Sent to me by a very long standing friend and fellow memo reader who sees a potential conspiracy. (See 1 below.)
I am not willing to jump to conclusions about Mueller's bias regarding how he is stacking the deck of his staff with pro Democrat contributors. It does raise questions why he did not seek to staff with non- contributors. Time will tell.
We know Comey's previous appointment of attorney Fitzgerald ended in Scooter Libby being charged for something beyond what he was being investigated for and we know how vicious partisan Justice Department attorneys can be from past episodes/unsuccessful trials.
The entire case against Trump and others has proven to be based on co-ordinated hysteria, backed up by the mass media and based on nothing truly factual just bias and co-ordinated hypothesis
The case against Mueller is suppositional but the circumstances surrounding it are looking more and more suspicious. (See 1a below.)
===
Lies from the PA regarding martyr payments? (See 2 below.)
++++++++++++++++++++
The deceased shooter suspect, James Hodgkinson, seems to have been influenced by liberal philosophy and was a Sanders' supporter..
It seems, and I could be wrong, but more angry and radical liberal pro- Democrats seem to kill with guns. . Just an unproven observation. (See 3 below.)
The anger emanating from the anti-Trump crowd has reached sick proportions. Also look to what is happening on our college and university campuses. America has become one angry and divided nation. Sad.
+++++++++++++++++
Food for thought. (See 4 below.)
Meanwhile, Trump debunks Obama's basis for terrorism. (See 4a below.)
+++++++++++++++++++++
Remove the fog from the Paris Climate Debate. Trump's withdrawal was based on a sound Constitutional basis. I submit he does not have his head in the clouds. (See 5 below.)
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Have we come to this? (See 6 below.)
++++++++++++++++
Dick
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1)
DHS IG Is Investigating The Attempted DHS Hack Of Georgia’s Voting System
Back in November, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp discovered that DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson and his merry band of fascists were out for pay back. In August, Johnson had offered Georgia and other states “assistance” in security their voting systems. Most declined. Kemp, though, has the highest profile among state officials who wanted to keep the feds out of their business. Shortly after the election, as rumors of Russian hacking were being spread by the Obama administration, the people that manage cyber security for Kemp’s office noticed someone trying to hack their system. Not one. Not twice. But at least ten different times. They traced the IP address and found it belonged to… surprise… DHS.
Kemp complained to Johnson. In the course of explaining what happened, Johnson, being the f***wit that he is, gave conflicting explanations and even disavowed his own explanations:
Johnson has given several explanations for the attempted intrusion. One was that an unnamed contracted who hit the site “as part of his normal job duties” to confirm professional licenses.The former secretary hedged his response in a Dec. 12 letter, telling Kemp, “This is an interim response to your inquiry, subject to change.”Kemp said the DHS answers have continued to change over time, and the department has been unwilling to identify the contractor.“First they said it was an individual in Corpus Christi Texas who worked for border patrol that had a bug in his Microsoft software that was causing it. And then they moved off of that, and said that it was somebody in Georgia at FLETCO down in Gleynn County on the coast of Georgia.”
Now things have gotten more serious. The DHS IG has informed Kemp that he’s investigating the hack attempts.
John Roth, inspector general for DHS, wants to know why the agency broke protocol on its way to 10 unprecedented attacks on the system overseen by Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp — who is also one of the most vocal critics about the Obama administration’s attempt to designate local and state election machinery as part of federal “critical infrastructure.”A Jan. 17 letter from Roth notified Kemp his office was officially “investigating a series of ten alleged scanning events of the Georgia Secretary of State’s network that may have originated from DHS-affiliated IP addresses.” A firewall in Georgia’s system thwarted each attempt.…Title 18 of the federal code makes it a federal crime to “having knowingly accessed a computer without authorization” and to damage or impair the integrity or availability of data, a program, a system, or information. The penalty could be a fine and up to 20 years for each offense.Georgia also has several computer fraud and abuse statutes that could apply to the DHS contract employee and to other officials in Georgia who are implicated in the effort. Four of the 10 attacks against the Georgia network occurred as Kemp was about to talk to DHS officials, or coincided with his public testimony about his opposition to the critical infrastructure designation.“It’s certainly concerning about the dates,” Kemp told TheDCNF in an interview. Kemp said he hopes the Inspector General gets to the bottom of the attacks and determines if there is a possibility the hacks were timed to intimidate him.
I hope we see more of this. Under Obama many federal agencies became accustomed to operating outside the law with total impunity. An IG investigation and disciplinary action or criminal charges will go a long way towards correcting the balance of power.
1a) The Russia Investigation Took A Disturbing Turn For The Worse With This Development
The Russia investigation has entered a new phase.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s decisions are raising red flags.
And the probe has taken a frightening turn that exposes Trump and his team to serious legal jeopardy.
It’s becoming clearer every day Mueller’s investigation is hopelessly biased against Trump and doesn’t exist to find facts, but to find guilt.
He’s stocking his team of investigators with rabidly partisan Democrats – including two who financially contributed to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Presidential campaign.
