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Our son is visiting with us and last night (9/1) around the dinner table he told us what he knows about Hezbollah. He said their ability to distribute cocaine is beyond belief, highly efficient and professional. However, their military ability is comparably poor. Apparently they are the ones whose weapon storage exploded and destroyed the Lebanese's harbor and beyond.In a future memo, I challenged an author who believes Hezbollah is prepared to go to war with Israel. Perhaps one day but not in the near future in, as I noted, my uninformed opinion.
Daniel also sat down at the piano and proved again he can entertain himself. When he was in high school and taking lessons I would come home early from work and sit as he rehearsed. I am very jealous of his musical skills. What a gift. He also speaks several languages, another skill.
We have not seen or been with him for 7 plus months so his visit is special. Tomorrow we will have lunch with dear friends who always vacation in Hilton Head at this time of the year and then return to Atlanta by way of Savannah. I do not believe they have met Daniel. Charlie Bourland, who does know Daniel, will be joining us.
In fact, Charlie has met all our kids
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Hanin Ghaddar on Hezbollah's Quandary – More Power but More Hated
by Marilyn Stern
Middle East Forum Webinar
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Hanin Ghaddar, Friedmann Senior Fellow in the Washington Institute of Near East Policy's Linda and Tony Rubin Program on Arab Politics, spoke to an August 21st Middle East Forum Webinar (video) about the current status of Hezbollah in Lebanon. The following is a summary of her comments:
In the wake of the country's economic collapse in 2019, Hezbollah expanded control over Lebanon's security institutions, state institutions, and financial institutions. Yet, the terror organization also suffered setbacks. Since the 2020 assassination of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qasem Soleimani, Hezbollah has grown from a Lebanese militia to its current role as Iran's "main regional army." Shifting its financial resources to both "compensate their constituency" and prop up Lebanon's financial institutions strains Hezbollah's budget, particularly since the flow of cash from an Iranian regime constrained by economic sanctions has diminished significantly. Further complicating Hezbollah's position as it struggles to fill the shortfall is that even with the money flowing in from the amphetamine-based drug Captagon and from arms shipments to conflicts in Iraq, Africa, and Yemen, measures are being take to contain Hezbollah as these illicit sources come to light.
Hezbollah has acquired expertise with drones and precision guided munitions and has gained access to state and security institutions beyond Lebanon in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. Despite the increased military know-how, Iran and Hezbollah know that threatening Israel with war is less costly than going to war against it. During the hiatus in the "war between the wars," Hezbollah has focused on strengthening its control of Lebanon's state and financial institutions. Hezbollah, in collaboration with Lebanon's Central bank and private money institutions, financially benefits from the country's cash economy.
In 2018, Hezbollah infiltrated the Lebanese government after winning seats in parliamentary elections and used state institutions to benefit itself, its constituency, and Iran's institutions and budget. After the country's economic collapse in 2019, Hezbollah became "solely responsible" for an increasingly discontented constituency and the organization's allies in Lebanon. The paternalistic narrative propagated among the Shia gained loyal followers, but has since worn thin, as evidenced by Hezbollah's loss in last year's parliamentary elections. This loss has made it more difficult to impose its agenda on the population.
Whereas Hezbollah previously had parliamentary allies, now it cannot unilaterally impose its presidential candidate, Suleiman Frangieh, a Syrian regime loyalist and "Hezbollah Iran puppet," without a parliamentary majority. Instead, Hezbollah is engaged in dealmaking with the Free Patriotic Movement in a bid to install Frangieh as the next president of Lebanon.
To maintain its hold on power, Hezbollah has turned its arms against the "disillusioned" Lebanese people, who face two "revelations": (1) The arms Hezbollah intended to use against Israel it instead uses against the Lebanese people as a "political tool," and (2) Hezbollah's narrative that protecting Lebanon's borders necessitated entry into Syria was in fact about protecting the Assad regime. The main shift against Hezbollah occurred in 2019, when the Lebanese people took to the streets to protest government corruption and the sectarianism plaguing their society, not realizing Hezbollah's link to the corruption. Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, sent his "thugs" to beat up protesters.
Although the people realized that Hezbollah's main conduit to infiltrate the state institutions is corruption, they attributed the 2020 Beirut port blast to a mistake in a failed system. A judge investigating the blast faced death threats from Hezbollah. During that time, Hezbollah instigated a violent clash in the Christian neighborhood of Tayouneh, where residents killed some Hezbollah members. The organization understands the Lebanese people no longer support it as they did and now consider it an Iranian militia occupying Lebanon.
