conflict may have hindered such a plan from becoming reality, it nonetheless offers a telling example of the covert role often played by the U.S.’ pro-Israel lobby in shaping key elements of U.S. foreign policy and closed-door deals with major regional implications.
Indeed, the Israel lobby-led effort to have the U.S. facilitate the sale of Syrian oil to Israel is not an isolated incident given that, just a few years ago, other individuals connected to the same pro-Israel lobby groups and Zionist neoconservatives manipulated both U.S. policy and Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in order to allow Iraqi oil to be sold to Israel without the approval of the Iraqi government. These designs, not unlike those that continue to unfold in Syria, were in service to longstanding neoconservative and Zionist efforts to balkanize Iraq by strengthening the KRG and weakening Baghdad.
After the occupation of Iraq’s Nineveh Governorate by ISIS (June 2014-October 2015), the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) took advantage of the Iraqi military’s retreat and, amidst the chaos, illegally seized Kirkuk on June 12. Their claim to the city was supported by both the U.S. and Israel and, later, the U.S.-led coalition targeting ISIS. This gave the KRG control, not only of Iraq’s export pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan port, but also to Iraq’s largest oil fields.
Israel imported massive amounts of oil from the Kurds during this period, all without the consent of Baghdad. Israel was also the largest customer of oil sold by ISIS, who used Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk to sell oil in areas of Iraq and Syria under its control. To do this in ISIS-controlled territories of Iraq, the oil was sent first to the Kurdish city of Zakho near the Turkey border and then into Turkey, deceptively labeled as oil that originated from Iraqi Kurdistan. ISIS did nothing to impede the KRG’s own oil exports even though they easily could have given that the Kirkuk-Ceyhan export pipeline passed through areas that ISIS had occupied for years.
https://www.mintpressnews.com/israel-lobby-helped-stolen-oil-iraq-syria/263327/
Part 1
The document also states that the amount of oil then being produced in SDC-controlled areas was 125,000 barrels per day and that they anticipated that this would increase to 400,000 barrels per day and that this oil is considered a foreign asset under the control of the United States by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
After the document was made public by the Lebanese outlet Al-Akhbar, the SDC claimed that it was a forgery, even though Kahana had separately confirmed its contents and shared the letter itself to the Los Angeles Times as recently as a few weeks ago. Kahana previously attempted to distance himself from the effort and told the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom in July that he had made the offer to the SDC as means to prevent the “Assad regime” of Syria from obtaining revenue from the sale of Syrian oil.
The Kurds currently hold 11 oil wells in an area controlled by the [Syrian] Democratic Forces. The overwhelming majority of Syrian oil is in that area. I don’t want this oil reaching Iran, or the Assad regime.”
At the time, Kahana also stated that “the moment the Trump administration gives its approval, we can begin to export this oil at fair prices.”
Given that Kahana has openly confirmed that he is representing the SDC’s oil business shortly after Trump’s adoption of the controversial “keep the oil policy,” it seems plausible that Kahana has now received the approval needed for his company to export the oil on behalf of the SDC. Several media reports have speculated that, if Kahana’s efforts go forward unimpeded, the Syrian oil will be sold to Israel.
However, considering Turkey’s aversion to engaging in any activities that may benefit the PKK-SDF – there are considerable obstacles to Kahana’s plans. While the SDF — along with assistance from U.S. troops — still controls several oil fields in Syria, experts assert that they can only realistically sell the oil to the Syrian government. Not even the Iraqi Kurds are a candidate, considering Baghdad’s firm control over the Iraq-Syria border and the KRG’s weakened state after its failed independence bid in late 2017.
Regardless, Kahana’s involvement in this affair is significant for a few reasons. First, Kahana has been a key player in the promotion and funding of radical groups in Syria and has even been caught hiring so-called “rebels” to kidnap Syrian Jews and take them to Israel against their will. It was Kahana, for instance, who financed and orchestrated the now infamous trip of the late Senator John McCain to Syria, where he met with Syrian “rebels” including Khalid al-Hamad – a “moderate” rebel who gained notoriety after a video of him eating the heart of a Syrian Army soldier went viral online. McCain had also admitted meeting with ISIS members, though it is unclear if he did so on this trip or another trip to Syria.
In addition, Kahana was also the mastermind behind the “Caesar” controversy, whereby a Syrian using the pseudonym “Caesar” was brought to the U.S. by Kahana and went on to make claims regarding torture and other crimes allegedly committed by the Assad-led government Syria, claims which were later discredited by independent analysts. He was also very involved in Israel’s failed efforts to establish a “safe zone” in Southern Syria as a means of covertly expanding Israel’s territory from the occupied Golan Heights and into Quneitra. In an email dated June 15, 2014, James Franklin Jeffrey (former Ambassador to Iraq and Turkey and current U.S. Special Representative for Syria) revealed to Stephen Hadley, a former George Bush administration advisor then working at the government-funded United States Institute of Peace, his intent to advise the KRG in order to sustain Kirkuk’s oil production. The plan, as Jeffery described it, was to supply both the Kurdistan province with oil and allow the export of oil via Kirkuk-Ceyhan to Israel, robbing Iraq of its oil and strengthening the country’s Kurdish region along with its regional government’s bid for autonomy.