LifeZette reports:
FOUR TOP LAWYERS HIRED BY MUELLER HAVE CONTRIBUTED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OVER THE YEARS TO THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES, INCLUDING FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA AND PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S 2016 OPPONENT, HILLARY CLINTON.ONE OF THE HIRES, JEANNIE RHEE, ALSO WORKED AS A LAWYER FOR THE CLINTON FOUNDATION AND HELPED PERSUADE A FEDERAL JUDGE TO BLOCK A CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST’S ATTEMPTS TO FORCE BILL AND HILLARY CLINTON TO ANSWER QUESTIONS UNDER OATH ABOUT OPERATIONS OF THE FAMILY-RUN CHARITY
CAMPAIGN-FINANCE REPORTS SHOW THAT RHEE GAVE CLINTON THE MAXIMUM CONTRIBUTIONS OF $2,700 IN 2015 AND AGAIN LAST YEAR TO SUPPORT HER PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. SHE ALSO DONATED $2,300 TO OBAMA IN 2008 AND $2,500 IN 2011. WHILE STILL AT THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, SHE GAVE $250 TO THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE SERVICES CORP.
RHEE ALSO HAS CONTRIBUTED TO A TRIO OF DEMOCRATIC SENATORS: MARK UDALL OF NEW MEXICO, CHRIS VAN HOLLEN OF MARYLAND, AND SHELDON WHITEHOUSE OF RHODE ISLAND.
JAMES QUARLES, WHO WORKED ON THE WATERGATE INVESTIGATION AS A YOUNG PROSECUTOR, HAS AN EVEN LONGER HISTORY OF SUPPORTING DEMOCRATIC POLITICIANS. HE GAVE $1,300 TO OBAMA IN 2007 AND $2,300 IN 2008. HE ALSO GAVE $2,700 TO CLINTON LAST YEAR…
… ANDREW WEISSMANN, A FORMER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT LAWYER WHO NOW IS AT JENNER & BLOCK, CONTRIBUTED $2,300 TO OBAMA IN 2008 AND $2,000 TO THE DNC SERVICES CORP. IN 2006. WEISSMANN SERVED AS CHIEF OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT’S CRIMINAL FRAUD SECTION AND WORKED ON THE ENRON FRAUD CASE.
A FOURTH LAWYER ON MUELLER’S STAFF, MICHAEL DREEBEN, DONATED $1,000 TO CLINTON 2006 AND $250 TO OBAMA IN BOTH 2007 AND 2008. HE WAS DEPUTY SOLICITOR GENERAL AND HAS APPEARED MANY TIMES BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT.”
Newt Gingrich first raised these objections on Twitter.
REPUBLICANS ARE DELUSIONAL IF THEY THINK THE SPECIAL COUNSEL IS GOING TO BE FAIR. LOOK WHO HE IS HIRING.CHECK FEC REPORTS. TIME TO RETHINK.
— NEWT GINGRICH (@NEWTGINGRICH) JUNE 12, 2017
Mueller’s objectivity has been called into question.
He is close friends with former FBI Director Jim Comey.
Comey testified that he arranged the leak of a memo describing an encounter with Trump so a special counsel would be appointed.
He manipulated events that ended up with a close friend of his investigating a President whom Comey called a liar and clearly harbors ill feelings toward.
That, piled on top of Mueller’s decision to hire hard charging partisan Democrats to investigate Trump, has fatally compromised the investigation.
It’s exactly what Donald Trump said it was – a witch hunt.
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2)
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Did the PA lie to the US Secretary of State?
Contrary to what the US was told, Abbas and PA officials tell Palestinians that the salaries will never be stopped:
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Contrary to the statement by US State Secretary Rex Tillerson that the Palestinian Authority's "intent [is] to cease the payments" to families of terrorist "Martyrs" who "have committed murder or violence against others," PA leaders are denying that they will stop financially rewarding the terrorists. The PLO Director of Prisoners' Affairs' Commission, said today:
"In response to American Secretary of State [Rex Tillerson's] statements about stopping the allowances... Karake emphasized that the Palestinian leadership will not submit to any pressure, and that the aid to the families of the prisoners and Martyrs is a national, moral, and human responsibility. He also rejected all the terms and concepts that define the prisoners and Martyrs as 'terrorists.'"
[Sawa, independent Palestinian news agency, June 14, 2017]
According to the 2016 PA budget, the PA currently pays 26,800 families of "Martyrs" 660 million shekels ($183 million) per year, and 6,500 terrorist prisoners receive PA salaries amounting to 486 million shekels ($135 million) per year.
Following Abbas' meeting with US Pres. Trump, Palestinian leaders have repeatedly vowed to the Palestinian people that the salaries will not be stopped. These assurances have come from Abbas himself as well, as described by PLO Prisoners' Affairs' Commission director, Issa Karake:
"The President [Abbas] emphasized his absolute refusal of the Israeli demands to stop the allowances of the families of the prisoners and Martyrs (Shahids), and emphasized his absolute support for them (i.e., for the payments).'"
[Amad, independent Palestinian news website, April 29, 2017]
Responding to a bill proposed in Israel that mandates deducting from the taxes Israel collects on behalf of the PA a sum equivalent to the sum the PA pays in terrorist salaries, Issa Karake repeated that the PA will continue rewarding terrorists with salaries. He also called Israel's proposed bill "a declaration of war against our people's rights and the humanity of the Palestinians."
"Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake responded to [the independent Palestinian news agency] Wattan... about the fact that the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a bill to deduct the money that the PA pays as allowances (mukhassasat) to the prisoners, Martyrs' (Shahids') families, and wounded from the tax money that Israel collects for the PA. He said that they will continue to support them and will not submit to the Israeli pressure and blackmail.
Karake explained that the decision to transfer the allowances of the prisoners and Martyrs' families is in the PA's hands, and not in Israel's hands."
[Wattan, independent Palestinian news agency, June 11, 2017, emphasis added]
Karake: "The transfer of the allowances to the Martyrs' families and prisoners will continue, and we will not submit to the Israeli pressures. We will adhere to the aid to the prisoners and Martyrs' families, because they are victims of the occupation."
[WAFA, official PA news agency, June 13, 2017]
"Karake said that the decision of the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation... to approve a bill to deduct [from the Palestinian tax revenues Israel collects for the PA] the allowances of the families of the prisoners, Martyrs, and wounded is a declaration of war against our people's rights and the humanity of the Palestinians."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 13, 2017, emphasis added]
Note that Karake also stressed that the decision to transfer payments to terrorists is made by the PA. Previously, the PA has pretended to foreign donors that it no longer pays salaries to terrorists at all and that this is dealt with solely by the PLO. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that this is untrue, showing the money transfers from the PA's budget to the PLO to cover terrorist salaries. Abbas has since admitted to Norway's Foreign Minister that the PA is in fact still paying the salariesKarake added that if necessary, the PA will ask "Arab and Islamic states" for funding to cover the salaries to prisoners:
"Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake emphasized that the Palestinian leadership will not agree to blackmail and bargaining over everything regarding the matter of the prisoners and Martyrs, and the financial support that the leadership provides to them. He also emphasized that the Palestinian leadership will continue to support the prisoners and the [families of] the Martyrs... He noted that it is possible that the Palestinian leadership will turn to the Arab and Islamic states to compensate for the deduction of the money meant for the prisoners and the [families of the] Martyrs."
[Donia Al-Watan, independent Palestinian news agency, June 11, 2017]
Other PLO officials have also repeated that the salaries will continue untouched:
"Secretary-General of the [Palestinian] Popular Struggle Front (PPSF) and member of the PLO Executive Committee Dr. Ahmed Majdalani said that... [Israel's] ordering to deduct the money that the PA pays as allowances (mukhassasat) to the prisoners and Martyrs' families, are a type of robbery and theft of the Palestinian taxpayers'
money... Majdalani calmed the prisoners and Martyrs' families [saying] that the Palestinian leadership will not submit to the occupation's laws and will continue to be loyal to the Martyrs' blood and the prisoners' suffering."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 13, 2017, emphasis added]
"PLO Executive Committee member and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) political bureau member Tayseer Khaled again emphasized the decision of the PLO Executive Committee in its latest meeting, which determined that the Palestinian National Fund will continue to stand by its national and humanitarian responsibility towards the families of the Martyrs (Shahids) and wounded of the Palestinian people and the families of the prisoners in the Israeli collective prisons."
[Amad, independent Palestinian news website, June 12, 2017, emphasis added]
Reacting to the proposed Israeli bill described above, the PA Ministry of Information argued why terrorists deserve salaries:
"The Ministry emphasized that the Martyrs and prisoners are not highway robbers, but rather people who have sacrificed their lives and freedom for the resistance to the occupation."
The following are more examples of statements by Palestinian officials that the PA will not stop the salaries it pays to imprisoned terrorists and "Martyrs'" families:
Headline: "Karake: Deducting the allowances (mukhassasat) of the families of the prisoners, Martyrs, and wounded is a declaration of war"
"Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake said yesterday [June 12, 2017], during his meeting with families of prisoners and Martyrs (Shahids), that Israel as an occupying power can exploit its power to stop the Palestinian tax money to exert pressure and commit extortion. However, it cannot stop our national honor and our sacred right to freedom and defense of our people's rights...
Karake said that the decision of the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation in the Israeli Parliament (sic., government) on June 11, 2017, to approve a bill to deduct [from the Palestinian tax revenues Israel collects for the PA] the allowances of the families of the prisoners, Martyrs, and wounded is a declaration of war against our people's rights and the humanity of the Palestinians. He added that the strategic purpose of the decision is to delegitimize the Palestinian national struggle for the right to self-determination, and to consider the Palestinian resistance to the occupation, which is represented by the prisoners and Martyrs, as a crime and terror. This is while the longest occupation in modern history is the cruelest, most violent, and severest type of terror, and is the reason for terror and instability in the region."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 13, 2017]
Headline: "Karake: We're continuing to transfer the allowances to the prisoners and Martyrs' families"
"Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake emphasized that the transfer of the allowances to the Martyrs' (Shahids') families and prisoners will continue. He described the occupation government's attempt to authorize the theft of the allowances of the Palestinian prisoners and Martyrs' families from the PA's tax revenues as robbery (refers to a new bill to deduct PA salaries to terrorists from taxes Israel collects for the PA -Ed.), and emphasized that there will be a petition to the international legal system to sue the occupation government over this crime.
Karake told Radio Mawtini today (Tuesday) [June 13, 2017]: 'The occupation authorities have no right to hold the Palestinian tax revenues. The transfer of the allowances to the Martyrs' families and prisoners will continue, and we will not submit to the Israeli pressures. We will adhere to the aid to the prisoners and Martyrs' families, because they are victims of the occupation.'
