RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://issuesinsights.com/2019/05/02/bill-barr-and-the-law-vs-the-lie/

Attorney General William Barr in his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday was a living, breathing representation of the Constitution of the United States.

At one point during five hours that included a shower of insults from Senate Democrats, he put it all in a nutshell: special counsel Robert Mueller’s “work concluded when he sent his report to the attorney general,” Barr said, pointing out that as AG he “effectively overrode the regulations, used discretion, to lean as far forward as I could to make that public.”

As Barr added, “The job of the Justice Department is now over; that determines whether or not there’s a crime. The report is now in the hands of the American people. Everyone can decide for themselves. There’s an election in 18 months. That’s a very democratic process. But we’re out of it. And we have to stop using the criminal justice process as a political weapon.”

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/mike-pompeo-ilhan-omars-venezuela-comments-ignorant-and-disgusting/

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday evening that he finds Representative Ilhan Omar’s comments blaming the U.S. for the political crisis in Venezuela “disgusting.”

“The nicest thing I can say is, it is unbelievable ignorance. It’s just factually wrong,” Pompeo told Fox News. “The problems in Venezuela have been years in the making. It’s been a socialist regime, first with Chavez now with Maduro. And for a member of Congress, who, frankly — one who sits on an important national-security committee — to make a statement blaming America first in this way, it’s not only ignorant, it’s disgusting.”

Omar, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was asked Wednesday by PBS’s Democracy Now! about the “U.S.-supported coup attempt against President Maduro,” to which the Minnesota Democrat responded that America’s push for regime change in Venezuela does not help the country’s citizens.

“A lot of the policies that we have put in place has [sic] kind of helped lead [to] the devastation in Venezuela,” Omar said. “And we’ve sort of set the stage for where we’re arriving today.”

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/05/fbi-official-testimony-surveillance-trump-campaign/

Deputy assistant director Jonathan Moffa’s testimony, which has been obtained exclusively by National Review, suggests there was more going on than has yet been admitted.

The deputy assistant director at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jonathan Moffa, was involved with the Russia–Trump investigation from the start. He was asked, in a closed-door Capitol Hill interview on August 24, 2018, to describe his role: “I was the section chief over counterintelligence analysis during the period of the election,” Moffa told lawmakers and staff. “And as a result, I had analysts who reported to me who supported the full range of the FBI’s counterintelligence investigations and counterespionage investigations during that period. So in a sense, if there’s a Russian-election-related investigation underway in the division at that point, personnel reporting to me are a part of it.”

Moffa’s congressional interview was private, and no transcript has been released. But National Review has obtained a copy. The interview transcript reveals that the FBI’s use of Confidential Human Sources and other counterintelligence assets was far more extensive than has previously been acknowledged.

Much of the questioning of Moffa was done by Robert Parmiter, the chief counsel for the Republican staff on the Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee. He asked Moffa about August 2016 text messages between Moffa and FBI agent Peter Strzok, who was putting together a meeting to discuss the initial organization of the investigation. Even at that early date, Strzok specified that they needed to discuss the use of “CHS” and “liaison.”

Parmiter asked about the acronym CHS: “What does that stand for?”

Moffa replied: “Confidential human source.”

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-creates-263000-jobs-in-april-and-unemployment-falls-to-49-year-low-of-36-2019-05-03?mod=mw_theo_homepage

The numbers: The U.S. created 263,000 new jobs in April to help drive the unemployment rate down to a 49-year low, the latest cue pointing to a rebound in the economy after a slow start in the new year.

The increase in hiring was concentrated at white-collar businesses, construction and health care. The only sector to suffer a big drawback was retail, whose employment fell for the third straight month.

The increase in new jobs easily topped the 213,000 forecast of economists surveyed by MarketWatch.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, slipped to 3.6% from 3.8% in March, marking the lowest level since December 1969, the Labor Department said. The decline in April stemmed from nearly a half-million workers dropping out of the labor force, but by the any measure, layoffs and unemployment are scraping a 50-year low.

https://thefederalist.com/2019/05/02/new-york-times-admits-multiple-spies-deployed-against-trump-campaign/

The New York Times admitted on Thursday that the Obama administration deployed multiple spies against the Trump campaign in 2016, confirming recent comments by Attorney General William Barr that ‘spying did occur’ during the campaign.

Following months of angry claims by journalists and Democratic operatives that the Obama administration never spied on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, The New York Times admitted Thursday that multiple overseas intelligence assets were deployed against associates of the Republican nominee. It is not the first time the Times has revealed widespread spying operations against the campaign.

In addition to noting that long-time informant Stefan Halper was tasked with collecting intelligence on the Trump campaign, the Times story details how a woman was sent overseas under a fake name and occupation to oversee the spy operation. The woman’s real name is not mentioned in the article, though the Times says she went by “Azra Turk” and has a relationship with an unidentified federal intelligence agency.

Halper was handpicked by a seasoned FBI counterintelligence agent out of the New York office, according to the article. While the Times does not identify the agent by name, the paper says the FBI agent spoke at a conference organized by Halper about a 2010 case involving Russians posing as Americans. The public schedule for a 2011 conference hosted by Halper about the exact same case shows that three FBI counterintelligence agents were invited to speak on the topic.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/05/the-big-lie-that-barr-lied/

The attorney general’s testimony was clearly accurate.I  originally thought this was too stupid to write about. But stupid is like the plague inside the Beltway — one person catches it and next thing you know there’s an outbreak at MSNBC and the speaker of the House is showing symptoms while her delirious minions tote ceramic chickens around Capitol Hill.So I give you: the Bill Barr perjury allegation.

