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Subject: Better Sit Down for THIS ONE. It will make you throw up! I checked this one out, too, and it’s true. Plans have been submitted! Your tax $$'s at work for an inflated EGO.
When a president dies, the country pays for their burial. In the case of a president like JFK, who was a war hero and assassinated in the middle of a term, something extravagant is in order. His burial at Arlington with the memorial paid for by the people cost almost $4 million in today's money, adjusted for inflation. The Kennedy family paid for the casket, vault and the eternal flame.
Ronald Reagan, one of the most influential men in history, is buried in California at his Presidential Library, paid for by donations from the people and the Reagan family. In fact, other than Kennedy, which we can all agree was warranted, no president has ever cost the taxpayers more than $100K in today's money to bury.
The clause in the Presidential Contract enacted by congress in 1819 states that the president shall receive the burial service deemed fit for his stature and that the cost of the funeral and burial plot will be paid for by the people of a grateful nation.
While every president who has died in modern history, except Reagan, took advantage of that perk of the presidency, none have gone so far that anyone would ever have noticed. Until now that is
Barack Obama has just submitted his plans for burial in a plot that will house his entire family, citing the Kennedys, the Tafts and the Roosevelts as precedent, inside a monument he had designed to celebrate the nation's first black president.
The monument, will cost the taxpayers roughly $120 million and will be listed as a national historical place with 24 hour protection from the 3rd US Infantry Regiment, just like the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The memorial would be built immediately upon approval and occupy the Northeast quadrant of the lawn near the Washington Monument with a view of the White House.
The monument itself would include quotes from his years as president along with a giant bronze statue and burial crypts for him and his family under a large arch.
You heard that right. Obama will be guarded around the clock in a monument among those of our founding fathers and greatest heroes, paid for by the taxpayer. It's not too late to call your congressman and object.
Government always has a way for the few to exploit the many.
Since their dislike of this country and our flag was well known always apologizing, challenging and ignoring laws, rules, protocol without congressional approval, I am immensely surprised he wants to be buried on or near USA soil. He has always had an exalted opinion of himself and in death it seems he's no different!
OBAMA is a gift (?) that just keeps taking.
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I would like to pose two basic questions.
1) If Biden is an American first President, which I believe he is not, then why would he hire people for the IRS rather than bulk up our border staff in order to stop the inflow of new illegal immigrants and drugs?
Illegal immigrants and drugs cost our nation far more than tax cheaters and there is no price one can put on the tragedy from drug overdoses.
2) There are 788 billionaires in America and 7.5 million millionaires as of 2021.
If you assigned 100 of these to one agent you would not move the needle very much because it would require 75,089 new agents and when you eliminate the cost of the hiring's, rental space, furniture, training costs and weapons and ammunition I seriously doubt the illegal money found would barely cover that cost. How do you solve this issue? You go after the vulnerable, those who can't afford tax expertise, are old, vulnerable and frightened.
When Kim Strassel wrote her book about intimidation she referred to those who knew their way around. They fought back at a high personal cost.
Our nation was founded in protest of abusive taxation on tea. What has America come to be? Seems we are being bagged.
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One more reason why our government deserves to be distrusted. The physical and emotional damage caused is indeterminable.
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U.S. Government Colluded With Big Tech To Silence Americans
(FreedomBeacon.com)- New reports found that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention colluded with big tech social platforms and Google to censor any dissent around COVID-19 vaccines, according to Washington Free Beacon. Starting in December 2020, CDC officials reportedly communicated with Twitter, Facebook, and Google over how best to censor what they considered “vaccine misinformation.”
The efforts were so rampant that social media platforms began to censor public heath messaging that the CDC supported. In one internal email, CDC staffer wrote to Facebook saying that the “algorithms that Facebook and other social media networks are apparently using to screen out posting by sources of vaccine misinformation are also apparently screening out valid public health messaging, including [Wyoming] Health communications.”
