Last week former President Obama’s classmate, Hawaii Judge Derrick Watson, once again blocked the implementation of the travel and visa restrictions put into place by President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security.
At the heart of the matter activist Judge Watson is demanding that Homeland Security permit as many foreign terrorists as possible be granted entry into the U.S. According to the world-view that all occupants of planet earth are inherently future citizens of the United States, Judge Watson claims everyone should be allowed entry into the U.S. regardless of national security concerns.
It should be noted that Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, and other GCC nations have initiated a total Muslim travel ban with Qatar…. meanwhile a U.S. judge frames the limited scope of President Trump’s ‘temporary travel restrictions‘ as overreach. Go figure.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court has asked the State of Hawaii to respond by Tuesday at noon to President Donald Trump’s motion to block a judge’s ruling that prevented his travel ban from being applied to grandparents of U.S. citizens and refugees already being processed by resettlement agencies, the court’s public information office said on Saturday.
In a court filing on Friday, the administration asked the justices to overturn Thursday’s decision by a U.S. district judge in Hawaii, which limited the scope of the administration’s temporary ban on refugees and travelers from six Muslim-majority countries.
The latest round in the fight over Trump’s March 6 executive order, which he says is needed to prevent terrorism attacks, began when the Supreme Court intervened last month to partially revive the two bans, which had been blocked by lower courts.
The Supreme Court said then that the ban could take effect, but that people with a “bona fide relationship” to a U.S. person or entity could not be barred. The administration had narrowly interpreted that language, saying the ban would apply to grandparents and other family members, prompting the state of Hawaii to ask Hawaii-based U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson to expand the definition of who could be admitted. (more)
The Daily Caller has a good outline today showing how one of the people involved with the June 9th, 2016, Natalia Veselnitskaya meeting with Donald Trump Jr. was actually a U.S. State Department contracted employee.
(Via Daily Caller) […] Anatoli Samochornov, a Russia-born professional translator who worked as a part-time contractor for the State Department, worked with Veselnitskaya last year on an effort to roll back the Magnitsky Act, a law passed in 2012 which allows for sanctions against Russians accused of human rights abuses. (link)
As each day passes, and as more information is revealed, it looks increasingly likely the entire meeting on June 9th was being guided by purposeful construction. Our early research into the motives behind the players involved appears to have been accurate.
Of course all oppositional entities who are antagonistic toward the president shout “conspiracy theory”. However, the political motives are almost identical in construct to the 17 sexual harassment Trump accusers that mysteriously disappeared shortly after the election.
Having followed the deep weeds of politics for quite a while, here’s the most likely scenario.
Professional democrats are notorious for their creation of false outrage within political campaigns. Mitt Romney’s binders of women, and 47% controversy are merely examples of nothingburgers thrown up against a politician not skilled enough to push back against the false narratives.
It is becoming increasingly clear that as soon as the Democrats saw Donald Trump was most likely going to win the GOP nomination (May 2016), they assembled their opposition research crews to build-out the best scandals for use in the general election.
The Russian Conspiracy scandal was one of the approaches; the ‘sexual harassment’ scandal was another. Two ongoing attack angles both of which could be deployed depending on the consulting poll test results.
Not surprisingly the Clinton Team, which includes the Clinton media as revealed by WikiLeaks, decided to go with the “sexist”/”sexual harassment” angle. It didn’t work.
It didn’t work, but they still had the “Russian’s support Trump” angle at the ready; so it was only a matter of a few phone calls to expand the narrative and put the wheels in motion to undermine, marginalize and disrupt…
If Team Clinton, writ large, had originally chosen the Russian angle for the general election it too would have failed. AND we would currently be bombarded with the sexual harassment accusations etc. Both narratives were/are essentially interchangeable because ultimately the objectives of both were/are the same.
Part I is HERE. Part II is HERE. Because U.S. President Trump’s special envoy Brett McGurk was so good at explaining the current state of issues in Iraq and Syria in Part II, we are revisiting his overview to the D-ISIS alliance in this part III.
Mr. McGurk is speaking to the 70 nations who are part of the coalition to defeat ISIS (“D-ISIS”) globally, not just regionally. However, the majority of the current confrontation is happening within Iraq and Syria.
The stunning video (see here) and stories (example here) from the liberation of Mosul are honestly some of the most remarkable foreign conflict events in the past century.
[Transcript] MR MCGURK: Thank you, Terry. Good morning. Distinguished ambassadors, coalition partners, friends, and colleagues, it’s my pleasure to welcome you again to Washington as members of our Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. Today’s discussion will allow us to really roll up our sleeves as we look ahead in Iraq, Syria, West Africa, East Asia, and anywhere else ISIS seeks to export its terror.
This discussion today comes on the heels of three days of working group meetings with all 72 members of our Coalition, and we’re looking forward to a very productive day.
When our ministers gathered here in March in this room, Secretary Tillerson emphasized that President Trump had asked all of us to accelerate the campaign against ISIS. And over these last four months, that is exactly what we have done.
So my remarks this morning will provide an update focusing on the ISIS core in Iraq and Syria, our recent discussions with Russia in Syria, and our vital work as a Coalition beyond the Iraq and Syria theaters.
But before I begin, let us all offer our respect and congratulations as a Coalition and as partners to the Government of Iraq on the recent liberation of Mosul. The Government of Iraq is represented here today by Dr. Naufel Hassan from the office of the Prime Minister, and our good friend Ambassador Fareed Yasseen. Welcome. We’re also pleased to have Bayan Rahman, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s representative here in Washington with the Iraqi delegation. Bayan, welcome.
We all owe a debt of gratitude to the leadership of Prime Minister Abadi and the heroism of the Iraqi Security Forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga, and so many volunteers that took up arms against ISIS. These forces have suffered significant casualties in one of the most difficult and intense urban battles since the Second World War, while placing protection of the civilian population at the top of their campaign plan.
As President Trump told Prime Minister Abadi in a phone call just a couple days ago, the liberation of Mosul is a milestone in our shared fight against ISIS, but it is not the end of the war, and we are committed as a country and a coalition to ensure ISIS’s total destruction.
I was in Iraq when Mosul fell to ISIS a few years ago, and I happened to be there just days ago as the battle culminated, working with our Iraqi partners, many of whom seated in this room. This has been a long three years, from the collapse of seven Iraqi Security Force divisions to their rebuilding into one of the most proficient and now battle-tested forces in the region.
So it’s worth reflecting a moment on how far we’ve come.
