President Trump should receive the Nobel Peace Prize if anyone gets the award for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Monday.
"President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. All we need is to bring peace," Moon said, according to the Blue House, Seoul's equivalent of the White House.
Moon made the comment after reading a message from Lee Hee-ho, the widow of late South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, congratulating Moon for Friday's historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, The Korea Timesreported.
Lee's note suggested that Moon should be awarded the prestigious prize, but Moon said Trump deserves the honor, according to the Blue House.
Moon, has consistently praised Trump for his efforts. In January, Mr Moon said Mr Trump "deserves big credit for bringing about the inter-Korean talks. It could be a resulting work of the US-led sanctions and pressure". Unlike Obama, who was awarded the prize after only a few weeks in office, if peace comes to Korea, Trump will have EARNED the prize!
Growing up I never thought I would see the Berlin Wall come down, let alone the collapse of the Soviet Union and freedom for Eastern Europe. But President Reagan had a vision of peace and with the persistent help of allies like Britain's Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II the reality we see today became possible. Are we witnessing another great moment in history today?
I doubted whether this was possible either:
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meet in the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, South Korea, April 27, 2018. Korea Summit Press Pool/Pool via Reuters. Photo gallery at the Daily Caller. Step by step of the visit with photos and quote at Channel NewsAsia.
One step across a line separating one nation divided by war and the enmity of decades and suddenly peace seems possible. At their meeting the two leaders signed a joint statement titled the "Panmunjeom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula." The full text is here. The declaration begins:
The two leaders solemnly declared before the 80 million Korean people and the whole world that there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula and thus a new era of peace has begun.
The two leaders, sharing the firm commitment to bring a swift end to the Cold War relic of longstanding division and confrontation, to boldly approach a new era of national reconciliation, peace and prosperity, and to improve and cultivate inter-Korean relations in a more active manner, declared at this historic site of Panmunjeom.
Three main points follow along with a pledge for continued direct communications and meetings. When North Korean leader Kim signed the guestbook at the South Korean "Peace House" he wrote: ""A new history starts now. An age of peace, from the starting point of history."
Before we start signing Kumbaya around the campfire it's important to remember that everything about North Korea must be taken with a grain of salt. Bruce Klingner at the Heritage Foundation and CIA veteran with direct experience in Korean affairs tweets:
North Korea agreed to non-aggression statement in 1992 and 2007, then abrogated them, along with armistice, in May 2009 and again in May 2013. Much of today's language seems lifted from previous agreements. Can Moon and Kim be penalized for plagiarism?
With nuclear weapons being the only claim to fame for North Korea many are skeptical that they can or will give up those weapons and actually move to a complete "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" as promised. Kim made several statements suggesting this time would be different. “I came here to put an end to the history of confrontation,” said the North Korean leader. Kim also addressed past failures:
KIM: As the expectations are high, so is the skepticism. In the past, we had reached big agreements, but they were not implemented for more than 10 years. There are people who are skeptical that the results of today’s meeting will be properly implemented.
...
Today, we will make sure that the agreement we have reached, which the people of the Korean Peninsula and the world are watching, doesn’t repeat the unfortunate history of unfulfilled promises.
As the old saying goes, the proof is in the pudding. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reacted: "I strongly ... hope that North Korea will take concrete actions. I will keep close eyes on North Korea's actions from now."
High Stakes for Trump
President Trump has been in close contact with South Korean and Japanese allies throughout this process. He recently met with Japan's Abe at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida White House. He's also been praised by South Korea's President Moon for fostering today's developments. But now, expectations have been raised especially in light of an even more unprecedented meeting between Kim and Trump.
Trump commented on the developments at a meeting with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House on Friday:
Trump: "We're not going to be played."
With National Security Advisor John Bolton and newly confirmed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo onboard Trump has the kind of strong and level headed team to assure progress. While some observers fret Trump may not realize what he's walking into others in the know suggest that there is likely to be solid progress behind the scenes that may explain Trump's cautious optimism. However, Trump has made it clear from the beginning of discussions on a Trump-Kim summit that he's prepared to walk away if negotiations don't bear fruit. Unlike past leaders who Trump said were "played like a fiddle." Right there, that kind of frank talk is encouraging. Stay tuned!
When Winston Churchill left office in 1955 he warned his colleagues to "never be separated from the Americans." For decades the "special relationship" between the United Kingdom and what Churchill called "the Great Republic" was a hallmark of diplomacy between great powers. Later in the 20th Century, the ideological soul match between UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan were a further demonstration of that bond. But now, Britain has been cast into the shade by the personal diplomatic tour de force of French President Emmanuel Macron during his state visit to Washington, DC. The first state visit of the Trump era.