The director of the Commission of Prisoners' Affairs... warned against the Israeli occupation government's attempt to delegitimize the Palestinian struggle and put it on the terror lists, by legalizing the robbery of the allowances of the prisoners and Martyrs' families."
[WAFA, official PA news agency, June 13, 2017]
Headline: "Majdalani called on countries to support the [PA] budget in response to Netanyahu's statements"
"Secretary-General of the [Palestinian] Popular Struggle Front (PPSF) and member of the PLO Executive Committee Dr. Ahmed Majdalani said that... [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's call to dismantle UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) and transfer its responsibility for the Palestinian refugees' issues to the [UN] High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the fact that the Israeli Parliament approved a bill (sic., the bill was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation under the Israeli government. The bill has not yet been approved by the Israeli Parliament -Ed.) ordering to deduct the money that the PA pays as allowances (mukhassasat) to the prisoners and Martyrs' (Shahids') families, are a type of robbery and theft of the Palestinian taxpayers' money...
Majdalani calmed the prisoners and Martyrs' families [saying] that the Palestinian leadership will not submit to the occupation's laws and will continue to be loyal to the Martyrs' blood and the prisoners' suffering."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 13, 2017]
Headline: "The [PA] Ministry of Information: The Martyrs, injured, and prisoners are an unavoidable outcome of the legitimate resistance"
"The [PA] Ministry of Information said that the bill of what is called the Ministerial Committee for Legislation in the Israeli Parliament (this refers to the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation approving a bill to deduct a sum that equals the PA's terrorist salaries from taxes Israel collects for the PA. The bill has not yet been passed by the Israeli Parliament -Ed.) on deducting the allowances of the prisoners, the wounded, and the families of the Martyrs (Shahids) from the PA tax revenues is political extortion that is added to the occupation's record, which is overflowing with cases of robbery of the [Palestinian] people's resources.
The ministry emphasized that the Martyrs and prisoners are not highway robbers, but rather people who have sacrificed their lives and freedom for the resistance to the occupation, which has been approved by all of the laws, and which all peoples of the world have carried out throughout history in order to be rid of colonialism.
The ministry said that Israel defining the Martyrs, wounded, and prisoners [as terrorists] proves the extent of terror and incitement, which ignores the fact that the occupation is the reason, and the sacrifices of the [Palestinian] people and its struggle are an unavoidable outcome and a natural response."
[Ma'an, independent Palestinian news agency, June 12, 2017]
Headline: "Karake: We will not agree to blackmail and will continue to support the prisoners and Martyrs"
"Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake emphasized that the Palestinian leadership will not agree to blackmail and bargaining over everything regarding the matter of the prisoners and Martyrs (Shahids), and the financial support that the leadership provides to them. He also emphasized that the Palestinian leadership will continue to support the prisoners and the [families of] the Martyrs.
Karake said to [independent Palestinian news agency] Donia Al-Watan that the Palestinian leadership will not agree to surrender to the Israeli pressure and its racist laws that are attempting to delegitimize the struggle of the prisoners and Martyrs. He noted that the Israeli occupation is striving to present their struggle as 'crime and terror.'
He added: 'The best response to the occupation's racist laws is to continue to assist the families of the prisoners and Martyrs and to resist their delegitimization.' He emphasized that whatever the pressures may be, the Palestinian leadership will not surrender to them.'
He emphasized that this matter concerns the entire Palestinian people and its struggle for freedom and independence. He noted that it is possible that the Palestinian leadership will turn to the Arab and Islamic states to compensate for the deduction of the money meant for the prisoners and the [families of the] Martyrs. He also noted that there is no choice but to find Arab and Islamic alternatives so as not to leave the families of the prisoners and Martyrs in distress and poverty."
[Donia Al-Watan, independent Palestinian news agency, June 11, 2017]
Headline: "Karake to Wattan: The response to the confiscation of the tax money is to continue supporting the prisoners and Martyrs' families"
"Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake responded to [the independent Palestinian news agency] Wattan this evening, Sunday [June 11, 2017] about the fact that the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a bill to deduct the money that the PA pays as allowances (mukhassasat) to the prisoners, Martyrs' (Shahids') families, and wounded from the tax money that Israel collects for the PA. He said that they will continue to support them and will not submit to the Israeli pressure and blackmail.
Karake explained that the decision to transfer the allowances of the prisoners and Martyrs' families is in the PA's hands, and not in Israel's hands. However, if Israel will deduct large amounts from the tax money that it collects for the PA, that will influence the budget. He also noted that it is not only a financial matter, but also a legal [matter].
Karake added that the goal of the Israeli step is to delegitimize the struggle of the Palestinian people and present its legal struggle against the occupation as a criminal act, as if Israel is not an occupying state and anyone that resists it is a 'terrorist,' which contradicts international laws and human rights regulations.
Karake emphasized that it is the right of a people under occupation to resist it, and whoever is held captive is a freedom prisoner. In addition, he emphasized that the Palestinian people and the prisoners are under the authority of international law, and not under the authority of the occupation's laws."
