Today, the 45th President of the United States Donald J. Trump and the First Lady, Mrs. Melania Trump, visited Marines at Marine Barracks Washington. The Commander in Chief and First Lady personally thanked Marines for their actions in supporting Washington D.C. first responders during the recent fire at the Arthur Capper Senior Center.
Additionally, the visit served as an opportunity to personally thank the Marines for their continued service to the nation, and provide desserts in honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
Senator Lindsey Graham appears on Fox News for a pre-scheduled interruption to Sean Hannity’s hour long monologue. During the eight minute appearance, Graham was able to speak for 2:16 seconds and discussed: the Florida election; the intent of Jeff Flake to derail any Judicial nominations: and the likelihood of Robert Mueller continuing an investigation of President Trump. Graham is optimistic for the next congressional year.
CNN has filed suit over Trump banning Acosta from the White House claiming they have a First Amendment right. Trump says CNN’s Jim Acosta is ‘bad for the country’ and was ‘very rude’ to a female intern during microphone clash as White House argues in court that ‘no journalist has a First Amendment right to enter’. Actually, it will be very interesting to see how the court rules on this. Under Braswell v US, the Supreme Court held that the 5th Amendment privilege does NOT apply to corporations. There is definitely a mix-match of how the Constitution applies to corporations. On the one hand, they must be afforded Due Process of Law. However, a corporation cannot be represented pro se, it must hire a lawyer. There really is no consistent application of the Constitution when it comes to corporations
Attorney Michael Avenatti, who became famous for representing Stormy Daniels in her defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump, and has brought other women to testify in the Supreme Court hearings, was arrested for suspected domestic violence on Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The police have confirmed the arrest but state it is an ongoing investigation.
What he did in contributing to the Senate hearings along with Ford has made the United States look like absolute idiots from outside the USA. The man who says he wants to run for President in 2020 just might have blown it.
If you pause for a few minutes and look at every recent headline, and the story therein that delivers frustration;… I mean really elevate and look at the bigger issue inside each of the examples… there’s a connective thread surrounding a shift in law-and-order to focus on “criminal intent.”
“Intent”, not consequence, is now the larger shield being applied toward excusing the action of people within institutions of government and society.
Hillary Clinton was not guilty, because James Comey said they couldn’t prove intent. Recent DOJ releases highlighting: “declined to prosecute” all surround intent. Illegal alien entry, and accountability for fraud, all downplayed because there’s no proof of intent.
In the larger picture, the focus on intent -a specific decision made within the administration of justice- has become a shield against consequence.
It was a “mistake”…. he/she/it made “a poor decision” etc. A pattern of obfuscation downplaying consequence and allowing those decision-makers charged with delivering accountability to withdraw or apply the rules of law based on their individual overlay of ‘intent’.
That shift is factually visible everywhere now.
The IG report by Michael Horowitz, on FBI bias and investigative outcome, was fraught with the application of ‘intent’ inside the inspectors explanation of absent evidence toward bias. Each of these examples does not seem to be arbitrary, but rather connected to a more consequential decision by those in power to water-down accountability and open the doors for further abuse.
If the official didn’t ‘intend’ to do wrong, or more specifically if the people in position of delivering accountability for the wrong-doing, cannot find specific intent, then the action is less-than regardless of outcome. Consider what officials were doing inside the FBI regarding media-leaks, then insert the James Wolfe example here.
Considering the use of ‘intent’ as a shield we review this recent example:
FLORIDA – […] Last week, a top attorney in the Department of State wrote a letter to three Florida federal prosecutors that asked them to review “irregularities” related to mail-in ballots. The department included information that showed that voters were given the wrong deadline to fix any problems with those ballots.
The letter alleges that voters in at least four counties — Broward, Santa Rosa, Citrus and Okaloosa — appeared to have received the altered forms.
For example, if a voter’s signature on the ballot envelope was missing or did not match the signature on file, they were notified by supervisors that they had until Monday, Nov. 5, to fix their signature.
The altered forms some voters allegedly received listed Nov. 8, two days after election, as the deadline to fix the signature.
Email chains provided by the Department of State include addresses that match the Florida Democratic Party and a phone number that is an active number for the Florida Democratic Party on the altered forms.
The Division of Elections has provided the information to federal prosecutors in the Northern, Middle and Southern districts of Florida, and now, the Justice Department will determine if any laws were broken. (read more)
Following along the ideological lines of: “all actions are justified”, do you see how the shift to ‘intent’ is a serious issue within a corrupt system?
Within that system, and against that purposeful filter and determination, plausible deniability becomes the construct for intentional criminal engagement.