Macron and Trump displayed an unmistakable 'relation spéciale' on a personal level rarely seen among world leaders. Throughout the visit there were reminders that France was America's first ally and the long history our two nations have shared. Macron even took a slight dig at the British by pointing out in his toast at the state dinner how wonderful it was to be in the White House calling it a "legendary place" and reminding his host "This White House full of history that the British burned down in 1815." The French President has made it clear he does not share the British reticence about embracing Trump and Macron clearly relished the role.
Macron explains the foundation for his unusual friendship with Trump:
“We have a very special relationship because both of us are probably the maverick of the systems on both sides,” Macron said. “I think President Trump’s election was unexpected in your country and probably my election was unexpected in my country. And we are not part of the classical political system.”
Throughout the visit those words "special relationship" came up again and again.
A state visit brings a flurry of words and images. I've selected a few to share. On the first day of the visit the leaders and their spouses planted a tree, a gift from President Macron, on the White House lawn. The sapling came from Belleau Wood, the site of a battle in World War I in which more than 9,000 American soldiers died.
The tree from the Belleau Wood grew from the earth where the blood of your soldiers was spilled to defend France. https://t.co/6qDE5TXBxr
Next it was off for dinner at Mount Vernon, home of George Washington, aboard Marine One.
On Tuesday, the official welcome ceremony at the White House is a time for pageantry and speeches. Behind the scenes, meetings are taking place to address key issues.
Bromance
The warmth between the two men was obvious as they left the White House balcony at the end of the welcome ceremony and later as they went to the Oval Office.
At their joint press conference:
TRUMP: "I like him a lot."
Their personal affection was on display in this joking moment in the Oval Office when Trump pretended to remove dandruff from Macron's suit:
TRUMP: We do have a very special relationship.... he's perfect!
The Washington Post put together a video montage. Macron is one handsy guy. But in a good way!
State Dinner
After the welcome ceremony the highlight of the visit is a state dinner. Trump choose to dispense with Obama's tent that was erected on the lawn so Barack and Michelle could party with Hollywood celebrities and choose the more intimate, formal and historic setting of the White House state dining room. But first, another welcome and more photos:
First Lady Melania Trump selected the Clinton china
While Emmanuel and Donald were busy with meetings, First Lady Melania took France's First Lady Brigitte Macron to the National Gallery. Fashions of the two were compared, two women in white, but a writer at the Daily Mail paid special attention to the footwear.
Macron Addresses Joint Session of Congress
House Speaker Paul Ryan invited President Macron to address a joint meeting of both the House and Senate. It's a rare honor and as Ryan points out “The first foreign leader to address Congress was Marquis de Lafayette, the French general whose heroism during the Revolutionary War earned him honorary American citizenship."
In Macron's speech he didn't shy away from expressing his differences with Trump on issues like climate change or trade. And once more, he alluded to the "very special relationship."
The story of France and the USA is the story of an endless dialogue, the story of a very special relationship. pic.twitter.com/3YepcX4HW0
The trip was a triumph for Macron and for Trump. Both affirmed the historic alliance of France and the United States while demonstrating warmth on a personal level that can only lead to better solutions to the challenges we face together.
"Peace through strength" and "trust but verify" work every time they are tried!
You can't go wrong when Ronnie leads the way!
In 1983 President Reagan countered the left's nuclear freeze proposals by calling out the Soviet Union as an "evil empire." He delivered that speech on March 8, 1983 at a convention of the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida [speech text]. Establishment appeasers and left wing useful idiots went bonkers insisting that such harsh language is not the road to peace but to war. A few weeks later on March 22 Reagan gave an Oval Office address to the nation [speech text] announcing his Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) with the purpose of realigning our national defense strategy away from the policy of mutual assured destruction (MAD) to one where incoming missiles could be shot down. Again, the Reagan haters went wild denouncing this as "Star Wars" starting an arms race in space that could only lead to war.
Three years later in 1986 President Reagan met the USSR's General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev for a summit in Reykjavík, Iceland but walked away from a stunning deal to rid the world of nuclear weapons if only the U.S. would give up it's SDI program. Reagan refused. Again, establishment appeasers and the left went bonkers. However, a year later Gorbachev removed his objections to SDI and signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty which relieved tensions in Europe and led to broader agreements on strategic nuclear weapons.
