First up, don’t listen to what they say, watch what they do. While everyone has panned AOC’s Green New Deal as ridiculous, an effort is underway to stealthily do the Deal one state at a time.
“Daniel Turner: Stealth AOC ‘Green New Deal’ now the law in New Mexico, voters be damned”
“By now, the public is well aware of the “Green New Deal” proposed by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. They have not responded well to calls for forced veganism and banning airplanes, let alone giving up the American way of life made possible by cheap energy.
But while Ocasio-Cortez has taken the brunt of the media focus, environmental groups have developed a new strategy to get their way: pass a type of “Green New Deal” state by state.
It’s a smart tactic. They get friendly, left-leaning state legislators and governors, most of whom they financially backed in the past election, to do their dirty work. While the media is watching AOC marveling over garbage disposals and rejecting the racism of cauliflower, no one is reporting about bad laws taking shape in secret.
That’s exactly how radical green groups want it.
Their latest attempt was in New Mexico, and unfortunately, it succeeded. Newly-elected Democrat Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the “Energy Transition Act” in March. This law requires that New Mexico move to 100 percent carbon-free energy – the same long-term goal as the “Green New Deal.”
This destructive law is essentially a hidden carbon tax and will threaten the jobs of thousands of energy workers, raise utility rates, cut state revenue, and make green energy companies rich at the taxpayers’ expense.
Green groups have effectively rebranded “carbon tax” as “renewable energy mandates” and to get the same results: the end of fossil fuels. Force the elimination of low-cost energy sources and mandate high-cost renewables. Send the bill to customers. Say it’s “for the earth” and voilà, green energy companies get rich.
But no matter what you call it, it’s a tax, plain and simple. Economists agree. The University of Chicago, for example, recently released a report detailing how renewable mandates increase energy prices by 17 percent. The Heritage Foundation believes it might be even worse and could double electric bills on families.”
“For nearly three weeks, Baltimore has struggled with a cyberattack by digital extortionists that has frozen thousands of computers, shut down email and disrupted real estate sales, water bills, health alerts and many other services.
But here is what frustrated city employees and residents do not know: A key component of the malware that cybercriminals used in the attack was developed at taxpayer expense a short drive down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway at the National Security Agency, according to security experts briefed on the case.
Since 2017, when the N.S.A. lost control of the tool, EternalBlue, it has been picked up by state hackers in North Korea, Russia and, more recently, China, to cut a path of destruction around the world, leaving billions of dollars in damage. But over the past year, the cyberweapon has boomeranged back and is now showing up in the N.S.A.’s own backyard.
It is not just in Baltimore. Security experts say EternalBlue attacks have reached a high, and cybercriminals are zeroing in on vulnerable American towns and cities, from Pennsylvania to Texas, paralyzing local governments and driving up costs.
The N.S.A. connection to the attacks on American cities has not been previously reported, in part because the agency has refused to discuss or even acknowledge the loss of its cyberweapon, dumped online in April 2017 by a still-unidentified group calling itself the Shadow Brokers. Years later, the agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation still do not know whether the Shadow Brokers are foreign spies or disgruntled insiders.”
And speaking of things our “intelligence” community doesn’t want to discuss….. there’s a pattern. Whenever they screw up, they don’t want to discuss it.
“Will Trump’s Declassification Order Create A Chilling Effect On The Intelligence Community? What’s The Alternative?”
“That’s the question raised by a piece published Friday by Politico. I think the piece raises other questions which we’ll get to in a few moments. But first, the issue here is President Trump’s declaration Thursday that the intelligence community must “quickly and fully cooperate” with AG Barr’s investigation into the launch of the Russian collusion probe. Politico’s Natasha Bertrand suggests people within the Intelligence Community are worried about handing information to Barr which could potentially be declassified against their wishes:
“There’s nothing CIA or NSA, for example, guards more jealously than sources and methods,” said Larry Pfeiffer, a 32-year intelligence veteran who served as the chief of staff to CIA Director Michael Hayden. “It is not hyperbole to say that lives are at stake.”
“I doubt any of the [CIA directors] or [directors of national intelligence] that I worked with would have sat by silently if their president contemplated or made such a decision,” added Pfeiffer, who also served as senior director of the White House Situation Room…
Particularly curious to many intelligence veterans and experts is the fact that Barr asked for this new authority from the president, as well as the breadth of the directive. The memo targets not only the FBI — which Trump has repeatedly accused of hatching a “deep state” plot to overthrow him — but also the CIA, which is fiercely protective of its sources and methods. In particular, Barr is seeking more information about the foreign sources the FBI used in 2016, according to a New York Times report…
Steve Hall, a former CIA chief of Russian operations, said Trump’s actions are likely to have a chilling effect on the government’s ability to recruit both agents and informants.
The story suggests this could lead to some kind of showdown where longtime IC professionals try to negotiate some assurance the material won’t be widely revealed. And if they can’t make a deal, maybe some will resign rather than go along with it.”
This is exactly what they seek to avoid, accountability for their treasonous acts.
Liz Cheney is spot on in this video. Lisa Page and Peter Strzok were at the very least trying to organize a coup and could have possibly been committing treason.
Rep. Liz Cheney: "We had people that are at the highest levels of our law enforcement … saying that they were going to stop a duly elected president of the United States."
“Rep. Mark Meadows said he was at the Justice Department to review new information about former FBI agent Peter Strzok.
The North Carolina Republican was spotted at Justice Department headquarters in D.C. with Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Thursday.
