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Ruth King

Microsoft Honcho Testifies That the DOJ Routinely Abuses Secrecy Orders to Seize Data From American Citizens By Debra Heine

https://amgreatness.com/2021/06/30/microsoft-honcho-testifies-that-the-doj-routinely-abuses-secrecy-orders-to-seize-data-from-american-citizens/

A Microsoft executive on Wednesday testified that the Department of Justice routinely abuses “secrecy orders” in order to seize data on thousands of American citizens without letting them know.

Tom Burt, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for customer security and trust, made the accusations during a House Judiciary Committee hearing examining leak probes and prosecutorial abuse.

The hearing followed recent revelations that the Justice Department secretly seized the records of several news organizations while investigating leaks under both the Trump and Biden administrations—a practice that became increasingly routine during the Obama administration.

Relatedly, Fox News host Tucker Carlson has for the past couple of nights alleged on his show that the NSA has been monitoring his communications in an attempt to leak information, and get him kicked off the air.

Burt said that the news reports of the government surveilling the media may be shocking to many Americans, but it’s even more shocking that his company is routinely asked to handover “emails, text messages, or other sensitive data” of average citizens.

“This abuse is not new, it is also not unique to one administration, and is not limited to investigations targeting the media, and Congress,” Burt stated.

The executive said that Microsoft receives 2,400 to 3,500 of these requests for data per year, or about seven to 10 a day, and explained that the DOJ’s use of gag orders prevents them from informing users that government operatives have requested their private communications.

Because secrecy orders make it easy for partisans in the Intelligence Community to ignore due process laws while pursuing investigations, such abuses have become shockingly “routine,” according to the executive.

“Secrecy orders are too often used for routine investigations based on a cursory assertion that the government has met a statutory burden,” he testified. “The Justice Department’s own template does not even require facts justifying the need for secrecy. Instead, the template merely asserts that any disclosure would seriously jeopardize the investigation for a variety of boilerplate reasons. Notice to targets is an important safeguard for our constitutional rights.”

Has the Military Lost Middle America? The military is not yet a revolutionary people’s army overseen by commissars. But it is getting there. By Victor Davis Hanson

https://amgreatness.com/2021/06/30/has-the-military-lost-middle-america/

Traditionalist and conservative America once was the U.S. military’s greatest defender.  

Bipartisan conservatives in Congress ensured generous Pentagon budgets. Statistics of those killed in action, in both Afghanistan and Iraq, reveal that white males, especially those of the rural and middle classes, were demographically “overrepresented” in offering the ultimate sacrifice to their country.  

When generals, active and retired, have become controversial, usually conservative America could be counted on to stick with them.  

Flyover country supported marquee officers such as Gen. Michael Hayden, Gen. James Mattis, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Gen. David Petraeus, and a host of others, whether on active duty or in retirement, when the media went after them for alleged unethical conduct, or financial improprieties, or spats with the Obama Administration that prompted resignations, or left-wing accusations of using undue force or even hiding “torture.”  

When the Left railed in Congress about the “revolving door” of generals and admirals leaving the Pentagon to use their past expertise to land lucrative board memberships with corporate defense contractors, Middle America, rightly or wrongly, mostly yawned.  

Yet traditional America also assumed their military leaders were largely apolitical and stayed out of hardball politics. Brilliant World War II commanders—Curtis LeMay, Douglas MacArthur, and George S. Patton—did not fare well when they clumsily waded through the minefields of partisan national politics.  

No longer. The Pentagon’s current and past top echelon is seen as politically weaponized—and both careerist and opportunist. Currently, generals and admirals are scanning enlistments for mythical white supremacists, in terror of left-wing pressures following the January 6 Capitol riot. They have no commensurate concern whether there are Antifa and BLM personnel with records of past violence in the military. 

We are learning that much of what was reported about that unfortunate Capitol riot was untrue. There were no “armed” insurrectionists with firearms led by conspiracist kingpins.  

