“A proposal for the next massive defense policy plan would authorize $709 billion to fund a long list of initiatives from pay raises to troop increases to new ships, planes, submarines and missiles, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.
The House-passed version of the next National Defense Authorization Act, H.R. 5515, would raise defense-related funding from 2018 by 2 percent, or $15.6 billion, according to the agency, which issues cost and budget analysis of proposed legislation on behalf of Congress.
The measure passed the House floor last month in a 351 to 66 vote.
“The key focus of this bill is restoring readiness to ensure that when our men and women in uniform go out on mission, they have the best equipment, the best training and the best support our nation can provide,” Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, and the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said following the House passing the NDAA on May 24. “This bill also takes crucial steps toward rebuilding our military and reforming the Pentagon.”
#Singapore is one of the richest countries in the world (per capita income over $90,000) thanks to free trade and light government regulations. #Trump and #Kim take note: tariffs and government regulations are not part of the Singapore Strategy https://t.co/GnS5vtnruC
“The former head of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, managed to overlook the Air Force deserter with top-security clearance on her staff who has been a “most-wanted” fugitive for 35 years.
Nanette Asimov and Megan Cassidy report in the San Francisco Chronicle:
Employees in the University of California president’s office in Oakland knew their former colleague Tim O’Beirne as the personable, brainy number-cruncher for the UC system’s vast health benefits program.
They were stunned Tuesday to learn that the Air Force has identified him as William Howard Hughes Jr., a captain with top-secret clearance who vanished in 1983. The Air Force declared him a deserter and one of its most wanted fugitives – and some suspected he had defected to the Soviets – until his capture last Wednesday.”
I will refrain from comparisons of defecting to the Soviet Union to defecting to Janet Napolitano’s staff because I am better than that. Also, he managed to con his way into the U.C. Office of the president years before Napolitano brought her expertise in security to the running of the vast University of California empire in 2013.”
————————-
She’s more Clouseau than security expert.And technically he did still defect to the communists, he just chose the commies at UC.
This photo of rosaries collected from immigrants caught crossing the southern border and then thrown in the trash from the trash was taken by Tom Kiefer who worked as a janitor for CBP from 2001 until he left the agency in 2014. According to the linked-to New Yorker profile, he started collecting items from the trash in 2007.
So not a single one of these personal effects was collected during the Trump administration. Zero. But sure, let’s have it go viral TODAY:”
This is (or should be) a really powerful image for most people that speaks to the fact many immigrants are Christians, not “dangerous criminals”
But Trumpvangelicals don’t see it that way for a very simple reason: they don’t consider Roman Catholics to be real Christians https://t.co/kGpjPOesre
The new defense buildup will end in January when the Democrats take control of Congress. There is no need for it since our former allies in Europe and Asia have seen that the US is an unreliable partner prone to electing weak, ignorant and deranged leaders. The US bases in foreign lands will start to close. We may wind up selling ships and other hardware to other countries in order to try to fund our growing deficit.
Trump may be running the highly educated, the young and professional women out of the Republican Party, but he is appealing to new demographic groups. We have seen the uneducated flock to Trumpist Republicanism. Now Trumpism is paying big dividends in the pimp community.
Debra, One of your Senators has noticed the Cult thing. However, I told him that you were not a cultist, that you are actually an ideological Trumpkin.
Sen. Corker on the Republican Party:
“We are in a strange place. It’s almost, it’s becoming a cultish thing, isn’t it? It’s not a good place for any party to end up with a cult-like situation as it relates to a president that happens to be of, purportedly, of the same party.” pic.twitter.com/Y0i4vuaIxg
Grand Old Personality Cult. I like the sound of that.
I guess Bob is still sore over R’s not playing along with his never-Trump machinations. Now don’t let the door hit your whiny butt on the way out Bob. Don’t go away mad, just go away.
“Man alive. Clapper must have really hated Obama’s policy towards North Korea to feel obliged to choke back a year’s worth of Russiagate attacks on Trump and pat him on the back for the Kim summit. This is a guy, remember, who just put out a book insisting that not only did Russia meddle in the campaign on Trump’s behalf but that, as far as he can surmise, it was actually the difference in the election. He’s as hardcore anti-Trump as it gets. Yet here he is, favorably comparing POTUS to his old boss. It’s only one issue, granted, but it’s *the* foreign-policy issue right now and for the foreseeable future — thanks to Obama’s unwillingness to try to resolve it himself.
And he’s right, by the way. He’s making the same point that I made myself the morning after the summit. Judged by the highly unrealistic standard of immediate denuclearization, the summit was a failure or, at best, a smaller than expected step towards that eventual goal. Judged by the more realistic standard of deescalation, a necessary development before denuclearization, it was a solid success. The only alternatives to nuking Pyongyang are (a) the status quo of biding time, hoping sanctions eventually cause the regime to collapse, and then further hoping that the ensuing chaos doesn’t lead to Seoul and Tokyo being incinerated, or (b) doing something extraordinary to try to jar something loose and liberalize North Korea. Trump tried the second option. Good call, says Clapper, because the first clearly wasn’t working, portending a nuclear alternative as the only remaining choice.”