Asked by a reporter why he was there, Meadows said, “I was reviewing text messages and new correspondence that pertains to the Strzok coverup.”
Hours after their visit, President Trump gave Attorney General William Barr “full and complete authority to declassify information” related to the origins of the federal investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Meadows and Jordan’s visit to the Justice Department also comes after House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes said he learned that an August 2016 text from Strzok about an “insurance policy” had to do with the FBI’s use of an unverified dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele to obtain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants to wiretap Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.”
Nancy Pelosi just tried to pull a fast one. Thankfully she was caught and stopped. This was a nakedly partisan attempt to pass a relief bill that didn’t address the border, and get around having to debate the problems and address the crisis Dems have created on our southern border.
.@SpeakerPelosi tried to spend $19 billion without a vote after sending the entire House home for vacation. Conservative @RepChipRoy stayed in DC and objected to these shenanigans. Chip is a courageous warrior and we need more like him. pic.twitter.com/3PKU1QZnHD
Significant spending bills should never be passed with only three members in the House chamber. The Speaker should call the House back into session immediately to vote on the bill.
This bill will pass eventually, but @RepChipRoy is asking the right question: How can a disaster relief bill not include funding for the border disaster? https://t.co/o9OTdv5TJo
““I’m here today primarily because if I do not object, Congress will have passed into law a bill that spends $19 billion of taxpayer money without members of Congress being present in our nation’s capital to vote on it,” he said on the floor.
“Secondly, it’s a bill that includes nothing to address the clear national emergency and humanitarian crisis we have at our southern border.”
He also cited concerns with how the bill would ultimately be paid for.
The $19.1 billion disaster aid package, which did not include the $4.5 billion in border funding requested by President Trump, passed the Senate in an 85-8 vote on Thursday, and the House GOP leadership had also supported moving forward with the bill.
The House is due to come back on June 3 though it will hold a “pro forma” session on Tuesday, providing another opportunity to pass the bill.
Roy slammed the Democrats’ objection to provide border funding as a reason why he moved to block, for now, the disaster aid bill.
“While Speaker Pelosi has consistently denied the crisis at our border, and thus has denied the humanity of the victims of cartels and other traffickers, she has been insisting that there is no money to satisfy the good faith compromise emergency funding requests from the White House,” he said.
Roy also forcefully argued the disaster aid bill should have included the border funding requested by Trump, saying it would have ensured the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services “do not run out of money while managing the over 100,000 illegal aliens being apprehended and the Unaccompanied Alien Minor Children being unable to be housed appropriately.” ”
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Which they would then use to claim R’s don’t care about the poor children…. 😪
Trump is cracking down on welfare tourism. It’s long overdue.
And I’d once again note that once again, this debunks the “illegals can’t get welfare benefits” lie often told by Dems and the globalists on the right.
“‘Welfare tourism’: Trump is cracking down on sponsors for immigrants who take public benefits”
“The Trump administration is cracking down on American citizens who sponsor immigrants that become a strain on the U.S. welfare system.
American sponsors are legally liable for the welfare benefits received by immigrants they sponsor. The laws, part of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, have rarely been enforced, however.
“The immigration laws currently require that, when an alien receives certain forms of means-tested public benefits, the government or non-government entity providing the public benefit must request reimbursement from the alien’s financial sponsor,” a Thursday memo signed by President Trump says.”
“Fed Up Waiting For The Feds, Private Groups Are Building A Border Wall In New Mexico”
“A private group called “We Build the Wall” says they’ve finished construction on a segment of border wall in New Mexico, closing a gap in the existing border wall themselves rather than waiting for Congress and the President to come to an agreement over how to fund the massive construction project along the United States’ southern border.
The Washington Times reports that We Build the Wall unveiled their half-mile section over the weekend.
“The 18-foot steel bollard wall is similar to the designs used by the Border Patrol, sealing off a part of the border that had been a striking gap in existing fencing,” the Times says. The gap runs from the Texas border, where it ends at the Rio Grand, up through southern New Mexico along the “lower elevations” or Mount Cristo Rey.
We Build the Wall claims the half-mile section of steel wall is the first privately constructed part of the border wall, and that their project moved faster and, at $8 million, required less funding than a similar project headed up by the federal government. The group, led by former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, also says they’ve got the blessing of President Donald Trump and United States Border Customs and Protection, who were grateful for the help.
“We’re closing a gap that’s been a big headache for them,” Kobach told reporters.
The half-mile segment of border wall, the group says, closes a gap frequently used to smuggle both people and drugs. Kobach added that on a “typical night” around 100 migrants and $100,000 worth of illegal narcotics passed through the half-mile hole.”
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Here's the FOX and Friends segment from this morning on We Build the Wall's first project. This half-mile section of privately-funded wall fills a gap in the El Paso metro through which 100 migrants per night were entering the country. https://t.co/YgJUBPoEIg
“Chuck Duncan is not the kind of guy who sits on the sidelines.
Duncan, who serves in the National Guard and was deployed to Jordan last year, was outraged when his local board of supervisors decided to raise property taxes to pay for a $32 million community center here. “I saw that as irresponsible, so I decided to run. It was as simple as that,” Duncan said.
On Tuesday night, he battled it out in a three-way primary for Derry Township supervisor — and won.
Duncan is one of several local candidates in Pennsylvania being funded by the new Kennedy Democrats PAC, which is recruiting and supporting moderates in the mold of JFK and his brother Robert who can wrest control of down-ballot seats from the GOP.