Biden Administration: Rewarding the Murderous Regime of Iran? by Majid Rafizadeh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17510/biden-administration-rewarding-iran

“I told judges not to write death sentences for girls. This is what I said. But they perverted my words and quoted me as saying: Don’t execute girls. First marry them for one night and then execute them.” — Grand Ayatollah Hussain-Ali Montazeri, theologian and human rights activist, in his diaries.

The Biden administration should understand that Ebrahim Raisi is an extremely dangerous man partially because, from his perspective, anyone who criticizes the Islamic Republic or protests against it is rising against God and his representatives on earth. Whatever his regime does is presumed to be fully justified and rewarded by God because the Islamic Republic is a divine political establishment and all its actions are enforcing God’s will on earth.

The Biden administration truly needs to halt talks with the Iranian regime, stop appeasing the ruling mullahs, impose sanctions and hold the Iranian regime accountable for handpicking a mass murderer to be the next president, and most likely, the next Supreme Leader of Iran.

The Biden administration’s attempts to appease the ruling mullahs of Iran do not seem to have an end. A few days after the Iranian regime handpicked a mass murderer to be its next president — in a blow to the Iranian people and advocates of democracy and human rights — the Biden administration is rewarding the regime. The US announced that it is now considering lifting sanctions against Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Biden administration should instead halt negotiations with the Iranian regime and open an investigation into the next president of Iran — Ebrahim Raisi who, in addition, is likely to be the next Supreme Leader of Iran. This mullah, known in Iran as “The Butcher,” was a member of the “Death Commission” which, according to Amnesty International, “forcibly disappeared and extrajudicially executed in secret thousands of political dissidents” and sent thousands to their deaths, often “without a shred of due process.” Raisi is extraordinarily unpopular among the Iranian people, who, apparently amid calls to boycott the elections, largely refused to vote.

Patriotism and Noble Deeds: The Pleasures of Life by Lawrence Kadish

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17517/patriotism-noble-deeds

Many [naturalized citizens] have endured the terror of dictatorships, the fear of the secret police, and the destruction of personal liberties. They know from first-hand experience just how extraordinary our nation is.

America is about to observe yet another Fourth of July holiday. We will do so against a backdrop of rancor and political division. Our history suggests this is not unique and we have, in fact, weathered worse. But what has consistently bound our wounds and allowed us to realize our full potential as a democracy is the recognition that patriotism and noble deeds in a land that cherishes freedom remain among the rare pleasures of life meant to be embraced and enjoyed. Celebrate Independence Day this year in the knowledge that we remain “the last best hope of earth.”

There is something powerful and compelling about the faces of those who stand to recite the pledge of allegiance for the first time as naturalized American citizens. Having legally entered our nation, they have become some of the most ardent patriotic Americans who have earned the right to be called citizens. Yet they find themselves in a country that now too often seems distant and uncomfortable with displays of patriotism.

As a nation of immigrants there have been successive waves of newly naturalized citizens who would be the first to wave American flags along the Fourth of July parade. They would write the songs that celebrated America, the laborers who would build our cities, the scientists who gave us extraordinary inventions and doctors who saved lives. In return, these proud new citizens of America discovered the pleasures of life through their patriotism and by performing noble deeds. In doing so, they acquired the quiet self-respect of an immigrant in an adopted land where freedom, the rule of law, and opportunity remain woven into our national fabric.

On Race, Can We All Lighten Up? By Larry Elder

https://pjmedia.com/columns/larry-elder/2021/07/01/on-race-can-we-all-lighten-up-n1458730

On a beautiful Sunday morning, I was out of town for a business meeting in the city of Santa Barbara, California, an affluent area where the rich and famous live. Demographically, it isn’t exactly Wakanda. Before getting on the 101 Freeway for the long drive back to Los Angeles, I pulled into a gas station to fill up.

