Displaying posts published in

August 2020

Portland’s dress rehearsal for revolution now featuring a guillotine Thomas LIfson

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/08/portlands_dress_rehearsal_for_revolution_now_featuring_a_emguillotineem_.html

Yes, they want a bloody revolution, and in Portland, the dress rehearsal is underway.  Downtown has been sacked, and the revolutionaries have taken to the streets of residential neighborhoods, terrifying residents.  The message is clear: police cannot protect you, so shut up and let the new powers-that-be run things.

Yesterday, the Portland Police Bureau seemed to confirm that message, that they are powerless to stop the revolution.  At RedState, Shipwreckedcrew wrote about the absence of police in a violent clash between Antifa/BLM forces and “Back the Blue” forces, said to include The Proud Boys:

[T]here was a noticeable lack of Portland Police in any of the videos of the two groups clashing.

Late today came an explanation for their absence — there were insufficient police resources available to the shift commanders to do anything to intervene in the incident that involved well over 100 protesters from both sides. (snip)

 That, my friends, is the declaration by Portland PD that they are unwilling to intervene in a conflagration they do not believe they can stop.  The events of the past two months have slowly drained Portland PD’s resources through attrition of manpower. (snip)

Clinesmith’s Guilty Plea: The Perfect Snapshot of Crossfire Hurricane Duplicity By Andrew C. McCarthy

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/08/clinesmiths-guilty-plea-the-perfect-snapshot-of-crossfire-hurricane-duplicity/

Carter Page was a CIA asset, not a Russian spy, and the FBI knew it early on but plowed ahead with its fantasy anyway.

Author’s Note: This is the first of a three-part series.

To answer the question posed in last Tuesday’s column, Yes, Kevin Clinesmith did plead guilty Wednesday. Sort of.

Well, maybe it was a smidge better than “sort of.” After all, it did happen in a federal-district-court proceeding (via videoconference) on Wednesday. And Judge James Boasberg did accept the plea after eliciting it in accordance with settled criminal-law rules. Sentencing is scheduled for December 10. So it’s official.

But I’m sticking with “sort of.” If Clinesmith’s guilty plea is legally adequate, it is barely so. And neither a judge nor a prosecutor is required to accept an allocution sliced so fine. In “admitting” guilt, Clinesmith ended up taking the position that I hoped the judge, and especially the Justice Department, would not abide, in essence: Okay, maybe I committed the crime of making a false statement, but to be clear, I thought the statement was true when I made it, and I certainly never intended to deceive anyone.Huh?

I don’t mean to make you dizzy, but in my view, Clinesmith is lying about lying. His strategy is worth close study because it encapsulates the mendaciousness and malevolence of both “Crossfire Hurricane” (the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation) and the “collusion” never-enders who continue to defend it. A defendant’s lying about lying does not necessarily make a false-statement guilty plea infirm as a matter of law. The bar is not high. Still, his story is ridiculous, in a way that is easy to grasp once it’s placed in context.

FBI Lawyer’s Guilty Plea Suggests Spygate Corruption Goes Way Higher Margot Cleveland

https://thefederalist.com/2020/08/24/fbi-lawyers-guilty-plea-suggests-spygate-corruption-goes-way-higher/

FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith’s guilty plea suggests another area ripe for inquiry: FBI Agent Stephen Somma’s misrepresentation of Trump campaign details to a secret federal court.

Last week’s guilty plea by Kevin Clinesmith represents the first concrete evidence of movement in U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation into the Russia collusion hoax. The plea agreement, which was released on Wednesday, suggests another area ripe for inquiry: FBI Agent Stephen Somma’s earlier misrepresentation of former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page’s status to those preparing the initial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) applications to surveil Page.

Clinesmith, who served as an assistant general counsel in the National Security and Cyber Law Branch of the FBI’s Office of General Counsel, admitted in his plea agreement that he had added the phrase “was not a source” to an email from an unidentified governmental agency, most likely the CIA, concerning Page’s “operation contact” with that agency

From DNC Irony to Parody The point is not what Democrats say against Donald Trump, or the irony of their rhetoric, but the very fact that their opposition somehow exempts them from the absurdities of their own paradoxes. By Victor Davis Hanson *****

https://amgreatness.com/2020/08/23/from-dnc-irony-to-parody/

If nothing else, the architects of the 2020 Democratic Convention appeared to be ignorant of irony. Either that, or they know irony so well and cared so little that they wished to ram it down the throats of the few who watched the nightly taped speeches—as if to say, “We’re hypocrites and proud of it—and what are you going to do about it?”

It all reminded me of China’s now-defiant implicit response to its Wuhan lab virus, “Yeah it started here. And yeah we spread it. And yeah, we—the world’s premier racists and xenophobes—called you racists and xenophobes. And yeah, we let the coronavirus get loose, and blamed you for inventing it. So exactly what are you going to do about it?”

There is one rule that should guide all of Bill Clinton’s post-presidential speeches. He must never use the word “Oval Office” in reference to its ethical or professional  requirements during his own tenure. The second he does, the natural response is to equate that hallowed location with the scene of his tawdry sexual escapades with a young intern—what the Left under other circumstances would call, at best, a “power imbalance” or “a hostile workplace climate,” and at worst sexual assault, full stop.