In June of 2014, ISIS, fueled by tens of thousands of foreign fighters from as many as 120 countries around the world, was able to mass and maneuver large military formations nearly at will across Iraq and Syria. Journalists and analysts predicted the imminent fall of Baghdad. ISIS rounded up and massacred one by one 1,700 Iraqi Air Force cadets near Tikrit and uploaded the footage on YouTube. It committed acts of genocide against minority groups, Yezidis and Christians, and murdered anyone who contested its rule. The ISIS spokesman, a terrorist named Mohammed Adnani, declared, quote, “This battle will soon rage in Baghdad.” He declared to the world that this so-called caliphate would, quote, “remain and expand throughout the Middle East and into Europe,” and he called upon Muslims from around the globe to come and join their fight in Syria and Iraq.
ISIS, of course, never reached Baghdad. The Iraqi people and its security forces, with support from so many in this room, regrouped and fought back. Today, ISIS’s so-called caliphate is rapidly shrinking, and the units we have trained as a Coalition in Iraq have never lost a battle. I think it’s worth reflecting on that point for a moment. We’ve now trained as a coalition over 100,000 members of the Iraqi Security Forces, and the units we have trained have defeated ISIS in every engagement. Not only that, these units are now the pride of Iraq.
Just last week, when Iraq’s elite counterterrorism forces began a recruiting drive for 3,000 positions, they received nearly 300,000 applicants. This is a remarkable trend and a total transformation from only three years ago.
The terrorist I mentioned earlier, Mohammed Adnani, who also planned attacks abroad, including in Paris and Brussels, is now dead, killed by a Coalition airstrike last year near the Syrian town of al-Bab. This is the fate of nearly all ISIS leaders.
In total, Iraqi forces, supported by our coalition, have cleared over 65,000 square kilometers of territory in Iraq and Syria. All of this territory has held. ISIS has not reclaimed any of this ground. We have freed over 4 million people who had been living under ISIS in 2014, and most importantly, we’ve helped set the conditions for people to return to their homes.
In Iraq alone, nearly 2 million people who fled ISIS have since returned to their homes to restore life to their communities once controlled by these terrorists. That rate of returns in a post-conflict environment is unprecedented historically, and it’s testament to what we have done as a coalition by working together.
So Mosul is the prime example. Nearly one year ago, we gathered here in Washington to prepare the pending campaign in Mosul. A quote that was used during that day was from our former president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who said, quote, “The plan is often useless. It’s the planning, the planning together that is indispensable.” By planning, we anticipate, we adapt in a dynamic environment.
In Mosul, we worked together for six months in a comprehensive military, political, and humanitarian campaign plan. On the political level, thanks to the leadership of Prime Minister Abadi, and President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani, we worked to ensure full cooperation between Iraqi Security Forces and the Peshmerga – a level of cooperation we later saw on the ground. Few, including ISIS, anticipated that.
We supported Prime Minister Abadi’s policy and the Government of Iraq’s policy of decentralization, empowering local people to take charge of their communities after the battle, and ensuring full coordination between regional, provincial, and national authorities.
On the humanitarian level, we planned with the United Nations and the Government of Iraq for nearly 1 million displaced people from Mosul. Our Coalition raised the funds to ensure that the UN and associated NGOs had what they needed to address even a worst-case scenario. To date, over the course of the Mosul campaign, there have been nearly 940,000 displaced people; and our colleague, Lise Grande, who’s here, who led the humanitarian response for UNDP, reports that every single one of them – every one – received assistance and aid. Lise has done a tremendous job, and I think we all owe you our respect and gratitude. I think this is one of, really, an unprecedented combination of military and humanitarian response plan with the international community working together.
At the stabilization level, we planned for the day after with emphasis on immediate needs, including locally drawn police force, clearing land mines left by ISIS, restoring electricity, water, sewage, rubble removal, and work programs. The results are now visible in east Mosul, where, only months after the battle, over 220,000 people have returned to their home. 350,000 boys and girls – 350,000 boys and girls, who about six months ago were living under ISIS – are now back in school. Markets are bustling and life is returning to the streets. Even in west Mosul, where the battle was most intense over the past four months, we are seeing thousands returning to their homes and beginning, beginning to pick up their lives after ISIS.
Now, the Old City of Mosul is a different story. This dense urban core was the final stage of the battle and has been in the news with photos of devastation for months of house-to-house and room-to-room fighting. There is one reason for the intensity of this battle. Hundreds of ISIS terrorists from all around the world, as far away as China, gathered in the Old City, nearly all of them wearing explosive suicide vests, barricaded in fighting positions, using civilians as human shields. Over ISIS radios, terrorists hold up in the old city were speaking French, Chinese, Dutch, Russian, and Arabic with a non-Iraqi dialect. These terrorists rigged buildings with explosives, destroyed them as Iraqi Forces approached, including the Grand Mosque of al-Nuri, which has stood for nearly seven centuries. They paraded civilians in front of their fighting positions, hid behind women and children, and use a hospital just north of the Old City as a killing tower, placing snipers to murder civilians trying to escape.
The world has not seen an enemy like this in decades at least, and there is no neat and tidy way to root out suicidal terrorists from urban buildings. This is a war, yet Iraqi Forces place protection of the civilian population at the top of their mission, often at great risk to themselves. Where Iraqi Forces failed to live up to their own high standards, the Iraqi Government is investigating allegations, which we encourage. Iraqi Forces also sought, at the top of their campaign plan, to ensure that suicide bombers from Tajikistan or Tunisia who found their way to Mosul to terrorize the Iraqi people would die in Mosul, rather than escape to terrorize us elsewhere. And they succeeded in that mission. For ISIS foreign fighters, there is no escape.
The battle in Iraq is far from over. Iraqi Forces, with our support, will soon move to liberate remaining territories controlled by ISIS, including Tel Afar, Hawija, and Al-Qaim. We will support them in the military campaign and in what comes next at the humanitarian, stabilization, and governance levels. That is why we are here.
And on behalf of President Trump and Secretary Tillerson, the United States requests that every member of our coalition identify new areas in which to contribute. To date, as a coalition, the U.S. has provided nearly three-quarters of the military resources required to support our partners on the ground, but only one-quarter – the U.S. has provided only one-quarter of the financial resources for humanitarian and stabilization assistance, the rest being picked up by our coalition. This ratio, 4:1 coalition contributions to U.S. contributions for the post-ISIS phase, must continue and further expand over the vital months ahead. And the needs remain vast.
