RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://spectator.us/mooch-kristol-nevertrump-relevance/

If The Onion didn’t exist, it would be necessary to invent it. The self-described ‘omnipotent’ purveyor of current-events satire may not be (as another motto claims) ‘America’s finest news source.’ But it does have a good claim to the nation’s nicest anatomist of political folly (using, I hasten to add, that capacious word ‘nice’ not in the sense of ‘kind, pleasant’ but ‘precise, exact, fine’).

Consider this headline: ‘Anthony Scaramucci talks to Bill Kristol about trying to force Trump off the GOP ticket in 2020.’ Can you guess the source? If you said ‘The Onion,’ you would have made a perfectly rational judgment. After all, Anthony ‘The Mooch’ Scaramucci is a metrosexual clothes-horse, hedge-fund guru, communications director for President Trump for 11 minutes — I mean ‘days,’ 11 days. (Calling up a reporter for The New Yorker and treating him to an insane, profanity-laced tirade does tend to be a career-shortening gambit.) What could this character have to do with Bill Kristol, destroyer of The Weekly Standard, serial endorser of failed political candidates, real and imagined, would-be thorn in the side of Donald Trump? Surely putting those two together was a joke, an absurdity.

But no. A joke it may be — an absurdity, too — but the source of that story is not The Onion but CNBC, not exactly an unimpeachable source, I know, but at least one with some pretensions to reporting as distinct from satire.

Still, I think we have to categorize the gist of this story under two headings: 1) truth can be stranger than fiction and 2) even the simplest fact can be the occasion of humor. Consider this elaboration: ‘Asked whether he has spoken to Scaramucci about trying to find another presidential candidate to replace Trump on the top of the GOP ticket next year, Kristol said: “Yup.”’

“I knew when I ran for Congress that I would face obstacles as a Muslim, Palestinian-American woman. I’ve dealt with sexism, racism, and Islamophobia my entire life — so I knew that would continue if I pursued a high-profile public office and won. What I didn’t anticipate was for that discrimination to come from the President of the United States.

As you may have heard, I was supposed to join my friend and fellow Representative Ilhan Omar along with other colleagues in Israel and Palestine for a congressional delegation visit. But after Donald Trump felt the need to disparage mine and Ilhan’s name on Twitter, and urge Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ban us from entering the country because of our willingness to speak out in support of Palestinian human rights, those travel plans came to an abrupt halt.

It’s very telling when a so-called democratic ally bans elected members of Congress from visiting because of our political views and values. It’s even more disturbing and completely unprecedented that our own president encouraged this undemocratic action. What is Netanyahu afraid that we will witness, that we will bring to light?

Not only am I heartbroken that I cannot meet the people of Israel and Palestine to witness their struggles firsthand, but I am heartbroken I can no longer visit my Palestinian grandmother, who just days ago was excited to decide which fig tree we’d pick from together.

The Israeli government ultimately decided they would let me visit, but under one condition: that I sign a letter restricting my freedom of speech in order to stop me from speaking out against the inhumane conditions Palestinians like my grandmother are forced to face by the Israeli military occupation. Conditions in which families’ homes are being bulldozed, children and young people are subject to terrifying interrogations at all hours, and villages often go without access to clean water. Under such military rule, they have no one to represent them.

No matter how badly I wish to see my grandmother, I know she would not want me to do so under such degrading circumstances that go against everything I believe in: fighting racism, oppression, and injustice.

It’s been a difficult few days, and I’ve shed many tears with my family as we went through this ordeal. But I want to be crystal clear: I am more committed than ever before to defending the rights and freedoms of the people of Palestine and people everywhere, and no political attacks from Trump, Netanyahu, or any other oppressive leader will change that or silence me.

If you are with me and my sister in service, Ilhan, as we continue to speak out against the inhumane treatment of people, from the southern border of the United States to the military rule of Palestine, pitch in a contribution of whatever you can to show the world that we are stronger than racism, Islamophobia, and all forms of hate that seek to divide and oppress us.

DONATE

Thank you for your support. With people like you fighting by our side, I am hopeful.

Rashida Tlaib

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2019/08/16/hillarys-it-guy-created-encrypted-gmail-account-and-sent-all-of-clintons-emails-n2551806

Remember Hillary Clinton’s emails, the 30,000 or so that went missing that were subpoenaed? Well, we might be able to find them. We just need to ask Google. At The Daily Caller, investigative reporter Luke Rosiak said that the former first lady’s IT guy, who ignored a congressional subpoena, might have created an encrypted Gmail account and forwarded all those communications to that address. So, it looks like the Russians don’t need to look for them after all, a joke that Trump said at a press conference during the 2016 election that sent the liberal media into a tailspin. No, he wasn’t asking the Russians to spy. It was in jest. It was sarcastic—and if you think otherwise, pat yourself on the back. You’re one of the reasons why Trump won because he, along with his team, knows the liberal media is corrupt, stupid, or both. And when you know that—you can make these clowns do anything. And he’s done that repeatedly since he won the election. 

Anyway, back to Clinton’s IT guy, Rosiak notes the timeline and details, including the discovery that this transfer, which did not seem to spark much interest with now-fired and disgraced FBI Agent Peter Strzok who was a key person in the bureau’s investigation into Hillary’s server (via Daily Caller):

Virtually every single one of Hillary Clinton’s emails were sent, potentially secretly, to a cryptically named Gmail address, according to a new Senate report.

The finding, which has not been previously reported, means that Clinton’s emails, including classified ones and ones which were later deleted, likely existed on Google’s U.S.-based servers. The FBI said in the report that it knew this — and of the suspicious explanation for it — but did not alert other intelligence agencies or the public, according to the report.

The FBI says that the suspicious Gmail address was set up by an IT aide, Paul Combetta, who worked for a company that managed Clinton’s server. Combetta is the same IT aide who used BleachBit to permanently erase copies of Clinton’s emails after they were subpoenaed by the House, misled the FBI about it, and was given immunity from prosecution, all while asking for basic computing advice on Reddit.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethbaumann/2019/08/17/so-much-for-being-peaceful-antifa-attacks-reporters-and-conservatives-in-portl-n2551841