Just as I got out of my car, I heard a booming male voice shout, “Hey, want a banana?” My head jerked up to locate the racist. Turns out the man who bellowed was standing next to his SUV, tailgate open, where I saw a big bag of bananas. The man was talking to a homeless guy picking through trash in a nearby garbage can. Both the SUV driver and the homeless man were white.

Once I put all this together, I smiled and said to the driver: “Hey, I thought you were talking to me! I was about to accuse you of systemic racism.” The driver started laughing. Then I said: “I think I’m still going to accuse you of systemic racism. How come the only person you offered a banana to is white? What about me?” Now the homeless man started laughing. Then I said, “And I don’t even like bananas.” Both were now laughing, and the homeless guy said, “Man, you are so funny.” I responded: “Thanks. I’m here all week. Two drink minimum. Don’t forget to throw something in my tip jar.” At this point, both practically doubled over in laughter. As I drove away, I said to myself: “Did I just ask a homeless man to leave me a tip? Elder, you’re going to burn in hell.”

How wrong my immediate assumption had turned out to be.

This incident reminded me of something that happened years ago. For several years, I ran a small business, based in Cleveland, where we recruited experienced lawyers for big law firms and large corporations. To the best of my knowledge, I was one of the first, if not the first, “headhunting” firms in the Midwest to specialize in recruiting lawyers. Starting in 1980, I ran the company for 14 years before selling it to go into television and talk radio full time. During that time, I could count on one hand the number of Black lawyers I placed with my clients.

One way schools could fix education (that they’ll never take) By Brian Parsons

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/07/one_way_schools_could_fix_education_that_theyll_never_take.html

What motivates a child to succeed?  That is the central question that should be asked on matters of education.

Since at least the inception of the Department of Education in 1980, the emphasis on education is always placed on socializing the components that go into the quality of instruction.  Whether it’s the instructor, the classroom size, demographic makeup, funds allocated, resources available, etc., government tends to focus on those things that are tangible and within its purview.  But when all funds have been exhausted and we find that our education system fails to keep pace with the rest of the world, our only solution is to look for ways to throw more money at the problem.

It comes as no surprise that the lagging trajectory in the educational performance of American students follows a misallocation of motivators.  Motivation most often comes from outside the walls of the school, and that is one area that is not historically within the scope of government responsibility.  Of late, the government has been overrun with activists who have attempted to fold the greater culture into academia, and as a result, we’ve begun to impart activist ideology that not only doesn’t motivate students, but disincentivizes excellence and de-motivates them.

Adopting ideology like Critical Race Theory that tells children they are inherently inferior because of their race or sex is child abuse, and the abusers should be called out for what they are doing.  On one end of the spectrum, you’re tearing down children for inherent traits that they get no say in and creating self-imposed ceilings in the name of equality.  On the other end of the spectrum, you’re tearing down children by telling them their peers are the reason that life will throw adversity at them and creating those same self-imposed ceilings.

Trade race for sex, and we can see the effects of decades of throwing boys under the bus in the name of sex equality.  They’re lagging in near every facet of society behind their female counterparts.  Activists are aware of this and the successful playbook that they have utilized to tear down the patriarchy is being deployed in the name of tearing down white supremacy.  These are boogeymen of their own creation.

The Significance of China’s ‘Unrestricted Warfare’ on U.S. Ally India By Janet Levy

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/07/the_significance_of_chinas_unrestricted_warfare_on_us_ally_india.html

In 1999, two Chinese officers explored potential strategies that militarily inferior nations might use against a superpower like the U.S. In their book Unrestricted Warfare: China’s Master Plan to Destroy America, they expounded on alternatives to direct military confrontation — often defined as “gray-zone” or indirect war, and including tactics such as assaults on economic and financial systems, gaining control of infrastructure, disrupting networks, cyberattacks, political propaganda, and replacement of populations. Of course, China has employed this strategy, reminiscent of Sun-Tzu’s conviction that wars should be won without firing a single shot, against other adversaries. But nowhere is this more evident than in its actions against U.S. ally India.