We are all entitled to our own opinions. But are we entitled to our own facts? Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s bon mot says no, but Washington makes you wonder. Like when spleen-venting about the supposedly outrageous, unbelievable, disgraceful invocation of the word “spy” to describe episodes of government spying is instantly followed by a New York Times story about how the spying — er, I mean, court-authorized electronic surveillance — coupled with the tasking of spies — er, undercover agents — green-lighted by a foreign spy — er, intelligence service — was more widespread than previously known.

https://amgreatness.com/2019/05/02/trumps-effort-to-take-back-the-constitution-and-self-government/
“The friends of liberty, the friends of limited government, and the friends of the rule of law itself ought to understand that this president, and his reelection in 2020 are our best hope for taming the federal leviathan and continuing to take back the right of the people to govern themselves.”

One of the oldest and greatest guides to understanding American politics is captured in the sage advice: “follow the money.” As America is the richest nation on the globe, there is a lot to be followed. The federal leviathan is awash in trillions of dollars in cash. Countless lawyers, lobbyists, and public officials, by their control of or access to our government, have grown rich. Hillary and Bill Clinton notoriously are Exhibit A, but we are in the process of learning that the current front-runner in the Democratic sweepstakes for the 2020 nomination, Joe Biden, also managed successfully to siphon off a few million for himself and his family.

One way of understanding the still unbelievable hostility for Donald Trump is that he had made his fortune before entering government, and because he owes nothing to the denizens of the deep state and the swamp, they cannot control him. Thus the incessant attempts by the Democrats, and their allies in the federal bureaucracy and the mainstream media to neutralize this threat to their hegemony.

The Russia collusion hoax—which we now know was the product of a cabal in the Obama Administration in cooperation with the Clinton campaign—distracted much of the nation for two years, caused endless disturbance in the White House, wasted millions in the costs of the Mueller investigation, ruined many reputations, and quite possibly discouraged many Americans (especially during the 2018 elections) from supporting an administration innocent of the calumnies spun against it.

The spinning of calumnies continues apace, however, as the prize of control of the federal government is once again up for grabs in 2020. The Russia collusion hoax having failed, an immediate pivot toward the notion that the loathed Trump somehow “obstructed justice” in the course of special counsel Mueller’s investigation—an obstruction that many Democrats now argue should result in the impeachment and removal of the President—is now underway.

https://thefederalist.com/2019/05/02/democratic-socialists-communists-rally-international-workers-day/

While activists and 2020 Democratic candidates celebrate May Day, Venezuelans face starvation and violence under the consequences of socialism.

May 1st, also known as May Day or International Workers’ Day, brings the labor movement—socialists, communists, union people, and others—together in solidarity for the plight of workers everywhere. This informal and unrecognized international celebration has something for everyone on the Left. In South Carolina on Wednesday, 10,000 public educators marched on the state’s capital on Wednesday, while in Washington D.C., about 50 activists gathered at a local park.

May Day’s origins harken back to the 1886 Haymarket riots in Chicago, where police officers and civilians were killed during a labor rally. Decades later, European socialists and communists adopted May 1st as the day for workers’ struggle, but also as a propaganda tool to prop up their totalitarian rule.

Now, every year, demonstrations are held around the world to advocate for various workers’ rights, which can include anything from raising the minimum wage to calling for a radical overhaul of the economy and means of production. While teachers in South Carolina were demanding smaller class sizes and higher pay, D.C. organizations at plastic tables in Meridian Hill Park discussed abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) and Marxism.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-fear-of-william-barr-11556837637?mod=trending_now_5

The only thing uglier than an angry Washington is a fearful Washington. And fear is what’s driving this week’s blitzkrieg of Attorney General William Barr.

Mr. Barr tolerantly sat through hours of Democratic insults at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday. His reward for his patience was to be labeled, in the space of a news cycle, a lawbreaking, dishonest, obstructing hack. Speaker Nancy Pelosi publicly accused Mr. Barr of lying to Congress, which, she added, is “considered a crime.” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said he will move to hold Mr. Barr in contempt unless the attorney general acquiesces to the unprecedented demand that he submit to cross-examination by committee staff attorneys. James Comey, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, lamented that Donald Trump had “eaten” Mr. Barr’s “soul.” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren demands the attorney general resign. California Rep. Eric Swalwell wants him impeached.

These attacks aren’t about special counsel Robert Mueller, his report or even the surreal debate over Mr. Barr’s first letter describing the report. The attorney general delivered the transparency Democrats demanded: He quickly released a lightly redacted report, which portrayed the president in a negative light. What do Democrats have to object to?Some of this is frustration. Democrats foolishly invested two years of political capital in the idea that Mr. Mueller would prove President Trump had colluded with Russia, and Mr. Mueller left them empty-handed. Some of it is personal. Democrats resent that Mr. Barr won’t cower or apologize for doing his job. Some is bitterness that Mr. Barr is performing like a real attorney general, making the call against obstruction-of-justice charges rather than sitting back and letting Democrats have their fun with Mr. Mueller’s obstruction innuendo.  CONTINUE AT SITE