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Long past the time for an overwhelming response. It is time to level Gaza. (See 1, 1a and 1b below.)
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I do not write much of what I post. I simply do it to make you think. (See 2 and 2a below.)
Other op eds's of interest:
When the vote to incorporate came about regarding Skidaway, I voted for because I wanted this lovely community to have more control over its destiny and future development. Money flowed in from developers and I lost.
Now a new bank is coming and a third retirement community is being built on some 36 plus acres. Be careful what you vote for. You may soon get it in spades.
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Dick
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1)
Amidror: Iran behind the Gaza escalation
By HERB KEINON
M302 rockets found aboard the Klos C ship are displayed at an Israeli navy base in the Red Sea resort city of Eilat March 10, 2014. The ship seized by the Israeli navy on suspicion of smuggling arms from Iran to the Gaza Strip docked on Saturday in Israel, which planned to put the cargo on display i (photo credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS)
“Why did the Islamic Jihad do this?” Yaakov Amidror asked. “The answer is again and again and again -- Iran.”
Iran, through Islamic Jihad -- its proxy in Gaza -- is behind the current escalation in the south, former National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror said on Sunday.
Amidror, in a conversation with The israel Project, traced the current round of massive rocket fire on Israel to Friday, when Islamic Jihad fired on Israeli soldiers patrolling the Gaza border, wounding two officers. Israel responded and killed two Hamas men. And then the rocket barrage began from Gaza.
What made Friday's shooting on the IDF patrol interesting, Amidror said, was that it took place precisely when Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders were in Cairo putting the finishing touches on an agreement drawn up by Egypt that was designed to ease the tension in the south.
But while in Cairo, Islamic Jihad fired on the soldiers, which at first the organization tried to deny responsibility for.
“Why did the Islamic Jihad do this?” Amidror asked. “The answer is again and again and again -- Iran.”
Amidror, in a conversation with The israel Project, traced the current round of massive rocket fire on Israel to Friday, when Islamic Jihad fired on Israeli soldiers patrolling the Gaza border, wounding two officers. Israel responded and killed two Hamas men. And then the rocket barrage began from Gaza.
What made Friday's shooting on the IDF patrol interesting, Amidror said, was that it took place precisely when Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders were in Cairo putting the finishing touches on an agreement drawn up by Egypt that was designed to ease the tension in the south.
But while in Cairo, Islamic Jihad fired on the soldiers, which at first the organization tried to deny responsibility for.
“Why did the Islamic Jihad do this?” Amidror asked. “The answer is again and again and again -- Iran.”
Islamic Jihad, unlike Hamas, is a completely owned and operated Iranian subsidiary, Amidror said. “It was established by Iran, financed by Iran, and does what Iran wants it to do.”
Iran's interest, Amidror said, is for Israel to embark on another major operation in Gaza, freeing up Iran to do what it wants unhindered in Syria. The Iranian idea, he said, is that “Israel will be busy focusing on Gaza and not have enough energy to deal with the building up of an independent war machine in Syria.”
Iranian pressure, Amidror hinted, is the only explanation why Islamic Jihad would fire on an IDF patrol while its leaders were in Cairo talking about an arrangement with israel.
Hamas, Amidror said, was “dragged” into the current escalation by Islamic Jihad. He added that whatever is agreed upon in Cairo, whatever arrangements are reached on regarding fishing rights, the economy, and the transfer of Qatari funds, “in the end of the day it will be destroyed by islamic Jihad if Hamas does not take control and do what it should as an organization that is in control of the Gaza Strip.”
Amidror, a former head of Military intelligence’s Research Department and currently a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies, said that Islamic Jihad miscalculated in thinking that Israel would not retaliate during the week of Remembrance Day, Independence Day and with the Eurovision song contest to be held a week in Tel Aviv from Tuesday until the following Saturday night.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
1a) Gearing up for days of fighting, IDF sends tank reinforcements to Gaza border
As over 450 rockets pummel Israel, military says it hit more than 220 targets in raids, including cross-border attack tunnel, underground Hamas rocket production facility
The Israeli military sent an additional tank brigade to the Gaza border on Sunday and prepared for fighting in the coming days after over 450 rockets and mortar shells were fired into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip over the course of 24 hours this weekend, killing an Israeli man and injuring several others.
In response to the attacks, the Israel Defense Forces said it bombed over 220 military targets in the Strip, causing considerable damage to terror groups’ facilities, but relatively few casualties in the densely populated coastal enclave.
The fighting began shortly after 9:30 a.m. Saturday, continuing into Sunday morning with a few hours-long periods of calm overnight.
The exchanges of Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli airstrikes appeared to slow on Sunday morning, but both sides said they would step up their retaliations if the other side’s attacks persisted.
An IDF spokesperson said the military sent its 7th Armored Brigade southward “so that there would be a force available in the Gaza Division in case there is a need for it.”
Another military spokesperson, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, said the IDF anticipated the fighting to continue for several more days.
The intense violence that engulfed the region over the weekend began on Friday evening, when a sniper in Gaza shot at two soldiers along the border, injuring them, and the military responded with a strike on a Hamas position that killed several members of the Islamist terror group.
The exchange of fire followed several weeks of relative calm between Israel and Gaza amid an unofficial armistice, which appeared to be breaking down as terrorists in the Strip stepped up their violent activities along the border in the days preceding the outbreak of fighting. Gaza terror groups said their actions were retaliation for Israel not abiding by the ceasefire agreement by halting the transfer of Qatari money into Gaza — a charge Jerusalem denied, blaming the delay on Qatar and the United Nations.