Since the advent of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949, the newly independent India, under prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was viewed by the American leadership as “potentially a great counterweight to China” in the region. But it was more than 70 years before a strong alliance was forged between the two countries by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump, during the latter’s visit to India in 2020. Simultaneously, the revival of the Quad alliance — India, U.S., Japan and Australia — solidified the relationship as a bulwark against China’s growing dominance in the region. During his India visit, President Trump remarked approvingly on the difference “between a nation that seeks power through coercion” and one that “rises by setting its people free… and that is India.” Therefore, China’s attempts to weaken India militarily and economically will certainly diminish our regional ally’s value as a counterweight.

Several events of the past two years highlight China’s insidious war of sabotage against India, the world’s largest democracy. These include skirmishes along the Sino-Indian border; stealth appropriation of territory; the use of unorthodox weapons; several crippling cyber-attacks, including one that caused an extensive power outage in India’s financial hub Mumbai; the diversion of shared water resources; and a treacherous geostrategic alliance with India’s archenemy Pakistan. China is deploying both Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and the PLA officers’ Unrestricted Warfare as playbooks.

Last summer, Indian and Chinese troops clashed at Galwan, in a disputed Himalayan border region that’s part of Ladakh, a Union Territory (UT) of India. China had amassed troops on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), violating bilateral agreements limiting border deployments. India was forced to respond with a sizable number of troops. In the ensuing skirmish, 20 Indian soldiers were killed and 75 injured. Upon the cessation of the conflict, Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at Beijing’s Renmin University, proudly reported that China had prevailed by deploying “microwave weapons” that were effective up to a kilometer, cleverly dodging the “no live shot” rules of engagement. He was referring to microwave technology that heats up fluid under the skin, causing intense pain and vomiting and that resulted in Indian troops retreating after becoming violently ill.

Iranian Goal Of ‘Death To America’ Aided and Abetted By Radical Dems Biden’s immigration policies fulfill wishes of 9/11 terrorists. Michael Cutler

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/06/iranian-goal-death-america-aided-and-abetted-michael-cutler/

Iran is one of the most dangerous nations on earth and has been identified as being the greatest state sponsor of international terrorism.

For decades the leaders of Iran have chanted, “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”

Virulent anti-American chanting by Iran’s leaders is only the tip of the huge Anti-American Iranian iceberg.

President Abraham Lincoln sagely observed that, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

The United States is currently in the midst of a battle for the minds and souls of Americans.

Rather than teaching critical thinking in American schools and universities, students are now being indoctrinated in anti-American Critical Race Theory that pits Americans against Americans along racial lines that were erased by America’s Civil Rights laws.

There are many reasons that this toxic ideology has taken hold in America but let us not forget that as America falters, the enemies of our nation are rejoicing.  Indeed, while we have heard much about supposed Russian interference in the Presidential elections of 2016 and 2020, as it turns out, Iran has been heavily involved.

On June 7, 2021 Time Magazine published an important report, Exclusive: Iran Steps up Efforts to Sow Discord Inside the U.S.

That report began with the following two paragraphs:

Iranian state actors are intensifying their disinformation campaign on social media to spread discord and anti-Semitic tropes inside the U.S., two U.S. intelligence officials say.

Social media accounts tracked to troll farms run by the Iranian government have ramped up disinformation after several major events this year, including Biden’s effort to return the U.S. to the Iran nuclear deal, the April 14 announcement of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin on April 20, and the 11-day war between Israel and Hamas that started on May 10. “It’s a significant level of activity,” one official tells TIME. “It’s active enough that we’re tracking it.” The officials did not offer details on the specific disinformation activity after the events.