The voter didn’t intend to violate the law… therefore no law was violated. The Democrats who send the fraudulent instructions didn’t intend to violate the statute… therefore no statute was violated.
Everyone just, well, made a mistake.
You don’t even need to put a finger on the scales of justice, once the scales are intentionally mis-calibrated like this.
If you wonder why there is such a surrounding sense of anxiety, poor conduct, lack of virtue and general unease within the recent landscape…. I would deposit the likelihood that all of the unnerving instability around us is being caused by this shift away from consequence based entirely on ‘intent‘.
Brazen unlawfulness and abuses are now subject to arbitrary determinations of intent.
Voices selling a pending conclusion to the Mueller investigation of President Trump were dealt a set-back today as Robert Mueller files a motion with the court extending the 2016 Russian interference investigation deep into 2019.
The Associated Press is citing court documents filed within the Rick Gates case where the special counsel is requesting additional time for sentencing as an outcome of ongoing cooperation that has expanded the investigation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Robert Mueller isn’t done with former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates.
That’s according to a new court filing from the special counsel’s team. Prosecutors say they’re not ready for Gates to be sentenced because he is continuing to cooperate with “several ongoing investigations.” And they’re asking a federal judge to give them until mid-January before they have to give another update about his case.
The filing confirms that the investigation will extend into next year as Mueller continues to probe Russian election interference and any possible coordination with President Donald Trump’s associates. (read more)
Fortunately there is no direct notification of President Trump as the subject of the expanded inquiry, which will allow the “trust the plan” folks the opportunity to claim a magnanimous Mueller is only being diligent; and there’s no need for concern with the investigation going deep into next year.
My initial read on this is that it appears to be a counter-move by the administrative state, in response to the appointment of Matt Whitaker as Associate Attorney General.
My hunch is the Special Counsel ‘small group‘ is using court filings to extend the calendar, and thereby the usefulness of their investigation as a shield. This “ongoing investigation” blocks any unfavorable investigative inquiry which might expose the DOJ/FBI corruption.
However, I’m far more cynical than most when it comes to the intents and interests of DC, Robert Mueller, DAG Rod Rosenstein and the Machiavellian administrative state.
I personally believe Mueller’s investigation always held an ulterior purpose:
♦(1) Create an investigation – Just by creating the investigation it is then used as a shield by any corrupt FBI/DOJ official who would find himself/herself under downstream congressional investigation. Former officials being deposed/questioned by IG Horowitz or Congress could then say they are unable to answer those questions due to the ongoing special counsel investigation. In this way Mueller provides cover for ideologically aligned deep state officials.
♦(2) Use the investigation to keep any and all inquiry focused away from the corrupt DOJ and FBI activity that took place in 2015, 2016, 2017. Keep the media narrative looking somewhere, anywhere, other than directly at the epicenter of the issues. In this way, Mueller provides distraction and talking points against the Trump administration.
♦(3) Use the investigation to suck-up, absorb, any damaging investigative material that might surface as a result of tangentially related inquiry. Example: control the exposure of evidence against classified leak participants like SSCI Director of Security, James Wolfe; and/or block IG Horowitz from seeing material related to the FISA abuse scandal and “spygate”. In this way Mueller provides cover for the institutions and the administrative state.
In all of these objectives the Mueller special counsel has been stunningly effective.
However, the ‘trust the plan’ crew believes Rosenstein and Mueller are working on behalf of President Trump to confront the deep state; and everything that appears to be bad news is really just good news we haven’t discovered yet.
In a move that supports President Trump, the U.S. Justice Department, Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), has released a lengthy memo [pdf available here] outlining the legal support for the interim appointment of Matthew Whitaker as Acting Attorney General.
(Via Wall Street Journal) […] The Justice Department’s opinion is aimed at critics who say Mr. Whitaker’s installation is an invalid run around the Constitution’s requirement that the Senate provide “advice and consent” for senior executive-branch nominations. It comes a day after the state of Maryland asked a federal judge to block Mr. Whitaker from serving, arguing that job should fall to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
A judge Wednesday set a hearing on that argument for Dec. 19.
The Justice Department’s opinion is likely to further the debate that has surrounded Mr. Whitaker since President Trump named him to replace Jeff Sessions, whom the president ousted last week. Even before Mr. Sessions’ resignation, the department’s Office of Legal Counsel had advised the White House that Mr. Trump could lawfully name Mr. Whitaker as his successor, a senior department official said Wednesday.