Hezbollah's increased security actions against the Lebanese people has sparked a backlash against it. Examples include the Chouaya incident two years ago, when residents stopped a Hezbollah vehicle carrying rockets intended for use against Israel; the Haldi incident in which Sunni tribes attacked and killed a Hezbollah member; and the recent Kahale incident where a Hezbollah vehicle that overturned in an accident triggered clashes when the people discovered weapons in it. Hezbollah, for its part, is assassinating Lebanese activists or those who confront the terror group. Although the net result is "outrage" against Hezbollah, the people know they cannot afford a civil war. During the 1975 Lebanese civil war, the opposing sides were equally matched in their capabilities, but Hezbollah's increased power renders it too formidable for its opponents to defeat or seriously challenge it militarily.
Many who vote for Hezbollah do so because they risk losing basic food and necessities at Hezbollah's hands. It is confident in its military strength, but realizes that "in the long run" its power is at risk unless it can provide for the people – which it cannot because "the country is falling apart."
Plans to revise the political structure are stipulated in the Taif Agreement that ended Lebanon's Civil War in 1990 and established the power sharing between Christians and Muslims. Hezbollah's plan is to use the country's demographics to divide the system into three parties by allocating a third to Christians, a third to the Sunni, and a third to the Shia in a dangerous bid to gain more seats in parliament. The move, particularly when "one third of the parliament is represented by [an Iranian] militia," is Hezbollah's method of consolidating its long-term hold on power in Lebanon.
Hezbollah is confident in its military strength, but realizes that "in the long run" its power is at risk unless it can provide for the people – which it cannot because "the country is falling apart."
America can take three steps to counter Hezbollah. First, the U.S. can take advantage of the fact that, even though much of the Lebanese army works in concert with Hezbollah, commanders and generals in certain units oppose the terror groups' agenda against the Lebanese people. Such behavior occurred when the army supported the people against Hezbollah in the Tayouneh clash. The U.S. can gain leverage by targeting its aid to those particular units.
Second, the U.S. can rouse opposition to Hezbollah by exposing its use of the Lebanese people as human shields, as when Hezbollah hides its missiles under private homes and schools. Although Hezbollah was popular when it waged war against Israel in 2006, today "everybody wants Hezbollah out." Still, sympathies are complicated because, when Hezbollah is targeted in Lebanon, it retaliates without concern for killing and maiming civilians, and "people don't want to die." Third, although sanctions against Hezbollah are largely ineffective because of the cash economy, enforcing sanctions against its allies in Lebanon's financial institutions, individual financial figures, and the private business sector can be an effective way of restraining it.
Hezbollah's border skirmishes with Israel are Tehran's way of letting Jerusalem know that if it dares to strike Iran, Hezbollah is ready for war. Hezbollah's plan is to consolidate its power financially and maintain its fighters. It succeeds at recruitment because it pays in "hard currency," a change from the loyalty that used to drive the "core of Hezbollah's fighting force." Regardless of the recent maritime border agreement between Israel and Lebanon, which Hezbollah endorsed, the terror group knows that its waning "resistance rhetoric" against Israel further undermines its legitimacy in Lebanon. Hezbollah increased its provocations against Israel by taking advantage of Jerusalem's internal divisions as its government attempts to introduce judicial reforms. Ultimately, neither side can afford a war, but much is dependent on Israel and how it responds to Hezbollah's provocations.
Marilyn Stern is communications coordinator at the Middle East Forum.
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De Santis may be a little bit flat but he is capable and serious and we could use a dose of his talent after the corrupt buffoon we have as president. I continue to maintain, staffing of the White House is dependent upon Obama holdovers and Obama remains in control. The radical ideas that permeate the White House Walls, except for the cocaine closet, remains Obama's doing.
Meanwhile:
The GOP Speaker believes the time has come for an Impeachment inquiry but there are 18 Republicans that, at this moment, appear unwilling to vote in favor because they consider themselves vulnerable. They would rather be re-elected than protect our nation and this is what stinks about self-interest politics.
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Klaus Schwab is one of the most dangerous men in the world next to Soros and Obama:
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Sound familiar?
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Fitton discloses more Hunter and Jan 6 documents (edited out Covid information:)
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Documents Show Biden Justice Department’s Unprecedented Targeting of January 6 Protestors
When the government decides to investigate ordinary citizens, it can wield enormous, intrusive power. Such was the case after January 6.
This is confirmed in 90 pages of records from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, a component of the Department of Justice, that we recently obtained in our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit.