According to the IDF, approximately 70 percent of the more than 450 rockets and mortar shells fired at Israel struck open fields, where they caused neither injuries nor damage. Over 150 projectiles that were heading toward populated areas were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, the army said.
Despite what the military said was excellent performance by the Iron Dome, several projectiles directly struck houses and apartments or landed just outside them, including one that hit the courtyard of the home of Moshe Agadi, 58, a father of four, who was declared dead after being rushed to Ashkelon’s Barzilai hospital with shrapnel wounds at around 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
At least three rockets landed outside schools in southern Israel, which were empty due to the weekend. One of those strikes, outside a kindergarten in the southern town of Sderot, caused significant damage to the building overnight, as shrapnel from the projectile ripped through walls, windows and furniture inside the school.
The damage was not found until late Sunday morning as the kindergarten was closed for the weekend and was ordered shut by the military on Sunday as a precautionary measure. The kindergarten will remain closed and the children will be sent to another school until the building can be fixed, a Sderot municipal spokesperson said.
Agadi appeared to be the first Israeli fatality from Gazan rocket attacks since 2014’s war with terrorists based in the Strip. A Palestinian man working in Israel was killed in a rocket strike in Ashkelon in November.
The military said the vast majority of the projectiles fired from Gaza were launched by Hamas, which rules Gaza, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second-most-powerful terror group in the Strip. A smaller number were fired by other groups in Gaza.
The military said on Sunday that it had conducted some 220 retaliatory raids against targets connected to Hamas and the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad since Saturday and was continuing to do so on Sunday morning.
At least four Palestinian men in their 20s were reported killed in the Israeli strikes, all of whom were said to have been part of rocket launching teams.
Gazan authorities also blamed the deaths of a mother and her baby on Israel, but the IDF denied responsibility and said they were the result of a failed rocket launch.
“Based on our intelligence, we can confirm that they were killed by an accidental use of Hamas weaponry,” IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Sunday, referring to their deaths as “unfortunate.”
Conricus said it was “likely not the last case” of Palestinians blaming Israel for deaths that were actually caused by Hamas.
An explosion is seen among buildings during an Israeli airstike on Gaza City in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave on May 4, 2019. (Mahmud Hams / AFP)
The Israel Defense Forces said its strikes targeted an Islamic Jihad cross-border attack tunnel, the entry points to several other tunnels, a Hamas underground rocket production facility, weapons caches, military bases, observation posts, a cement factory used to produce the linings of tunnels and underground bunkers, and several multi-story buildings used by terror groups in the Strip.
On Sunday morning, the military released footage of what it said was its strike on the Hamas underground rocket factory. In the video, the initial bombing can be seen followed by what appear to be secondary explosions caused by the munitions in the facility.
Copied
The military said it also bombed several boats belonging to the naval commando units of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
“As part of the attack, a military base was hit, which had been used to house members of the Hamas naval commando unit and a military structure in the home of the commander of the naval commando unit in the city of Khan Younis, which housed tools for excavating military tunnels,” the army said.
In the strikes, the Israeli Air Force bombed several ostensibly civilian structures, including the homes of terrorist leaders where munitions were being stored in the cities of Khan Yonis, Rafah and the al-Shati refugee camp, as well as a mosque in al-Shati that the IDF says was used as a headquarters by the Islamic Jihad.
The Israeli military also flattened a building housing the offices of the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, prompting an outcry from Ankara. The IDF said the eight-story building was used by the Hamas and Islamic Jihad to conduct terrorist activities.
Another multi-story building in Rimal, which the IDF said housed Hamas’s military intelligence and domestic security service, was also destroyed in the strikes.
The Israeli army said it was prepared to continue conducting raids if the attacks from Gaza continued. Terror groups in the enclave made similar threats, saying they would attack deeper into Israel if the IDF continued its strikes.
Residents inspect the damage to a building in Gaza City, May 4, 2019. (AP/Adel Hana)
The United States said in a statement it backed Israel’s right to self-defense.
“The United States strongly condemns the ongoing barrage of rocket attacks by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad from Gaza upon innocent civilians and their communities across Israel. We call on those responsible for the violence to cease this aggression immediately,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.
The European Union’s ambassador to Israel, Emanuele Giaufret, sharply criticized the rocket attacks on Twitter, saying “firing indiscriminately against civilians (is) unacceptable.”
COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, also said it was closing the fishing zone off Gaza’s coast altogether and sealing Israel’s two land crossings — Kerem Shalom and Erez — with the coastal enclave.
The crossings are used by Palestinian medical patients to enter and exit the territory, and provide the main entry for cargo into the blockaded territory.
Diesel fuel and gasoline were allowed into Gaza through Kerem Shalom on Sunday despite the closure in order to “prevent the civilian-humanitarian deterioration of the Strip,” an Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Hamas in a statement said it was “prepared to respond to Israel’s crimes” and vowed to stop it from “spilling the blood of our people.” Islamic Jihad threatened to disrupt the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, due to take place in Tel Aviv May 14-18, as well as issuing a video threatening the Dimona nuclear facility, Ben Gurion Airport and other sensitive sites in Israel.
The UN’s Mideast envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, said the United Nations was working with Egypt to restore calm and called on all sides to “de-escalate” and restore recent understandings.
“Those who seek to destroy them will bear responsibility for a conflict that will have grave consequences for all,” he said in a statement.
Palestinianss clash with Israeli troops during protests at the Israel-Gaza border, on May 3, 2019 (Hassan Jedi/Flash90)
Following heavy fighting in early April, Israel agreed to ease its blockade on Gaza in exchange for a halt to rocket fire. This included expanding a fishing zone off Gaza’s coast, increasing imports into Gaza and allowing the Gulf state of Qatar to deliver aid to cash-strapped Gaza.