Robert F. Kennedy’s eldest child, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, is backing the project along with her cousin, former Congressman Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island.
She said they’re tackling the state of Pennsylvania first because of its crucial role in elections. “Pennsylvania is an extraordinarily important state,” Kennedy Townsend told The Post. “If we are able to win over Democrat voters we have lost in rural areas for the general-election races in the fall, we can build a great bench not only for the future but as a support system for the presidential election in 2020.””
“The Supreme Court of Utah upheld a six-month suspension without pay for a municipal judge who disparaged President Donald Trump on social media and during official judicial proceedings.
Taylorsville Justice Court Judge Michael Kwan undermined public confidence in the courts by intervening in the political process, the state Supreme Court concluded.
“Fulfillment of judicial duties does not come without personal sacrifice of some opportunities and privileges available to the public at large,” Utah Supreme Court Justice John Pearce wrote in an opinion upholding the sanctions against Kwan. “And as a person the public entrusts to decide issues with the utmost fairness, independence, and impartiality, a judge must at times set aside the power of his or her voice.”
The state Judicial Conduct Commission (JCC) brought formal charges against Kwan after the judge disparaged the president on social networks and in his own courtroom during official proceedings. In one social media post, for example, Kwan suggested that congressional Republicans were comparable to the rubber-stamp parliament of Nazi Germany.
“Welcome to the beginning of the fascist takeover,” Kwan wrote. “We need to be diligent in questioning congressional Republicans if they are going to be the American Reichstag and refuse to stand up for the Constitution, refuse to uphold their oath of office, and enable the tyrants to consolidate their power.”
On another occasion, the judge dismissed a defendant’s contention that he would pay off overdue court fines with his tax rebate, saying that Trump will only give tax cuts to the wealthy.
The JCC concluded that Kwan’s internet posts and statements in court were “prejudicial to the administration of justice” and suspended the judge without pay for six months.”
“Space aliens are breeding with humans, university instructor says. Scientists say otherwise.
Outlandish claim has a secret breeding program creating alien-human hybrids who can survive climate change.”
“Maybe you’ve never seen any space aliens, but recent polls indicate that up to 6 percent of Americans claim to have been abducted by them. The experience doesn’t sound pleasant. The extraterrestrials are often said to take their captives to their saucers, lay them out on a table and extract sperm from the men and impregnate the women.
If you’re familiar with UFO lore, you know there are a couple of common explanations for these breeding experiments. One is that the aliens are in a reproductive bind on their home world: They can no longer successfully procreate and so have come to Earth to use humans as incubators to spawn alien offspring. The other is that the aliens are producing hybrid beings that will somehow help them take over our planet.
Scientists, of course, are dubious of such claims. After all, there’s never been any good evidence that the abductions are taking place. No one ever seems to bring along a cellphone to take photos or to pocket an artifact from the saucers.
But an instructor at the University of Oxford in England believes the abductions are real. Young-hae Chi, who teaches Korean at the university, also claims to know what the aliens have in mind. In lectures given at the university, he says they’re creating alien-human hybrids as a hedge against climate change. To support his unorthodox theory, Chi notes that for several decades the number of reported alien abductions has risen. He bases this statement on the work of David Jacobs, a retired Temple University historian who has published several books on ufology and who runs the International Center for Abduction Research.
Jacobs has interviewed more than a thousand people who claim to have been abducted, using hypnotic regression that apparently allows them to recall their unearthly encounters with aliens. (Mind you, this too is controversial, and Jacobs himself admits that people should be skeptical of these recollections.)
Chi takes the claims at face value, and links the growing number of abductees cataloged by Jacobs to the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases. He doesn’t imply a cause and effect: The abduction experiment is not responsible for global warming. Rather, it’s a reaction to it. The extraterrestrials are producing hybrids that can better withstand the rigors of a toastier planet. By producing a new model of Homo sapiens, this project would eliminate the need for difficult climate accords or elaborate geoengineering projects. It would also help the aliens themselves — who are said to be living among us — by preserving the part of their DNA that’s carried by the temperature-tolerant hybrids.”
This is fake news, and this is how leftists spread it. One just makes it up, the rest, including some in Congress, parrot it as gospel truth.
UPDATE: @ianbremmer has now admitted that he fabricated this viral Trump quote. And yet it is being shared by journalists and congressmen as if it is real. pic.twitter.com/QgNd9DnN8g
Ian Bremmer, described as a "foreign affairs columnist and editor-at-large at TIME," who therefore operates in some kind of quasi-journalistic capacity, tweeted out a completely fake Trump quote and then has the nerve to feign indignance about people criticizing him for this pic.twitter.com/903dMBN6Pi
UPDATE: we have been notified by Snopes that this story is not true. We would like to retract it. Ocasio-Cortez did not appear on The Price Is Right and guess that everything is free. We apologize for the confusion.https://t.co/miOjlrJrXJ
If you guys wanna beclown yourselves fact checking obvious satire that’s your business. But surely you are equally interested in fact checking the Babylon Bee’s satire that lampoons conservatives. Right? You’re not partisan hacks after all. Right? 2/
So perhaps you could direct me to where you guys fact checked the “claim” that Sean Hannity said that the existence of ice cream disproves global warming, as “reported” by the Babylon Bee? https://t.co/hcTMJaUbIG 3/
Maybe I am just not seeing it but I couldn’t find your fact check of whether Trump really said he wouldn’t let Jesus into his heart after he found out Jesus was from the Middle East? https://t.co/65hSdkpBmi 5/
I am likewise sure that there is a fact check of the claim that Franklin Graham said that he would get a “God-given anointing” if he touched the hem of Trump’s garment, and I’m just missing it. https://t.co/LO3veMsP37 6/
“House Passed Bill to Allow 529 Savings to Cover Training, Apprenticeships
“Congress needs to ‘take the blinders off’ and see the ‘great salaries, wages, and benefits’ available to young people who can learn a trade that does not require a college degree.””