With the hindsight of 35 years of history we can see that Reagan had a vision of a better world. He stuck to that vision and wasn't afraid what the naysayers and appears had to say. He understood that effective arms control required first that the U.S. negotiate from a position of strength. "Peace through strength" was the phrase Reagan, and earlier Winston Churchill and others had used. Another key element to Reagan's negotiating strategy was the Russian phrase "dovorey no provorey," trust but verify. At the INF Treaty singing in 1987 Gorbachev joked "you repeat that at every meeting." Reagan responded "I like it" as he went on to describe how important verification and inspection provisions were to actually achieving real arms control success.
North Korea Peace Trump's Reagan Moment?
There's been a lot of positive noise about the situation with North Korea in the past few weeks. If we apply Reagan's lessons it may provide the best opportunity to actually move the dial closer to peace between North and South Korea and the United States and our allies.
The flurry of news in the past week alone has been stunning. Reports coming mainly from South Korea that the North is ready to engage in talks to actually end the war that was suspended but not ended by the armistice:
(NEWSER) – North Korea wants "complete denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula and is willing to drop its key demand that American troops fully withdraw from South Korea, according to Seoul. South Korean president Moon Jae-in, who is scheduled to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on April 27, said Thursday that Pyongyang had expressed a will for denuclearization and had not attached any conditions that the US would consider unacceptable, including a troop pullout, the Guardian reports. "All they are expressing is the end of hostile policies against North Korea, followed by a guarantee of security," he said. North Korea has not confirmed that it has dropped the demand for the withdrawal of US troops.
Moon said his summit with Kim could be a step toward a formal end to the Korean War and aid for the North's economy if it gets rid of its nuclear weapons program, though he cautioned that no progress would be made separate from the upcoming US-North Korea summit. "First, the South-North Korean summit must make a good beginning, and the dialogue between the two Koreas likely must continue after we see the results of the North Korea-United States summit," he said, per Reuters. The April 27 meeting will be only the third meeting of Korean leaders since 1953. On Friday, the first-ever telephone hotline between the leaders was installed and tested in preparation for the summit, the AP reports.
A message from Kim Jong Un: “North Korea will stop nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles.” Also will “Shut down a nuclear test site in the country’s Northern Side to prove the vow to suspend nuclear tests.” Progress being made for all!
....We are a long way from conclusion on North Korea, maybe things will work out, and maybe they won’t - only time will tell....But the work I am doing now should have been done a long time ago!
As with any proposal from North Korea it has to be taken with a huge grain of salt. Both President's Clinton and Obama have been snookered by North Korean promises in which the U.S. gave aide and the North Koreans continued with their nuclear and missile development after a short break. Will things be any different this time? President Trump realizes the dilemma. The following statement is from April 18, after a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Abe at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort:
TRUMP: We will not repeat the mistakes of previous administrations. Our campaign of maximum pressure will continue until North Korea denuclearizes. We have great respect for many aspects of what they’re doing, but we have to get it together. We have to end nuclear weapons, ideally in all parts of the world. That would be a goal for all of us, to hope for and to cherish.
As I’ve said before, there is a bright path available to North Korea when it achieves denuclearization in a complete and verifiable, and irreversible way. It will be a great day for them. It will be great day for the world.
The Trump haters, some of whom insisted he was unfit for office when he previously talked tough on North Korea still aren't happy. Insisting Trump will be conned into an agreement and nothing will change. Of course some who now criticize Trump's peace prospects for North Korea were cheerleaders for Obama's deeply flawed deal with Iran that gave the mad mullahs $150 billion to fund new terrorism up front with no leverage later.
Channeling his inner Reagan Trump has said that he is prepared to walk away from the upcoming summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un. Trump told Japan's Abe: "If the meeting, when I'm there, is not fruitful, I will respectfully leave the meeting and continue what we're doing." Continuing pressure on North Korea with our allies united in the effort is the best path to peace. Trump knows it. The question is, do the North Koreans? We may have some insight on that after the North-South summit at the Peace House on Friday, April 27. Stay tuned!
The last time I saw Barbara Bush was on the White House lawn November 4, 1992. She had just returned with her husband George and Vice President Dan Quayle and his wife Marilyn the day after their defeat in the presidential election. The presidential limo parked at the southern base of the large lawn nearer the Washington Monument. Both couples were forced to run a gauntlet of cheering supporters all the way up to the House and eventually giving a wave from the balcony. All of them, including Barbara Bush looked totally exhausted.
The George H.W. Bush Library has put together a special web site for remembering Barbara Bush. Go there for the official obituary as well as other biographical resources. I'll just share a few photo reflections here.
Above all, more than being First Lady, Barbara Bush prided herself on being a mother and wife to the over of her life, husband George.