These documents detail a troubling and unprecedented deployment of federal resources to prosecute Americans caught up in the January 6 disturbance. The documents seem to describe a massive political and spy operation masquerading as a law enforcement operation.
We filed our lawsuit against the Justice Department and FBI for records related to the death of Ashli Babbitt (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:21-cv-02462)).
Here are the details of what we learned.
A January 25, 2021, confidential draft chart indicates staff assignments. Several “Lead AUSAs” (assistant U.S. attorneys) are listed. One is assigned to “White Nationalist Militias.” Two others are assigned to “Proud Boys.” Another is assigned to “Oath Keepers.”
The chart identifies “Branch 2: Priority Incidents and Subjects.” Its tasks are to investigate “specific incidents comprising the Capitol attack. Branch investigations are staffed by Criminal Division sections with designated lead prosecutors reporting up to their section supervisors:”
To identify and prosecute the individuals and organizations responsible for planting pipe bombs at the DNC and RNC.
To identify and prosecute rioting activity in the “Speaker’s Lobby,” and in particular to determine whether there is civilian criminal culpability for the death of Ashli Babbitt.
To identify and prosecute rioters responsible for the death of USCP Brian Sicknick.
To review force allegations against USCP and MPD officers, including the officer-involved shooting of Ashli Babbitt….
The chart lists “Branch 3: Intake, Assignment and Rapid Indictment” as: “Branch 3 intakes proposed prosecutions against individual rioters and assigns them for horizontal prosecutors; it also may channel individual defendants to Branches 1 and 2 based on those branches’ responsibilities. Branch 3 is the fulcrum of our reactive prosecutorial effort.”
The chart then describes a process for the “rapid indictment” of January 6 defendants:
Phase 1: Command Center (FMC): Co-located prosecutors and law enforcement agents in the command center screen referrals and assign them to Phase 2 or refer them/push up intelligence to Branches 1 and 2.
Phase 2: Complaints (FMC/Details): Cases referred from Phase 1 are assigned to AUSAs, a CTS [likely Civil Trial Section] attorney, and a WFO [FBI Washington Field Office] team who work in coordination with AUSOs/FBI field offices throughout the country to obtain criminal complaints and appropriate process.Phase 3: Rapid Indictment (FMC): Cases charged out of Branch 3 are funneled to this unit, which will rapidly indict them. Only priority cases and Branch 2 and 3 cases are indicted by vertically organized AUSAs.
Phase 4: Indicted Prosecutions (Criminal Division): Indicted cases are returned/assigned for prosecution. Cases are centrally tracked with ticklers for Speedy Trial Act, discovery, intelligence gathering.
The chart describes “Branch 4: Advance Litigation Support” as “Branch 4 is a litigation, coordination and technology branch that provides support to all three investigative branches. Branch 4 has both litigation and technological responsibilities.”
The chart lists five roles for personnel to carry out:
Mass Data Collection (Process/Litigation): This team will coordinate and handle sensitive search warrants and other process directed at collecting large scale data (e.g., Geofence/Ad Tech).
Media Issues (Process/Litigation): This team will coordinate evidence collection from the media under the Justice Manual and develop litigation strategy for media-related defenses.
Filter (Support/Litigation): This team will develop filter protocols, staff filter reviews, and support filter-related litigation.”
Discovery (Planning/Litigation): This team will coordinate discovery, including protocols, Giglio, and litigation, focused on addressing “One Government” issues.
Litigation Technology (Support/Analysis): This team will stand up and maintain the apparatus tailored to store, process, analyze, and produce the unprecedented amount of data.
“Investigation and Litigation Technology Support Apparatus” lays out the array of technological sources to be use against January 6 defendants. The chart lists “Categories of data” which includes “cell phone records and device location data, cell phone data dumps, ad tech company locational data, financial locational data, social media accounts, email accounts, cloud storage accounts, financial records, flight travel records, and others.”
“Technological needs” listed in the chart include “devoted cloud storage, processing capacity to upload data to analytical and review platforms, analytical tools (e.g., Palantir), devoted review platform accessible across multiple DOJ and law enforcement components, and integration capacity – for purposes of analysis and discovery.”
“Complicating issues” related to the “Investigation and Litigation Technology Support Apparatus” include “unprecedented volume, high number of prosecutors, agents, analysts and support staff involved, data collected by multiple FBI field offices, trial prosecutions,” and others.
A previous review of records from this lawsuit highlighted the prosecution declination memorandum justifying the decision not to prosecute U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd for the shooting death of Babbitt.