And so what does Clinton say during the convention? He lectures Trump on how the Oval Office must become the locus of positive presidential power, inspired decision-making and resolute authority. Thereby reminding the listener of his Oval Office trysts with Monica Lewinsky–at the same time Nemesis lands on his hubristic shoulder with a picture of him getting a neck rub from an Epstein girl in an interlude from an Epstein flight.

There is one rule that should guide all of Barack Obama’s post-presidential speeches. He should never mention respect for the Constitution and the rule of law that begins in the Oval Office. And yet Obama did just that. 

Turn to the Founders to Remind Ourselves of What We Stand to Lose Let’s read The Federalist Papers from now until Election Day. By Robert Curry

https://amgreatness.com/2020/08/23/turn-to-the-founders-to-remind-ourselves-of-what-we-stand-to-lose/

In just about 70 days, you and I will be called upon to decide the fate of the American Republic. Make no mistake, this is no ordinary election. American voters have not faced such a momentous choice since an earlier generation was presented with the Constitution and called upon to decide its fate. The vote to ratify the Constitution established a new regime, the amazingly successful American Republic, which showed the world new possibilities for liberty and prosperity and set a standard still unmatched by any country in the history of the world.

A vote for the Democratic Party this time is a vote for regime change as surely as the original vote for the Constitution was a vote for regime change.

The Democrats have abandoned pretense. They no longer even pretend to embrace the Constitution or the American way of life. They are promoting rioting and political violence, they are wrecking the economy with their fraudulent COVID-19 lockdowns, and they are gearing up to control the outcome of this election by hook and crook. 

Winning this one is urgently personal for those denizens of the deep state who committed crimes during the attempted coup against President Trump. If Joe Biden wins, standing indictments will be ignored and new indictments will cease, teaching the Left that it can get away with—and even be rewarded for—committing some of the worst political crimes in American history.

Appeasement: The European Sickness by Richard Kemp ******

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16393/appeasement-europe

Now, Britain and France seek to appease the three powers that most threaten the world today: Iran, China and Russia.

Both countries [Britain and France], as well as Germany and the EU itself, knew only too well that, rather than its stated purpose of denying Iran a route to nuclear weapons, the JCPOA in fact paved Iran’s pathway — not just to acquiring nuclear capabilities, but doing so legitimately.

The re-imposed sanctions will then leave China, Russia and the European countries with tough choices about whether they observe them or take the damaging consequences to their own trade with the US.

And for what? Perhaps for the benefit of Russia and China, whose weapons sales to Iran will both bring financial benefit and extend their influence in the region at the expense of America and Europe.

If US snapback sanctions succeed, that can only hasten the end of the terrorist regime in Tehran. It will also boost confidence and security among the Arab countries, increasingly fearful of a nuclear-armed Iran.

Europe is in the grip of a uniquely virulent and pernicious disease that threatens the wellbeing of its peoples and of the world: not Coronavirus, but appeasement. Anglo-French foreign policy in the 1930s was also dominated by appeasement — of Nazi Germany — a policy that failed to prevent one of the greatest catastrophes that ever engulfed civilisation and that led to the deaths of millions.

Now, Britain and France seek to appease the three powers that most threaten the world today: Iran, China and Russia. As permanent members of the UN Security Council, last week both Britain and France genuflected to their arch-enemies by refusing to support their greatest ally, the United States, in its resolution to extend the UN arms embargo on Iran. The US resolution was of course opposed by China and Russia, both of which intend to sell advanced conventional weapons to Iran as soon as the embargo runs out in October.

Back in the 1930s, the aggressive intentions of Nazi Germany were clear. Although appeasement of Hitler was inexcusable, the main reason was perhaps understandable: a prevailing attitude of “peace at any price” following the unexampled butchery of World War I, then still so fresh in everybody’s minds.

Today, the intentions of Khamenei’s Iran are just as clear, and have been frequently demonstrated in imperial aggression across the Middle East, especially against Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, as well as in its unwavering threats and military actions against Israel.

The Islamic Republic of Iran: A Criminal Enterprise, Not a State by Peter Huessy

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16392/iran-criminal-enterprise

Venezuela, Iran’s ally, has also made clear its intention to buy Iranian missiles that can reach American cities.

It is not as if China’s criminal track record is not well known. The CCP deliberately let the Covid-19 virus spread around the world. It has directed the theft of trillions worth of intellectual property from the United States and Europe. It has hollowed out some eight million US manufacturing jobs, and it is illegally sending tons of the opioid fentanyl across US borders in partnership with the Mexican drug cartels.

As for Iran, desperate for cash and weapons and pummeled by US-led sanctions, the mullahs are contemplating signing on as a partner of the Communist Party of China (CCP). In return for sending China cheap oil and giving the CCP military bases in the region, Iran will get billions in cash.

“Iran has to take a decision whether it wants to be a nation or a cause,” Henry Kissinger, former US National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, told The Washington Post in 2006. He was referring to the tension between Iran’s national interests and the religious ideology that took over the country after Iran’s 1979 revolution.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, however, is neither a nation nor a cause: it is a criminal enterprise. The button men for ayatollahs are the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, (IRGC), the Quds Force, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthi mountain bandits in Yemen.