CancelCanadaDay.Con A delusion wrapped in hysteria inside a conspiracy theory. Lloyd Billingsley

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/07/cancelcanadadaycon-lloyd-billingsley/

As Reuters reports, the city of Victoria, capital of British Columbia, has canceled the July 1 Canada Day celebration “after the discovery of unmarked graves of children at a now-defunct indigenous boarding school.” This “discovery” of more than 200 remains, reportedly by ground-penetrating radar, is the latest edition of a conspiracy theory charging a deliberate campaign of “genocide,” by Canada and its churches, with participants including the Queen of England.

Back in September, 1964, according to the theory, the Queen and Prince Phillip visited the Kamloops Residential School, took ten children on a picnic, and those children were never seen again. As a Reuters fact check discovered, the Queen was not in Canada during that month. She came to Canada in October, 1964, for the centenary of the Confederation Conference but did not visit British Columbia. The Queen did visit Kamloops in 1959 but Reuters found no evidence that she and Prince Phillip abducted 10 children from the school, which closed in 1977. The Queen visited Kamloops again in 1983 but nothing emerged about the picnic abduction.

Even so, the Queen and Prince Philip were found guilty in the disappearance of the children by the “International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State,” and the order to arrest Queen Elizabeth was issued by the “International Common Law Court of Justice in Brussels.” As Reuters learned, both of these bodies, “seem to be inventions of Kevin Annett a former pastor who was removed from his ministry in 1997 for spreading conspiracy theories.”

In 2008, Kamloops This Week published a story headlined “Burial Ground – or Bogus?” in Annett claimed the land around Kamloops Indian Residential School contained remains of children. The abduction charge against the Queen first appeared in a February, 2010 statement by William Combes, who claimed to be “an Interior Salish spirit dancer” and also accused Catholic priests of torture and murder. Combes died in 2011 and that year Kevin Annett began citing “eyewitness accounts” of skeletons within walls, graves on the grounds of Indian schools, and so forth. Local residents knew nothing of those stories, and neither did the police.

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1956, Arnett was a United Church of Canada minister in Port Alberni, British Columbia but “delisted” in 1997 after being found unsuitable for the ministry.

Despite his wild, unsubstantiated charges – or more likely because of them – the ex-minister has cultivated a following. On a 2016 U.S. tour, the Davis Vanguard, billed Annett as a “longtime political activist, author and Nobel Peace Prize nominee.” As it happens, that “nomination” came not from the Nobel committee but a group of American and Canadian academics, by some accounts including Noam Chomsky.

Israel’s High-Powered Laser System a ‘Breakthrough’ Israel’s enemies should be very afraid. Hugh Fitzgerald

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/07/israels-high-powered-laser-system-breakthrough-hugh-fitzgerald/

Israel has once again reminded us that we should thank our lucky stars that the Jewish state is on our side. In the “What Have You Done For Us Lately” Department, Israel has just completed tests of its new high-power laser system that, installed on a civilian aircraft, can shoot down drones. It promises to be what is called a game-changer. The story of this remarkable advance is here: “Israel successfully downs targets using airborne laser system,” by Anna Ahronheim, Jerusalem Post, June 21, 2021:

The Defense Ministry has successfully carried out a series of interceptions to shoot down drones with a powerful airborne laser system installed on a civilian light aircraft….

During the trials that were carried out over the sea, the high-powered laser fired from a civilian Cessna plane destroyed the unmanned targets at differing ranges and altitudes.

According to the Defense Ministry, Israel is perhaps the first country in the world to have been able to use such laser technology on an aircraft to intercept targets in an operational simulation….

The fully automated energy system uses the laser to destroy a target while flying above the clouds, he said, adding that the “powerful and precise system” can intercept the target “regardless of weather conditions.

Once a target passes through the area of interest, the system can be directed at any part of it with very high accuracy. It locks on and remains locked on until the target is downed….

The ground system will also be able to destroy targets at a range of eight to 10 km. with a 100 kW laser, Rotem said. The ministry is aiming for an operational system by 2024 to be deployed at the Gaza border area for shooting down rockets, he said.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz congratulated MAFAT, Elbit and the IAF on the technological breakthrough.