Barbara Bush: "At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend or a parent." Addressing Wellesley College graduating class June 1,1990. More notable quotes here.
Family First
The Bush family in Kennebunkport, Maine August 24, 1986
Kennebunkport with Millie in 2004.
George W. Bush and Laura Bush at their wedding in Texas on November 5, 1977, with George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush.
Duty Follows
Second only to duty to the family came duty to the country. Only the second woman in U.S. history who was both the wife and mother of a U.S. President (Abigail Adams being the first). She was fixture of Washington life for a generation. As wife of a Vice President followed by First Lady then grande dame of the growing Bush clan. My apologies to those too young to remember.
Photos do not do her sincere humanity justice:
Barbara Bush watches as husband George H.W. takes the oath of office January 20, 1989.
(I was there)
Walking the Reagan's to Marine One helicopter as they leave Inaugural ceremony 1988.
President and Mrs. Bush walk down Pennsylvania Avenue during
the Inaugural Parade January 20, 1989
A tense night in Austin Texas with then Governor George W. Bush
on election night November 7, 2000. Result of the election was contested by Al Gore.
Greeting the World
Welcoming Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Phillip for a State Visit to the White House May 14, 1991
Former First Lady Barbara Bush shares the center spot with Queen Elizabeth II at the British Ambassador's residence in Washington, DC on May 8, 2007.
Obama played into Putin's hands on several occasions. In Syria, the deaths of innocent men, women and children were the result!
The American left insists that somehow it's inappropriate to discuss what Obama did, or did not do, as President. "He's out of office" they howl as if none of what he did had any bearing on where we are today. Sorry but history does not permit such denial. If we don't know where we have been, how do we stop from making the same mistake?
Syria's use of chemical weapons against it's own people came into clear focus during Obama's re-election campaign on August 20, 2012. He was trying to sound tough when he declared:
OBAMA: We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.
A year later on September 4 2013 when it was obvious that Syria had continued to use chemical weapons Obama, realizing he could not get congressional approval to strike Syria, denied he had declared the red line. He insisted instead that "I didn't set a red line. The world set a red line." Scrambling to recover from the fallout of that shambolic whopper Obama dispatched Secretary of State Kerry to the 5 star Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov.
After days of fruitless discussion Kerry and Lavrov met poolside and Lavrov relented to an agreement (text) that had more holes in it than the Swiss cheese served at dinner. But all that was overlooked in the moment where Kerry put on his best Neville Chamberlain face and assured the world he had secured his version of "peace for our time." Watch out Poland!
The agreement did allow Obama to save face but at the expense of what little credibility Obama had in leading world affairs. Russians and the Syrians were ecstatic. As Richard Spencer reports in the Daily Telegraph:
"These agreements are a victory for Syria, achieved thanks to our Russian friends," Ali Haidar, the minister for national reconciliation, told Russian media.
...
Russian officials were keen to put a positive spin on Mr Assad's concession, saying they had prevented a "mistake the size of Suez".
"It was going to be a disaster to intervene militarily in Syria," one Russian official said. "We saved them. Vladimir Putin, really, deserves the Nobel Peace Prize."
Well, why not give Putin the Nobel Peace Prize. The Prize Committee gave it to Obama based on solely on wishful thinking. Do the Norweigans want it back?
For some good background on how and why that flawed agreement came about see Peter Foster's September 2013 column in the Daily Telegraph. Foster describes how
Countless members of the foreign policy establishment instantly knew, a Faustian pact in which Mr Putin saved Mr Obama's blushes at home in exchange for a dramatic loss of American face abroad.
Nevertheless Obama has insisted that the Syrian agreement was a good deal. He insisted, along with Kerry and nearly every other top Democrat that the Syrian deal had been a success. Kerry and others repeatedly claimed that "100%" of Syria's chemical weapons had been removed and destroyed. Watch:
KERRY: "We struck a deal where we got 100 percent of the chemical weapons out."
The snarky tone in Obama's voice leaves a bitter taste after seeing the deaths of thousands of children due to chemical weapons that Obama and Democrats claimed were destroyed. Both Human Rights Watch and the Arms Control Association have continued to document the use of such weapons following Obama's victory lap. Meanwhile, the self-professed media fact checkers at Politifact can't bring themselves to call Kerry a liar even when it's as plain as the nose on your face!
Obama went on to claim another diplomatic victory in the nuclear agreement with Iran. How long before that too is exposed as a sham with horrific consequences?