That agreement appeared to be under stress in recent days, with Palestinians launching arson balloons and rockets into Israel and Israeli warplanes striking Hamas targets. Hamas has said the incendiary balloons were a message to Israel not to hold up the transfer of millions of dollars in Qatari aid funds to the cash-strapped Hamas government in Gaza.
Minister Tzachi Hanegbi blamed the delay on Qatar and the United Nations.
On Thursday, a Hamas delegation led by the group’s Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar traveled to Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials on a truce with Israel, Hamas officials said.
Israel and Egypt have maintained a crippling blockade on Gaza since Hamas, which seeks to destroy Israel, seized control of the territory in 2007. Jerusalem says it is necessary to prevent terror groups from rearming and becoming an even greater menace.
The sides are bitter enemies and have fought three wars along with numerous smaller flareups of violence.
Times of Israel staff and agencies contributed to this report.
1b)Jewish Federations of North America's Israel office reports that the major escalation of violence in the country's south over the past thirty six hours continues. Sadly, an Israeli father of four from Ashkelon was killed during a massive overnight rocket barrage. At the time of writing, a new barrage is hitting cities, and there are reports of further injuries in Ashkelon.
Since the attacks began on Saturday morning, more than 500 rockets have been fired at Israeli population centers, including multiple attacks on Sderot, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Be'er Sheva. Sirens sounded as far north as Bet Shemesh, Kiryat Malachi and Kiryat Gat. While many rockets landed in open fields, and 119 were knocked out by the Iron Dome anti-rocket defense system, 21 projectiles did score direct hits, landing in Israeli population centers.
Moshe Agadi, (aged 58) from Ashkelon, died on his way to hospital after being hit in the chest by shrapnel from a rocket. Agadi had run to his shelter numerous times over the course of Saturday evening, but did not make it to the protected space in time when he was hit. In Kiryat Gat earlier in the day, an 80-year-old woman was seriously wounded by shrapnel that struck her head (video footage of that rocket hitting Kiryat Gat can be seen here ). In addition, one person has been moderately wounded, 21 lighter injuries were reported, and 65 people have been treated for shock. Footage of rocket fire from Gaza being intercepted by the Iron Dome earlier today can be seen here.
Classes were cancelled today for hundreds of thousands of students and pupils living within 25 miles of Gaza (schools and colleges usually have classes on Sundays in Israel); and other restrictions have been placed on public activities in these areas.
In response, the IDF has targeted at least 200 military sites belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, hitting tunnel shafts, military posts, warehouses and weapons factories. In addition, some reports claim that the IDF also hit 30 homes of senior Hamas commanders. Video footage of some of the IDF's precision strikes can be seen here . Similarly, this footage depicts the attack on a Hamas underground rocket manufacturing facility in the area of Netzarim. Secondary explosions
caused as a result of the explosives stored in the facility are clearly visible. On Saturday the IDF also destroyed a newly constructed Islamic Jihad terror tunnel. Photos of the tunnel's earlier construction can be seen hereand video of its destruction here .
caused as a result of the explosives stored in the facility are clearly visible. On Saturday the IDF also destroyed a newly constructed Islamic Jihad terror tunnel. Photos of the tunnel's earlier construction can be seen hereand video of its destruction here .
The Gaza Health Ministry reports that ten Palestinians have been killed since Friday. According to Israeli media reports, three of the fatalities were Hamas operatives, and three others were from Islamic Jihad. In addition, a woman and her 14-month-old infant were killed. Israel claims that those deaths were the result of a failed rocket launch by Gaza terror groups and not an IDF strike.
Despite the violence, earlier this morning Israel allowed fuel to be transported into the Gaza Strip to "prevent a humanitarian crisis."
The latest escalation comes at a highly sensitive time as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins and with Israel about to mark its memorial and independence days this week. In addition, the massive Eurovision Song Festival is set to begin in Tel Aviv in just 9 days. The festival is seen as a major international event for Israel, with tens of thousands of visitors from abroad planning to attend and an expected 185 million people watching the competition live across the globe. Islamic Jihad released a statement threatening Eurovision in Israel, saying they will "prevent the enemy from holding a festival whose purpose is to undermine the Palestinian narrative." The European Broadcasting Union, in charge of Eurovision, stated yesterday that despite the rocket attacks, the rehearsals "will continue as normal" and the situation will be "closely monitored."
Israel's security cabinet, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met this morning to assess the situation. The Prime Minister has declared a "Special Situation" for the next 48 hours in the area within 25 miles of Gaza. Netanyahu cited a "reasonable chance" of significant attacks on the civilian population as his reason for signing the order. The declaration gives the IDF and Home Front Command additional responsibilities and authority within the special zone.
In recent months, major flare-ups with Gaza similar to the current situation have occurred on a number of occasions. Each time, massive rocket attacks from Gaza were met by heavy IDF retaliatory strikes. However, on all occasions the fighting ended abruptly after around 24 hours. While Israel never formally acknowledged a ceasefire, it seems clear that an agreement with Hamas on a return to quiet was reached through Egyptian mediators on each occasion. Once again, such a scenario is possible today. Nonetheless, the IDF has announced that it is moving an additional armored brigade to the Gaza region; and Hamas and Islamic Jihad say that if "Israeli aggression continues" they will begin launching longer range rockets towards Tel Aviv.
Emmanuel Nachshon, a spokesperson for Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called upon world leaders to condemn the Hamas attacks in a short video that can be seen here.
US Special Envoy Jason Greenblatt stated, "Hamas & PIJ (Palestinian Islamic Jihad) have engaged in yet another deplorable act of terrorism, indiscriminately firing hundreds of rockets at Israeli civilian communities. The U.S. stands firmly in support of Israel's right to self-defense and we call on the international community to do the same."