The House of Representatives passed the 529 OPTIONS Act on Thursday, 417-3.”
The media has concentrated on parts of the bill that helps people with retirement plans, but I believe the portion that allows people to use 529 savings on training and apprenticeships deserves more attention.
Luckily The Washington Free Beacon zoned in on this portion. Before this bill, families could only use 529 savings for college (emphasis mine):
The 529 reform has since been rolled into the SECURE Act, a bill aimed at shoring up multi-employer pension plans by easing access for small employers. It would allow 529 accounts to be used to pay for registered apprenticeship programs, as well as the materials, including books and equipment, necessary for the job. Offsetting these costs would help young people to enter the workforce with adequate training without the barriers and debt that have saddled recent generations. Norcross said policymakers should support all kids equally, not just the college-bound.
“It sends the wrong message to youth and our families, since education should never be ‘one-size-fits-all,’” he said. “We need electricians and computer programmers, just like we need doctors and judges—and this bill levels the playing field for the students and future workers who start out in apprenticeships.”
Rep. Kelly told the Washington Free Beacon that lawmakers have “oversold the idea that a four-year college is the only way to get ahead.” Young Americans have taken out more than $1.5 trillion in student loans and default rates dwarf those the mortgage crisis that triggered the Great Recession in 2007. That problem has emerged in the midst of an ever-widening skills gap in the trades. Kelly spent his career in the automobile business and witnessed the high degrees of training necessary in the workforce. Congress needs to “take the blinders off” and see the “great salaries, wages, and benefits” available to young people who can learn a trade that does not require a college degree. Rather than pushing students into college to enjoy the benefits of 529 funds, lawmakers should encourage “family sustaining, community building occupations.”
“We used to call these guys grease monkeys, but they are highly-trained electronic technicians,” he said. “We should show [young people] that not only can they go to college, but there are other opportunities out there that don’t require a tax or debt burden.”
Mike’s QT on Thursday noted that major colleges have seen a decrease in enrollment.
Back in 2017, I blogged about how these industries have a shortage of workers. Bachelor’s degrees have saturated this country, which has made them almost useless. More and more people enter graduate school because of this, but even then, a person cannot receive a guarantee to land their dream job.”
WOW. Thomas concurrence today: "Enshrining a constitutional right to an abortion based solely on the race, sex, or disability of an unborn child, as Planned Parenthood advocates, would constitutionalize the views of the 20th-century eugenics movement.” https://t.co/UOK4ejUM8m
"Given the potential for abortion to become a tool of eugenic manipulation, the Court will soon need to confront the constitutionality of laws like Indiana’s."
CT: "Having created the constitutional right to an abortion, this Court is dutybound to address its scope. … The Constitution itself is silent on abortion."
“Special Counsel Spokesman: Mueller Never Drafted Indictment of Trump”
“A spokesman for Special Counsel Robert Mueller has denied a claim in Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff’s new book that says Mueller drafted an indictment of President Donald Trump during his Russia investigation.
According to an early copy of the book, titled Siege: Trump Under Fire, obtained by the Guardian, Wolff writes that Mueller drew up an indictment of Trump that named three counts of obstruction of justice. The document sat on Mueller’s desk for a full year before the Special Counsel decided not to press the issue, Wolff writes. Wolff claims his findings are “based on internal documents given to me by sources close to the Office of the Special Counsel.”
Mueller’s spokesman Peter Carr, flatly denied the claim, telling the Guardian: “The documents that you’ve described do not exist.”
Snopes does point out that the articles are satire; they don’t take them seriously.
I wonder if they respond to questioning from readers, and that it is liberal readers who question these things more. Conservatives would be more familiar with Babylon Bee, for one thing.
A very Facebook liberal friend who was in Mensa – IOW, a genius – at least twice shared pieces of satire skewering conservatives. It was clear from her comments that she thought they were legitimate. She seemed annoyed to be told they were satire.
Kelly Shackelford heads First Liberty Institute, a Texas-based nonprofit dedicated to defending religious liberty. First Liberty has aided the American Legion in its fight to keep in place the Peace Cross, which stands 40 feet tall on state-owned land in Bladensburg, Md. The Supreme Court will be issuing an opinion on that case sometime in June.
Here are edited segments of our Q&A in front of students at Patrick Henry College.
Before we get to the main event, the Bladensburg cross case, I can’t resist asking about a couple of odd cases. Tell us about the Charlie Brown Christmas censorship at a senior living center. A couple of elderly women who live in a government-run senior living facility had some kids come through. This facility is their home. One of them starts to read A Charlie Brown Christmas. Some official realizes that would eventually get to Linus mentioning Scripture, so he shuts down the event.
Just a one-time extreme reaction, or is this becoming common?
We’re getting a lot of cases where senior citizens want to use their common room for a Bible study. One retired minister, 80 years old, asked permission to use the common room. The reaction: “Not if you are going to use it for religious reasons.” He thought, “A lot of these people can’t go out. I’ll just hold a Bible study in my apartment.” He received a letter saying he would be evicted if he does that. …
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Wandering Views 
Lot’s of catching up to do.