At two years into his term the base of support he grew to support his candidacy stands almost unmoved from his inauguration at 87%. The only President in the modern era that bests him was George W. Bush in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. His support is largely based upon promises kept in numbers of areas but his particularly aggressive appointments of judges in the appellate system, as well as the Supreme Court of The United States have already secured pro-life, and pro-religious liberties wins. If he does not have the chance to place another appointment to the Supreme Court before the 2018 mid-terms, this becomes an especially effective campaign focus for 2020. The difference then will be that he has a record of delivering on this promise to demonstrate—whereas in 2016 never-Trumpers never believed he’d fulfill this promise. But proving people wrong has been one of President Trump’s most endearing features since gaining office.”
————————-
“1. Jobs
When people used to not have the dignity of work, they will be exceedingly hesitant to turn to options that will adversely affect that reality. With the economy growing 4-6% annually (which is possible by 2020,) and unemployment bouncing below 4%, along with the greatest number of workforce participants in two decades, people simply vote their pocketbook. Over the course of our history people’s economic realities have continued to be some of the most reliable indicators of electoral success. That he continues to push records and new thresholds of success for people vis-a-vie wages, vertical job opportunities, and exploding entrepreneurial environments there will be great hesitation to change horses midstream.
In 2006 I was right on 4 of the 5 conditions for Obama’s election. Should at minimum 3 of these 5 conditions hold I believe Donald Trump will be overwhelmingly re-elected almost irrespective of who the Democrats decide to run.
He campaigned on promises he could keep.
He’s now keeping the promises he made.
He will in all likelihood be given a chance to make and keep more promises to the people who gave him the chance the first time.
According to Trump, Kim Jong-un is "tough." For a portrait of toughness, try Jung Gwang-il, who survived the North Korean gulag and is now trying to free others. A guy of almost unimaginable toughness. https://t.co/Gtx0iw6Etm
Rubio may receive three lashes from The Cult for this Tweet. The responses are pretty good.
One more thing about KJU. While I know @potus is trying to butter him up to get a good deal, #KJU is NOT a talented guy. He inherited the family business from his dad & grandfather. He is a total weirdo who would not be elected assistant dog catcher in any democracy.
Now everyone is writing about The Cult. You read about it here first. In a couple of months some national writer will write a column about the difference between the ideological Trumpkins like Debra and the true Trump Cultists. Rubin has not yet noticed that distinction.
There is something refreshing about having the Republican Party’s cowardice out in the open, acknowledged by its own members. https://t.co/hKomOQVCWN
— Jennifer "A man is not a plan" Rubin 🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@JRubinBlogger) June 14, 2018
Ah yes, the desperate flailings of the never-Trump whiners continues…….
And Rubin shouldn’t be so hard on herself and her cowardly friends. At least now that they’ve been exposed they can let it all hang out. No need to hide your true colors anymore, right? I’m sure it’s very liberating, even if no one else cares. 🙂
Okay, Christians who support Trump. Can you still support him when in this video he seems to be endorsing the execution of political prisoners, many of whom are Christians?
BAIER: Kim Jong Un is "clearly executing people."
TRUMP: "He's a tough guy. Hey, when you take over a country, tough country, tough people, and you take it over from your father … if you could do that at 27-years old, I mean, that's 1 in 10,000 that could do that." (via FOX) pic.twitter.com/R8FfkREDYX
Ricky @8:29 Marco Rubio interests me now—for the future. Since he is not in the Oval Office, he can afford to critique KJU (as he deserves, no doubt). I don’t mind that as long as he doesn’t become an obstructionist regarding Trump’s agenda.
@9:29 Oh, and I’m pretty sure that Corker’s use of the word ‘of” is superfluous. Such things apparently matter in a character-constrained environment like twitter. For some folk. ;–)
Peter, I sure do. He’s not endorsing any executions or abuses. He’s negotiating for denuclearization, and fluffing up his opponent is one tactic he always seems to find useful.
“Can you still support him when in this video he seems to be endorsing the execution of political prisoners, many of whom are Christians?”
C’mon, that’s not what he said at all. And like Debra said, it’s posturing, as always occurs in these type of negotiations. The first summit isn’t the time for those discussions, but they will happen. Even Reagan waited until the 4 summit to bring up the USSR’s human rights record.
Also progress, the agreed to yesterday release of US POW/MIA remains. That’s long overdue, and it’s happening thanks to Trump. While his style may not be the norm, you can’t say that it’s not working.
De-escalation and de-nuclearization are the priorities. Rarely does one de-escalate a situation by pointing out their adversary’s faults and alleged crimes. That would give you the opposite result.
While it sucks for those Christians you mentioned, I’m pretty sure they’d persevere a little longer if they thought it may aid the millions of starving they were ministering to in the first place. There’s a real chance here to do that. We should be encouraging Trump and praying for his success, if for no other reason than some relief for those voiceless people.
HUGE news broken by @FoxNews!!! Comey erroneously claimed it was "possible" hostile actors hacked Clinton emails. Now we know Strozk, lead investigator, knew a month BEFORE Comey's statement that foreign actors had IN FACT gained access to emails & 1 secret one! Strozk email: pic.twitter.com/f7wHe6xId2
“San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz infamously picked a fight with President Trump in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria last year, the storm that devastated Puerto Rico. The official death toll was 64, but Gov. Ricardo Rossello suggested the actual number is higher. President Trump signed a $36.5 billion aid package for the nation. Some of the aid took awhile to get to its destination. Cruz took aim at the White House in those months, accusing the U.S. government of turning its back on them.
Some of her messages were indirect. She wore a “Nasty Woman” shirt on CNN, in reference to Trump’s insult for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign. Others were not blatant, like when she said Trump “speaks out of both sides of his mouth.”