Maja Kocijancic, Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for the European Union stated, "The rocket fire from Gaza towards Israel must stop immediately. A de-escalation of this dangerous situation is urgently needed to ensure that civilians' lives are protected."
JFNA's Israel office remains in close contact with our partners on the ground, including The Jewish Agency for Israel, The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, The Israel Trauma Coalition (ITC), as well as local Federation colleagues representing communities whose partnership regions have been impacted by the violence. All are conducting evaluations and regularly assessing the situation.
The Jewish Agency's Fund for the Victims' of Terror will today distribute emergency funds to a number of victims whose homes were hit, as well as those who have been injured.
On Saturday afternoon a rocket landed just 50 yards from World ORT's Kfar Silver Youth Village. All students were in the protected shelter at the time.
ITC has reported that there has been a 150% increase of calls Israel Trauma and Resiliency Centers, over the last two days. Many of the calls have been from parents seeking assistance and guidance for their children suffering from anxiety.
Birthright Israel currently has 10 groups on the ground in Israel, with 44 additional groups set to arrive next week. One group was close to the area of fire today, and the group was immediately moved to a safer region. A new "safe zone" has been established, with Birthright groups forbidden to enter areas close to the Gaza region.
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2) Tragedy Tomorrow, Comedy Tonight
That’s the title of a great song in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and that, it occurs to me, is an appropriate song for the media and the Democrats. For two years they vigorously promoted -- for their amusement and political benefit -- a fake Russian collusion story and now must watch it unravel and boomerang on them, their allies and the miscreants who created it. They had their fun, and the denouement has begun.
This Week’s Hearings
There were two hearings on the Mueller report this week, one before the Senate Judiciary Committee and another before the House Judiciary Committee. The Senate hearings were marked by such silly questions and vituperative charges, often by senators who are seeking the party’s nomination and want publicity, that I was tempted to simply repeat some of them for laughs. Other developments, which I will explain, preempted that plan, but I cannot resist this exchange between the fabulist Senator Richard Blumenthal, who faked his war record, and the attorney general:
“Did you or anyone, either you, or anyone on your staff memorialize your conversation with Robert Mueller?” Blumenthal asked Barr.
“Yes,” replied Barr.
“There were notes taken of the call,” Barr said in response to Blumenthal asking who took the memos.
“May we have those notes?” Blumenthal asked.
“No,” Barr promptly replied.
“Why not?” Blumenthal shot back.
“Why should you have them?” Barr replied.
Not since Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld have I seen such terse, justifiable dismissal of blather and not since Edwin Meese have a seen a Republican attorney general who wasn’t a timid wretch.
As for the House hearing, the chairman set so many conditions for his appearance that Barr refused to attend and the takeaway of the hearing was Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen munching on fried chicken.
Factual Errors in the Mueller Report
I think there are a number of factual errors in the Mueller report which, if he ever testifies, might be more edifying than watching Cohen eat chicken. Here are just two. I still cannot understand how, when no government agency examined the DNC servers, he could possibly conclude the leaks from it were the result of Russian hacking as opposed to a download by someone with internal access to it.
More significant is the very basis for the investigation itself. Purportedly the investigation was triggered by George Papadopoulos’ conversations, not just the now thoroughly discredited Steele Dossier. At the Senate hearing the attorney general disclosed that Alexander Downer, a former Australian diplomat, was the source of the information, which, we are told, was the trigger for the investigation. While this had been reported earlier, this is the first time the government has publicly acknowledged Downer’s role. As for the information from Downer, it seems to me the conversation was thrown in to buttress the predicate for the entire witch-hunt, the Dossier clearly being an inadequate basis. Barr seems to agree:
Barr suggested in his testimony that he has concerns with the FBI’s rationale for opening the investigation based on the Aussie tip.
“I would have to see exactly what the report was from Downer, the Australian Downer, and exactly what he quoted Papadopoulos as saying,” Barr told Durbin.
“But from what you just read, I’m not sure what the correlation was between the Russians having dirt and jumping to the conclusion that that suggested foreknowledge of the hacking.”
Legal Poppycock in Part 2 of the Mueller Report
Not only do the factual recitations in the Mueller report appear sloppy and unable to pass scrutiny, the legal arguments in the Second Section, presumably the reason why the investigation continued long past the point where the collusion contentions were proven unsustainable, are thin gruel as well. We now know that Barr himself brought this to the attention of Rod Rosenstein before he was named attorney general. It’s a certainty to me that Barr’s thorough legal argument and then his assumption of office led to the conclusion of the Mueller probe six weeks after he assumed office.
There’s a really fine analysis by Will Chamberlin of the “legal chess match” which Barr won. It involves the reading of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1512 (c)(2), a section of the statute which Mueller’s team was exploiting to keep their game alive and the President hamstrung. As Chamberlin says, “Mueller adopted an expansive, acontextual, and constitutionally questionable interpretation [of the section] and used it to justify an extensive investigation into potential obstruction of justice by President Trump.”
It was clear from the direction of the Special Counsel’s investigation that this was the game. Barr went over Mueller’s head on June 8 of last year with a detailed 19-page memorandum to Rod Rosenstein in which he noted the President lacked the requisite intent of that provision but has also made clear that he disagreed with Mueller’s legal theories.
(The goofy theory concerning obstruction reminds me of the goofy theory the prosecutors used to destroy the fine accounting firm Arthur Andersen in a case which the Supreme Court unanimously overruled. It’s no coincidence that the prosecutor in that case was on the Mueller team and certainly the architect of the notion that prosecutors ought to determine if perfectly legitimate conduct can be made the basis of a criminal proceeding if the prosecutor thinks the conduct somehow impedes his ability to convict on an actual crime.)