“It is no doubt true that presidents often choose acting principal officers from among Senate-confirmed officers. But the Constitution doesn’t mandate that choice,” the head of the office, Steven A. Engel, wrote in Wednesday’s opinion, addressed to White House layer Emmet Flood. “Consistent with our prior opinion and with centuries of historical practice and precedents, we advised that the president’s designation of Mr. Whitaker as acting attorney general on a temporary basis” didn’t warrant Senate confirmation. (link to WSJ)
The larger, seemingly overlooked question, is why? Why did President Trump choose to follow the advice of his White House lawyers, and appoint Matthew Whitaker as Acting Attorney General, instead of allowing Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein to elevate to the position of AG in the interim period?
There is speculation Matthew Whitaker is the preferred acting AG because he is more likely to support a pre-planned objective cleaning out a set of corrupt internal officials within the DOJ and FBI; this would be the “cleaner” supposition.
Hopefully this is the case; there are reasonable signs of evidence pointing in this direction. However, given the history of how Machievellian the administrative state has been in defending corrupt institutions – it would be naive to think the career embeds within the DOJ and FBI, and their external alliance (Lawfare), don’t have a counter-punch in their scheming arsenal.
We live in an era of consequential, and unfortunately unnerving, times. Those within the previous administration who shredded the constitution in favor of weaponized power for political purposes, are emboldened amid a landscape where the majority media support their usurpation.
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.”
“For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.”
President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks earlier today in a White House event calling on Congress to take action and support the bipartisan prison reform legislation, the FIRST STEP Act.
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[Transcript] Roosevelt Room – 4:38 P.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Thank you very much for being here. Appreciate it. And thank you very much, everybody. I’m grateful to be here today with members of the House and Senate who have poured their time — and they really have — their heart, and energy into the crucial issue of prison reform.
A very respected man — Chairman Chuck Grassley — and my friend. Where’s Chuck? Chuck? Thank you, Chuck, very much. You’ve worked hard on this. And Bob Goodlatte. I saw Bob here. Thank you, Bob. Great job. Senators Lindsey Graham, Mike Lee, Tim Scott, Rand Paul, and Doug Collins — fantastic people who’ve worked so hard and we appreciate very much what you’ve done. We really do. Thank you all very much.
Working together with my administration over the last two years, these members have reached a bipartisan agreement. Did I heard the word “bipartisan”? Did I hear — did I hear that word? (Laughter and applause.) That’s a nice word. Bipartisan agreement on prison reform legislation known as the FIRST STEP. And that’s what it is; it’s the first step. But it’s a very big first step.
Today, I’m thrilled to announce my support for this bipartisan bill that will make our communities safer and give former inmates a second chance at life after they have served their time. So important.
And I have to tell you, I was called, when I announced and when we all announced together this news conference, by some of the toughest, strongest law enforcement people — including politicians, by the way — who are so in favor of it. And I was actually surprised by some. Like, as an example, Mike Lee — (laughter) — and Rand Paul, and others. No, it’s got tremendous support at every level. It’s really great.
And we’re all better off when former inmates can receive and reenter society as law-abiding, productive citizens. And thanks to our booming economy, they now have a chance at more opportunities than they’ve ever had before. It is true. Our economy is so strong, that when people are getting out of jail, they’re actually able to find jobs.
And I have three instances of companies that hired people coming out of prison, and they are so thrilled by the performance of these people. And now they’re doing it more and more and more. And a lot of people are seeing this. It’s great.
They wouldn’t have had the opportunity, frankly, except for the fact that the economy is so strong. And our job market is the lowest and best it’s been in over 50 years, and seems to be getting even better.
Our pledge to hire American includes those leaving prison and looking for a very fresh start — new job, new life. The legislation I’m supporting today contains many significant reforms, including the following:
First, it will provide new incentives for low-risk inmates to learn the skills they need to find employment, avoid old habits, and follow the law when they are released from prison. These incentives will encourage them to participate in vocational training, educational coursework, and faith-based programs — and I want to thank Paula White, very much, because I know you very much wanted that — thank you, Paula — that reduce their chances of recidivism, and, in other words, reduce their chances of going back to prison substantially.
Second, this legislation will allow federal inmates to be placed closer to their home communities in order to help facilitate family visitation — so important — because we know that maintaining family and community ties is key to successful reentry into our society.
Third, the bill includes reasonable sentencing reforms while keeping dangerous and violent criminals off our streets. In many respects, we’re getting very much tougher on the truly bad criminals — of which, unfortunately, there are many. But we’re treating people differently for different crimes. Some people got caught up in situations that were very bad.
I give an example of Mrs. Alice Johnson, who served 21 years. And she had, I think, another 25 or so to go. So she would have been in there for close to 50 years for something that other people go in and they get slapped on the wrist — which is also wrong, by the way. Which is also wrong. But I’ll never forget the scene of her coming out of prison after 21 years and greeting her family and everybody was crying. Her sons, her grandsons — everybody was crying and hugging and holding each other. It was a beautiful thing to see. It was a very much tough situation.