[Wattan, independent Palestinian news agency, June 11, 2017]
Headline: "The prisoners' families in Gaza condemned the theft of the prisoners' allowances (mukhassasat) by the occupation"
"The prisoners' families condemned the racist Israeli decision to stop the prisoners' salaries (rawatib) (this refers to the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation approving a bill to deduct a sum that equals the PA's terrorist salaries from taxes Israel collects for the PA. The bill has not yet been passed by the Israeli Parliament -Ed.). They emphasized that their sons are struggling for freedom, and they are prisoners of war and not criminals, and that Israel is the one that commits organized terror against our people, our holy sites, and our land...
Fatah Movement [General] Commissioner for Prisoners' Affairs [in Gaza] released prisoner Tayseer Al-Bardini explained that this decision and Israeli law are not something new, as the occupation is always trying to burden our people and the prisoners, and to put them on the terror list even though they are struggling for freedom, just as has been anchored in the international conventions on human rights.
He emphasized that the PA's role in opposing this decision is in providing the salaries to the prisoners and putting an emphasis on the prisoners' rights and their ongoing path of struggle."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 13, 2017]
Headline: "Tayseer Khaled: Israel returns to robbing and pouncing on the Palestinian tax money"
"PLO Executive Committee member and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) political bureau member Tayseer Khaled again emphasized the decision of the PLO Executive Committee in its latest meeting, which determined that the Palestinian National Fund (see note below -Ed.) will continue to stand by its national and humanitarian responsibility towards the families of the Martyrs (Shahids) and wounded of the Palestinian people and the families of the prisoners in the Israeli collective prisons. This is the responsibility that the National Fund has borne since its establishment in 1966, as the national institution appointed to take care of the interests of the victims of the Israeli occupation and the terror that the State of Israel has been committing against the members of the Palestinian people since the first day of its establishment.
These statements came in response to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation in the Israeli Parliament approving a bill (sic., the bill was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation under the Israeli government. The bill has not yet been passed by the Israeli Parliament), according to which the allowances (mukhassasat) of the prisoners and their families and the families of the Palestinian Martyrs will be deducted from the tax money that the Israeli occupation state collects for the PA."
[Amad, independent Palestinian news website, June 12, 2017]
The following is an excerpt of US State Secretary Tillerson's statement that the PA intends to stop salaries to murderers:
Senator Jim Risch (R-ID): "Mr. Tillerson, those of us that sit on this committee and for that matter on an intelligence committee - one of the things, and I, this is not something that's a huge part of this budget, but, you know, there's money that goes to assistance to the Palestinian Authority, and the payments that have been made over the years from some of that money to the Palestinian Liberation Organization that they use to pay families of suicide bombers - I tell you that's like grating on a blackboard as far as a lot of us are concerned. I'm sure that's on your radar, and I realize that there's other sides of that as far as those payments into the West Bank or into Gaza, but this is something that really galls on us, and anything you can do about that would be greatly appreciated."
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: "Well let me assure you, Senator, it was discussed directly when [PA] President [Mahmoud] Abbas made his visit with his delegation to Washington. The President [Donald Trump] raised it but then I had a bilateral, a much more detailed bilateral [meeting] with him later that day, and I told him: 'You absolutely must stop making payments to family members of, quote, "Martyrs."' I said [to Abbas] 'it's one thing to help orphans and children, but when you designate the payment for that act, that has to stop.' They [the PA] have changed their policy, at least I have been informed they have changed that policy, and they are, their intent is to cease the payments to the family members of those who have committed murder or violence against others. So, it is - we've been very clear with them that this is simply not acceptable to us. It is certainly not acceptable to the American people."
Jim Risch: "Well, and Mr. Abbas probably has something to say about the West Bank, but you get deep into Gaza, I don't know how much influence he's got there."
Rex Tillerson: "Well, and I would say in Gaza we are working with others who have provided assistance and funding into Gaza, much of which is, as you know, it's to relieve the humanitarian problem, rebuilding homes, hospitals, schools. But there's always a lot of leakage of that money. So we're working carefully with others as to how do you help, and the Israeli government is supportive of stabilizing Gaza by providing these type of humanitarian actions; we just can't have the money leaking in to the hands of those who would commit violence with it."
Jim Risch: "Thanks for the job you're doing. Thank you Mr. Chairman."
Senator Bob Corker (R-TN): "Thank you, I do want to thank you for bringing up the Taylor Force issue, and I just want to say to the committee that it's my hope that before we go home for August recess that we will have passed out of committee a Taylor Force-like piece of legislation to address that issue, so thank you for raising it."
[Public hearing on 2018 US State Department budget
at Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 13, 2017]
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3)
Left-wing activist identified as suspect who shot GOP congressman, DC police
UPDATE: WASHINGTON (AP) — Gov’t official: Suspect in shooting of congressman in Virginia identified as Illinois man named James T. Hodgkinson.
UPDATE: WASHINGTON (AP) — Gov’t official: Suspect in shooting of congressman in Virginia identified as Illinois man named James T. Hodgkinson.
Hodgkinson’s Facebook page features a banner image of Senator Bernie Sanders and a profile picture about Democratic Socialism. His profile picture says, “Democratic Socialism explained in 3 words: ‘We the People’ Since 1776.”
Hodgkinson is a Belleville, Illinois, native, according to his Facebook page. He owns a company, JTH Inspections, also called JTH Construction, and studied at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.