We are engaged in a comprehensive, independent investigation into the January 6 disturbance:
January 2023: documents from the Department of the Air Force, Joint Base Andrews, MD, showed U.S. Capitol Police Lieutenant Michael Byrd was housed at taxpayer expense at Joint Base Andrews after he shot and killed U.S. Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
August 2023: A hearing was held in federal court in our lawsuit against the U.S. Capitol Police seeking videos and emails concerning the protest at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Through its police department, Congress argues that the videos and emails are not public records, there is no public interest in their release, and that “sovereign immunity” prevents citizens from suing for their release.
November 2021: we released multiple audio, visual and photo records from the DC Metropolitan Police Department about the shooting death of Babbitt on January 6, 2021, in the U.S. Capitol Building. The records included a cell phone video of the shooting and an audio of a brief police interview of the shooter, Byrd.
October 2021, United States Park Police records related to the January 6, 2021, demonstrations at the U.S. Capitol showed that on the day before the January 6 rally featuring President Trump, U.S. Park Police expected a “large portion” of the attendees to march to the U.S. Capitol and that the FBI was monitoring the January 6 demonstrations, including travel to the events by “subjects of interest.”
Our investigations continue on the January 6 overreach, and you can expect additional, important litigation on this topic!
FBI Says it Won’t Produce Records on Intervention to Help Hunter Biden on Missing Gun Due to ‘Ongoing Criminal Investigation,’ Federal Judge Orders Sept. 6 Hearing on Records Dispute
A federal court just scheduled a hearing for next week in our lawsuit for records regarding the gun owned by Hunter Biden that reportedly was thrown in a trash can behind a Delaware grocery store. In a joint status report to the court, the FBI stated it would not produce records about the incident due to an “ongoing criminal investigation.”
The video hearing was set by DC U.S. District Court Judge Jia M. Cobb for September 6, 2023, at 10:00 a.m.
We filed the lawsuit after the FBI withheld records in response to a January 30, 2023, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:23-cv-00920)). We are asking for:
All records, including investigative reports, telephone logs, witness statements, memoranda, and firearms purchase documentation, related to the reported purchase, possession, and disposal of a firearm owned by Hunter Biden discarded in a Delaware trash receptacle circa October 2018.
All records of communications of FBI officials regarding the reported purchase, possession, and disposal of the firearm.
The FBI claims it has completed a search for records responsive to our FOIA request but alleges an unspecified number are exempt from disclosure due to an “ongoing criminal investigation:”
FBI has completed a search for records responsive to [Judicial Watch’s] request and is currently processing those records. FBI’s position is that the number of potentially responsive records is exempt from disclosure under FOIA exemption 7(A), as this case relates to an ongoing criminal investigation. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(A) (FOIA does not apply to information where disclosure “could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings”); see also U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Delaware, Tax and Firearm Charges Filed Against Robert Hunter Biden, U.S. Department of Justice (June 20, 2023), https://www.justice.gov/usao-de/pr/tax-and-firearm-charges-filed-against-robert-hunter-biden . An ongoing investigation creates the need for increased internal review, including in this case review by the Special Counsel.
We argue Biden’s FBI is withholding information about the number of documents they are hiding and whether any records will ultimately be released:
This is case is indisputably of significant public interest. It is also time sensitive. [Judicial Watch] has asked and Defendant has refused to provide the number of potentially responsive records that needs to be processed in this case. Without this number, Plaintiff cannot evaluate – let alone agree to – a processing time of 120 days … Because this case could proceed down several different paths, [Judicial Watch] believes this case may benefit from a status conference at this juncture.
This is nothing but a continuing stonewall on the FBI’s reported clean-up operation to shield Hunter Biden from facing the criminal consequences of his gun scandal – this time using the compromised special counsel ‘investigation’ of Hunter as a new excuse to hide records that we asked for back in January.
In February 2023, from a separate lawsuit, we released records from the United States Secret Service that implicate the FBI in the unusual action to help Hunter Biden.
In response to a February 24, 2021, email inquiry from Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger regarding the Secret Service’s involvement in the investigation of the Hunter Biden gun incident, the Communications Department asks for “more information or documentation.” Schreckinger responds: “Sure thing. Agents visited StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply and asked to take possession of the paperwork Hunter had filled out to purchase a gun there. The FBI also had some involvement in the investigation.”
In October 2020, The Blaze reported that in October 2018, Hunter Biden’s handgun was taken by Hallie Biden, the widow of then-presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son Beau. In 2021, Politico reported:
Hallie took Hunter’s gun and threw it in a trash can behind a grocery store, only to return later to find it gone.