So let’s get to it.
First up, don’t listen to what they say, watch what they do. While everyone has panned AOC’s Green New Deal as ridiculous, an effort is underway to stealthily do the Deal one state at a time.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/daniel-turner-stealth-version-of-aoc-green-new-deal-now-the-law-in-new-mexico-voters-be-damned
“Daniel Turner: Stealth AOC ‘Green New Deal’ now the law in New Mexico, voters be damned”
“By now, the public is well aware of the “Green New Deal” proposed by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. They have not responded well to calls for forced veganism and banning airplanes, let alone giving up the American way of life made possible by cheap energy.
But while Ocasio-Cortez has taken the brunt of the media focus, environmental groups have developed a new strategy to get their way: pass a type of “Green New Deal” state by state.
It’s a smart tactic. They get friendly, left-leaning state legislators and governors, most of whom they financially backed in the past election, to do their dirty work. While the media is watching AOC marveling over garbage disposals and rejecting the racism of cauliflower, no one is reporting about bad laws taking shape in secret.
That’s exactly how radical green groups want it.
Their latest attempt was in New Mexico, and unfortunately, it succeeded. Newly-elected Democrat Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the “Energy Transition Act” in March. This law requires that New Mexico move to 100 percent carbon-free energy – the same long-term goal as the “Green New Deal.”
This destructive law is essentially a hidden carbon tax and will threaten the jobs of thousands of energy workers, raise utility rates, cut state revenue, and make green energy companies rich at the taxpayers’ expense.
Green groups have effectively rebranded “carbon tax” as “renewable energy mandates” and to get the same results: the end of fossil fuels. Force the elimination of low-cost energy sources and mandate high-cost renewables. Send the bill to customers. Say it’s “for the earth” and voilà, green energy companies get rich.
But no matter what you call it, it’s a tax, plain and simple. Economists agree. The University of Chicago, for example, recently released a report detailing how renewable mandates increase energy prices by 17 percent. The Heritage Foundation believes it might be even worse and could double electric bills on families.”
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Why am I not shocked?
https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/05/aclu-planned-parenthood-sue-alabama-over-its-human-life-protection-law/
“ACLU, Planned Parenthood Sue Alabama Over Its Human Life Protection Law
ACLU: “We will absolutely make sure that abortion remains legal in all 50 states as it is today””
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Like Dr. Frankenstein, the N.S.A. can’t control it’s monster.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/in-baltimore-and-beyond-a-stolen-nsa-tool-wreaks-havoc/ar-AABUd7r?li=BBnbcA1
“For nearly three weeks, Baltimore has struggled with a cyberattack by digital extortionists that has frozen thousands of computers, shut down email and disrupted real estate sales, water bills, health alerts and many other services.
But here is what frustrated city employees and residents do not know: A key component of the malware that cybercriminals used in the attack was developed at taxpayer expense a short drive down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway at the National Security Agency, according to security experts briefed on the case.
Since 2017, when the N.S.A. lost control of the tool, EternalBlue, it has been picked up by state hackers in North Korea, Russia and, more recently, China, to cut a path of destruction around the world, leaving billions of dollars in damage. But over the past year, the cyberweapon has boomeranged back and is now showing up in the N.S.A.’s own backyard.
It is not just in Baltimore. Security experts say EternalBlue attacks have reached a high, and cybercriminals are zeroing in on vulnerable American towns and cities, from Pennsylvania to Texas, paralyzing local governments and driving up costs.
The N.S.A. connection to the attacks on American cities has not been previously reported, in part because the agency has refused to discuss or even acknowledge the loss of its cyberweapon, dumped online in April 2017 by a still-unidentified group calling itself the Shadow Brokers. Years later, the agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation still do not know whether the Shadow Brokers are foreign spies or disgruntled insiders.”
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And speaking of things our “intelligence” community doesn’t want to discuss….. there’s a pattern. Whenever they screw up, they don’t want to discuss it.
https://hotair.com/archives/2019/05/25/will-trumps-declassification-order-create-chilling-effect-intelligence-community-whats-alternative/
“Will Trump’s Declassification Order Create A Chilling Effect On The Intelligence Community? What’s The Alternative?”
“That’s the question raised by a piece published Friday by Politico. I think the piece raises other questions which we’ll get to in a few moments. But first, the issue here is President Trump’s declaration Thursday that the intelligence community must “quickly and fully cooperate” with AG Barr’s investigation into the launch of the Russian collusion probe. Politico’s Natasha Bertrand suggests people within the Intelligence Community are worried about handing information to Barr which could potentially be declassified against their wishes:
“There’s nothing CIA or NSA, for example, guards more jealously than sources and methods,” said Larry Pfeiffer, a 32-year intelligence veteran who served as the chief of staff to CIA Director Michael Hayden. “It is not hyperbole to say that lives are at stake.”
“I doubt any of the [CIA directors] or [directors of national intelligence] that I worked with would have sat by silently if their president contemplated or made such a decision,” added Pfeiffer, who also served as senior director of the White House Situation Room…
Particularly curious to many intelligence veterans and experts is the fact that Barr asked for this new authority from the president, as well as the breadth of the directive. The memo targets not only the FBI — which Trump has repeatedly accused of hatching a “deep state” plot to overthrow him — but also the CIA, which is fiercely protective of its sources and methods. In particular, Barr is seeking more information about the foreign sources the FBI used in 2016, according to a New York Times report…
Steve Hall, a former CIA chief of Russian operations, said Trump’s actions are likely to have a chilling effect on the government’s ability to recruit both agents and informants.