Trump Pressuring Putin
OK, so we know what Obama and Kerry did created a mess that cost many innocent lives. Trump's limited strike was measured. In my view too limited and measured. But Trump is upping the diplomatic game where Obama and Kerry dropped the ball. In his speech announcing limited strikes Trump laid the blame directly at the feet of the Russians. This has been followed at other levels with senior officials echoing the President's words.
At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council Hon. Niki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations recounted the number of times the U.S. and allies have engaged in diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis but were blocked by Russia. Haley said:
HALEY: We can all see that a Russian disinformation campaign is in full force this morning. But Russia’s desperate attempts at deflection cannot change the facts. A large body of information indicates that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons in Douma on April 7. There is clear information demonstrating Assad’s culpability.
The pictures of dead children were not fake news. They were the result of the Syrian regime’s barbaric inhumanity. And they were the result of the regime and Russia’s failure to live up to their international commitments to remove all chemical weapons from Syria. The United States, France, and the United Kingdom acted after careful evaluation of these facts.
...
Syria committed to abide by the Chemical Weapons Convention, meaning it could no longer have chemical weapons on its soil.
President Putin said Russia would guarantee that Syria complied. We hoped that this diplomacy would succeed in putting an end to the horror of chemical attacks in Syria. But as we see from the past year, that did not happen.
While Russia was busy protecting the regime, Assad took notice. The regime knew it could act with impunity, and it did.
...
Russia’s veto was the green light for the Assad regime to use these most barbaric weapons against the Syrian people, in complete violation of international law. The United States and our allies were not going to let that stand. Chemical weapons are a threat to us all. They are a unique threat, a type of weapon so evil that the international community agreed they must be banned.
We cannot stand by and let Russia trash every international norm that we stand for, and allow the use of chemical weapons to go unanswered. And just as the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons last weekend was not an isolated incident, our response is part of a new course charted last year to deter future use of chemical weapons.
... The United States is deeply grateful to the United Kingdom and France for its part in the coalition to defend the prohibition of chemical weapons. We worked in lock step, we were in complete agreement. Last night, our great friends and indispensable allies shouldered a burden that benefits all of us. The civilized world owes them its thanks. In the weeks and months to come, the Security Council should take time to reflect on its role in defending the international rule of law.
The Security Council has failed in its duty to hold those who use chemical weapons to account. That failure is largely due to Russian obstruction. We call on Russia to take a hard look at the company it keeps, and live up to its responsibilities as a Permanent Member of the Council and defend the actual principles the United Nations was meant to promote.
Last night, we successfully hit the heart of Syria’s chemical weapons enterprise, and because of these actions, we are confident that we have crippled Syria’s chemical weapons program.
We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will.
No more Mr. (or Ms.) Nice Guy. You do not want to cross Niki Haley. Or Donald Trump. Finally, there is a new Sheriff in town and the world will be a better place because of it!
So much for being "Putin's Puppet" as the Trump-Russia crowd claimed!
Friday evening April 13 in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House.
Friday evening President Trump came to the Diplomatic Reception Room in the White House and said:
My fellow Americans, a short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both.
The President went on to describe the reasons for the attacks. Full transcript is here. Video here.
The President also sent a direct message to both the Russians and the Iranians:
I also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping, and financing the criminal Assad regime.
To Iran, and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children?
The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators.
In 2013, President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons. Assad’s recent attack — and today’s response — are the direct result of Russia’s failure to keep that promise. Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully, someday we’ll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran — but maybe not.
I will say this: The United States has a lot to offer, with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world.
Trump leading with our allies invites Russia to join the community of civilized nations. The choice is theirs!
The report describes how Andrew McCabe, the now fired Deputy Director of the FBI, repeatedly lied to investigators regarding matters of leaking to reporter about a sensitive investigation of the Clinton Family Foundation.
Upon release of the report Trump tweeted:
DOJ just issued the McCabe report - which is a total disaster. He LIED! LIED! LIED! McCabe was totally controlled by Comey - McCabe is Comey!! No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!
Later reports are expected to address how the FBI handled investigations of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Washington insiders see the potential for bigger bombshells to come!
Comey's book and interviews reveal an angry, petty man obsessed with his own self worth. Still, we did learn a few things.
In an upcoming interview with former Clinton White House aide George Stephanopoulus on ABC former FBI Director and George had this exchange:
STEPHANOPOULOS (voice-over): Comey then asked to meet alone with Trump to warn him about that now-infamous Steele dossier, unverified information on Trump's ties to Russia, including allegations of Trump's encounters with prostitutes in Moscow.