Part 2
Israel has also long promoted the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan, with Israel having provided Iraq’s Kurds with weapons, training and teams of Mossad advisers as far back as the 1960s. More recently, Israel was the only state to support the KRG independence referendum in September 2017 despite its futility, hinting at the regard Israel holds for the KRG. Iraq’s government subsequently militarily defeated the KRG’s push for statehood and reclaimed Kirkuk’s oil fields with assistance from the Shia paramilitaries which were responsible for defeating ISIS in the area.
Part 3
End
Peaceful rallies must not spill into riots going beyond the law, warns Putin
Opinions must be expressed through lawful means, the Russian president stressed
Opinions must be expressed within the law and situations in which peace rallies would spill into riots must be prevented, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
"One throws a glass at a representative of the authorities. They do this and nothing happens, then a plastic bottle is thrown — and again nothing follows. Then one throws a glass bottle, then a stone, and then they will start shooting and looting stores. We must not allow this," Putin told a session with members of the Human Rights Council.
However, all Russian people have the right to voice their position through all possible legal means, the president emphasized. "We must support all those who feel love and responsibility for their Fatherland, and there are many people among those voicing their protests who sincerely want to change things for the better," the president said in reply to a request from filmmaker Alexander Sokurov to stop an excessive use of force against young people.
According to Sokurov, at the moment there is no working mechanism of interaction between the authorities and young protesters. "The state is not looking young people in the face, but rather in the back," he said. "The authorities must realize that there are two most important notions for the Russian youth — beauty and justice," the filmmaker noted.
Besides, Sokurov asked Putin to meet with young people who were jailed or are under investigation for voicing protests in this or that form.
https://tass.com/politics/1097965
INSPECTOR GENERAL ROCKED: IG TOLD TO FALSIFY DOCUMENTS, FABRICATE EVIDENCE, ALTER WITNESS TESTIMONY IN RIGGED INVESTIGATION
An affidavit from a high-ranking U.S. Inspector General paints a disturbing picture of a government watchdog rife with shocking practices: alleged tampering of evidence, falsification of witness testimony, and incredibly — steering sensitive investigations to fit a pre-concluded narrative.
Translation: Rigged IG investigations.
If you believe the conclusions of the Inspector General’s report of the Justice Department’s and FBI’s meddling and spying in the 2016 presidential election that was unveiled Monday, you may want to reserve judgment.
The recent ‘affidavit’ from former Assistant Inspector General John Crane portrays a rare behind-the-curtain view of the Inspector General’s mysterious operation. A high-ranking government insider provided the affidavit to True Pundit who contacted Crane, a decorated Inspector General who last served as IG for the Department of Defense.
Crane did not give an interview to True Pundit about the scathing testimony in his affidavit that calls the IG’s office a bed of corruption that instructed him to cover up vital counterterrorism Intel to spare government officials embarrassment and likely career-ending disasters.
Specifically, Crane maintains that DOD insiders identified lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta prior to the terror attacks of Sept. 2001 and reported the Intel to supervisors. Crane said he was instructed by IG chiefs to bury that information and alter the IG reports to say the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) did not identify Atta before the terror attacks.
DIA Intel identified Atta as a key terror target and al Qaeda chief operating out of New York a year before Sept. 11, 2001. Notably, the CIA and FBI have been accused of sitting on that intelligence and failing to set up on Atta and add him to crucial government Intel watch-lists to monitor his travels and activities, associates.
Crane turned whistleblower and the affidavit — among other documents detailing the shocking IG revelations — has reached the top levels of the Trump administration.
According to Intel sources who spoke with True Pundit, Crane’s allegations of widespread corruption were provided to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, CIA Dir. Gina Haspel, top ranking brass at the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
https://truepundit.com/inspector-general-rocked-ig-told-to-falsify-documents-fabricate-evidence-alter-witness-testimony-in-rigged-investigation/
Barr blasts FBI’s Trump probe, accuses investigators of ‘gross abuse’
Attorney General Bill Bar is blasting the FBI’s conduct during the Russia investigation, saying investigators relied on "flimsy" evidence in launching the probe and disputing key conclusions from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report released Monday.
Horowitz was critical of the FBI for their practices in using the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to get a warrant to conduct surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, but he concluded that the investigation itself was launched properly, without evidence of political bias.