“On the one hand, he says he wants to help Puerto Rico. On the other hand, he imposed a 20% income tax on every good and service that comes from Puerto Rico into the United States. On the one hand, he says we will be with you for the long run. And on the other hand, the [Food and Drug Administration] is trying to convince pharmaceutical companies to leave Puerto Rico,” she told Amanpour.
“He says he cares and he came here and threw paper towels at us,” she continued, referring to Trump’s visit to the city of Guaynabo in October. “And on the other hand, he doesn’t provide his administration with a clear set of goals to help Puerto Rico.”
The media ate it up. She was invited on late night talk shows to continue her tirade against the president. She expanded her criticism to weigh in on his policies.
Thankfully, when the two did eventually meet in Puerto Rico, they put a ceasefire on their war of words.
Cruz may be the hypocritical one here. New reports suggest that corruption in San Juan prevented critical supplies from reaching Hurricane Maria victims. The FBI is investigating suppliers and Cruz’s administration.”
I can’t remember the numbers off hand, but I’ve read that the death toll in Puerto Rico is much, much higher than initially reported. 😦
As for the recent events with Kim Jung Un, I am cautiously optimistic and skeptical at the same time. My concern is that we may have just legitimized a tyrant. Let’s hope and pray for the best.
Kizzie, given Trump’s unpopularity with many world leaders,I’m not sure how much legitimacy his visit has bestowed. On the upside,we can be sure that if KJU so much as insults the President’ s hair, he will once again be ‘rocket man’ and a scurrilous scoundrel. I am also cautiously optimistic. I certainly don’t think our position is worse than before, and it may turn out to be much improved.
Debra
You make me laugh. The guy who comes here every single day and whines and complains endlessly about Trump is posting Tweets that complain about people not being able to complain about Trump. Seriously?
All you and the never-Trump faction (yes Erickson’s a true believer, like you) ever do is criticize Trump. Do you laugh in your own face in the mirror when you say stuff like that? Because you should……
“Commenting on the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General report on the FBI and DOJ, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said he was “alarmed, angered, and deeply disappointed” in the DOJ/FBI failures and added, “This is not the FBI I know” and “not the FBI our country needs.”
“I am alarmed, angered, and deeply disappointed by the Inspector General’s finding of numerous failures by DOJ and FBI in investigating potential Espionage Act violations by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,” said Gowdy, who was briefed on the report today. The report is expected to be released today, June 14.
“This is not the FBI I know,” said Gowdy. “This is not the FBI our country needs. This is not the FBI citizens and suspects alike deserve.”
Gowdy commented on the political bias of the FBI stating, “The report also conclusively shows an alarming and destructive level of animus [against Donald Trump] displayed by top officials at the FBI.”
“Peter Strzok’s manifest bias trending toward animus casts a pall on this investigation,” said Gowdy. “Bias is so pernicious and malignant as to both taint the process, the result, and the ability to have confidence in either.””
“Rep. Gowdy further said that Strzok’s “bias was so persuasive and toxic as to call into question any other investigations he was part of, including his role in the investigation of what Russia did in 2016. His bias impacted his decisions making and he assigned to himself the role of stopping the Trump campaign or ending a Trump Presidency.””
Now it’s time to shut Mueller and his illegitimate and tainted witch hunt down.
So I was right. Comey couldn’t find Clinton guilty of a crime for her handling of important info. If he did, someone might insist he be held to it too.
“James Comey used a personal Gmail account to conduct FBI business on numerous occasions when he was director of the bureau — even though he had bluntly warned FBI workers they would be in “huge trouble” for doing the same thing, the Justice Department’s internal watchdog revealed Thursday.
His frequent use of a personal email account for unclassified FBI business was “inconsistent with” Justice Department policy, according to a report issued by the Office of the Inspector General.
Comey was criticized in that report for usurping the power of the attorney general in his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server for State Department business.
Comey had publicly said in the summer of 2016 that he was not recommending any criminal charges in connection with Clinton’s use of that email server.
The inspector general’s report noted that in October 2016, Comey spoke at the FBI’s annual SAC Conference in San Diego, and noted that his investigators’ view was “there really isn’t anything here that anybody would prosecute” about Clinton’s server.
But Comey added, “I have gotten emails from some employees about this, who said, ‘If I did what Hillary Clinton did I’d be in huge trouble.'”
“My response is you bet your #$@ you’d be in huge trouble,” Comey said in that speech.”
————————–
“An FBI attorney who worked on the special counsel’s Russia investigation until earlier this year sent anti-Trump text messages to a colleague, including one exclaiming: “Viva le Resistance.”
The attorney’s comments are revealed in a Justice Department inspector general’s report released on Thursday.
The lawyer is not identified, but he worked on the Hillary Clinton email investigation and was the FBI’s lead attorney on the investigation into Russian election interference. He was assigned to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation soon after it began in May 2017 and left in late February of this year after some of his private messages were shared with the special counsel.
The inspector general’s report focuses on instant messages that the attorney exchanged with a colleague about the Clinton and Russia probes.
“I am numb,” the attorney wrote on Nov. 9, 2016, the day after President Trump’s election.
“I am so stressed about what I could have done differently,” the lawyer continued, apparently referring to the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email probe.
The attorney’s messages show that he was distressed at the FBI’s decision in October 2016 to re-open the investigation into Clinton’s emails. Democrats have claimed that decision hurt Clinton at the polls.