Delaware police began investigating, concerned that the trash can was across from a high school and that the missing gun could be used in a crime, according to law enforcement officials and a copy of the police report obtained by POLITICO.
But a curious thing happened at the time: Secret Service agents approached the owner of the store where Hunter bought the gun and asked to take the paperwork involving the sale, according to two people, one of whom has firsthand knowledge of the episode and the other was briefed by a Secret Service agent after the fact.
We have at least 10 federal lawsuits focused on Biden family corruption.
In June 2023, we sued the CIA for all communications of the spy agency’s Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB) regarding an October 19, 2020, email request to review and “clear” a letter signed by 51 former intelligence community officials characterizing the Hunter Biden laptop story as having “all the earmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign.”
In July, we sued the DOJ for records from the Office of the Attorney General and Office of the Deputy Attorney General regarding the Internal Revenue Service investigation of Hunter Biden.
In June 2023, we filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice for a copy of the FBI FD-1023 form that describes “an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.” We also asked for communications about the FD-1023.
In May 2023, we filed a FOIA lawsuit against the National Archives for Biden family records and communications regarding travel and finance transactions, as well as communications between the Bidens and several known business associates.
On October 14, 2022, we sued the DOJ for all records in the possession of FBI Supervisory Intelligence Analyst Brian Auten regarding an August 6, 2020, briefing provided to members of the U.S. Senate. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) raised concerns that the briefing was intended to undermine the senators’ investigation of Hunter Biden.
We filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department on April 20, 2022, for messages sent through the SMART (State Messaging and Archive Retrieval Toolkit) system that mention Hunter Biden.
In December 2020, State Department records obtained through our FOIA lawsuit showed that former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie “Masha” Yovanovitch had specifically warned in 2017 about corruption allegations against Burisma Holdings.
In October 2020, we forced the release of State Department records that included a briefing checklist of a February 22, 2019, meeting in Kyiv between then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and Sally Painter, co-founder and chief operating officer of Blue Star Strategies, a Democratic lobbying firm which was hired by Burisma Holdings to combat corruption allegations. At the time of the meeting, Hunter Biden was serving on the board of directors for Burisma Holdings.
I’ll be sure to keep you updated, as events warrant, on all our Biden corruption investigations and litigation!
Until next week,
And:
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Trump has a hanging judge with an Obama chip on her shoulder:
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Trump Judge Makes Obscene Comment
(GoRealNewsNow.com) – U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, presiding over the 2020 election-related federal case against former President Donald Trump, has drawn an obscene parallel between the events of January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol, the 9/11 attacks, and the Boston Marathon Bombing.
Appointed by former President Barack Obama, Judge Chutkan declined a request from Trump’s legal team to postpone the trial to April 2026.
The trial is scheduled to commence on March 4, 2024, one day before the Super Tuesday primaries for the Republican presidential nomination in several states, ranging from Maine to California.
Trump faces his second federal indictment, brought by the Biden Administration’s Justice Department, for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election results.
Julie Kelly, a journalist who reports on the January 6 trials, first disclosed Judge Chutkan’s remarks on Substack.
Kelly expressed her view on the judge’s comments, stating, “Nothing I can say or write could ever accurately describe the lunacy of Judge Chutkan’s outlandish remarks in court—including scolding Trump’s attorneys for not preparing for his case a year before the indictment was handed down (LOL) and downplaying 12 million or so pages of discovery produced by DOJ.”
Judge Chutkan justified her decision to maintain the original trial date by drawing comparisons to the timelines of the trials of Zacarias Moussaoui, who was involved in the 9/11 attacks, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a suspect in the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing.
“This timeline does not move the case forward with the haste of the mob. The trial will start three years, one month, and 27 days after the events of January 6, 2021,” Chutkan remarked. “The trial involving the Boston Marathon bombing began less than two years after the events,” she added. “The trial involving Zacarias Moussaoui for his role in the September 11 attacks was set to begin one year after the attacks; but due to continuances, appeals, and voluminous discovery, it began roughly four years later,” she further elaborated.
Judge Chutkan, who contributed to the presidential campaigns of former President Barack Obama, had implied in a prior case that she believed Trump should face incarceration.
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A Short History of Slavery | PragerU
Disregarding or figuring how to disregard SCOTUS decisions is beginning to develop and is a dangerous practice. Just another incidence where observance of laws is breaking apart.
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More military woke nonsense.
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God Bless the Democrats. What would we do without them?
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