Professor Alan Dershowitz agrees with Barr’s determination:
In the absence of a contrary precedent, the general obstruction of justice statute should not be deemed applicable to the commission of an act by a president authorized by the Constitution, even if it was self-serving. This conclusion applies not only to the firing of Comey, but to all actions taken by President Trump pursuant to constitutional authority under Article II. [snip]
The real controversy is whether President Trump’s actions, authorized by the Constitution, could constitute the crime of obstruction of justice. Barr is right in concluding it couldn’t. Mueller is wrong in concluding it could.
In plain language, it would be a travesty if, like Spanish inquisitors, prosecutors could charge officials with wrongdoing when they were clearly acting within their legally authorized roles simply because the prosecutors disagreed with the decisions and had confected some cockamamie theory on how it could have impeded their investigation of a nonexistent crime.
The Hillary Clinton Investigation
If you will recall, it was James Comey, not Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who announced Hillary would not be charged for mishandling classified information on her private server. Eric Felten suggests that she was set up by Bill Clinton to force her to turn the decision on whether to prosecute to her staff, headed by Comey. He bases his argument on a transcript of her closed-door testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on December 19 of last year. Her testimony is far different than the description she’d earlier given reporters. In her congressional testimony this was anything but a chance meeting, but a deliberate intrusion by Bill Clinton who she could not get to leave and who prattled on for 8-10 minutes.
James Comey was FBI director at the time of the tarmac meeting. Much later -- just two days before Lynch’s closed door testimony on Capitol Hill -- Comey gave his own private congressional interview. He claimed to have been so troubled by the Lynch/Clinton get-together that he considered calling for a special counsel to investigate. But, he decided a special counsel wasn’t necessary. Which left him in the position to usurp from Lynch, with his July 5, 2016 press conference, the decision of whether or not to prosecute Hillary.
Let’s assume for the sake of argument that Lynch was not lying to Congress. If so, it seems to have dawned on her rather late that Clinton had compromised her, had put her in a jam. What if that’s exactly what he set out to do? It would explain the ex-president’s otherwise inexplicable behavior -- how one of the great glad-handers of all time leapt onto a plane in order to bore everyone to death. He was anything but clueless; he was demonstrating to the attorney general that he could cause her real trouble, and could do so with cheerful impunity. He didn’t have to make heavy-handed threats or otherwise put himself at risk of an obstruction of justice charge. No, all he had to do was darken the airplane doorway and prattle on with seeming obliviousness about grandkids, travel plans, coal mining, golf, and Brexit.
In the wake of that bravura performance, Lynch had to convene working groups to determine whether she needed to recuse herself from the Hillary probe. She would ultimately decide against recusal, but said she would accept the decision of career staff and the FBI on whether to prosecute.
What a mess. And what a splendidly innocent way of causing mayhem and conveying menace. Give Bill Clinton his due -- the man is no amateur.
Upcoming Events
Former House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes Has some fact questions about Joseph Mifsud, often described as a Maltese professor. He was the man who told Papadopoulos that the Russians had email “dirt” on Hillary that could harm her campaign. The Mueller report indicates he was working for the Russians and was a counterintelligence threat. Devin Nunes says the Mueller report “omits any mention of a wide range of contacts Mifsud had with Western political institutions and individuals.” It was this offer from Mifsud that Papadopoulos purportedly mentioned to Downer and Downer somehow conveyed to the FBI and per Comey was a significant inspiration for the collusion investigation.
Nunes also is seeking information about the FBI’s contacts with Mifsud -- asking how the bureau knew to question Papadopoulos specifically about Clinton’s emails if it hadn’t already spoken to Mifsud. The congressman said, “it’s still a mystery how the FBI knew to ask Papadopoulos specifically about Hillary Clinton’s emails…”
Nunes’ letter is addressed to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Central Intelligence Agency director Gina Haspel, National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone and FBI Director Chris Wray. It asks them to hand over all information they have on Mifsud by May 10.
In his letter, Nunes presents photographic evidence of Mifsud in close proximity to influential Western political and government officials.
“If Mifsud has extensive, suspicious contacts among Russian officials as portrayed in the special counsel’s report, then an incredibly wide range of Western institutions and individuals may have been compromised by him, including our own State Department,” Nunes wrote.
Mifsud vanished from public view and has been unavailable for comment or questioning. Il Foglio reports that Link Campus, an Italian college, had been sheltering him. On January 13, 2018 “Mifsud said that ‘the head of the Italian secret services contacted the president of Link Campus, Vincenzo Scotti, and recommended that the Professor shall disappear for some time in a safe location.’” Il Foglio reports that Link has “more to do with secret services than academia.”
Well, we now have Downer and Mifsud (Australia and Italy) involved in the effort to kick over the traces of this scandal. More evidence of spying both by U.S. and foreign intelligence operatives is coming.
Jonathan Moffa, deputy assistant director of the FBI, section chief of counterintelligence analysis, testified in another closed-door congressional hearing that the FBI from the earliest days of the collusion investigation enlisted not only Confidential Human Sources “but also the aid of outside intelligence agencies, U.S. foreign or both.”
Christopher Steele was an official informant expecting to be paid by the FBI for his dossier information. Moffa also confirmed that Steele’s status as a CHS had eventually been revoked. Moffa had been at a meeting where “closing” Steele as a Confidential Human Source was discussed, but Moffa declined to answer questions about what Steele did to lose his CHS status.
Steele was hardly the only CHS used in the FBI’s investigation. It has been widely reported that a retired Cambridge professor, Stefan Halper, was a CHS -- we’ve all been lectured not to use the word “spy” in describing him.