The shooter was James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, who belonged to a number of anti-Republican groups, including one called “Terminate the Republican Party.”“I Want to Say Mr. President, for being an ass hole you are Truly the Biggest Ass Hole We Have Ever Had in the Oval Office,” he wrote on Facebook.
– Belleville News-Democrat
Hodgkinson’s Facebook page features a banner image of Senator Bernie Sanders and a profile picture about Democratic Socialism. His profile picture says, “Democratic Socialism explained in 3 words: ‘We the People’ Since 1776.”
Hodgkinson is a Belleville, Illinois, native, according to his Facebook page. He owns a company, JTH Inspections, also called JTH Construction, and studied at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++The shooter was James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, who belonged to a number of anti-Republican groups, including one called “Terminate the Republican Party.”“I Want to Say Mr. President, for being an ass hole you are Truly the Biggest Ass Hole We Have Ever Had in the Oval Office,” he wrote on Facebook.
– Belleville News-Democrat
4) Diversity Is Bunk
I attended one of the premier educational institutions in the United States in the nineteen fifties: P.S. 104 on the corner of 95th Street and Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. It’s still there. But as Dr. Thomas Sowell said about one he attended in those years, it might be the “same building” but it’s not the “same school.”
Despite the fact that my wonderful grandmother was a native Swedish speaker P.S. 104 didn’t feel compelled to celebrate my “heritage” the way it would today. They taught me where Sweden was because we studied geography (and don’t we wish our children still did) but not to put too fine a point on it, they knew I wasn’t growing up in Stockholm. I had a friend whose father was a senior NCO at the Fort Hamilton Army Base a few blocks away and nobody went lyrical about how he, just by being black and therefore “different”, enriched our educational experience either. I had another friend whose father had flown a Focke-Wulf 200 multi-engine bomber for the Luftwaffe during WWII and it goes without saying that there wasn’t a chance in hell of anybody applauding his antecedents. Or for that matter the fact that another’s father was deputy something-or-other at the Yugoslav mission to the United Nations, another’s a survivor of the Holocaust or maybe just up from Puerto Rico with the family hoping to start a better life.
None of that mattered
Instead the school simply thought it should do its job. Shape every kind of child white, black, brown, short, tall, skinny, kids with Coke-bottle glasses, kids dragging one leg behind them into useful citizens by teaching them how to read and write English well while at the same time having them master eight years of arithmetic, penmanship, history, and civics. And boy weren’t they lucky if they got to do just half that because most of us, the boys at least, would much rather be playing stickball or dangling a crab net off the sea wall in Shore Road Park
.
Of course, in looking back I see that that principal (there were no administrators then) and those teachers did themselves proud, and that I loved them.
Flash forward fifty years. A long piece appears in The New York Daily News entitled: "We’re ready for real diversity." It’s author is Shino Tanikawa a mother of two in public schools in Manhattan who has a completely different, but now very popular take on things. Below is an excerpt:
Linetsky asserts that "survey data collected in the three Nigerian states most affected by Boko Haram (Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe) show that Islam is not a major factor in motivating recruits. Unemployment, not religiosity, is the best predictor of support for the terrorist group."
Rather than distributing aid to potential terrorist recruits, the West should devote its efforts to understanding and combating the ideology that attracts the recruits and defeating the organizations that disseminate it.Linetsky's solution to Nigeria's Boko Haram problem is not to address the repressive ideology it feeds off of, nor is it to kill its soldiers. He is a proponent of USAID "soft power" by way of "development projects, job training, educational programming, and dispute resolution programs." But Boko Haram isn't waging jihad against infidels because the Nigerian government and ours fail to provide them with good opportunities to work.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I might add we no longer allow kids to play in the yard and eat dirt etc. Consequently they are more susceptible to various viruses because their immune systems have not been challenged. The same theories that motivated Dr. Spock to ruin entire generations of children is the same kind of thinking that is behind climate change.
Call me a neanderthal.
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I also wanted my daughters, who are mixed race, to recognize and embrace their Japanese heritage, and not be ashamed of it as I was in my 20s (a rather stereotypical Asian response to a white-dominant society). For this to happen, I knew they needed to be in a racially diverse environment where they were not the only ones who are “different.”
I knew that public schools are where my children could meet and befriend people who are not like them; there aren’t many other places like that, even in a city known as a melting pot. So I sought out schools with diverse student bodies, and that’s what I got — though in this city, where kids tend to cluster by background, it wasn’t easy to find.
Mixing works. Both my daughters learned a great deal from attending elementary schools where classes had two grades or students with and without disabilities learning together.
What they learned does not show up in their test scores. Rather, they have the ability to see strengths in all people, particularly the ones society might label “difficult.” And they have humility about their status in this society.
By the time my younger daughter started the middle school application process in 2012, I was consciously looking for schools with racial diversity.
My spreadsheet of schools (yes, I am one of those moms) had columns for racial demographics. She was offered a seat at a middle school with a student body that is representative of the whole district racially and socioeconomically, as well as in proportions of English Language Learners and Students with Disabilities.
The school also had a diverse faculty. Her eighth-grade academic teachers were all women of color (a magical year that was!). Being a parent in this middle school deepened my awareness and understanding of racial issues as well as my own racial identity as a woman of color.