COMEY: Called out to meet with a person who doesn't know me, had just been elected president of the United States. By all accounts, and from my watching him during the campaign, could be volatile. And I'm about to talk to him about allegations that he was involved with prostitutes in Moscow, and that the Russians taped it and have leverage over him.
STEPHANOPOULOS (on camera): Was there any choice there? Why, if this was salacious, and this particular part of the dossier unverified -- still unverified, by the way?
COMEY: Yes. So far is -- when I got fired, it was unverified.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Did you tell him that the Steele dossier had been financed by his political opponents?
COMEY: No. I didn't -- I didn't think I used the term "Steele dossier." I just talked to him about additional material.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Did -- but did he have a right to know that?
COMEY: That it had been financed by his political opponents? I don't know the answer to that.
I -- it wasn't necessary for my goal, which was to alert him that we had this information.
The ONE key factor in the entire dossier was that it was funded by the DNC. Comey knew it and concealed that information. Had this become public in early 2017 the entire Trump-Russia faux scandal would have been still born on the spot. We only learned the information about funding after months of congressional investigation.
But at least Comey admits that nothing in the phony dossier has been verified. Not one shred of it! And entire fabrication.
Lynch Lies?
Equally troubling is an obscure reference to the role played in Hillary email investigation by then Attorney General Loretta Lynch. From ABC News:
Comey writes that he felt obligated to take more of a personal role as the public face of the investigation rather than deferring to then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch – in part because of something involving Lynch that he cryptically refers to as a “development still unknown to the American public to this day.”
Exclusive: James Comey to give first interview to ABC News' George Stephanopoulos
In early 2016, the U.S. government became aware of information from a classified source, and “the source and content of that material remains classified as I write this,” according to the book.
“Had it become public, the unverified material would undoubtedly have been used by political opponents to cast serious doubt on the attorney general’s independence in connection with the Clinton investigation,” Comey writes, without further elaboration.
Concerned with Hillary's Legitimacy?
The final takeaway is this curious bit as described by the Washington Times:
In his book, Mr. Comey said he publicly announced the re-opening of the probe because he feared not doing so could make the future president look “illegitimate.”
“I believed it was my duty to inform Congress that we were restarting the investigation,” he writes about the October 2016 statement. “I would say as little as possible, but the FBI had to speak.”
Mrs. Clinton and her loyalists believe Mr. Comey’s announcement cost her the presidency, even though he re-cleared her before the election.
In a further reflection of how the political winds affected his decision-making, Mr. Comey acknowledges in his 2018 book that he might have handled matters differently had he known Mrs. Clinton would lose.
“It is entirely possible that, because I was making decisions in an environment where Hillary Clinton was sure to be the next president, my concern about making her an illegitimate president by concealing the restarted investigation bore greater weight than it would have if the election appeared closer or if Donald Trump were ahead in all polls,” he writes.
“But,” he wonders aloud, “I don’t know.”
"I don't know" appears to be a common refrain from a man who claims to have the truthful answer to every question. Nice that he didn't want to tarnish Hillary's win. What a shame he didn't have the same scruples when it came to Trump. Add this to the list of how Comey, et. al. treated Hillary and Trump very differently.
OIG Report Blasts Comey's Deputy
A scathing report (PDF) has just been released from the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General (OIG) describing the misdeeds of Comey's Deputy Andrew McCabe, recently fired. It was just a few steps from McCabe's office to Comey's. How long before the OIG releases the report on Comey? I'll bet that would be a more interesting read than Comey's bid to shade the truth with his self serving book!
Not only did Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg not testify under oath about the privacy violations of Facebook, but the companies CEO needed a booster seat.
From the Washingtonian, Here's Zuck's seat in preparation for his visit:
The extra padding is clearly visible as Zuckerberg faces Senators:
I'm waiting for the Senate transcript of the hearing so we can see if Zuckerberg was questioned on why his social media platform silences conservatives while routinely cooperating with Democrats like Obama.
A former media director for the Obama campaign said Facebook allowed them to access the personal data of its users in 2011 because the social media giant was “on our side.”
“They came to office in the days following election recruiting & were very candid that they allowed us to do things they wouldn’t have allowed someone else to do because they were on our side,” Carol Davidsen, director of data integration and media analytics for Obama for America, wrote Sunday on Twitter.
Davidsen said she and her team were able to gather massive amounts of personal information from Facebook users, as well as their friends.
“Facebook was surprised we were able to suck out the whole social graph, but they didn’t stop us once they realized that was what we were doing,” she said on Twitter.
From attacks on First Amendment freedoms to actual shootings, the left is moving perilously from ballots to bullets!