And now the New York Times has put in print what was long suspected, that the woman [Stefan] Halper presented to George Papadopoulos as his “assistant” was actually something else altogether. “Azra Turk” was an FBI asset sent across the Atlantic with a mission to get incriminating information out of Papadopoulos. It’s not clear whether she counted as a CHS herself, or whether she was an “investigator” with some other official status at the bureau.
It’s not clear which U.S. agency Halper works for. The last information I was able to obtain indicated he was on the Department of Defense payroll as late as September 2016.
There was a whole lot of spying going on.
Why Many in Washington Have a Lot to Worry About
At the Senate hearing, Barr made it clear that he intended to have a wide-ranging investigation of the origins of the collusion probe and justifications for “secret surveillance warrants against Trump team members” going back months before the fall 2016 justifications. He specified the opposition-concocted “Steele Dossier,” which he believes may have been Russian disinformation. He also is investigating leaks of classified information about the Mueller investigation. Kimberley Strasselaccurately describes the mood here in Washington circles (if you couldn’t already guess from Cohen’s chicken-eating stunt and the hostile Senate questioning of the attorney general).
Do not underestimate how many powerful people in Washington have something to lose from Mr. Barr’s probe. Among them: Former and current leaders of the law-enforcement and intelligence communities. The Democratic Party pooh-bahs who paid a foreign national (Mr. Steele) to collect information from Russians and deliver it to the FBI. The government officials who misused their positions to target a presidential campaign. The leakers. The media. More than reputations are at risk. Revelations could lead to lawsuits, formal disciplinary actions, lost jobs, even criminal prosecution.
The attacks on Mr. Barr are first and foremost an effort to force him out, to prevent this information from coming to light until Democrats can retake the White House in 2020. As a fallback, the coordinated campaign works as a pre-emptive smear, diminishing the credibility of his ultimate findings by priming the public to view him as a partisan.
That’s why Mr. Barr isn’t alone in getting slimed. Natasha Bertrand at Politico last month penned a hit piece on the respected Mr. Horowitz. It’s clear the inspector general is asking the right questions. The Politico article acknowledges he’s homing in on Mr. Steele’s “credibility” and the dossier’s “veracity”—then goes on to provide a defense of Mr. Steele and his dossier, while quoting unnamed sources who deride the “quality” of the Horowitz probe, and (hilariously) claim the long-tenured inspector general is not “well-versed” in core Justice Department functions.
“We have to stop using the criminal-justice process as a political weapon,” Mr. Barr said Wednesday. The line didn’t get much notice, but that worthy goal increasingly looks to be a reason Mr. Barr accepted this unpleasant job.
Many unsavory practices and unlawful acts are going to be revealed. I believe this utterly. Attorney General Barr is about to join the handful of patriot heroes in this long-running sleazy saga.
2a) Left-Wing Ideology: A Cult, a Religion, or Science?
More than a hundred years ago, prominent Marxist Antonio Gramsci wrote: "Socialism is precisely the religion that must overwhelm Christianity. [Socialism is] religion in the sense that it too is a faith with its mystics and rituals; religion because it has substituted for the consciousness of the transcendental God of the Catholics, the faith in man and in his great strengths as a unique spiritual reality" [1]. Equalizing an ideology with religion was pretty novel back then. However, Gramsci was talking about religion not as it is commonly understood — i.e., the relationship between God and men — but as a collection of religious attributes and rituals. In his point of view, socialism was godless religion, the cult of the messianic Marx.
At the same time, Gramsci understood that socialism (and leftism in general), like any other dogma, is immune to empirical, rational challenges because, by definition, its postulates are untestable — untestable not because it is impossible to conduct such tests, but because followers of leftist ideology reject any idea of such a test in principle. (By the way, this is something leftists have in common with Muslims.) They are mostly true believers; they aggressively reject any attempts to test the foundations of their dogmatic beliefs.
Leftists' behavior is utterly illogical to a degree one might call unscientific. Their irrationality is based on illusory knowledge — i.e., knowledge acquired through a system of beliefs, expressed by well known authorities (Marx, Engels, Lenin, Bernstein, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky, Mao, and many others). Left-wingers acquired their false, Utopian beliefs throughout the entire history of human civilization. Their undisputed belief of multiplying wealth by dividing it (i.e., by redistributing it by force) was the basis of numerous failed social experiments.
To avoid any confusion, let us provide adequate definitions of socialism (promoted by left-wing ideology) and its antithesis, capitalism (promoted by the free-market, or conservative, ideology).
Socialism is a state of society where most wealth, either de jure or de facto, belongs to a government.
Capitalism is a state of society where most wealth, both de jure and de facto, belongs to its citizens.
Communism is a Utopian state of society where all wealth, both de jure and de facto, belongs to a government.
The adherents of both left-wing and right-wing philosophy have knowledge; however, the left-wingers got their knowledge from the system of beliefs, while right-wingers got their knowledge from the trial-and-error development of human civilization. Leftism will accompany society forever because pseudo-science always runs in parallel to science. As in a social life where leftism is the ideology of mostly lumpen (lazy bums), autocrats, and elites, the pseudo-science feeds on real science as left-wingers feed on civilization built mostly by right-wingers.
There is a simple test to distinguish between scientific knowledge and the pseudo-scientific kind. The test is based on the fact that the human reaction to new information that contradicts the original knowledge depends on the method of acquiring that original knowledge.
In the real world, if new information contradicts the original knowledge, it leads to a re-evaluation of such knowledge. For example, when intuitive, widely accepted, and wrong knowledge that the sun rotates around the Earth was challenged by Copernicus, it led to a painful re-evaluation of the original idea and accepting the new, revolutionary one: that it is, in fact, Earth that rotates around the sun.