First of all, I have a real problem with her expecting readers to believe that (with a fist in the eye and a little sob) she “wanted [her] daughters, who are mixed race, to recognize and embrace their Japanese heritage, and not be ashamed of it as I was in my 20s...”
Because I have six children, four of who are married, three of whom are married to either Vietnamese or Japanese partners. My wife and I, Irish/Irish and Irish/Swedish, are card-carrying members of that (I assume oppressive) “white-dominant society” and we couldn’t be happier with those marriages or imagine life without them and most particularly without the grandchildren of those marriages. But that’s not my point. I spent a year in Japan. I’ve worked with both Japanese immigrants and sojourners, I’ve read Japanese history, my youngest grandson is growing up bilingual and spends a month every year with his blood relatives in Japan and if there’s a Japanese soul somewhere besides this woman Tanikawa on the planet who is “ashamed” of Japanese society or culture I haven’t yet encountered them.
Okay, nonsense aside, what lessons can we draw from her passionate advocacy? One is that we’ve heard it all before. Liberals have, in a very childlike fashion, conflated the sometimes widely different origins immigrants have with the economic and cultural success of America. America is the most successful nation on the planet, America is a nation of immigrants, ipso facto the secret of even more achievement is even more diversity.
Our strength is our diversity as the saying goes.
The nation made a big mistake forty or fifty years ago when it allowed liberals to give up teaching history, because if they hadn’t maybe most of us would remember that America was never about diversity at all. Instead, it was about what happened to me as a child. About being processed by an immensely powerful social and cultural machine operating from get-go in order to root out the diversity from among us and after stigmatizing it, strangle the thing dead.
A machine that taught us only one language, the English language, one non-denominational evangelistic Christianity (big exception carved out for Jews), one history that begins with the Pilgrims and Captain John Smith and ended with America saving the world, one system of English weights and measures, one reference to one common law, one Constitution ordained by one God -- and speaking of God, he taught us at every possible opportunity that he not only made America good but better than any other place in the world.
And so, in point of fact, there wasn’t much diversity about it at all.
Which is why Alexis De Tocqueville opened his Book Two with the observation that “…in no country in the civilized world is less attention paid to philosophy (today we might say ideology) than in the United States.”
Because there was only one tolerated.
Listen to Israel Zangwill’s famous 1904 play The Melting Pot in which he greeted new arrivals to this amazing nation of ours:
…here you stand in your fifty groups, with your fifty languages and histories, and your fifty blood hatreds and rivalries. But you won't be long like that, brothers, for these are the fires of God you've come to -- these are the fires of God. A fig for your feuds and vendettas! Germans and Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians -- into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American.
And that was and is America’s historic strength, not diversity but an enforced commonality of value.
Diversity doesn’t get you to the Moon.
Diversity is bunk.
The creed of someone who doesn’t know -- either who they are or who they put here to be.
Richard F. Miniter lives and writes in the Colonial era hamlet of Stone Ridge New York and may be reached at miniterhome@gmail.com. The acclaimed author of The Things I Want Most his most recent book What Sort Of Parents Should We Be?: A Man’s Guide To Raising Exceptional Children is now available Here.
4a) Jihad of the Jobless?
by A.J. Caschetta
In Riyadh last month, US President Donald Trump broke from the usual script of an American president addressing a Muslim audience. Predictably, he urged the assembled leadership of the Muslim world to fight terrorism, but he also named "the ideology that drives it."
Revealing a canny understanding of the lure of martyrdom and the myths of Islamic paradise, Trump boldly urged Muslim religious leaders to preach a clear message: "If you choose the path of terror, your life will be empty, your life will be brief, and your soul will be fully condemned."
This flies in the face of the media-Hollywood belief that US foreign policy and Western culture cause terrorism, and the dominant view in academia that suicide terrorism is unrelated to Islam. Terrorists are often quite candid about why they are fighting us, yet we continue to search for "the root causes that lead people to join these groups," as president Barack Obama's State Department spokesperson Marie Harf phrased it.. Harf offered "lack of opportunity for jobs" as one of those root causes.
Proponents of this view recently celebrated "scientific proof" for their assertions.
Zuri Linetsky and his colleagues at the polling agency ORB International have studied the Nigerian Al-Qaeda franchise-turned-ISIS-affiliate Boko Haram and concluded that "religious identification tells us little about whether an individual is likely to sympathize with extremists, [but] employment status tells us a lot."
Linetsky asserts that "survey data collected in the three Nigerian states most affected by Boko Haram (Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe) show that Islam is not a major factor in motivating recruits. Unemployment, not religiosity, is the best predictor of support for the terrorist group."
Linetsky's argument fails to examine the circumstances that enabled Boko Haram to come into existence and allow it to endure. For not all of Nigeria has the same problem – Boko Haram's recruits come only from the North, where the population is mostly Muslim and where 12 states have adopted Sharia law. Linetsky might consider studying the connection between lack of job opportunities and imposition of Sharia law. In Afghanistan, the Taliban's 1996 imposition of Sharia law ended all job opportunities for all women, none of whom joined the Taliban.