Among other changes, it rolls back some of the provisions of the Clinton crime law that disproportionately harmed the African American community. And you all saw that and you all know that; everybody in this room knows that. It was very disproportionate and very unfair.
Throughout this process, my administration has worked closely with law enforcement. Their backing has ensured that this legislation remains tough on crime — it’s got to remain very tough on crime — and supports the tremendous work of our police and the tremendous job that law enforcement does throughout our country, our communities. They do an incredible job. We have great respect for law enforcement.
We’re honored that seven of the major police organizations, including the Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Police Chiefs, have fully endorsed this bill.
We could not have gotten here without the support and feedback of law enforcement, and its leaders are here today — two of them — especially Chuck Canterbury of FOP and Chief Paul Cell of IACP. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you very much. I appreciate that very much. And these are two tough cookies. (Laughter.) They want what’s right. They want what’s right.
And interesting — if you look at Texas, if you look at Georgia, if you look at Mississippi and Kentucky and some other states that are known as being very tough — these are big supporters of what we’re doing. And some of it has been modeled after what they’ve done. They’ve done a tremendous job.
My administration will always support the incredible men and women of law enforcement, and we will continue to pursue policies that help the heroes who keep us safe. They are truly heroes.
We also thank the more than 2,000 leaders in the faith community who have signed a letter of support. We have tremendous support within the faith community. Unbelievable support.
Americans from across the political spectrum can unite around prison reform legislation that will reduce crime while giving our fellow citizens a chance at redemption. So if something happens and they make a mistake, they get a second chance at life.
Today’s announcement shows that true bipartisanship is possible. And maybe it’ll be thriving, if we’re going to get something done. When Republicans and Democrats talk, debate, and seek common ground, we can achieve breakthroughs that move our country forward and deliver for our citizens. And that’s what we’re doing today. And I have great respect for the people standing alongside of me.
I urge lawmakers in both the House and Senate to work hard and to act quickly and send a final bill to my desk. And I look very much forward to signing it. This is a big breakthrough for a lot of people. They’ve been talking about this for many, many years.
I want to thank Jared Kushner for working so hard on the bill. Thank you, Jared. (Applause.) He worked very hard. He really did. He worked very hard. He feels very deeply about it.
And it’s my honor to be involved and it’ll be an even greater honor to sign.
So good luck, Chuck and Mike and Rand and everybody — Lindsey, everybody back here. Go out and see if you can get that done. And if you can, I’m waiting. I’ll be waiting with a pen. And we will have done something — (laughter) — we will have done something that hasn’t been done in many, many years. And it’s the right thing to do. It’s the right thing to do.
Thank you all very much. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
The GOPe big club know how to control political outcomes. During internal party elections today current republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who failed to keep a republican majority, was approved by a vote of 159-43 to become the new 2019 minority leader. It is likely McCarthy will be successful in retaining the GOPe minority.
California Republican Kevin McCarthy was challenged by Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, but overwhelmingly McCarthy was seen by House republicans as the more moderate, less controversial, representative. The House is now positioned to play the preferred role of loyal opposition when the flags change color amid the spire of the UniParty House.
There’s an irony in McCarthy elevating to the Minority Leadership role within the same election cycle that sees Dave Brat defeated in Virginia and Paul Ryan retiring from congress. Brat defeated Eric Cantor, the former GOPe Majority Leader; stunning the GOPe leadership (Boehner, Ryan, Cantor and McCarthy) and derailing Wall Street’s 2014 open-border GOPe immigration agenda. [Cantor-primaried ’14; Boehner-retired ’16; Ryan-retired ’18; and now the lone McCarthy takes control.]
Biggest Winners: Tom Donohue, Rupert Murdoch and the Koch Brothers.
Excellent reporting from Ami Horowitz (Daily Wire) who traveled to Mexico to find out the real reason why there is a caravan of migrants on its way to the United States’ border with its southern neighbor. Within the video report you can get an understanding of who is inside the group (95% young males); and why they are making the journey.
Horowitz actually embeds with the migrants to ask questions and understand how it is logistically possible for tens-of-thousands of people to travel, eat and sleep over such a great distance. What he discovers is the network of facilitating agencies who are spending tens-of-millions to challenge U.S. sovereignty and overwhelm our immigration laws.
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
Donald J. Trump✔ @realDonaldTrump.@FLOTUS Melania and I were honored to visit with our GREAT U.S. MARINES at the Marine Barracks here in Washington, D.C. We love you @USMC @MBWDC! https://www.facebook.com/136011809837973/posts/1755728277866310/ …
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