At our working group meetings yesterday, the UN outlined a total appeal of $1.3 billion for post-ISIS humanitarian and stabilization requirements. Nearly three-quarters of this appeal focuses on stabilization, particularly in Mosul and the most devastated areas. And given the record of our stabilization programs to date, with every dollar, euro, and dinar tracked and accounted for, and nearly 2 million people back in their homes, this is a worthy investment and helps ensure that ISIS can never return.
The United States last week announced an additional $150 million for these stabilization programs. Today, we are announcing more than $119 million in additional humanitarian assistance, and we hope to see similar contributions from our partners in this room over the coming weeks.
Over the longer term, the Government of Iraq has developed its plans for significant economic reform and investment through 2030, its Vision 2030 plan, a program it presented to the World Bank on Monday. The United States fully supports this initiative and we commend Iraq for its work with the World Bank and the IMF to stabilize its macroeconomic situation and implement key reforms for long-term growth.
Our coalition partner Kuwait – and we welcome the Government of Kuwait here today – at the invitation of His Highness Sheikh Sabah will also host a meeting on long-term – long-term reconstruction in Iraq early next year, and we welcome this important initiative.
We also welcome the historic opening between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, marked by Prime Minister Abadi’s breakthrough visit to the kingdom last month and the ongoing work to restore vital commerce routes between Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Jordan.
All of these pieces fit together in a phased approach. Immediate stabilization and essential services follow the military battle. We are right now in that phase in Mosul. Iraqi Government reforms establish conditions for sustainability and growth with support from the IMF and the World Bank. Longer-term reconstruction will be a focus of the Kuwait meeting with the Iraqi Government identifying its prioritized needs. Iraq’s integration into the region allows the private sector to recover. And in parallel, we will continue to train Iraqi Security Forces and support their efforts to ensure that as ISIS is defeated, all armed groups operate under control of the state consistent with the Iraqi constitution and laws. So I look forward to the meetings throughout the course of the day as we discuss these phases and our ongoing global coalition support to Iraq and to the Government of Iraq.
Syria is far more complicated. We do not have a government to work with in Syria. And in the absence of a credible political horizon that allows the Syrian people to determine their fate beyond the Assad regime, here is the reality: The international community will not be prepared to help rebuild Syria. Such a credible political horizon is a necessary condition for significant investments required to restore Syria after a catastrophic civil war.
As a Coalition, however, drawing on the models of what has worked in Iraq and pending a longer-term political settlement, we will focus on immediate stabilization needs of communities freed from ISIS in coalition-enabled operations. Our basic goal is to establish the conditions that will allow the local population from the areas freed of ISIS control to restore life to their communities and voluntarily return IDPs to their homes.
Last month, I visited Syria and walked the streets of Tabqa approximately 40 kilometers just to the west of Raqqa. This city of nearly 90,000 people was a stronghold for ISIS for over three years. It was freed only two months ago in what was a daring military operation across an eight-kilometer stretch of water by helicopter led by our partner Syrian Democratic Forces. Coalition-supported groups cleared IEDs on the main roads only days before we were able to visit. In downtown Tabqa, a civilian council has already formed, led by technocrats – men and women who suffered under ISIS and are now working to restore their community. These are motivated people and they deserve our support.
An initial shipment of aid, nearly 40 tons, reached Tabqa on the day of my visit, and I am very pleased to report that since then – since then, UN agencies and NGOs have arrived in the city to assess and respond to immediate needs. Emergency response teams made up of local people with knowledge – local knowledge and expertise have now formed to identify immediate stabilization sites focused on water, electricity, sewage, and rubble removal. Our development experts are on the ground and working with them. As we identify and assess these sites, members of our coalition will have the opportunity to support their demining and restoration.
On Monday, importantly, in the lead-up to these meetings here in Washington, the Syrian Recovery Trust Fund, the SRTF, approved the expansion of an essential multi-donor mechanism into areas liberated from ISIS, including Raqqa. This is an important and timely decision that will free up potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to address immediate stabilization needs for the local population.
In addition, building on the lessons from Iraq, today we are launching a new initiative within the Coalition Stabilization Working Group, a donor consortium for early recovery in liberated areas. The consortium will aim to unite donors around the restoration of essential services with prioritized project lists drawn from the local population, building on the model that has worked in Iraq.
Inside Raqqa, the battle is ongoing at this hour and is quite intense. Syrian Democratic Forces – the Syrian Democratic Forces have penetrated into the center of the city, overcoming multiple defensive barricades, IED belts, sniper nests, tunnels, and suicide bombers in armored vehicles. They have suffered significant casualties already and there will be more to come as they advance to clear the city, but we are proud to support them.
As the battle unfolds over the coming weeks and months, as we did in Mosul, our stabilization planning will move in parallel. We have identified a hundred critical stabilization sites in and around Mosul* which will be the immediate focus for demining and restoration. Local governance in Raqqa in the initial phases will be led by a Raqqa civilian council now based just north of Raqqa in Ayn Issa. This council includes nearly 120 individuals, most of whom stayed in Syria during the civil war and escaped from Raqqa and other towns within the province as ISIS moved in.
This interim council will receive support from the United States to enable immediate stabilization. It is committed to welcoming back exiles, including members of the former council that temporarily governed Raqqa in 2013, and we encourage these exiles to return to Syria. The council importantly has also committed to hold an election in the city by May of next year for a new council to ensure that the people of Raqqa can choose their own leaders, pending an ultimate solution to the Syrian civil war. And we support this initiative.
As we work to defeat ISIS in Syria, we are also committed to de-escalating the underlying civil war through ceasefires or other arrangements. We are encouraged by recent de-confliction arrangements agreed between our militaries with Russia that have helped enable an accelerated pace of operations against ISIS.
We are also encouraged by the recently agreed ceasefire in southwest Syria, approved by President Trump and President Putin just last week. This initiative was painstakingly negotiated by Jordan, the United States, and Russia. It’s one of many to de-escalate the underlying war, maintain the territorial integrity of Syria, and set the conditions for a Syrian-led political settlement in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2254. So we call on all sides in this terrible conflict to ensure that adherence to the ceasefire arrangement holds, as it is defined by a very carefully drawn line of contact.
Beyond Iraq and Syria, our coalition is equally focused on ISIS networks and affiliates around the world. Our working groups over the last few days here at the State Department focused intensively on curbing the flow of foreign fighters, countering ISIS finance, countering its false propaganda, and focusing on areas where ISIS seeks to plant roots as it loses its phony caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
We’ve made progress in all of these areas. It’s now extremely difficult for foreign fighters to get into Syria, and we’re grateful for Turkey’s efforts to seal its borders to these fighters. Those who had already entered earlier, it is our mission to ensure that they cannot get out, and they will die in Iraq or Syria. Meanwhile, we are building a global database of known foreign fighters, now with 18,000 verified names with the support of our coalition partner Interpol.