Like the Salvadoran MS-13 and Mexican Sinaloa cartel, Iran specializes in regional aggression and “death to America” — and has used specially made improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to kill more than 600 American soldiers serving in the Middle East. But killing is not Iran’s only criminal activity. The Tehran thugs are the ones who make the deals with drug dealers, cigarette smugglers and human traffickers in the Middle East and in the Western hemisphere.

To rein in the mullahs’ criminality, the US had implemented tough economic sanctions on Iran. On January 3, 2020, the US also took out Qassem Soleimani, the head of the IRGC who had ordered the killing of more than 600 Americans. While the death of Soleimani was welcome news, it did not end Iran’s criminal empire any more than did the arrest in July 2019 of the head of the powerful Sinaloa Mexican drug cartel. The cartel remains in business today, smuggling tons of drugs into America.

American University Administrators Must Step Up to Fight Beijing’s Authoritarian Influence By Jimmy Quinn

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/08/china-american-universities-administrators-must-fight-beijing-authoritarian-influence/

The CCP seeks to make American campuses less conducive to open inquiry, and more dangerous for students and professors. It can’t be allowed to succeed.

With many American universities conducting classes online during the fall semester, some college professors are worried that the Chinese Communist Party will attempt to monitor lessons about topics that are politically sensitive to Beijing. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday on the steps that instructors are taking to protect their students from CCP surveillance as U.S.–China relations continue their downward trajectory amid the coronavirus pandemic and China’s Draconian crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong.

The digital classroom is ripe for potential security breaches. Video-conferencing platform Zoom, which is widely used by universities, has in recent months faced allegations that it bows to pressure from the Chinese government. In June, for example, Axios reported that the company had temporarily suspended the account of a U.S.-based dissident for his participation in a virtual panel about the Tiananmen Square Massacre. But even for universities that use different video-conferencing software, the possibility of surveillance still exists. Under the new Hong Kong national-security law, Beijing claims the authority to prosecute anyone, Chinese or otherwise, who engages in what it deems subversive speech outside of China. Beijing has already charged American citizens for such actions. And while Chinese students have been hassled for things that they do and say in the United States before, the law’s astounding claim of universal jurisdiction puts them at greater risk.

All of this has alarmed a number of American educators. Rory Truex, an assistant professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton, told the Journal that he will warn his students that his course touches on topics of concern to the Chinese government. He’s also introducing a system whereby students will submit work labeled with numeric codes, not their names, so that they are not linked to the views that they express in written assignments. In a commentary for China File, Truex and four other instructors have also offered advice for how educators should navigate the difficulties of securing their online classrooms against CCP surveillance by, among other things, setting policies on recording class sessions.

Documentary: Seattle is Dying An in-depth look at the drug and homelessness crisis in Washington State’s largest city.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/08/documentary-seattle-dying-frontpage-editors/

KOMO Anchor Eric Johnson takes an in-depth look at the impact the drug and homelessness problem is having on Seattle in “Seattle is Dying” — a news documentary that aired on KOMO-TV in March, 2019.

Watch the video below:

The Significance of the Israel-UAE Peace The new paradigm in the Middle East. Joseph Puder

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/08/significance-israel-uae-peace-joseph-puder/

Unlike previous peace treaties Israel concluded with Egypt and Jordan, the impending peace treaty between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), engineered by President Donald Trump, will be a warm peace. It won’t be just peace between the two governments that leaves the people of the two nations apart and hostile. This peace treaty will involve the Israeli and Emirati communities in trade, tourism, economic development, medical cooperation, intelligence sharing, sport exchanges, and cultural and religious activities. Israeli businesspeople are already operating in the UAE, and their Emirati counterparts have visited Israeli technology centers and Jerusalem. Both Emiratis and Israelis are awaiting with eager anticipation to have direct flights from Tel Aviv to Dubai. Thousands of Israelis are ready to visit the wonders of Dubai, the world’s tallest building (Burj Khalifa), the luxurious Burj al Arab hotel, the Palm Islands, the Dubai mall, and of course the upcoming Dubai Expo 2020. Emiratis are eager to visit the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the biblical antiquities, and the Hermon ski slopes.  Israeli athletes have already been admitted to sport events in the UAE. Emirati athletes will also compete in Israeli sports events. 

Perhaps the most significant factors in the Israel-UAE peace are political, strategic, and psychological. Since there has never been any bloodletting or conflict between Israel and the Emirates, and no border disputes, it makes it easier for a people to people peace. Moreover, unlike previous peace deals that required Israel to make territorial concessions for peace, based on the formula of land-for-peace, the Israel-UAE peace deal is based on a different formula – of peace-for-peace. The former form of peacemaking was the case with Egypt, the Palestinians (Oslo Accords), and Jordan.  The peace with the UAE has no conditions attached to it, and while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to postpone the implementation of the promised annexation, or more correctly, extending Israeli sovereignty and law to the Jordan Valley and the Jewish communities therein, he could still do it at a future date.