The FBI lawyer also suggested that he would work to resist the Trump administration.”
“The Justice Department inspector general has referred five FBI employees for investigation in connection with politically charged texts, revealing in its report on the Hillary Clinton email case that more bureau officials than previously thought were exchanging anti-Trump messages.
The long-awaited report largely dealt with the Justice Department and FBI’s handling of the Clinton case but uncovered numerous messages that “appeared to mix political opinion with discussions about the MYE investigation.”
“The Department of Justice inspector general identified a number of instances where FBI employees regularly spoke with members of the media and received a number of free perks from journalists including meals and tickets to various events.
On page XII in the report, the IG says the department “identified numerous FBI employees, at all levels of the organization and with no official reason to be in contact with the media, who were nevertheless in frequent contact with reporters.”
The IG expressed “profound concerns about the volume and extent of unauthorized media contacts by FBI personnel that we have uncovered our review.”
The contact between FBI agents and the media extended to receiving “improperly receiving benefits from reporters, including tickets to sporting events, golfing outings, drinks and meals, and admittance to nonpublic social events.”
In the following paragraph, the IG implies that such benefits could have encouraged various agents to leak information to the press.”
Ricky it’s required reading for you. You need to see just how wrong you were about most of this. And this is only the first of several investigations into all this. More will come out.
It appears Comey's FBI was a disgracefully badly run organization, just in case you think his reputation deserves not to be trashed until it lies at the bottom of the La Brea Tar Pits. pic.twitter.com/P4PenHVuvP
French and Erickson are in the Shapiro feed. Even they see there are some serious issues here that need further investigation, and that it’s been biased.
The big picture for those outside of The Cult. Comey took unusual actions to publicly scold Hillary in July, 2016, and publicly reopen the investigation in October, 2016. I can see how my Democrat friends blame Comey for helping put an imbecile in the White House, but I wouldn’t second guess his decisions.
Lawsuit against Trump Foundation for using charity money for campaign purposes highlights need to follow the money in Russia probe.
If Trump family would misuse charitable donations for its financial or political benefit, would it hesitate to launder Russian money to same end? https://t.co/tLZSidMiu1
I guess I will have yo read the whole report later. I am curious as to whether there are serious people who believe the report is definitely not objective, or is it being acknowledged as legitimate by the neverTrumper Republicans.
Debra
Debra, Comey himself acknowledges the IG report as legitimate in the article @ 7:50. Cultists will pick and choose the parts that they like and Dems will pick and choose the parts that they like. The NYT article summarizes the report’s overall conclusions and Comey explained how he disagreed with some of the conclusions.
The cherry picking of this report is likely to only compound the credibility damage for the FBI and DOJ, even as the report itself, taken in full, is a good faith attempt to restore credibility. But political agendas are going to prevent some from providing FULL context. #sad
I respect the DOJ IG office, which is why I urged them to do this review. The conclusions are reasonable, even though I disagree with some. People of good faith can see an unprecedented situation differently. I pray no Director faces it again. Thanks to IG’s people for hard work.
And the IG report is also wrong in one part. They make the case for bias repeatedly throughout the document, yet find no bias. This is the problem with internal reviews. More is yet to come, but this already proves many things you’ve scoffed at. I didn’t expect you to own up though, so I’m not disappointed there.
And oh look, yet another BS investigation into Trump by partisan actors. What were the chances, huh? 🙄
Anyone with any background in non-profit organizations will understand that the allegations against The Trump Foundation are very serious. The referral to the IRS is interesting. Using what is supposed to be a charitable foundation for personal and political purposes is tax fraud.
“Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle slammed former FBI Director James Comey and other agency personnel on Thursday after Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a long awaited report on the FBI and DOJ’s Hillary Clinton investigation during the 2016 presidential election.”
The failure to disclose and produce these messages to Congress continues a pattern of non-cooperation and interference with our joint investigation. The House Judiciary Committee intends to issue a subpoena to Peter Strzok to compel his testimony before the Committees. pic.twitter.com/7vM68ZmSLc
AJ, I have always said that supporters of criminals hate law enforcement. Mamas of gang members hate cops. Supporters of Hillary hate Comey. Trump cultists hate Comey.
For those who are undecided, read Comey’s brief message at 8:35. He was calm, rational honest and articulate. Compare that to the dishonest and hysterical drivel we get daily from Trump.
So, the Democrats make up a phony crime, Collusion with the Russians, pay a fortune to make the crime sound real, illegally leak (Comey) classified information so that a Special Councel will be appointed, and then Collude to make this pile of garbage take on life in Fake News!
Lots of criticism of Comey in the IG report. But his decisions had no direct impact on Trump campaign, only harmed Clinton. Still, I expect Trump and his cult to use this report to discredit Russia investigation & claim the Deep State was/is after Trump. https://t.co/TLMxQ3FdPU
Wandering Views 
Let the rebuilding begin.
https://www.stripes.com/news/cbo-defense-plan-will-direct-709-billion-for-pay-raises-higher-troop-levels-and-new-weapons-1.532200
“A proposal for the next massive defense policy plan would authorize $709 billion to fund a long list of initiatives from pay raises to troop increases to new ships, planes, submarines and missiles, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.
The House-passed version of the next National Defense Authorization Act, H.R. 5515, would raise defense-related funding from 2018 by 2 percent, or $15.6 billion, according to the agency, which issues cost and budget analysis of proposed legislation on behalf of Congress.