ISIS propaganda is also under strain and lacking credibility, thanks to our work with key partners: UAE, Saudi Arabia, UK, and others, as well as the efforts of the private sector: Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, all of which have recently enhanced their capacity to track and remove ISIS content on a daily basis.
ISIS financing is now nearly all self-generated inside Iraq and Syria, and as it loses territory, it’s losing resources, which our military campaign targets relentlessly. As we know, it’ll take a global network to defeat the ISIS network over the long term, and that is what this coalition represents.
This afternoon, we will discuss extremism and ISIS networks in Africa, and we are pleased to welcome today three of our newest coalition members: Chad, Niger, and Djibouti. We will have an announcement later today on an additional member.
Indeed, as we defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria, this extraordinary coalition continues to grow. NATO joined in May, and we are now at 72 members – 68 countries and four international organizations: the EU, Arab League, Interpol, and NATO. It is now one of the largest coalitions of its kind in history.
Of course, we cannot hide from the fact that many countries in this room, many countries within our coalition, do not see eye-to-eye on all issues. And that is the nature of a coalition. It is why we meet regularly in forums like this. There is no question, however, that three years into this global effort we stand united, 72 members from around the globe in common purpose – the destruction of ISIS and the protection of our own citizens and homelands through our joint cooperation.
So on behalf of President Trump, Secretary Tillerson, Secretary Mattis, our entire National Security team, I welcome you again to Washington. I look forward to the detailed and candid discussions about the next phase of our campaign.
So I want to thank you – okay. Why don’t I just adlib? Why don’t I give Naufel Hassan five minutes, if that’s okay, to present the views from the Government of Iraq. Because while we are all equal in this coalition, we are all also here to support the Government of Iraq, and we’re grateful that Naufel made the visit all the way from Baghdad. So we’ll give you five minutes, and then we will ask the press to leave, and we’ll start the important meeting. Again, I thank you all for attending. (Applause.)
* Raqqa
MR AL-HASSAN: Well, thank you, Brett.
Thank you, Brett. Good morning, everybody.
It’s three years ago, many people in this city and other cities in the world, include region and even inside Iraq thought Iraq is gone. Hundreds of villages and cities fall by Daesh and destroyed by terrorists. Millions of people left their homes.
When everybody thought Iraq was gone, we said, “No.”
We said, “Iraq will stay.
With more than 5,000 years of civilization, it’s not going to be gone by a terrorist group like Daesh.”
We had a clear vision in that time and we turn that setback to be a turning point for a new Iraq. The fatwa of Marja Ayatollah Sayyid Sistani was that turning point. The clear vision of the Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the togetherness from all Iraqis – the volunteers from Basra, from Baghdad, from Najaf, from all Iraq working together make that turning point and make defeat to be a victory, like the moment that we are celebrating the Mosul victory.
We should celebrate together. However, we do need to learn the lessons from not only Mosul city and not only from the recent battles. We also need to remember those people we lost them in the battles, and those people who were injured, their families. We need also to thank the Coalition, the volunteers from Iraq. We stand together and fight.
Everybody talk about the military victory, but it’s not only military victory. It’s a political victory. When we put everybody together – Arab, Kurd, Turkman, other minorities, Muslim, Christian work together, fight together, for one goal, one common goal, which is defeating Daesh.
Now, we say Daesh and their fake state over, but our commitment, it’s not over. Our togetherness, it’s not over. Actually it’s just started. We all need to protect this victory. In order to protect this victory, we need to focus on all the factors that brought this victory. We need to work together and help Iraqi Government to sustain our institution, the level of professionalism that we have it right now for our military forces, federal and local police, the volunteers – al-Hashd al-Shaabi. We also need to work together and understand Daesh came because there was a weaknesses. Daesh came because there was a differences – unmanageable differences.
So in Iraqi Government we have a clear vision where we are heading. As our friend Brett and, before that, our friend Lise mentioned, in the short term we are working together with the UN and other partners for stabilization efforts, our goal to bring all Iraqis who left their home to their home. We need to also work in the other challenge that Iraqi Government face, which is economic and financial challenges, where the oil price is fault. We have economic reform agenda just presented to the World Bank a few days ago, and we are working together with all our partners to make this moment celebrated after we finish all the battle. After we clear Tal Afar, Hawija, and west of Anbar, we need also to work together in term of activate the national security resolutions that deal with the root that make Daesh came to Mosul, the ideology. We need to work together to protect the civilian minorities who live there; villages and cities in Sinjar, in Tal Afar, in Tooz, and many other cities.
I don’t want to take a lot from your time. I would like again to thank the coalition, to our partners who work with us, and looking forward to celebrate the full victory in Iraq soon. Thank you very much. (Applause.) LINK
OMB Director Mick Mulvaney has an explanatory outline, promoted by the White House, explaining the administration’s economic principles: “MAGAnomics”.
Introducing MAGAnomics
By Mick Mulvaney – Wall Street Journal – July 13, 2017
If the Trump administration has one overarching goal, it’s to Make America Great Again. But what does this mean? It means we are promoting MAGAnomics—and that means sustained 3% economic growth.
For most of our nation’s modern history, a healthy American economy meant one that grew at roughly 3.5%. That was the average growth rate between the late 1940s and 2007. Since then, it has hardly topped 2%.
The difference between those two growth rates is staggering. If the American economy had grown at only 2% between the end of World War II and 2000, average household income would have been roughly $26,000 instead of $50,000.
Over the next 10 years, 3% growth instead of 2% will yield a nominal gross domestic product that is $16 trillion larger, federal government revenues $2.9 trillion greater, and wages and salaries of American workers $7 trillion higher.
For merely suggesting that we can get back to that level, the administration has been criticized as unrealistic. That’s fine with us. We heard the same pessimism 40 years ago, when the country was mired in “stagflation” and “malaise.” But Ronald Reagan dared to challenge that thinking and steered us to a boom that many people thought unachievable. In the 7½ years following the end of the recession in 1982, real GDP grew at an annual rate of 4.4%. That is what a recovery looks like, and what the American economy is still capable of achieving.
The focus of MAGAnomics is simple: Grow the economy and with it the wealth of, and opportunity for, all Americans.
…
MAGAnomics is for everyone, but especially for those who left for work this morning in the dark but came home after their kids were asleep. It’s for those who are working part-time but praying for a full-time job. It’s for folks whose savings are as exhausted as they are.