The story suggests this could lead to some kind of showdown where longtime IC professionals try to negotiate some assurance the material won’t be widely revealed. And if they can’t make a deal, maybe some will resign rather than go along with it.”
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Good. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
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This is exactly what they seek to avoid, accountability for their treasonous acts.
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Fresh cover up info is coming. 🙂
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/mark-meadows-views-fresh-strzok-coverup-material-at-doj
“Rep. Mark Meadows said he was at the Justice Department to review new information about former FBI agent Peter Strzok.
The North Carolina Republican was spotted at Justice Department headquarters in D.C. with Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Thursday.
Asked by a reporter why he was there, Meadows said, “I was reviewing text messages and new correspondence that pertains to the Strzok coverup.”
Hours after their visit, President Trump gave Attorney General William Barr “full and complete authority to declassify information” related to the origins of the federal investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Meadows and Jordan’s visit to the Justice Department also comes after House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes said he learned that an August 2016 text from Strzok about an “insurance policy” had to do with the FBI’s use of an unverified dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele to obtain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants to wiretap Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.”
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Nancy Pelosi just tried to pull a fast one. Thankfully she was caught and stopped. This was a nakedly partisan attempt to pass a relief bill that didn’t address the border, and get around having to debate the problems and address the crisis Dems have created on our southern border.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/house/445407-conservative-blocks-house-passage-of-disaster-relief-bill#.XOgNMcoaPGw.twitter
““I’m here today primarily because if I do not object, Congress will have passed into law a bill that spends $19 billion of taxpayer money without members of Congress being present in our nation’s capital to vote on it,” he said on the floor.
“Secondly, it’s a bill that includes nothing to address the clear national emergency and humanitarian crisis we have at our southern border.”
He also cited concerns with how the bill would ultimately be paid for.
The $19.1 billion disaster aid package, which did not include the $4.5 billion in border funding requested by President Trump, passed the Senate in an 85-8 vote on Thursday, and the House GOP leadership had also supported moving forward with the bill.
The House is due to come back on June 3 though it will hold a “pro forma” session on Tuesday, providing another opportunity to pass the bill.
Roy slammed the Democrats’ objection to provide border funding as a reason why he moved to block, for now, the disaster aid bill.
“While Speaker Pelosi has consistently denied the crisis at our border, and thus has denied the humanity of the victims of cartels and other traffickers, she has been insisting that there is no money to satisfy the good faith compromise emergency funding requests from the White House,” he said.
Roy also forcefully argued the disaster aid bill should have included the border funding requested by Trump, saying it would have ensured the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services “do not run out of money while managing the over 100,000 illegal aliens being apprehended and the Unaccompanied Alien Minor Children being unable to be housed appropriately.” ”
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Which they would then use to claim R’s don’t care about the poor children…. 😪
🙄
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Trump is cracking down on welfare tourism. It’s long overdue.
And I’d once again note that once again, this debunks the “illegals can’t get welfare benefits” lie often told by Dems and the globalists on the right.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/welfare-tourism-trump-is-cracking-down-on-sponsors-for-immigrants-who-take-public-benefits
“‘Welfare tourism’: Trump is cracking down on sponsors for immigrants who take public benefits”
“The Trump administration is cracking down on American citizens who sponsor immigrants that become a strain on the U.S. welfare system.
American sponsors are legally liable for the welfare benefits received by immigrants they sponsor. The laws, part of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, have rarely been enforced, however.
“The immigration laws currently require that, when an alien receives certain forms of means-tested public benefits, the government or non-government entity providing the public benefit must request reimbursement from the alien’s financial sponsor,” a Thursday memo signed by President Trump says.”
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Tired of waiting on their govt to protect them, some have grabbed the bull by the horns themselves.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/47710/fed-waiting-feds-private-groups-are-building-emily-zanotti
“Fed Up Waiting For The Feds, Private Groups Are Building A Border Wall In New Mexico”
“A private group called “We Build the Wall” says they’ve finished construction on a segment of border wall in New Mexico, closing a gap in the existing border wall themselves rather than waiting for Congress and the President to come to an agreement over how to fund the massive construction project along the United States’ southern border.
The Washington Times reports that We Build the Wall unveiled their half-mile section over the weekend.
“The 18-foot steel bollard wall is similar to the designs used by the Border Patrol, sealing off a part of the border that had been a striking gap in existing fencing,” the Times says. The gap runs from the Texas border, where it ends at the Rio Grand, up through southern New Mexico along the “lower elevations” or Mount Cristo Rey.
We Build the Wall claims the half-mile section of steel wall is the first privately constructed part of the border wall, and that their project moved faster and, at $8 million, required less funding than a similar project headed up by the federal government. The group, led by former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, also says they’ve got the blessing of President Donald Trump and United States Border Customs and Protection, who were grateful for the help.
“We’re closing a gap that’s been a big headache for them,” Kobach told reporters.
The half-mile segment of border wall, the group says, closes a gap frequently used to smuggle both people and drugs. Kobach added that on a “typical night” around 100 migrants and $100,000 worth of illegal narcotics passed through the half-mile hole.”
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The Kennedy’s are at it again.
https://nypost.com/2019/05/25/how-the-kennedy-family-is-working-to-unseat-trump/
“Chuck Duncan is not the kind of guy who sits on the sidelines.