The coordination between public governmental agencies and private companies raise questions on the extent to which other companies were involved to censor the public. The Biden administration was the subject of criticism after it created the Orwellian “Disinformation Governance Board” under the Department of Homeland Security. The Free Beacon reported that prior to being shut down, the board communicated with a Twitter executive over censoring and blocking users who shared the Hunter Biden laptop story.
The CDC also looked to expand their influence to the Census Bureau in order to leverage their infrastructure to “identify and monitor social media for vaccine misinformation,” as well as toward Google. An email shows that a CDC staffer went to Google’s 2020 “Trusted Media Summit.” The summit was reportedly described by its website as a place “for journalists, fact-checkers, educators, researchers and others who work in the area of fact-checking, verification, media literacy, and otherwise fighting misinformation.”
At the conference, a CDC official was asked whether her remarks could be posted on Youtube, to which she said that her permission was not granted because she was not allowed to speak publicly.
According to several emails, Facebook reportedly awarded the CDC with $15 million in ad credits in April 2021. “This gift will be used by CDC’s COVID-19 response to support the agency’s messages on Facebook, and extend the reach of COVID-19-related Facebook content, including messages on vaccines, social distancing, travel, and other priority communication messages,” an internal CDC memo reads.
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We have heard this before. Time will tell. Hear Durham is close to releasing good bit of dirt on Hillary and may even extend to "Ole Bill." Stay tuned.
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China and Russia’s Strategic Problem
By George Friedman
The war in Ukraine, now about 6 months old, is strategically important for a variety of reasons. If Russia defeats Ukraine and takes control of the country, its forces will be on the border of Eastern Europe. A Russian presence on Europe’s border would transform the balance of power in the Atlantic, and would thus inevitably compel the U.S. to deploy forces in Europe’s defense.
What Russia's intentions were at the outset of the invasion matters little. Intentions change, and strategy must not be optimistic. So what is at stake in the Ukrainian war is the possible resurrection of the Cold War, with all the attendant risks. From the American point of view, engaging Russia through Ukrainian troops in Ukraine is far less risky than another Cold War.
The Cold War did not result in a full-scale war, only the fear of war. Western fears of Soviet intentions outstripped Soviet capabilities. Their fear, in turn, kept NATO together, much to the chagrin of the leaders in Moscow. Neither of their worst fears came to pass, and therefore the collapse of the Soviet Union had more to do with internal rot than external threat. It is not clear that any future Cold War would play out like the last one, but one thing is likely: Given the existence of nuclear weapons, the front line of a new Cold War would remain static, and the status quo on each side would remain intact so long as neither side fragmented. It would be a costly and dangerous outcome, since history need not repeat itself. But the collapse of Ukraine would pose threats that could be contained, however expensively and dangerously. The global pattern would remain intact.
China’s vulnerabilities, and its attempts to overcome them, are potentially more dangerous. As with Russia, the core issue is geography. For Russia, the problem is that the Ukrainian border is less than 300 miles from Moscow, and Russia has survived multiple invasions only by virtue of Moscow’s distance from invaders – a distance that the collapse of the Soviet Union closed. Russia’s obsession with Ukraine is intended to rectify that problem. China's geographic problem is that it has become an exporting powerhouse, and as such it depends on its access to the Pacific Ocean and adjacent waters. The United States sees free Chinese access to the Pacific as a potential threat to its own strategic depth, something fundamental to the United States since the end of World War II. Chinese access to the Pacific is blocked by a series of island states – Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia, indirectly supported by nearby powers such as Australia, India and Vietnam. Not all of them are American allies, but all have common interests against Chinese naval expansion. China wants to defend its strategic depth by seizing and controlling it. The United States wants to defend its strategic depth by defending it.
The geographic dimension is compounded by an economic dimension. China’s economy depends on exports, and the United States is its largest customer. Beijing also needs continued U.S. investment, as its financial system is under intense pressure.