A disturbing nexus of recent events has me concerned for the dangerous consequences to the American political system. Each on their own is troubling, but when looked at as a whole the forecast for the future grows darker.
First up is Diamond and Silk. They are a comedy duo of sassy black women who buck the conventional racial and ideological norms. They were early Trump supporters and appeared with him at campaign events. If you haven't seen their videos take a look. The pair announced over the weekend that Facebook now considers them "unsafe to the community."
Facebook never specified how the women were a danger or to what community. But it's part of a growing trend where conservative or Republican speech is blocked or silenced on social media. Silencing conservatives on the major social media platforms is nothing new, but the extent of the practice is growing wider every year. "Shadow banning" where a user is able to publish on social media but where there is no notification to his or her followers is the latest tactic. If a tree falls in the woods but there is no one there to hear it does it make a sound?
The problem isn't limited to Facebook or Twitter. At Google, they partnered with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a far left fundraising group, to police You Tube. SPLC has little to do with southern poverty or law. It's a group that raises huge sums of money by warning frightened supporters to believe the right wing bogeyman is at the door. It's a great business model which has enriched it's founders to the point where the firm stashes cash offshore in the Cayman Islands. SPLC is notorious for labeling conservative individuals and organizations as extremists or hate groups including Ayaan Hirsi Ali the brave Somali woman who speaks out against the barbaric practice of female genital mutilation. Also targeted was the Family Research Council who opposed gay marriage and was labeled a hate group. Based on that designation, a left wing gunman went to their headquarters with the goal of assassinating their workers. Are these the people you want deciding what content is permitted on You Tube and silencing voices they arbitrarily determine to be offensive?
Kalev Leetaru, writing at Forbes, describes how the suggestion to have independent external panels examine the problem of political bias at these platforms has been greeted with silence. Refusal of social media companies to accept responsibility to be fair and transparent invites further public scrutiny and may demand government regulation to assure all users are treated equally.
The depth of that problem, is highlighted by a recent tweet made by Jack Dorsey, founder and CEO of Twitter. Dorsey recommends an article that describes "America's new civil war" in which the only solution is the total defeat of Republicans and silencing of their viewpoint in the public square. The article, written by Peter Leyden and political commentator Ruy Teixeira declares:
“In this current period of American politics, at this juncture in our history, there’s no way that a bipartisan path provides the way forward."
...
"Take the Republican Party down for a generation or two."
...
"America can’t afford more political paralysis. One side or the other must win.”
Advocating a one party state is the path to tyranny, and ultimately to a shooting war but the left appears not the least concerned with the consequences of their actions. No doubt history wasn't taught in Jack Dorsey's left wing school.
The American left is quickly becoming the ultimate hate group and the violence such barely constrained hate inspires is already here. For years we've seen it at universities where conservative speakers are shouted down. Fires started, windows smashed, attendees assaulted. It's become almost commonplace.
We also saw mobs during the presidential election in 2016 chasing and assaulting Trump supporters. One campaign event in Illinois had to be canceled after Trump haters infiltrated the arena. Video shows mobs of Bernie Sanders supporters starting a melee. One, Jedidiah Brown, who professes to be an ordained minister and "anti-violence activist," rushed the stage and attempted to grab the microphone. Later he is seen throwing wild punches. So much for anti-violence. Literally the 21st century version of Nazi brownshirts! Here's the highlight reel:
The left points to the tragic death of a young woman in Charlottesville, Virginia as evidence that the right engages in violence too. At a white nationalist event black clad Antifa mobs showed up with clubs and started a riot with the right wing crowd. After the fact, a New York Times reporter accurately described the scene of violence on both sides and was forced to change her reporting. Some claimed that the Antifa rioters were simply defending themselves. Hard to justify that since many were from out of town and went to Charlottesville, as they do in other places like Ferguson Missouri, solely for the purpose of rioting.
Antifa counter protesters carrying semi-automatic weapons at the riot in Charlottesville, Virginia August 2017. But they're the good guys right?
I suppose the irony of left wing fascists with guns demanding a ban on assault weapons is lost on the left. Sadly, the incidences of left wing gun attacks and threats is rising rapidly. Last week we learned of the threats to shoot and kill Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee by a left wing constituent who hates Trump. Since Trump took office dozens of GOP representatives have been similarly threatened. The issue takes on increased seriousness since the attempted massacre of Republican congressmen at baseball practice in Virginia last summer that left House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) near death.