This president hears you. He knows America’s greatness doesn’t spring from higher taxes or unnecessary regulations or broken welfare programs. It doesn’t come from government at all. It comes from you.
If we enact the president’s broad agenda—if MAGAnomics is allowed to work—we will have set the stage for the greatest revival of the American economy since the early 1980s. It will remind people—including those who have forgotten, or those who don’t want you to remember—what a great America means. That is driving everything we do. (read more)
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been keeping an exhaustive schedule for the past week and especially in the past few days. In the ongoing diplomatic effort against mid-east terror networks, the GCC/Trump coalition have kept up pressure against Qatar.
Kuwait is acting as the primary mediator between Qatar and the rest of the Gulf States; T-Rex conducted three days of shuttle diplomacy in an effort to assist and reassert the position of the Trump administration. Tillerson traveled to Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and back to Qatar with extensive meetings within each nation.
It would take a bazillion words to explain all the nuances, shifts, agreements and diplomatic ongoing efforts. However, to keep it simple we boiled it down to the current, most consequential, outcome within this graphic:
Qatar has signed a promise to stop the financing of The Muslim Brotherhood; and just to keep them honest, the GCC and coalition nations are keeping them in the spotlight.
Note, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the gulf states, and the Mid-East coalition including Egypt and Jordan, are the ones confronting and managing the issues with Qatar. President Trump and Rex Tillerson are in a supportive role.
On the flight to Paris President Donald Trump went back to the pool of traveling reporters and spoke with them for over an hour about current issues and events, answering a host of questions. Initially the conversation was thought to be ‘off-the-record’, however the White House released a transcript of the press interview.
Here’s the transcript as reported by Bloomberg News: “TRUMP SPEAKS TO REPORTERS ON STEEL, BORDER WALL, PUTIN”. For those following along with the ‘unwritten stories by media’ you will find great interest in the discussion segment about North Korea and China – Specifically, as we have continued to emphasize, the intended Trump direction to confront the DPRK through China Trade Policy.
THE WHITE HOUSE – Office of the Press Secretary – Internal Transcript, July 12, 2017, REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP IN AN OFF-THE-RECORD CONVERSATION WITH PRESS, Aboard Air Force One, En Route Paris, France – 9:15 P.M. EDT
On the visit to France:
♦ Q When were you last in Paris? When were you last in France?
THE PRESIDENT: So I was asked to go by the President, who I get along with very well, despite a lot of fake news. You know, I actually have a very good relationship with all of the people at the G20. And he called me, he said, would you come, it’s Bastille Day — 100 years since World War I. And I said, that’s big deal, 100 years since World War I. SO we’re going to go, I think we’re going to have a great time, and we’re going to do something good. And he’s doing a good job. He’s doing a good job as President.
On North Korea, China, and trade:
THE PRESIDENT: A big thing we have with China was, if they could help us with North Korea, that would be great. They have pressures that are tough pressures, and I understand. And you know, don’t forget, China, over the many years, has been at war with Korea — you know, wars with Korea. It’s not like, oh, gee, you just do whatever we say. They’ve had numerous wars with Korea.
They have an 8,000 year culture. So when they see 1776 — to them, that’s like a modern building. The White House was started — was essentially built in 1799. To us, that’s really old. To them, that’s like a super modern building, right? So, you know, they’ve had tremendous conflict over many, many centuries with Korea. So it’s not just like, you do this. But we’re going to find out what happens.
Very important to me with China, we have to fix the trade. We have to fix the trade. And I’ve been going a little bit easier because I’d like to have their help. It’s hard to go ***. But we have to fix the trade with China because it’s very, very none-reciprocal.
♦ Q Is that your bargaining chip with them to get on board with North Korea? Is, like, you want to —
THE PRESIDENT: Nobody has ever said it before. I say it all the time. Somebody said, what cards do you have? I said, very simple — trade. We are being absolutely devastated by bad trade deals. We have the worst of all trade deals is with China.
We have a bad deal with South Korea. We’re just starting negotiations with South Korea. South Korea, we protect, but we’re losing $40 billion a year with South Korea on trade. We have a trade deficit of $40 billion. The deal just came up.
That was another Hillary Clinton beauty. Remember she said it was five-year deal, and now it’s an extension period. She said this will put jobs in our country. She said we’ll make money with it. Great. We’re losing $40 billion a year. It’s a horrible deal. So we’re starting — we started, as of yesterday, renegotiating the deal with South Korea. We have to.
But the biggest strength we have are these horrendous trade deals, like with China. That’s our strength. But we’re going to fix them. But in terms of North Korea, our strength is trade.
♦ Q And do you think that’s going to bring them around?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, yeah, when I say reciprocal — you make reciprocal deals, you’re talking about hundreds of billions of dollars. But before I did that, I wanted to give it a good shot. Let’s see. And they helped us. I have a very good relationship with him. I think he’s a tremendous guy. But don’t forget. He’s for China. I’m for the U.S. So that’s always going to be.
So he could be a tremendous guy, but he’s going to do what’s good for China. And he doesn’t want 50 million people pouring across his border. You know, there are a lot of things. I understand the other side. You always have to understand the other side.
♦ Q What about steel?
THE PRESIDENT: Steel is a big problem. Steel is — I mean, they’re dumping steel. Not only China, but others. We’re like a dumping ground, okay? They’re dumping steel and destroying our steel industry, they’ve been doing it for decades, and I’m stopping it. It’ll stop.
♦ Q On tariffs?
THE PRESIDENT: There are two ways — quotas and tariffs. Maybe I’ll do both.
On healthcare:
THE PRESIDENT: No, I think, first, I want to do — well, we have a few things. We have a thing called healthcare. I’m sure you haven’t been reading about it too much. It is one of the — I’d say the only thing more difficult than peace between Israel and the Palestinians is healthcare. It’s like this narrow road that about a quarter of an inch wide. You get a couple here and you say, great, and then you find out you just lost four over here. Healthcare is tough.
But I think we’re going to have something that’s really good and that people are going to like. We’re going to find out over the next — you know, we just extended for two weeks. Which, that’s a big —
On the border wall:
♦ Q You were joking about solar, right?
THE PRESIDENT: No, not joking, no. There is a chance that we can do a solar wall. We have major companies looking at that. Look, there’s no better place for solar than the Mexico border — the southern border. And there is a very good chance we can do a solar wall, which would actually look good. But there is a very good chance we could do a solar wall.