“It’s hard to look at this stuff and not think that it was a gross abuse,” Barr said during a discussion at a Wall Street Journal CEO Council forum.
"Where I disagree with Mike, I just think this was very flimsy," he said about the basis of the investigation. The FBI cited comments by Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos to an Australian official as sparking concerns about the campaign's possible involvement with Russia. Barr dismissed this as "a comment made by a 28-year-old volunteer."
Barr also pointed to the FBI’s failure to include key evidence in their FISA warrant applications that would have gone in Page’s favor.
He also pointed out that the Russia investigation was supposed to be a counterintelligence probe, yet there was no effort to warn the Trump campaign about suspected Russian activities.
“The normal thing to do in this situation,” Barr said, “is to go to the campaign, and here I don’t think there’s a legitimate explanation for why they didn’t.”
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/barr-blasts-fbi
In Rare Diplomatic Breakthrough, U.S., Iran See Eye to Eye on Prisoner Swaps
Both nations express willingness to hold talks on 'full scale' prisoner exchange
In a sign of warming relations between the Trump administration and Iran, both governments in recent days have expressed a willingness to negotiate a full-scale prisoner release that could see many long-held American detainees make their way home.
Following a surprise prisoner swap over the weekend, senior officials in Tehran and Washington, D.C., expressed a desire to sit down for diplomatic talks that could provide a pathway to negotiations on a range of matters, including the long-stalled nuclear weapons issue that has seen Iran hit with crippling sanctions during President Donald Trump's tenure in office.
The Trump administration announced on Saturday that it had secured the freedom of Chinese-American researcher Xiyue Wang, who Iran arrested in 2016 and charged with spying. The United States traded Wang for Massoud Soleimani, an Iranian scientist who was incarcerated in the United States for illicitly attempting to export biological materials to Tehran.
Senior U.S. diplomats who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon about the trade said it potentially represents a "first step" toward a broader dialogue with Iran on the issue of hostages, including the most well known imprisoned American, Robert Levinson, who has been in Iranian custody for 13 years. Since the weekend trade, Iranian leaders have expressed a similar willingness to engage in a "comprehensive prisoner exchange" with America.
"We hope that this represents a first step," Brian Hook, the State Department's special representative on Iran, told the Free Beacon on Tuesday. "Ultimately this is up to Iran, since we have been open to meeting with them in person for a consular dialogue for years now. We will continue working as hard as we can until every American detained in Iran is brought home."
Hook, who played a central role in securing Wang's release, said the Trump administration managed to free Wang while maintaining its tough sanctions regime on Tehran and rejecting Iran's continued demands for hard currency.
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/in-rare-diplomatic-breakthrough-u-s-iran-see-eye-to-eye-on-prisoner-swaps/
Carter Page says he will file a lawsuit against FBI
“There is a team, I was always working on this on my own for the last few years,” Carter Page told “Hannity” on Monday. “I kept having DOJ run rings around me. Right now, as we speak, we have our team of attorneys going through that document in great detail.”
Page said he plans to share his and his counsels’ findings with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who has been following the overall investigation closely.
Page, who also disclosed to host Sean Hannity that he was a CIA asset who put his life at risk for the U.S., said he was the subject of lies, smears and threats over the past few years.
https://saraacarter.com/carter-page-says-he-will-file-lawsuit-against-fbi/
2 Shooters Fire At Civilians, Police From Jersey City Rooftops
Yet another stunning active-shooter incident is unfolding Tuesday afternoon in New Jersey City, as two armed suspects engaged in a firefight with a group of Jersey City police officers, with some media reports claiming that the attackers escaped to nearby rooftops, where they continued firing on the street below with what were described as "long guns."
https://youtu.be/TjvAKO1HyAU
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/2-shooters-fire-civilians-police-jersey-city-rooftops
‘Mass Immigration Turned Virginia Blue’ Says Banner Hung Over Bridge Just Outside D.C.
Virginia had long been a red state, then took on a purple hue, and more than a decade ago started to turn blue.
The last time a Republican presidential candidate won the state was George W. Bush in 2004. Barack Obama won in 2008 and 2012, and Hillary Clinton took the state 49.7% to 44.4%.
The biggest change in the state are the counties and cities just outside Washington, D.C. Some counties that had long been red are now blue.
And not everyone’s happy about it.
A group called America First Conservatives dropped a banner from Key Bridge in Arlington, Virginia, that said “MASS IMMIGRATION TURNED VIRGINIA BLUE.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/12/mass-immigration-turned-virginia-blue-says-banner-hung-over-bridge-just-outside-d-c/
Bloomberg News Is Breaking the Law by Only Investigating Trump, FEC Complaint Says
Bloomberg News announced that it would continue its tradition of not investigating its owner, Michael Bloomberg, even as he entered the 2020 presidential race. The outlet also claimed it would refrain from investigating the other Democratic candidates. Yet the outlet also announced it would investigate President Donald Trump, Bloomberg's potential competitor. According to a new Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint from the Media Research Center (MRC), this likely violates the law.