While unemployment is no doubt a factor in some individuals' motivations to join terrorist groups, the conventional wisdom that terrorism is caused by poverty and a lack of education was statistically dismantled by Marc Sageman in Understanding Terrorist Networks (2004). But the theory never really passed the sniff test for informed and objective observers given the plethora of wealthy engineers, physicians and scholars (and the dearth of goatherds) populating the terrorism hall of fame, as well as the readily observable infrequency of terrorism in most of the world's poorest and least-educated countries. There are no Islamic State (ISIS) attachments or al-Qaida franchises in the Congo, Mozambique, Malawi, Burundi or Liberia, where unemployment is comparable to Nigeria.
Somalia has a long history of poverty and unemployment, far worse than Nigeria's, but there was no terrorism emanating from Somalia until Osama bin-Laden moved to the Sudan in 1991 and made partnerships with Somali warlords, such as Mohammad Farah Aidid, made infamous in the1993 raid leading to the events described in the Black Hawk Down book and film.
Linetsky equates terrorism with crime and conflates violent offensive jihad with other violent crimes like theft, muggings and gang-related turf wars. A case of adolescent ennui might lead an otherwise fine young lad to become a drug-runner, purse-snatcher or small time street thug, but boredom never turned anyone into a suicide bomber.
Rather than distributing aid to potential terrorist recruits, the West should devote its efforts to understanding and combating the ideology that attracts the recruits and defeating the organizations that disseminate it.Linetsky's solution to Nigeria's Boko Haram problem is not to address the repressive ideology it feeds off of, nor is it to kill its soldiers. He is a proponent of USAID "soft power" by way of "development projects, job training, educational programming, and dispute resolution programs." But Boko Haram isn't waging jihad against infidels because the Nigerian government and ours fail to provide them with good opportunities to work.
Trump got it exactly right – only by subverting the theological equation of martyrdom with paradise can we stop the global suicide bomber epidemic.
A.J. Caschetta is a Shillman-Ginsburg fellow at the Middle East Forum and a senior lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
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5)
The Constitutional Climate
Editorial of The New York Sun | June 1, 2017
The best part of President Trump’s remarks on America’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord came in respect of sovereignty. This was marked toward the end, when the President turned to what he called the “serious legal and constitutional issues.” Say what you will about the climate, the president is not sworn to it.
No, the president is sworn to the Constitution. It clearly bothers Mr. Trump, as it does us, that, as he put it, “Foreign leaders in Europe, Asia, and across the world should not have more to say with respect to the U.S. economy than our own citizens and their elected representatives.” He called our withdrawal from the agreement ”a reassertion of America’s sovereignty.”
This kind of talk is music to our ears —and not just ours, we’ll warrant. “Our Constitution is unique among all the nations of the world, and it is my highest obligation and greatest honor to protect it,” Mr. Trump vowed. “And I will.” He then marked that the agreement could “pose serious obstacles for the United States as we begin the process of unlocking the restrictions on America’s abundant energy reserves, which we have started very strongly.”
“It would once have been unthinkable that an international agreement could prevent the United States from conducting its own domestic economic affairs, but this is the new reality we face if we do not leave the agreement or if we do not negotiate a far better deal. The risks grow as historically these agreements only tend to become more and more ambitious over time.”
This is the talk of a proper president. And what a contrast to President Obama’s statement. Not one mention of constitutional principles. Not one mention of the sovereignty issue. Mr. Obama suggests Mr. Trump is lagging the private sector. But Mr. Trump has put no brakes on the ability of private enterprise to try to make and sell solutions to any climate problem. Mr. Trump is neither sneering at the concerns of the climate movement, nor denying science.
Mr. Trump made it clear that he is prepared to resume negotiations over a climate pact that stops short of his constitutional redlines. It’s the same tack he has taken in respect of trade. The fact is that millions of Americans get his concern. It echoes what was bothering the British when they voted for independence. He is not rejecting the future, but he insists on going into it true to his constitutional oath.
6) HIGH SCHOOL -- 1957 vs 2016
Scenario 1:Jack goes duck hunting before school and then pulls into the school parking lot with his shotgun in his truck's gun rack.1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.2016 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in fortraumatized students and teachers.Scenario 2:Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.2016 - Police called and SWAT team arrives -- they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged with assault and bothexpelled - even though Johnny started it .Scenario 3:Jeffrey will not be in class, he disrupts other students.1957 - Jeffrey sent to the Principal's office and given a good paddling by the Principal. He then returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.2016 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADD. The family gets extra money (SSI) from the government because Jeffrey has a disability.Scenario 4:Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping.1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman.2016 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy's sister that sheremembers being spanked herself and their dad goes to prison.Scenario 5:Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.1957 - Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock .2016 - The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is then searched for drugs and weapons.Scenario 6:Pedro fails high school English.1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English and goes to college.2016 - Pedro's cause is taken up by a radical group.Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files a class action lawsuit against the state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English is then banned from the basic curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway, but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.Scenario 7:Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up a red ant bed.1957 - Ants die.2016 - ATF, Homeland Security and the FBI are all called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates his parents - and allsiblings are removed from their home. All computers are confiscated. Johnny's dad is placed on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.Scenario 8:Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee . He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs and comfort him.1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.2016 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.
I might add we no longer allow kids to play in the yard and eat dirt etc. Consequently they are more susceptible to various viruses because their immune systems have not been challenged. The same theories that motivated Dr. Spock to ruin entire generations of children is the same kind of thinking that is behind climate change.
Call me a neanderthal.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
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