Russia is attempting to reclaim strategic depth, and it went into it knowing full well the financial consequences it would create. In other words, it put up with financial damage in exchange for strategic security. So far, it has not gained strategic security and has absorbed significant financial damage while meting out some of its own to Europe.
China is searching for a strategic solution while avoiding the economic damage that further expansion would likely invite. Its primary adversary on both fronts would be the United States. So China is probing the U.S., trying to understand its potential responses. The response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit pressed the limits of an invasion of Taiwan. What China learned about the U.S. military is unclear, but it learned that the trigger for American economic actions lies beyond the Chinese demonstration.
America’s goal in Ukraine, then, is to deny Russia the strategic depth it wants in order to limit the Russian threat to Europe. With China, its goal is to retain American strategic depth in order to prevent China from threatening the U.S. or obtaining global reach.
The issues are similar in principle, but the stakes for the United States are not. For Washington, the China question is much more important than the Russia question. A Russian victory in Ukraine would redraw unofficial boundaries and increase risks. A Chinese success would create a more global power that challenges the U.S. and its allies around the world.
The consequences of war are always significant. U.S. involvement adds economic costs to the equation. So far, Russia has absorbed the costs. China may not be able to, considering its economy is currently vulnerable. But nations live on economics and survive on safety. In that sense, it would appear that Russia is less interested in negotiations than China is.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden are scheduled to meet in mid-November, at a conference in Indonesia or in Thailand. If the meeting takes place, it will be the first since their teleconference in May. Only informal and back-channel talks are happening between the U.S. and Russia. China reeds a stable economy now more than it needs command of the seas. Russia seems able to survive what it has been dealt economically, but it has not broken the back of Ukrainian forces. China is nearer an economic crisis than Russia, and is thus unwilling to risk war with the United States. It will speak, if not settle. Russia’s economic and military situation is murky in the long run. The United States is dealing with China and Russia at a fairly low price and can handle both right now. Russia and China must try to raise the cost to the U.S. but can’t afford to raise their own.
It is a dizzying equation but not an uncommon one. China needs to reach an understanding with the United States. Russia does not have that need. The U.S. is flexible.
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This Henninger op ed was posted while I was away but it reflects my own sentiments.
I believe Trump should have won the 2020 election but for activities by Democrats prior to the election and those of Trump during the election. Now it is time for Trump to swallow his pride and do what is best both for The Republican Party as well as the nation and announce he will not run in 2024.
Trump is not a politician. His loyalty to a political party is thin at best. In fact, Trump's loyalties have always been first to himself but I never questioned his love of country and certainly his tumultuous 4 years proved his historic accomplishments occurred notwithstanding the despicable roadblocks Democrats threw at him. He did what he promised he would and he put America first unlike his predecessor who put The Muslim Brotherhood, Iran and himself first.
Now it is time for Trump to be a statesman if that is possible. His continued involvement in selecting who he will support may result in Republicans failing to retake the Senate and that would be sad indeed.
However, should he run in 2024, I would vote for him because:
a) I always separated my feelings regarding his abrasive behaviour from his successes and accomplishments. He is a New York fighter who could relate to and be comfortable with the forgotten man. He took no crap and saw through fools.
b) The Democrat party has gone beyond recognition and has become dangerous.
c) America cannot survive six more years of Biden or the prospect of a former New York Bar Tender.
History will certainly judge Trump far better than the current mood permits. In fact, he looks better and better even now when compared to Biden, Pelosi, Schiff, the pathetic heads of the Justice Department and FBI, the assorted number of radicals who want to destroy our nation, shake down American Corporations, dictate rather than educate future generations, castrate our military and insure our economic decline because they fear capitalism preferring socialism .
So stay tuned as the future unfolds.
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Mar-a-Lago Search Shows the Swamp’s Trump Obsession
An FBI raid against a former president should never happen. End of discussion.