One of the things with the wall is you need transparency. You have to be able to see through it. In other words, if you can’t see through that wall — so it could be a steel wall with openings, but you have to have openings because you have to see what’s on the other side of the wall.
And I’ll give you an example. As horrible as it sounds, when they throw the large sacks of drugs over, and if you have people on the other side of the wall, you don’t see them — they hit you on the head with 60 pounds of stuff? It’s over. As crazy as that sounds, you need transparency through that wall. But we have some incredible designs.
But we are seriously looking at a solar wall. And remember this, it’s a 2,000 mile border, but you don’t need 2,000 miles of wall because you have a lot of natural barriers. You have mountains. You have some rivers that are violent and vicious. You have some areas that are so far away that you don’t really have people crossing. So you don’t need that. But you’ll need anywhere from 700 to 900 miles.
Plus we have some wall that’s already up that we’re already fixing. You know, we’ve already started the wall because we’re fixing large portions of wall right now. We’re taking wall that was good but it’s in very bad shape, and we’re making it new. We’re fixing it. It’s already started. So we’ve actually, in the true sense — you know, there’s no reason to take it down or ***. So in a true sense, we’ve already started the wall.
On Donald Trump, Jr.:
THE PRESIDENT: Don is — as many of you know Don — he’s a good boy. He’s a good kid. And he had a meeting, nothing happened with the meeting. It was a short meeting as he told me — because I only heard about it two or three days ago.
As he told me, the meeting went — and it was attended by a couple of other people who — one of them left after a few minutes — which is Jared. The other one was playing with his iPhone. Don listened, out of politeness, and realized it wasn’t . . . .
Honestly, in a world of politics, most people are going to take that meeting. If somebody called and said, hey — and you’re a Democrat — and by the way, they have taken them — hey, I have really some information on Donald Trump. You’re running against Donald Trump. Can I see you? I mean, how many people are not going to take the meeting?
On President Putin and Russia:
♦ Q Are you mad that Putin lied about the meeting that you had with him, especially about —
THE PRESIDENT: What meeting?
♦ Q At the G20, when he said that you didn’t — you know, you accepted that the hacking wasn’t real.
THE PRESIDENT: He didn’t say that. No. He said, I think he accepted it, but you’d have to ask him. That’s a big difference. So I said, very simply — and the first 45 minutes, don’t forget, most of the papers said I’d never bring it up. Had to be the first 20 to 25 minutes.
And I said to him, were you involved with the meddling in the election? He said, absolutely not. I was not involved. He was very strong on it. I then said to him again, in a totally different way, were you involved with the meddling. He said, I was not — absolutely not.
♦ Q Do you remember what the different way was that you asked —
THE PRESIDENT: Somebody said later to me, which was interesting. Said, let me tell you, if they were involved, you wouldn’t have found out about it. Okay, which is a very interesting point.
♦ Q But did you say, okay, I believe you, let’s move on?
THE PRESIDENT: What I said, I asked him, were you involved? He said, very strongly — said to him a second time — totally different — were you involved? Because we can’t let that happen. And I mean whether it’s Russia or anybody else, we can’t let there be even a scintilla of doubt when it comes to an election. I mean, I’m very strong on that.
And I’m not saying it wasn’t Russia. What I’m saying is that we have to protect ourselves no matter who it is. You know, China is very good at this. I hate to say it, North Korea is very good at this. Look what they did to Sony Studios. They were the ones that did the whole deal to Sony. You know, we’re dealing with highly sophisticate people.
So, China is very good. You have many countries. And you have many individuals that are very good at this. But we can’t have — and I did say, we can’t have a scintilla of doubt as our elections and going forward.
♦ Q Have you told him that?
THE PRESIDENT: I told him. I said, look, we can’t — we can’t have — now, he said absolutely not twice. What do you do? End up in a fistfight with somebody, okay? Because then I brought up Syria, and I said —
♦ Q Afterwards?
THE PRESIDENT: Very shortly there afterward. And I said, there’s so much killing in Syria. We got to solve Syria. We’ve got to solve Ukraine. And you know, I’ve always said — and I’m not just talking about Russia — we’re a lot better off — like it’s a good thing that I have a good relationship with President Xi. It’s a good thing I have a good relationship with every one of them — Modi — you saw that. Every single one of them of all 19 — there’s 20 with us. All 19, I have a great relationship with.
More on the Visit to France and Trade:
So we’re doing well. I mean, we’re doing well and we’re having a good time. Now what we’ll do is we’ll go celebrate with the President of France — we have a good relationship — open up a little trade with them. But it’s got to be fair trade. I mean, every deal we have is bad. It’s got to be fair trade.
I mean, the European Union, as an example — I’m all for the European Union, but we have things that we can barely sell into the European Union. They’re very protectionist. And we’re not. And you have to be reciprocal.
To me, the word reciprocal is a beautiful word. Because people can say, we don’t like a border tax or we don’t like this or we don’t like that. But what they can’t say is that, if you’re selling a motorcycle and they’re coming into your country and not paying tax, and they’re going into another country and paying 100 percent tax, people understand that’s not fair. So we say we make it reciprocal.
More on President Putin and Russia, and on energy:
♦ Q Do you think you’ll invite Putin to the White House?
THE PRESIDENT: I would say yes, yeah. At the right time. I don’t think this is the right time, but the answer is yes I would.
Look, it’s very easy for me to say absolutely, I won’t. That’s the easy thing for me to do, but that’s the stupid thing to do. Let’s be the smart people not the stupid people.
The easiest thing for me to tell you is that I would never invite him. We will never ever talk to Russia. That all of my friends in Congress will say, oh he’s so wonderful, he’s so wonderful.
Folks, we have perhaps the second most powerful nuclear country in the world. If you don’t have dialogue, you have to be fools. Fools. It would be the easiest thing for me to say to Maggie and all of you, I will never speak to him, and everybody would love me. But I have to do what’s right.
And, by the way, I only want to make great deals with Russia. Remember this, I have built up — we’re getting $57 billion more for the military. Hillary was going to cut the military. I’m a tremendous fracker, coal, natural gas, alternate energy, wind – everything, right? But I’m going to produce much much more energy than anyone else who was ever running for office. Ever. We’re going to have clean coal, and Hillary wasn’t. Hillary was going to stop fracking. She was going to stop coal totally. Hey, in West Virginia I beat her by 42 points. Remember, she went and sat with the miners and they said get the hell out of here. So, I was going to — if Hillary got in, your energy prices right now would be double. You’d be doing no fracking. You’d be doing practically no fossil fuels.