However, if the original knowledge is acquired by religious or other dogmatic beliefs, the new information does not lead to such re-evaluation. On the contrary, in most cases, it leads to the strengthening of the original belief. For example, even if it were proven that flying horses never existed on the planet Earth, Muslims will continue to believe that Mohammad flew on a horse named Buraq to an outer space where he met Allah. Moreover, any attempt to prove to any Muslim that such a voyage on a horse is impossible will not just strengthen Muslim's beliefs, but could convert some of them from a passive, indifferent follower into an aggressive religious fanatic. The reaction would be similar to the reaction of a rank-and-file Democrat if somebody mentioned that Antifa, like the Ku Klux Klan before it, was founded as a militant wing of the Democratic Party.
When President Trump tweets or says something "controversial," a lot of his political opponents get triggered. This "triggering of snowflakes" is a perfect example of how the strengthening of the original belief manifests itself in real life. There are numerous examples of such triggering. If we are talking about Trump, it is called Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Let us recall the reaction of people who were bombarded for months by the fake news media with reports that Hillary Clinton had a 97% chance of winning the presidency in the year 2016. The reality contradicted their dogma, and after she lost, their suffering (sometimes even physical suffering) was quite real. Or big disappointment and suffering among devotees of "Trump is Putin's marionette" dogma when Mueller's investigation proved otherwise. The attempts to paint the completed Mueller investigation as "obstructed," "not conclusive," and "not having enough authority," and the promise that "veterans of the secret wars ... understand that it will take decades, not years, for the truth to emerge here," are just variations of the same phenomena — the various (and desperate) attempts to strengthen the original dogmatic belief.
If the knowledge of people in the examples above were based not on dogma, their reaction could be quite different. For example, political opponents of Trump could just say: "OK, the better candidate won. It is good for America to have a better president. We will try again next time." That would be the proper reaction of the non-brainwashed, normal people who happened to vote for another candidate. In the case of Russiagate (or, rather, Obamagate), the proper reaction could be: "OK, this is very good that our president is not Putin's puppet. It will allow the White House to focus on the real issues of our country."
It is often said that left-wingers and right-wingers do not understand each other because they "live in parallel universes," or one side blames another for living in the so-called "alternative reality." Since core leftist belief is irrational, the right-wingers are not surprised when adherents of leftism stiffen their resolve when confronted with social and economic truth.
In other words, instead of accepting a valid argument that contradicts the prevailing dogma, the very first reaction of adherents of a dogma is to protect the dogma at all cost.
Try to tell Jews that they are not the God's chosen people, or try to tell Democrats that socialism, national socialism, and fascism are examples of the same left-wing ideology. Try to tell Christians that Jesus died and was buried in Nazareth, or try to tell the party of farting cows that "climate change" is a hoax. The resulting rage will ensure that polarization between talking parties increases due to not just rejection of non-dogma-conforming thought, but the violent strengthening of internal resolve to protect the dogma. It is a well- known psychological reaction of people who simply want to protect themselves from what they perceive as "the rape of their mind" (whatever sick mind they might have.)
On the one hand, once a person accepts a dogma, he begins to filter out everything that contradicts the dogma in any way (so-called confirmation bias, like Baader-Meinhof Syndrome). In a process, as more contradictory, non-conforming to dogma information is thrown, the belief gets strengthened. On the other hand, at a certain point, when truthful information, contradictory to leftists' irrational dogmatic belief, finally breaks through, a breaking point arrives, and the leftist is no longer able to twist the evidence in his fevered mind, forcing him to make a hard decision: either abandon the dogma and relieve the pain or become a laughingstock. They experience a mental revolution — a micro-revolution, if you will.
The good news is that such micro-revolutions on a personal level are widespread. Indeed, where did all the hippies go? Also recall the fallout from Obama's "if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor."
The bad news is that such micro-revolutions can take a long time; in a worst-case scenario, a micro-revolution never materializes, and a person dies as a true believer, a loyal "useful idiot." (Enter Democrat Stacey Abrams, who still believes she won the governorship race in Georgia despite losing it.)
On the surface, a cacophony of various points of view we hear from Democrats sounds like a civil war inside the left-wing party. For example, the confrontation between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez resembles a political struggle between the "experienced, moderate socialist" Pelosi and "young, aggressive Marxist" Ocasio-Cortez. However, it is just an incoherent manifestation that Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez currently adhere to different stages of the same leftist dogma.
In practical terms, it means that the leftists are here to stay. Forever. Just because their knowledge is acquired through dogma. As historian Lee Edwards noted, socialism is "a pseudo-religion grounded in pseudo-science and enforced by political tyranny."
Right-wingers, the creators and multipliers of wealth, are condemned to an agitated coexistence with left-wingers, the dividers of wealth, forever, just as Good is continually confronted by Evil.
As followers of the semi-religious Cult of Victim-Seekers, leftists will always find a way to recruit new followers, who get tricked by the "take away and redistribute" mantra. However, there are plenty of solid reasons to consider the socialist Obama presidency the highest peak of the centuries-old semi-religious Utopian movement. This peak is well behind us, and we all know that the only direction from the peak is down.
[1] Gramsci's Political Thought: Hegemony, Consciousness, and the Revolutionary Process (NewYork: Clarendon Press, 1981)
Gary Gindler, Ph.D. is a conservative blogger at Gary Gindler Chronicles. Follow him on Twitter.