Duncan, who serves in the National Guard and was deployed to Jordan last year, was outraged when his local board of supervisors decided to raise property taxes to pay for a $32 million community center here. “I saw that as irresponsible, so I decided to run. It was as simple as that,” Duncan said.
On Tuesday night, he battled it out in a three-way primary for Derry Township supervisor — and won.
Duncan is one of several local candidates in Pennsylvania being funded by the new Kennedy Democrats PAC, which is recruiting and supporting moderates in the mold of JFK and his brother Robert who can wrest control of down-ballot seats from the GOP.
Robert F. Kennedy’s eldest child, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, is backing the project along with her cousin, former Congressman Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island.
She said they’re tackling the state of Pennsylvania first because of its crucial role in elections. “Pennsylvania is an extraordinarily important state,” Kennedy Townsend told The Post. “If we are able to win over Democrat voters we have lost in rural areas for the general-election races in the fall, we can build a great bench not only for the future but as a support system for the presidential election in 2020.””
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Moderates? Sure…….. 🙄
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Activist judge gets called out for his bias, whines about like a good leftist would.
https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/26/judge-suspended-criticizing-trump/
“The Supreme Court of Utah upheld a six-month suspension without pay for a municipal judge who disparaged President Donald Trump on social media and during official judicial proceedings.
Taylorsville Justice Court Judge Michael Kwan undermined public confidence in the courts by intervening in the political process, the state Supreme Court concluded.
“Fulfillment of judicial duties does not come without personal sacrifice of some opportunities and privileges available to the public at large,” Utah Supreme Court Justice John Pearce wrote in an opinion upholding the sanctions against Kwan. “And as a person the public entrusts to decide issues with the utmost fairness, independence, and impartiality, a judge must at times set aside the power of his or her voice.”
The state Judicial Conduct Commission (JCC) brought formal charges against Kwan after the judge disparaged the president on social networks and in his own courtroom during official proceedings. In one social media post, for example, Kwan suggested that congressional Republicans were comparable to the rubber-stamp parliament of Nazi Germany.
“Welcome to the beginning of the fascist takeover,” Kwan wrote. “We need to be diligent in questioning congressional Republicans if they are going to be the American Reichstag and refuse to stand up for the Constitution, refuse to uphold their oath of office, and enable the tyrants to consolidate their power.”
On another occasion, the judge dismissed a defendant’s contention that he would pay off overdue court fines with his tax rebate, saying that Trump will only give tax cuts to the wealthy.
The JCC concluded that Kwan’s internet posts and statements in court were “prejudicial to the administration of justice” and suspended the judge without pay for six months.”
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Cue up the sad trombone.
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This one?
Called it. 🙂
They’re what we commonly call Democrats, and this is how they plan on surviving the coming global warming apocalypse they keep whining about. 🙂
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/space-aliens-are-breeding-humans-university-instructor-says-scientists-say-ncna1008971
“Space aliens are breeding with humans, university instructor says. Scientists say otherwise.
Outlandish claim has a secret breeding program creating alien-human hybrids who can survive climate change.”
“Maybe you’ve never seen any space aliens, but recent polls indicate that up to 6 percent of Americans claim to have been abducted by them. The experience doesn’t sound pleasant. The extraterrestrials are often said to take their captives to their saucers, lay them out on a table and extract sperm from the men and impregnate the women.
If you’re familiar with UFO lore, you know there are a couple of common explanations for these breeding experiments. One is that the aliens are in a reproductive bind on their home world: They can no longer successfully procreate and so have come to Earth to use humans as incubators to spawn alien offspring. The other is that the aliens are producing hybrid beings that will somehow help them take over our planet.
Scientists, of course, are dubious of such claims. After all, there’s never been any good evidence that the abductions are taking place. No one ever seems to bring along a cellphone to take photos or to pocket an artifact from the saucers.
But an instructor at the University of Oxford in England believes the abductions are real. Young-hae Chi, who teaches Korean at the university, also claims to know what the aliens have in mind. In lectures given at the university, he says they’re creating alien-human hybrids as a hedge against climate change. To support his unorthodox theory, Chi notes that for several decades the number of reported alien abductions has risen. He bases this statement on the work of David Jacobs, a retired Temple University historian who has published several books on ufology and who runs the International Center for Abduction Research.
Jacobs has interviewed more than a thousand people who claim to have been abducted, using hypnotic regression that apparently allows them to recall their unearthly encounters with aliens. (Mind you, this too is controversial, and Jacobs himself admits that people should be skeptical of these recollections.)
Chi takes the claims at face value, and links the growing number of abductees cataloged by Jacobs to the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases. He doesn’t imply a cause and effect: The abduction experiment is not responsible for global warming. Rather, it’s a reaction to it. The extraterrestrials are producing hybrids that can better withstand the rigors of a toastier planet. By producing a new model of Homo sapiens, this project would eliminate the need for difficult climate accords or elaborate geoengineering projects. It would also help the aliens themselves — who are said to be living among us — by preserving the part of their DNA that’s carried by the temperature-tolerant hybrids.”
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This is fake news, and this is how leftists spread it. One just makes it up, the rest, including some in Congress, parrot it as gospel truth.
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Snopes should just stop. They’re losing what little credibility they had left.
https://twitter.com/AmandaPresto/status/1116877844762832896
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The stupid… it hurts………. 😖
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And now they’re just piling on.