Permitting political speech, especially speech with which one might disagree, is a fundamental principle of American democracy. The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing free speech was put first for a reason. The Supreme Court has upheld the predominance of that right ever since. But once again, the left seeks to silence speech with which they disagree. And not content to simply silence speech, they seek to use violence to get their way. History teaches us that's not a path that ends well. But the left has declared war and it will be up to those who love liberty to defend the Constitution against such infringement on our rights. I prefer ballots over bullets but as we've seen the left rejects the results of elections they lose. Their violent impulses will have to be contained by the rule of law. No doubt they will riot over that too!
Perhaps we need a law that bans all Democrats from owning guns?
If you need further proof that it isn't the NRA, that is the problem (since NOT ONE of their members has ever committed mass murder) you might look at the example of Christopher Michael McGowan who sent a series of death threats via twitter to Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. In the wake of the attempted massacre of GOP Congressmen last year and the Democrat who used the hashtag #huntRepublicanCongressmen these threats have to be taken seriously.
I'm serious @BobGoodlatte6 ..you keep fucking with our constitution and challenging Mueller and the last you see will be my patriot ass behind a gun you should have long ago have prevented me owning pulling a trigger to your head. Want me arrested>? GO head.
In another tweet McGowan threatened: “Dear, any law enforcement agency. I am a veteran Army officer and am fully qualified and capable to kill. Should Trump fire Mueller illegally and @BobGoodlatte6 fail to impeach him I will consider Bob an enemy combatant and arrest him. If he resist I will kill him.”
You'll be glad to know the fool is now behind bars. But how many are left out there? McGowan's Twitter feed makes repeated references to the Parkland shooting. Could it be that he was so enraged by the media that whipped audiences into a frenzy of hate after those attacks that he would replicate them? Apparently, irony is lost on these fools.
Across the country dozens of GOP congressmen and women have had similar experiences. At what point do we hold Democrats and the media transmitting this hate accountable? No wonder so many REAL Americans are joining the NRA!
"We're going to keep our rights come hell or high water!" This is fantastic. A must see:
Wow! There are millions of Americans who stood up and cheered when they heard this. Marc Robinson spoke for us in an eloquent, moving and passionate way. No teleprompter here, no written remarks, just words from the heart.
Robinson doesn't even own a gun yet he understands the gun control issue perfectly. And from his comments about turning criminals into victims and demonizing police I dare say he understands much more than gun rights. The man needs to run for U.S. Senate though I doubt he would want the job.
Now, how long will it be before the left wing haters verbally lynch him and tar and feather him with racial attacks?
It's the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. King's most famous words from his "I Have a Dream" speech are reprinted at right. I wonder what Dr. King would think of the current left wing fascination with dividing people as young as eight years old by race?
Mother Amber Pabon was upset when her second grade son came home with a two sided flyer from the PTA based on extreme left wing "social justice" program to inculcate students and parents with their view of correct racial views.
Amber: "He's not looking at the color of your skin" but now he is!
Here's the racist propaganda her son received:
Brainwashing young children to think in racial terms and dividing a new generation of Americans by race is a new low even for the left. But then, without a new generation of racially enraged supporters how will these left wing extremist organizations keep the money flowing?
McCain never met a Senate Democrat he didn't want to compromise with on gun legislation. Attacking him reveals how bereft of experience, let alone common sense, the gun grabbing poster child has become!
So poorly informed. Do they not teach civics or history at Parkland High?
For years Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been an advocate of stronger gun control. The Washington Post editorial board even hailed McCain as a "sage voice on gun control" in 2013. His willingness to compromise on this and other issue with Democrats is well known.
McCain has drawn the ire of conservatives many times. I personally confronted McCain on his dual personality in a campaign stop in South Carolina in 2007.
Now McCain is likely dying of brain cancer and along comes David Hogg, the Parkland High School shooting survivor who has become a media darling of the left. He can do no wrong and has been imbued with the same "absolute moral authority" that the left bestowed on anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan. Like Sheehan, Hogg's absolute moral authority is corrupting absolutely!
Attacking a dying man who is sympathetic to your goals is beyond stupid and just shows how untethered the left has become from common sense.
But then, we are not allowed to criticize Hogg. Though it's open season on any Parkland teen survivor who does not share Hogg's radical views. Just look at the slime tossed at Kyle Kashuv on CNN and MSNBC.
It appears that the goal of Hogg and the other gun grabbers is to make it more difficult, if not impossible, to find a reasonable political solution to the problem they purport to care about. Blaming Republicans like McCain, or the NRA is a sure way to make sure nothing gets done!
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-mco.s3.amazonaws.com/public/TFIP7BFSYRFL7IKC5YTYQ6MTVQ.jpg)