The measure passed the House floor last month in a 351 to 66 vote.
“The key focus of this bill is restoring readiness to ensure that when our men and women in uniform go out on mission, they have the best equipment, the best training and the best support our nation can provide,” Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, and the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said following the House passing the NDAA on May 24. “This bill also takes crucial steps toward rebuilding our military and reforming the Pentagon.”
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An interesting article on Singapore:
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This is inexcusable.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/06/air_forces_most_wanted_deserter_discovered_working_on_janet_napolitanos_staff.html
“The former head of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, managed to overlook the Air Force deserter with top-security clearance on her staff who has been a “most-wanted” fugitive for 35 years.
Nanette Asimov and Megan Cassidy report in the San Francisco Chronicle:
Employees in the University of California president’s office in Oakland knew their former colleague Tim O’Beirne as the personable, brainy number-cruncher for the UC system’s vast health benefits program.
They were stunned Tuesday to learn that the Air Force has identified him as William Howard Hughes Jr., a captain with top-secret clearance who vanished in 1983. The Air Force declared him a deserter and one of its most wanted fugitives – and some suspected he had defected to the Soviets – until his capture last Wednesday.”
I will refrain from comparisons of defecting to the Soviet Union to defecting to Janet Napolitano’s staff because I am better than that. Also, he managed to con his way into the U.C. Office of the president years before Napolitano brought her expertise in security to the running of the vast University of California empire in 2013.”
————————-
She’s more Clouseau than security expert.And technically he did still defect to the communists, he just chose the commies at UC.
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Another failed meme. Once again they want to blame Trump for Obama’s deeds. Just like with the immigrant children in cages pic.
https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2018/06/13/guys-theyre-doing-it-again-photo-of-rosaries-collected-at-the-border-during-the-obama-years-goes-viral-because-of-trump/
“Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
This photo of rosaries collected from immigrants caught crossing the southern border and then thrown in the trash from the trash was taken by Tom Kiefer who worked as a janitor for CBP from 2001 until he left the agency in 2014. According to the linked-to New Yorker profile, he started collecting items from the trash in 2007.
So not a single one of these personal effects was collected during the Trump administration. Zero. But sure, let’s have it go viral TODAY:”
FAIL.
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The new defense buildup will end in January when the Democrats take control of Congress. There is no need for it since our former allies in Europe and Asia have seen that the US is an unreliable partner prone to electing weak, ignorant and deranged leaders. The US bases in foreign lands will start to close. We may wind up selling ships and other hardware to other countries in order to try to fund our growing deficit.
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Keep on whistling past the graveyard Ricky….. 🙂
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Trump may be running the highly educated, the young and professional women out of the Republican Party, but he is appealing to new demographic groups. We have seen the uneducated flock to Trumpist Republicanism. Now Trumpism is paying big dividends in the pimp community.
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As I was saying @ 8:10:
https://twitter.com/judithdimitrov/status/1007051616560660480?s=21
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Debra, One of your Senators has noticed the Cult thing. However, I told him that you were not a cultist, that you are actually an ideological Trumpkin.
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Grand Old Personality Cult. I like the sound of that.
I guess Bob is still sore over R’s not playing along with his never-Trump machinations. Now don’t let the door hit your whiny butt on the way out Bob. Don’t go away mad, just go away.
https://hotair.com/archives/2018/06/12/bob-corker-cant-believe-gutless-party-wont-poke-bear-helping-strip-trumps-tariff-power/
It’s Trump’s party now. 🙂
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Oh and Ricky….
You must have gone off script. One of your heroes disagrees with you.
https://hotair.com/archives/2018/06/13/u-s-much-better-place-north-korea-summit-says-james-clapper/
“Man alive. Clapper must have really hated Obama’s policy towards North Korea to feel obliged to choke back a year’s worth of Russiagate attacks on Trump and pat him on the back for the Kim summit. This is a guy, remember, who just put out a book insisting that not only did Russia meddle in the campaign on Trump’s behalf but that, as far as he can surmise, it was actually the difference in the election. He’s as hardcore anti-Trump as it gets. Yet here he is, favorably comparing POTUS to his old boss. It’s only one issue, granted, but it’s *the* foreign-policy issue right now and for the foreseeable future — thanks to Obama’s unwillingness to try to resolve it himself.
And he’s right, by the way. He’s making the same point that I made myself the morning after the summit. Judged by the highly unrealistic standard of immediate denuclearization, the summit was a failure or, at best, a smaller than expected step towards that eventual goal. Judged by the more realistic standard of deescalation, a necessary development before denuclearization, it was a solid success. The only alternatives to nuking Pyongyang are (a) the status quo of biding time, hoping sanctions eventually cause the regime to collapse, and then further hoping that the ensuing chaos doesn’t lead to Seoul and Tokyo being incinerated, or (b) doing something extraordinary to try to jar something loose and liberalize North Korea. Trump tried the second option. Good call, says Clapper, because the first clearly wasn’t working, portending a nuclear alternative as the only remaining choice.”
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If Clapper is converting to Trumpism, is he also becoming a pimp?