😂🤣😅🤣😂
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And plenty more….. 🙂
https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2019/05/11/leon-wolf-destroys-snopes-after-it-once-again-fact-checks-the-babylon-bee-to-protect-a-liberal/
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It’s about time, and it makes sense.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/05/house-passed-bill-to-allow-529-savings-to-cover-training-apprenticeships/
“House Passed Bill to Allow 529 Savings to Cover Training, Apprenticeships
“Congress needs to ‘take the blinders off’ and see the ‘great salaries, wages, and benefits’ available to young people who can learn a trade that does not require a college degree.””
The House of Representatives passed the 529 OPTIONS Act on Thursday, 417-3.”
The media has concentrated on parts of the bill that helps people with retirement plans, but I believe the portion that allows people to use 529 savings on training and apprenticeships deserves more attention.
Luckily The Washington Free Beacon zoned in on this portion. Before this bill, families could only use 529 savings for college (emphasis mine):
The 529 reform has since been rolled into the SECURE Act, a bill aimed at shoring up multi-employer pension plans by easing access for small employers. It would allow 529 accounts to be used to pay for registered apprenticeship programs, as well as the materials, including books and equipment, necessary for the job. Offsetting these costs would help young people to enter the workforce with adequate training without the barriers and debt that have saddled recent generations. Norcross said policymakers should support all kids equally, not just the college-bound.
“It sends the wrong message to youth and our families, since education should never be ‘one-size-fits-all,’” he said. “We need electricians and computer programmers, just like we need doctors and judges—and this bill levels the playing field for the students and future workers who start out in apprenticeships.”
Rep. Kelly told the Washington Free Beacon that lawmakers have “oversold the idea that a four-year college is the only way to get ahead.” Young Americans have taken out more than $1.5 trillion in student loans and default rates dwarf those the mortgage crisis that triggered the Great Recession in 2007. That problem has emerged in the midst of an ever-widening skills gap in the trades. Kelly spent his career in the automobile business and witnessed the high degrees of training necessary in the workforce. Congress needs to “take the blinders off” and see the “great salaries, wages, and benefits” available to young people who can learn a trade that does not require a college degree. Rather than pushing students into college to enjoy the benefits of 529 funds, lawmakers should encourage “family sustaining, community building occupations.”
“We used to call these guys grease monkeys, but they are highly-trained electronic technicians,” he said. “We should show [young people] that not only can they go to college, but there are other opportunities out there that don’t require a tax or debt burden.”
Mike’s QT on Thursday noted that major colleges have seen a decrease in enrollment.
Back in 2017, I blogged about how these industries have a shortage of workers. Bachelor’s degrees have saturated this country, which has made them almost useless. More and more people enter graduate school because of this, but even then, a person cannot receive a guarantee to land their dream job.”
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More..
https://freebeacon.com/issues/bill-would-allow-529-savings-to-be-spent-on-training-instead-of-college/
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Preach it.
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The book isn’t even out yet and he’s being called a liar.
https://freebeacon.com/politics/special-counsel-spokesman-mueller-never-drafted-indictment-of-trump/
“Special Counsel Spokesman: Mueller Never Drafted Indictment of Trump”
“A spokesman for Special Counsel Robert Mueller has denied a claim in Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff’s new book that says Mueller drafted an indictment of President Donald Trump during his Russia investigation.
According to an early copy of the book, titled Siege: Trump Under Fire, obtained by the Guardian, Wolff writes that Mueller drew up an indictment of Trump that named three counts of obstruction of justice. The document sat on Mueller’s desk for a full year before the Special Counsel decided not to press the issue, Wolff writes. Wolff claims his findings are “based on internal documents given to me by sources close to the Office of the Special Counsel.”
Mueller’s spokesman Peter Carr, flatly denied the claim, telling the Guardian: “The documents that you’ve described do not exist.”
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But the sheep will believe it anyway.
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Os Guinness on current issues: https://world.wng.org/content/1776_vs_1789
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Snopes does point out that the articles are satire; they don’t take them seriously.
I wonder if they respond to questioning from readers, and that it is liberal readers who question these things more. Conservatives would be more familiar with Babylon Bee, for one thing.
A very Facebook liberal friend who was in Mensa – IOW, a genius – at least twice shared pieces of satire skewering conservatives. It was clear from her comments that she thought they were legitimate. She seemed annoyed to be told they were satire.
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This is scary though not surprising.
https://world.wng.org/2019/05/cross_defense
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Kelly Shackelford heads First Liberty Institute, a Texas-based nonprofit dedicated to defending religious liberty. First Liberty has aided the American Legion in its fight to keep in place the Peace Cross, which stands 40 feet tall on state-owned land in Bladensburg, Md. The Supreme Court will be issuing an opinion on that case sometime in June.
Here are edited segments of our Q&A in front of students at Patrick Henry College.
Before we get to the main event, the Bladensburg cross case, I can’t resist asking about a couple of odd cases. Tell us about the Charlie Brown Christmas censorship at a senior living center. A couple of elderly women who live in a government-run senior living facility had some kids come through. This facility is their home. One of them starts to read A Charlie Brown Christmas. Some official realizes that would eventually get to Linus mentioning Scripture, so he shuts down the event.
Just a one-time extreme reaction, or is this becoming common?
We’re getting a lot of cases where senior citizens want to use their common room for a Bible study. One retired minister, 80 years old, asked permission to use the common room. The reaction: “Not if you are going to use it for religious reasons.” He thought, “A lot of these people can’t go out. I’ll just hold a Bible study in my apartment.” He received a letter saying he would be evicted if he does that. …
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That is scary. Where do we live??
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