So Putin, everything I do is the exact opposite. I don’t believe — in fact, the one question that I didn’t ask him that I wish I did — but we had so many other things going, and really the ceasefire was a very complicated talk, it was a very important talk to me because I wanted to see if we could start a ceasefire.
***
Now, why does that affect Russia? Because Russia makes its money through selling of oil, and we’ve got underneath us more oil than anybody, and nobody knew it until five years ago. And I want to use it. And I don’t want that taken away by the Paris Accord. I don’t want them to say all of that wealth that the United States has under its feet, but that China doesn’t have and that other countries don’t have, we can’t use.
So now we no longer have the advantage. We have a tremendous advantage. We have more natural resources under our feet than any other country. That’s a pretty big statement. Ten years ago, five years ago even, you couldn’t make that statement. We’re blessed. I don’t want to give it up. I don’t want to say oh, okay, we won’t use it. But think of it. So, if Hillary is there, you’re going to have a far less amount of fuel. Therefore, energy prices will be much, much higher. That’s great for Russia.
So, the next time I’m with Putin, I’m going to ask him: who were you really for? Because I can’t believe that he would have been for me. Me. Strong military, strong borders — but he cares less about the borders — but strong military, tremendous. We’re going to be an exporter of fuel this year. We’re going to be exporting. What was the first thing I signed when I got in? The Keystone Pipeline, and the Keystone Pipeline goes from Canada all the way through our country right into the Gulf, and the ships are there to take it all over and compete with Russia.
More on Energy:
The first thing I signed, the first day, was the Keystone Pipeline. That first * was the Keystone and the Dakota Access Pipeline — also Dakota Access. Now, what does that mean? Dakota Access takes it to the Pacific. Who do they compete with? Russia. Hillary would have never signed — that was with the reservation — she would have never signed it. I was given great credit for that one. That was a tough one. First day. It’s also 48,000 jobs between both of them. The other one I signed, that was the Keystone. That was dead. That was dead for two years. It was never going to happen. I revived it on day one. You know, you’ll check, please check it. I have to be exactly accurate. They’ll say, oh I wasn’t totally accurate. But that goes to the Gulf, right? Competes with Russia.
More on Energy and Russia:
THE PRESIDENT: So now oil is getting to be record low — and gas — because we’re producing so much. That means Russia — and you know Russia *** is having a little hard time because it has come down so much.
On Russia sanctions:
♦ Q But you wouldn’t sign a new sanctions bill if it passes the House?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I’m not talking about new, I’m talking about the old sanctions. Wait, we got to get this right. Ready? I think I said it right but just in case. We have very heavy sanctions on Russia right now. I would not and have never even thought about taking them off. Somebody said, Donald Trump wants to — I don’t want to take them off.
♦ Q Putin didn’t raise that with you?
THE PRESIDENT: He never raised it. We did, I think, talk about the sanctions that Congress wants to pass, but it was very brief. Much of it was talked about Ukraine. Look, we talked about the elections. We talked about Ukraine and Syria. Not in that order. We talked about Syria and Ukraine. But I will just tell you, I didn’t say this to him. We didn’t talk about this aspect of it. I would never take the sanctions off until something is worked out to our satisfaction and everybody’s satisfaction in Syria and in Ukraine.
I saw a report and I read a report that Trump wants to take off the sanctions. I’ve made a lot of money. I’ve made great deals. That’s what I do. Why would I take sanctions off without getting anything?
On allegations of collusion with Russia:
THE PRESIDENT: What pressure? I didn’t — I did nothing. Hey, now it’s shown there’s no collusion, there’s no obstruction, there’s no nothing. Honestly, the whole thing, it is really a media witch hunt. It’s been a media witch hunt. And it’s bad for the country. You know, when you talk about Russia, if Russia actually did whatever they want to do, they got to be laughing, because look at what happens — how much time. . . .
They feel it’s a witch hunt, the people. There are a lot of people. And those people vote. They don’t stay home because it’s drizzling. We proved that. But every single party chairman said that my base is substantially stronger than it was in November. That’s a big compliment. That’s a big compliment. And I feel it.
And I think what’s happening is, as usual, the Democrats have played their card too hard on the Russia thing, because people aren’t believing it. It’s a witch hunt and they understand that. When they say “treason” — you know what treason is? That’s Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for giving the atomic bomb, okay? But what about all the congressmen, where I see the woman sitting there surrounded by — in Congress.
So I think it’s a good thing. When Hillary Clinton spent her ads — you know, she spent almost 100 percent of her ads on anti-Donald Trump ads. You know that. Every ad was an anti ad. When the election came, nobody knew what she stood for.
I heard tonight, and I saw tonight, and I read tonight that they’re making a big mistake. And I a lot of the Democrats feel — they say, we’re putting all our money into this Russia stuff and it’s making Trump stronger. Because my people and the people that support me, who are incredible people, those people are angry because they feel it’s being unfair and a witch hunt.
Earlier today U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a national health care fraud takedown resulting in charges against over 412 individuals responsible for $1.3 Billion in fraud losses:
(United States Attorney General) Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price, M.D., announced today the largest ever health care fraud enforcement action by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, involving 412 charged defendants across 41 federal districts, including 115 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving approximately $1.3 billion in false billings. Of those charged, over 120 defendants, including doctors, were charged for their roles in prescribing and distributing opioids and other dangerous narcotics.
Thirty state Medicaid Fraud Control Units also participated in today’s arrests. In addition, HHS has initiated suspension actions against 295 providers, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists.
Attorney General Sessions and Secretary Price were joined in the announcement by Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting Director Andrew McCabe of the FBI, Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Inspector General Daniel Levinson of the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), Chief Don Fort of IRS Criminal Investigation, Administrator Seema Verma of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and Deputy Director Kelly P. Mayo of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS).
Today’s enforcement actions were led and coordinated by the Criminal Division, Fraud Section’s Health Care Fraud Unit in conjunction with its Medicare Fraud Strike Force (MFSF) partners, a partnership between the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the FBI and HHS-OIG. In addition, the operation includes the participation of the DEA, DCIS, and State Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
The charges announced today aggressively target schemes billing Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE (a health insurance program for members and veterans of the armed forces and their families) for medically unnecessary prescription drugs and compounded medications that often were never even purchased and/or distributed to beneficiaries.
The charges also involve individuals contributing to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on medical professionals involved in the unlawful distribution of opioids and other prescription narcotics, a particular focus for the Department. According to the CDC, approximately 91 Americans die every day of an opioid related overdose. (read more)
White House Press Briefing – “We’ve received several inquiries on what the President — on his agenda for the past couple of days, so I’d like to read some of that out before I take your questions.”