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🙂
Like I said, it’s his party now.
https://townhall.com/columnists/kevinmccullough/2018/06/10/5-reasons-trump-will-win-40-states-in-2020-n2489173
“3. His Base Is Strongest Of The Era
At two years into his term the base of support he grew to support his candidacy stands almost unmoved from his inauguration at 87%. The only President in the modern era that bests him was George W. Bush in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. His support is largely based upon promises kept in numbers of areas but his particularly aggressive appointments of judges in the appellate system, as well as the Supreme Court of The United States have already secured pro-life, and pro-religious liberties wins. If he does not have the chance to place another appointment to the Supreme Court before the 2018 mid-terms, this becomes an especially effective campaign focus for 2020. The difference then will be that he has a record of delivering on this promise to demonstrate—whereas in 2016 never-Trumpers never believed he’d fulfill this promise. But proving people wrong has been one of President Trump’s most endearing features since gaining office.”
————————-
“1. Jobs
When people used to not have the dignity of work, they will be exceedingly hesitant to turn to options that will adversely affect that reality. With the economy growing 4-6% annually (which is possible by 2020,) and unemployment bouncing below 4%, along with the greatest number of workforce participants in two decades, people simply vote their pocketbook. Over the course of our history people’s economic realities have continued to be some of the most reliable indicators of electoral success. That he continues to push records and new thresholds of success for people vis-a-vie wages, vertical job opportunities, and exploding entrepreneurial environments there will be great hesitation to change horses midstream.
In 2006 I was right on 4 of the 5 conditions for Obama’s election. Should at minimum 3 of these 5 conditions hold I believe Donald Trump will be overwhelmingly re-elected almost irrespective of who the Democrats decide to run.
He campaigned on promises he could keep.
He’s now keeping the promises he made.
He will in all likelihood be given a chance to make and keep more promises to the people who gave him the chance the first time.
This ain’t rocket science!”
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https://i1.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2018/06/mrz061318-color-1-6-mb_orig.jpg?resize=600%2C436
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Rubio may receive three lashes from The Cult for this Tweet. The responses are pretty good.
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Now everyone is writing about The Cult. You read about it here first. In a couple of months some national writer will write a column about the difference between the ideological Trumpkins like Debra and the true Trump Cultists. Rubin has not yet noticed that distinction.
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Ah yes, the desperate flailings of the never-Trump whiners continues…….
And Rubin shouldn’t be so hard on herself and her cowardly friends. At least now that they’ve been exposed they can let it all hang out. No need to hide your true colors anymore, right? I’m sure it’s very liberating, even if no one else cares. 🙂
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Okay, Christians who support Trump. Can you still support him when in this video he seems to be endorsing the execution of political prisoners, many of whom are Christians?
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Ricky @8:29 Marco Rubio interests me now—for the future. Since he is not in the Oval Office, he can afford to critique KJU (as he deserves, no doubt). I don’t mind that as long as he doesn’t become an obstructionist regarding Trump’s agenda.
@9:29 Oh, and I’m pretty sure that Corker’s use of the word ‘of” is superfluous. Such things apparently matter in a character-constrained environment like twitter. For some folk. ;–)
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Peter, I sure do. He’s not endorsing any executions or abuses. He’s negotiating for denuclearization, and fluffing up his opponent is one tactic he always seems to find useful.
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Peter,
“Can you still support him when in this video he seems to be endorsing the execution of political prisoners, many of whom are Christians?”
C’mon, that’s not what he said at all. And like Debra said, it’s posturing, as always occurs in these type of negotiations. The first summit isn’t the time for those discussions, but they will happen. Even Reagan waited until the 4 summit to bring up the USSR’s human rights record.
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And I would also point out that some of those Christian prisoners you mentioned have been released by Kim, at Trump’s urging. That’s progress.
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Also progress, the agreed to yesterday release of US POW/MIA remains. That’s long overdue, and it’s happening thanks to Trump. While his style may not be the norm, you can’t say that it’s not working.
De-escalation and de-nuclearization are the priorities. Rarely does one de-escalate a situation by pointing out their adversary’s faults and alleged crimes. That would give you the opposite result.
While it sucks for those Christians you mentioned, I’m pretty sure they’d persevere a little longer if they thought it may aid the millions of starving they were ministering to in the first place. There’s a real chance here to do that. We should be encouraging Trump and praying for his success, if for no other reason than some relief for those voiceless people.
Just MHO.
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Oh my….
And yet the FBI never looked at the servers……
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Notice the contradiction here?
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This is my shocked face. 😶
Because I’m not.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2018/06/13/san-juan-mayor-who-criticized-trump-now-being-investigated-for-corruption-n2490312
“San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz infamously picked a fight with President Trump in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria last year, the storm that devastated Puerto Rico. The official death toll was 64, but Gov. Ricardo Rossello suggested the actual number is higher. President Trump signed a $36.5 billion aid package for the nation. Some of the aid took awhile to get to its destination. Cruz took aim at the White House in those months, accusing the U.S. government of turning its back on them.
Some of her messages were indirect. She wore a “Nasty Woman” shirt on CNN, in reference to Trump’s insult for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign. Others were not blatant, like when she said Trump “speaks out of both sides of his mouth.”
“On the one hand, he says he wants to help Puerto Rico. On the other hand, he imposed a 20% income tax on every good and service that comes from Puerto Rico into the United States. On the one hand, he says we will be with you for the long run. And on the other hand, the [Food and Drug Administration] is trying to convince pharmaceutical companies to leave Puerto Rico,” she told Amanpour.
“He says he cares and he came here and threw paper towels at us,” she continued, referring to Trump’s visit to the city of Guaynabo in October. “And on the other hand, he doesn’t provide his administration with a clear set of goals to help Puerto Rico.”