By Daniel Henninger
Let us assume that for 99.99% of the U.S. population in early August 2022, the last thing on their mind was Mar-a-Lago. Instead, a short list of real things preoccupying Americans would include inflation, crime, battles in Congress over spending, Ukraine fighting World War III for us in Europe, and China conducting massive live-fire military exercises around Taiwan.
So it came as a surprise to discover Monday evening that the Justice Department and FBI decided the most important thing in the world just now was raiding former President Donald Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, Fla. Among other thoughts, a three-letter acronym starting with W comes to mind.
Forgive me for not spending more than a moment on the legal niceties of this event—the applicability of the Presidential Records Act, that it had be about “something big” involving classified documents, or that no one, including a former president, is above the law. They are all beside the point.
You can hate Donald Trump until your eyes pop out, but let us be clear: He was elected the 45th president of the U.S. He served four years in office. No former president who was disliked by many—not Clinton, Reagan nor FDR—had his home invaded by a squad of FBI agents. This should never happen in the U.S. End of discussion.
But it did happen. The Trump raid is now a wall-to-wall political disaster for the United States, doing more damage, if that’s possible, to the country’s internal divisions and even creating external risks.
Consider the current spectacle the U.S. is presenting to foreign adversaries. Multiple members of the sitting president’s own party in the past week—such as Joe Manchin and Jerry Nadler—have openly abandoned Joe Biden for an election that is two years off. Days later, the previous president comes under explicit attack from the FBI.
Imagine what we would think of the stability of China or Russia if events like this were happening to Xi Jinping or Vladimir Putin. That is how they see us—destabilized and vulnerable. Our opponents are redoing their global risk-reward ratios.
Incredibly, we are doing this to ourselves. Correction: They are doing it to us. Who are “they”? They, as of Monday, are who much of the political right says they are—the Swamp, the Deep State, the Regime, the Establishment.
Normally in times of hypermarginalized political opinion, it is worth attempting to argue on behalf of a functioning government system. But past some point, that becomes nearly impossible.
With this raid on a former president’s residence, the Swamp pushed past that point. The rest of us are being carried along in their undertow of political debris.
Washington has become a very small town, inhabited by people inbred by profession, marriage, schools and cultural disposition. The imbalance between the capital and the nation has been a problem for a long time, but as we say, life goes on. Until Trump.
After Mr. Trump took office, the Washington establishment—the Comey-McCabe FBI, opposition Democrats, the press—asked the public to indulge the notion that the new U.S. president was a Russian pawn. No matter that the Steele dossier, the day it was published, struck many as Russian fabulism. The press published story after story based on anonymous sources that it might be real. It wasn’t.
Mr. Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, and the public next got the Justice Department investigation led by Robert Mueller, a figure from Beltway central casting, which led to the Mueller report, which amounted to almost nothing. Then Adam Schiff, the impeachments, etc., etc.
In the event, the Democrats won back the presidency in 2020 when the incumbent Mr. Trump failed to put away an opponent who campaigned mostly from inside his house in Delaware.
Trump takedown accomplished? Obviously not. For the Swamp, Donald Trump is Dracula, and they won’t rest until they’ve put a stake through his heart.
Which brings us to the hard part—Mr. Trump himself.
This incident may push the former president into the Republican nomination race, running—with evidence—against the Swamp’s institutional corruption. Within hours, Mr. Trump’s organization posted a 3½-minute campaign-style video about a “nation in decline.”
A second Trump term isn’t the last thing this country needs. But it’s about second to last. The raid on Mar-a-Lago proves that Trump Derangement Syndrome won’t go away until Mr. Trump is out of elective politics.
Trump II would not be a replay of Trump I, a more substantive, policy-driven presidency than his critics will admit. Trump II would be a four-year civil war. The Swamp wouldn’t drain. It would deepen. The rancor could drown us all.
American politics needs new, stable leadership. And Republicans need to find a way to talk about the Swamp’s threat.
It’s not a good day when Andrew Cuomo is speaking forcefully against the Mar-a-Lago raid on an elected president and Mitch McConnell is as silent as Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray. Invest in sump pumps.
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