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3)I like to, no I'm compelled to share this.........To all the people who let this election break up families and friends let this sink in I think the last civil conversations we had occurred just days before November 8, 2016. You were supremely confident Hillary Clinton would win the presidential election; you voted for her with glee. As a lifelong Republican, I bit down hard and cast my vote for Donald Trump. Then the unimaginable happened. He won.
And you lost your freaking minds.
I knew you would take the loss hard—and personally—since all of you were super jacked-up to elect the first woman president. But I did not imagine you would become totally deranged, attacking anyone who voted for Trump or supported his presidency as a racist, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic Nazi-sympathizer.
The weirdness started on social media late on Election Night, as it became clear Hillary was going to lose. A few of you actually admitted that you were cradling your sleeping children, weeping, wondering what to tell your kindergartner the next morning about Trump’s victory. It continued over the next several days. Some of you seriously expressed fear about modern-day concentration camps. Despite living a privileged lifestyle, you were suddenly a casualty of the white patriarchy. Your daughters were future victims; your sons were predators-in-waiting. You threatened to leave Facebook because you could no longer enjoy the family photos or vacation posts from people who, once friends, became Literal Hitlers to you on November 8 because they voted for Donald Trump.
I admit I was a little hurt at first. The attacks against us Trump voters were so personal and so vicious that I did not think it could be sustained. I thought maybe you would regain your sanity after some turkey and egg nog.
But you did not. You got worse. And I went from sad to angry to where I am today: Amused.
As the whole charade you have been suckered into over the last 18 months starts to fall apart—that Trump would not survive his presidency; he would be betrayed by his own staff, family, and/or political party; he would destroy the Republican Party; he would be declared mentally ill and removed from office; he would be handcuffed and dragged out of the White House by Robert Mueller for “colluding” with Russia—let me remind you what complete fools you have made of yourselves. Not to mention how you’ve been fooled by the media, the Democratic Party, and your new heroes on the NeverTrump Right.
On November 9, you awoke from a self-induced, eight-year-long political coma to find that White House press secretaries shade the truth and top presidential advisors run political cover for their boss. You were shocked to discover that presidents exaggerate, even lie, on occasion. You became interested for the first time about the travel accommodations, office expenses, and lobbyist pals of administration officials. You started counting how many rounds of golf the president played. You suddenly thought it was fine to mock the first lady now that she wasn’t Michelle Obama. Once you removed your pussy hat after attending the Women’s March, you made fun of Kellyanne Conway’s hair, Sarah Sanders’ weight, Melania Trump’s shoes, Hope Hicks’ death stare; you helped fuel a rumor started by a bottom-feeding author that U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley slept with Donald Trump. You thought it was A-OK that Betsy DeVos was nearly physically assaulted and routinely heckled. You glorified a woman who has sex on camera for a paycheck.
You have learned all kinds of new things that those of us who didn’t willfully ignore politics for the past eight years already knew. For example, we already knew that illegal immigrants were being deported and families were being separated.
Some of your behavior has been kinda cute. It was endearing to watch you become experts on the Logan Act, the Hatch Act, the Second Amendment, the 25th Amendment, and the Emoluments Clause. You developed a new crush on Mitt Romney after calling him a “sexist” for having “binders full of women.” You longed for a redux of the presidency of George W. Bush, a man you once wanted imprisoned for war crimes. Ditto for John McCain. You embraced people like Bill Kristol and David Frum without knowing anything about their histories of shotgunning the Iraq War.
Classified emails shared by Hillary Clinton? Who cares! Devin Nunes wanting to declassify crucial information of the public interest? Traitor!
But your newfound admiration and fealty to law enforcement really has been a fascinating transformation. Wasn’t it just last fall that I saw you loudly supporting professional athletes who were protesting police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem? Remember how you fanboyed a mediocre quarterback for wearing socks that depicted cops as pigs?
Spying on terrorists, circa 2002: Bad. Spying on Carter Page, circa 2017: The highest form of patriotism.
And that white, male patriarchy that you were convinced would strip away basic rights and silence any opposition after Trump won? That fear has apparently been washed away as you hang on every word uttered by James Comey, John Brennan, and James Clapper. This triumvirate is exhibit “A” of the old-boy network, and represents how the insularity, arrogance, and cover-your-tracks mentality of the white-male power structure still prevails. Yet, instead of rising up against it, you are buying their books, retweeting their Twitter rants and blasting anyone who dares to question their testicular authority. Your pussy hat must be very sad.
But your daily meltdowns about Trump-Russia election collusion have been the most entertaining to observe. After Robert Mueller was appointed as Special Counsel, you were absolutely convinced it would result in Trump’s arrest and/or impeachment. Some of you insisted that Trump wouldn’t last beyond 2017. You quickly swallowed any chum tossed at you by the Trump-hating media on MSNBC, the New York Times and the Washington Post about who was going down next, or who would flip on the president.
For the past year, I have watched you obsess over a rotating cast of characters: Paul Manafort, Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, Carter Page, Reince Priebus, Jeff Sessions, Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, Sam Nunberg, and Hope Hicks are just a few of the people you thought would turn on Trump or hasten his political demise. But when those fantasies didn’t come true, you turned to Michael Avenatti and Stormy Daniels for hope and inspiration. It will always be your low point.
Well, I think it will be. Each time I believe you’ve hit bottom, you come up with a new baseline. Perhaps defending the unprecedented use of federal power to spy on political foes then lie about it will the next nail in your credibility coffin.
The next several weeks will be tough for you. I think Americans will learn some very hard truths about what happened in the previous administration and how we purposely have been misled by powerful leaders and the news media. I wish I could see you as a victim here, but you are not. I know you are smart; you chose to support this insurgency with your eyes wide open.
Now, I shall sit back and enjoy your pain.
Andi S.
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