The media ate it up. She was invited on late night talk shows to continue her tirade against the president. She expanded her criticism to weigh in on his policies.
Thankfully, when the two did eventually meet in Puerto Rico, they put a ceasefire on their war of words.
Cruz may be the hypocritical one here. New reports suggest that corruption in San Juan prevented critical supplies from reaching Hurricane Maria victims. The FBI is investigating suppliers and Cruz’s administration.”
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Here a “cult”, there a “cult”, everywhere a “cult cult”. Some people are finally waking up.
https://twitter.com/ewerickson/status/1007273868334194688
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I suppose there are worse things they could be doing.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/06/14/trump-ordered-troops-to-the-border-but-theyre-doing-busywork-218821
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Under normal conditions a White House job is the dream of all young political aides. These are not normal times.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/story/2018/06/13/white-house-hill-job-fair-645592
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So Trump cult is the new meme. We’ll get the Trump Battalion or the Trump Revolution on that right away….oh wait.
Debra
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I can’t remember the numbers off hand, but I’ve read that the death toll in Puerto Rico is much, much higher than initially reported. 😦
As for the recent events with Kim Jung Un, I am cautiously optimistic and skeptical at the same time. My concern is that we may have just legitimized a tyrant. Let’s hope and pray for the best.
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Kizzie, given Trump’s unpopularity with many world leaders,I’m not sure how much legitimacy his visit has bestowed. On the upside,we can be sure that if KJU so much as insults the President’ s hair, he will once again be ‘rocket man’ and a scurrilous scoundrel. I am also cautiously optimistic. I certainly don’t think our position is worse than before, and it may turn out to be much improved.
Debra
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I’m actually more impressed with the President’s performance in general than I anticipated.
Debra
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Ricky,
You make me laugh. The guy who comes here every single day and whines and complains endlessly about Trump is posting Tweets that complain about people not being able to complain about Trump. Seriously?
All you and the never-Trump faction (yes Erickson’s a true believer, like you) ever do is criticize Trump. Do you laugh in your own face in the mirror when you say stuff like that? Because you should……
Sheesh, at least make it believable. 🙄
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And Gowdy has a message for you……
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/brady-kenyon/gowdy-ig-report-im-alarmed-angered-not-fbi-our-country-needs
“Commenting on the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General report on the FBI and DOJ, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said he was “alarmed, angered, and deeply disappointed” in the DOJ/FBI failures and added, “This is not the FBI I know” and “not the FBI our country needs.”
“I am alarmed, angered, and deeply disappointed by the Inspector General’s finding of numerous failures by DOJ and FBI in investigating potential Espionage Act violations by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,” said Gowdy, who was briefed on the report today. The report is expected to be released today, June 14.
“This is not the FBI I know,” said Gowdy. “This is not the FBI our country needs. This is not the FBI citizens and suspects alike deserve.”
Gowdy commented on the political bias of the FBI stating, “The report also conclusively shows an alarming and destructive level of animus [against Donald Trump] displayed by top officials at the FBI.”
“Peter Strzok’s manifest bias trending toward animus casts a pall on this investigation,” said Gowdy. “Bias is so pernicious and malignant as to both taint the process, the result, and the ability to have confidence in either.””
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Missed this little nugget……
“Rep. Gowdy further said that Strzok’s “bias was so persuasive and toxic as to call into question any other investigations he was part of, including his role in the investigation of what Russia did in 2016. His bias impacted his decisions making and he assigned to himself the role of stopping the Trump campaign or ending a Trump Presidency.””
Now it’s time to shut Mueller and his illegitimate and tainted witch hunt down.
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So I was right. Comey couldn’t find Clinton guilty of a crime for her handling of important info. If he did, someone might insist he be held to it too.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/14/james-comey-used-gmail-for-official-fbi-business-numerous-times.html
“James Comey used a personal Gmail account to conduct FBI business on numerous occasions when he was director of the bureau — even though he had bluntly warned FBI workers they would be in “huge trouble” for doing the same thing, the Justice Department’s internal watchdog revealed Thursday.
His frequent use of a personal email account for unclassified FBI business was “inconsistent with” Justice Department policy, according to a report issued by the Office of the Inspector General.
Comey was criticized in that report for usurping the power of the attorney general in his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server for State Department business.
Comey had publicly said in the summer of 2016 that he was not recommending any criminal charges in connection with Clinton’s use of that email server.
The inspector general’s report noted that in October 2016, Comey spoke at the FBI’s annual SAC Conference in San Diego, and noted that his investigators’ view was “there really isn’t anything here that anybody would prosecute” about Clinton’s server.
But Comey added, “I have gotten emails from some employees about this, who said, ‘If I did what Hillary Clinton did I’d be in huge trouble.'”
“My response is you bet your #$@ you’d be in huge trouble,” Comey said in that speech.”
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And yet Clinton and Comey got a pass.
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Like Gowdy said, Mueller’s circus is tainted.
http://dailycaller.com/2018/06/14/mueller-lawyer-resisted-trump/
“An FBI attorney who worked on the special counsel’s Russia investigation until earlier this year sent anti-Trump text messages to a colleague, including one exclaiming: “Viva le Resistance.”
The attorney’s comments are revealed in a Justice Department inspector general’s report released on Thursday.