"Bloomberg News is making a mockery of legitimate journalism. They have consciously chosen to abandon their journalistic responsibilities in favor of what is politically convenient," MRC President Brent Bozell said in a statement. "This is a public declaration that Bloomberg’s newsroom is adopting media bias as an official policy,"
"This is not only categorically unethical, but potentially illegal, which is why we are calling for an investigation," Bozell added.
Bloomberg first filed to appear as a 2020 candidate on or about November 8, close to the qualifying deadline in the state of Alabama. On or about November 22, he filed papers with the FEC to run for president. The billionaire and former mayor of New York City is also the founder and 89 percent owner of Bloomberg News.
"We will continue our tradition of not investigating Mike (and his family and foundation) and we will extend the same policy to his rivals in the Democratic primaries," Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait said in a memorandum on November 23. However, he announced the news outlet "will continue to investigate the Trump administration."
"Bloomberg News's decision to avoid investigating the Candidate may constitute an improper contribution to the Campaign under FEC regulations and appears to violate FECA regulations, and/or establish Bloomberg News as a political committee required to register and report under FEC regulations, which it has not done," the MRC complaint alleges.
https://pjmedia.com/election/bloomberg-news-is-breaking-the-law-by-only-investigating-trump-fec-complaint-says/
Google blocks access to YouTube accounts of Iran’s Press TV, Hispan TV
Google has targeted Iranian broadcasters Press TV and Hispan TV once again, blocking access to their official YouTube accounts without any prior notice.
Over the past years, the US tech giant has recurrently been opting for such measures against Iranian media outlets. It has taken on Press TV more than any other Iranian outlet given the expanse of its viewership and readership.
The most recent move came on Tuesday. Users shortly flooded both the networks with messages asking why the international networks' YouTube channels had been put out of service.
The two networks were last targeted in April, when Google similarly shut their YouTube and Gmail accounts.
The previous attack also denied the networks any advance notification, sufficing to cite a nebulous “violation of policies.”
Previously, Press TV’s YouTube channel was closed in September and November 2013 and April 2014.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting — which runs Press TV and Hispan TV as part of its World Service — has called such attacks clear examples of censorship.
‘Paying price for giving voice to the voiceless’
Reacting to Tuesday’s move, Press TV’s Website and Social Media Director Habib Abdolhossein said, “We have been adhering to Google policies, including those concerning user content and conduct policy. Even if we had violated any rules, they could have let us know.”
“Social media outlets were supposed to be a platform for the alternative views, but unfortunately they are rather politicized than socialized!” he said. “I think we are paying the price for being the voice of the voiceless.”
Following Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president in 2016, Washington ramped up its efforts to target the Islamic Republic.
The campaign even assumed the self-styled title of “maximum pressure” under the current US president. The drive has seen the US leaving a multi-party nuclear agreement with Iran last year, and returning the nuclear-related sanctions that the deal had lifted.
As part of the campaign, the US State Department has called on social media companies Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to block the accounts of Iranian government leaders, and iOS — a mobile operating system created by US company Apple Inc. — disabling Iranian applications.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/12/10/613316/Iran-Google-block-Press-TV-Hispan-TV-YouTube-Gmail-accounts
Erdogan: Turkey Is Ready To Invade Libya To Fight Haftar Forces
Turkey can deploy troops in Libya if invited by the Government of National Accord (an ‘internationally recognized’ entity that controls Tripoli and its surroundings) there, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told state-run TRT television on December 9.
“The moment there is such an invitation from the Libyan people and administration,” Erdogan said that “gives us the right.”
On November 27, Ankara signed a defense agreement with the Govrnment of National Accord (GNA). The formal goal of the deal is to strengthen forces controlled by the GNA’s Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj as the Libyan capital is under siege from the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Khalifa Haftar.
The LNA describes the advance on Tripoli as an anti-terrorism operation because the GNA cooperates with al-Qaeda-linked groups. Haftar promised that the LNA would enter Tripoli by the end of 2019. Erdogan says that the possible deployment of Turkish soldiers in Libya would not amount to violating the United Nations’ Libya embargo.
“The activity of sending soldiers in response to such a call from Libya’s national government can never be interpreted” as a violation of the UN embargo, Erdogan noted. “Turkey would decide on what kind of initiative it will take if it receives such an invitation.”
https://southfront.org/erdogan-turkey-is-ready-to-invade-libya-to-fight-haftar-forces/