“He’s had multiple meetings with key economic advisors, particularly on issues of trade, such as Ambassador Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Ross, NEC Director Gary Cohn, and Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, Peter Navarro.”
The only question is the timing. Now or after NAFTA? It is better to have NAFTA finished prior to the confrontation? …if so, considering DPRK aspect, what is the better strategy in the space between now and the final conflict?
Remember, this battle is two decades past due and waged on behalf of the forgotten men and women of the middle-class. The purchased legislative body within Washington DC will attack our economic efforts with an intensity never before seen in this century or any century. There are trillions of dollars at stake; this is the epic battle for middle America.
The administrative state will work earnestly to destroy these efforts on behalf of our enemy. Along with Wall Street, every multinational corporation and multinational banking institution will be against us.
Nuance and subtlety is everything in China. Culturally harsh tones are seen as a sign of weakness and considered intensely impolite in public displays between officials; especially within approved and released statements by officials representing the government.
Historic Chinese cultural policy, the totalitarian control over expressed political sentiment and diplomacy through silence, is evident in the strategic use of the space between carefully chosen words, not just the words themselves.
China has no cultural or political space between peace and war; they are a historic nation based on two points of polarity. They see peace and war as coexisting with each other. China accepts and believes opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Flowing between these polar states is a natural dynamic to be used -with serious contemplation- in advancing objectives as needed.
Peace or war. Win or lose. Yin and Yang. Culturally there is no middle position in dealings with China; they are not constitutionally capable of understanding or valuing the western philosophy of mutual benefit where concession of terms gains a larger outcome. If it does not benefit China, it is not done. The outlook is simply, a polarity of peace or war. In politics or economics the same perspective is true. It is a zero-sum outlook.
Therefore, when you see China publicly use strong language – it indicates a level of internal disposition beyond the defined western angst. Big Panda becomes Red Dragon; there is no mid-status or evolutionary phase. Every American associated with investment, economics and China would be well advised to put their business affairs in order accordingly.
REUTERS […] Asked about calls from the United States, Japan and others for China to put more pressure on North Korea, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said it was not China ratcheting up tension and the key to a resolution did not lie with Beijing.
“Recently, certain people, talking about the Korean peninsula nuclear issue, have been exaggerating and giving prominence to the so-called ‘China responsibility theory.’
“I think this either shows lack of a full, correct knowledge of the issue, or there are ulterior motives for it, trying to shift responsibility.” “China has been making unremitting efforts and has played a constructive role, but all parties have to meet each other half way, Geng said.”
“Asking others to do work, but doing nothing themselves is not OK.” “Being stabbed in the back is really not OK.”
Geng told a daily news briefing, without naming any parties. (more)
Prepare your affairs accordingly. President Trump will not back down from his position; the U.S. holds all of the leverage and the issue must be addressed. The President and his team are entirely prepared for this. We are going to economic war with China!
The Olive branch and arrows denote the power of peace and war. The symbol in any figure’s right hand has more significance than one in its left hand. Also important is the direction faced by the symbols central figure. The emphasis on the eagles stare signifies the preferred disposition. An eagle holding an arrow also symbolizes the war for freedom, and its use is commonly referred to the liberation fight of righteous people from abusive influence. The eagle on the original seal created for the Office of the President showed the gaze upon the arrows.
The Eagle and the Arrow – An Aesop’s Fable
An Eagle was soaring through the air. Suddenly it heard the whizz of an Arrow, and felt the dart pierce its breast. Slowly it fluttered down to earth. Its lifeblood pouring out. Looking at the Arrow with which it had been shot, the Eagle realized that the deadly shaft had been feathered with one of its own plumes.
Moral:We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction.
Ralph ‘sticky lips‘ Peters is a dangerous person. His previous behavior and advocacy showcases his ideology as one which espouses American intervention and elevation of the war machine at any cost.
His history of advocacy for illegal weapons distribution to any foreign entity, regardless of their eventual and predictable disposition to the United States, is littered with outcomes supported by John McCain and Lindsey Graham.
Peters constantly pushes the memes of war, any war. He previously asserted that President Trump should appoint Lindsey Graham to be the Director of National Intelligence after General Mike Flynn was fired.
A few months ago Ralph Peters claimed Fox Business host Lou Dobbs was a Russian operative working on behalf of Vladimir Putin. His unstable mind previously caused him to be suspended from Fox News for using vulgarities to describe President Obama.
Ralph Peters is a seriously unstable and dangerous war-mongering person; and nothing triggers that mindset like a threat of demilitarization. Cue the audio visual demonstration.
CAIRO/BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters on Tuesday that it had “confirmed information” that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed.
[…] The Pentagon said it had no information to corroborate the reports. Kurdish and Iraqi officials also had no immediate confirmation.
Baghdadi’s death has been announced many times before, but the Observatory has a record of credible reporting on the Syrian conflict. Islamic State-affiliated websites and social media feeds have so far said nothing. (read more)
( h/t GWP ) At the heart of the current media Russian narrative du jour is a story about Donald Trump Jr. meeting with a Russian attorney named Natalia Veselnitskaya. That meeting took place on June 9th 2016 in Trump Tower.
Now it is discovered via video and images, that only 5 days later, June 14th 2016, Ms. Veselnitskava was a guest of former Obama administration Russian Ambassador Michael McFaul in Washington DC for a House of Representatives hearing on U.S. Policy Toward Putin’s Russia. [Video HERE – and Video HERE]
Ms. Natalia Veselnikskaya is pictured seated in the front row directly behind former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Mr. Michael McFaul at the House Foreign Affairs Committee. This is June 14th, five days after the reported meeting with Donald Trump Jr.
It should be noted that Ambassador McFaul was very publicly discussing the ‘Muh Russia’ conspiracy narrative in the media and appeared on numerous NBC and MSNBC broadcasts during the 2016 campaign, and immediately after the election.
It should also be noted that Ms. Natalia Veselnitskaya was initially denied an entry visa into the United States in 2016 and appealed her situation to the U.S. District Court of New York. She was granted a parole letter allowing her to enter the United States on behalf of a client.
Here’s her filing to the U.S. District Court in New York.
It’s enough to make you wonder what exactly is the nature of the relationship between Natalia Veselnitskaya and President Obama’s appointees such that they would be visibly working together on a few days after her reported meeting with Donald Trump Jr. in Trump Tower….
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
Centinel2012 