The lawyer is not identified, but he worked on the Hillary Clinton email investigation and was the FBI’s lead attorney on the investigation into Russian election interference. He was assigned to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation soon after it began in May 2017 and left in late February of this year after some of his private messages were shared with the special counsel.
The inspector general’s report focuses on instant messages that the attorney exchanged with a colleague about the Clinton and Russia probes.
“I am numb,” the attorney wrote on Nov. 9, 2016, the day after President Trump’s election.
“I am so stressed about what I could have done differently,” the lawyer continued, apparently referring to the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email probe.
The attorney’s messages show that he was distressed at the FBI’s decision in October 2016 to re-open the investigation into Clinton’s emails. Democrats have claimed that decision hurt Clinton at the polls.
The FBI lawyer also suggested that he would work to resist the Trump administration.”
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5 have been referred for possible criminal charges. Trump was right on so much of this, yet he’s been mocked for pushing for the truth to be exposed.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/06/14/inspector-general-refers-five-fbi-employees-for-investigation-over-hostile-political-messages.html
“The Justice Department inspector general has referred five FBI employees for investigation in connection with politically charged texts, revealing in its report on the Hillary Clinton email case that more bureau officials than previously thought were exchanging anti-Trump messages.
The long-awaited report largely dealt with the Justice Department and FBI’s handling of the Clinton case but uncovered numerous messages that “appeared to mix political opinion with discussions about the MYE investigation.”
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We have agents colluding with journalists too.
Leak to the press, get free stuff!
Like Gowdy said, this is not how it’s supposed to be.
http://dailycaller.com/2018/06/14/ig-report-fbi-agents-bribed-journalists/
“The Department of Justice inspector general identified a number of instances where FBI employees regularly spoke with members of the media and received a number of free perks from journalists including meals and tickets to various events.
On page XII in the report, the IG says the department “identified numerous FBI employees, at all levels of the organization and with no official reason to be in contact with the media, who were nevertheless in frequent contact with reporters.”
The IG expressed “profound concerns about the volume and extent of unauthorized media contacts by FBI personnel that we have uncovered our review.”
The contact between FBI agents and the media extended to receiving “improperly receiving benefits from reporters, including tickets to sporting events, golfing outings, drinks and meals, and admittance to nonpublic social events.”
In the following paragraph, the IG implies that such benefits could have encouraged various agents to leak information to the press.”
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Here’s the whole report if you’re interested.
Ricky it’s required reading for you. You need to see just how wrong you were about most of this. And this is only the first of several investigations into all this. More will come out.
https://www.justice.gov/file/1071991/download
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Ben Shapiro is having fun with it.
———————
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Podhoretz piles on….
https://twitter.com/SohrabAhmari/status/1007338780137873409
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French and Erickson are in the Shapiro feed. Even they see there are some serious issues here that need further investigation, and that it’s been biased.
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The big picture for those outside of The Cult. Comey took unusual actions to publicly scold Hillary in July, 2016, and publicly reopen the investigation in October, 2016. I can see how my Democrat friends blame Comey for helping put an imbecile in the White House, but I wouldn’t second guess his decisions.
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Comey’s response:
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I almost forgot: Those last two are required reading for AJ and the entire Cult.
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Then there is this:
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However, I think this is where the action is going to be on the criminal investigation front:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michael-cohen-isolated-believes-trump-allies-turning-on-him/
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I guess I will have yo read the whole report later. I am curious as to whether there are serious people who believe the report is definitely not objective, or is it being acknowledged as legitimate by the neverTrumper Republicans.
Debra
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Debra, Comey himself acknowledges the IG report as legitimate in the article @ 7:50. Cultists will pick and choose the parts that they like and Dems will pick and choose the parts that they like. The NYT article summarizes the report’s overall conclusions and Comey explained how he disagreed with some of the conclusions.
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Like I said:
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Do it, HRW and Roscuro!
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Happy Flag Day!
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Comey on Twitter:
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Justify away Ricky, but the facts are out now.
And the IG report is also wrong in one part. They make the case for bias repeatedly throughout the document, yet find no bias. This is the problem with internal reviews. More is yet to come, but this already proves many things you’ve scoffed at. I didn’t expect you to own up though, so I’m not disappointed there.
And oh look, yet another BS investigation into Trump by partisan actors. What were the chances, huh? 🙄
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Own this, Trump Cult.
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Trump Foundation, like Trump University, like Trump himself, was always just a con.
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Anyone with any background in non-profit organizations will understand that the allegations against The Trump Foundation are very serious. The referral to the IRS is interesting. Using what is supposed to be a charitable foundation for personal and political purposes is tax fraud.
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Both sides disagree with you Ricky.
———————
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/06/14/lawmakers-accuse-fbi-destructive-level-animus-following-release-ig-report.html
“Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle slammed former FBI Director James Comey and other agency personnel on Thursday after Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a long awaited report on the FBI and DOJ’s Hillary Clinton investigation during the 2016 presidential election.”
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AJ, I have always said that supporters of criminals hate law enforcement. Mamas of gang members hate cops. Supporters of Hillary hate Comey. Trump cultists hate Comey.
For those who are undecided, read Comey’s brief message at 8:35. He was calm, rational honest and articulate. Compare that to the dishonest and hysterical drivel we get daily from Trump.
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The most recent example of which was from today:
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Here a cult, there a cult … It is as if Taylor Swift is singing a song I wrote.
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Everywhere a Trump Cult:
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Junior with the confession/confirmation:
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