“U.S.-KURDISH SECURITY TIES WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE LONG-TERM | OPINION”
“resident Donald Trump’s announcement last Sunday of a U.S. redeployment of forces from positions along the northeastern Syrian-Turkish border has been panned by a wide swath of the foreign policy establishment as a betrayal of Waahington’s Syrian Kurdish partners. The anger in the Beltway is palpable: members of Congress are demanding an explanation; senior lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are calling for testimony; and editorial writers are bemoaning the internal chaos within the administration that led up to the decision.
It’s not surprising why so many are upset about the Trump administration’s decision. The Syrian Kurds have been Washington’s most effective counterterrorism partners against the Islamic State. Nobody else in Syria comes close. But just because the anger is boiling hot at the moment doesn’t necessarily mean it’s justified. There is a lot of misinformation percolating in the ether. It’s time to correct the record.
First, it’s important to remind people about what the U.S.-Syrian Kurdish partnership is—and is not—about. Washington invested in a relationship with the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces for a very specific reason: to chip away at the Islamic State’s territorial caliphate to the point where the terrorist group was no longer capable of holding dominion over a wide swath of territory. The combination of U.S. air power and Kurdish ground forces proved to be extraordinarily effective, so much so that the physical caliphate is now in the ash heap of history. The national security objective the United States sought to accomplish—the demise of ISIS as a territorial force—has in fact been accomplished.
At bottom, the relationship between the United States and Syrian Kurdish fighters was one steeped in pragmatism, mutual interest, and a mutual enemy. Those who believe U.S. troops should remain in Syria’s northeast indefinitely in order to deter a Turkish military incursion into the area are misrepresenting the fundamental glue that held the U.S.-Kurdish partnership together and broadening its purpose far beyond its original intent. Indeed, this argument is a perfect illustration of mission-creep, in which U.S. policy in Syria becomes increasingly detached from the core objective in favor of those that are more ambitious and unattainable.
As difficult as it is for many in Washington to accept, the United States is not responsible for Syria’s internal politics—nor is the U.S. obligated to support or defend the political aspirations of the Syrian Kurdish community. To do so would likely create even more problems, putting the U.S. smack-dab in the middle of a decades-long Turkish-Kurdish rivalry and further deteriorating a U.S.-Turkey relationship that is already suffering from a number of disputes. Bluntly put: serving as the Kurds’ external protector in perpetuity is not what U.S. troops signed up for when they were first deployed to Syria years ago.
If there was any sin committed by the Trump administration, it was an unwillingness to support the Syrian Kurds as they sought to strike their own political accommodations in Syria. Instead, Washington gave the Kurdish leadership false hope that the U.S. military would maintain a long-term security presence in Syria’s northeast. Rather than speak frankly to Kurdish officials early on about the transactional nature of the partnership, the U.S. remained ambiguous and in fact openly opposed Kurdish attempts to reconcile with Damascus. For the U.S., isolating the Assad regime diplomatically and economically took precedence over accepting the reality that Assad—as loathsome as he is—was here to stay.
In the days since President Trump’s announcement, Syrian Kurdish officials have suggested that talks with Damascus may be the only opportunity to forestall a Turkish military offensive deep into their territory. Discussions would likely center on something close to the pre-war status-quo in northeastern Syria, where Damascus retakes control of the Syria-Turkey border and the Syrian Kurds are reintegrated back into the Syrian state with the same rights and prerogatives as any other Syrian citizen. Such a proposal would hardly be ideal. But yet again, a search for the ideal is a lost cause and a waste of valuable time which could otherwise be used to stabilize the situation before it descends into yet another armed conflict.
If talks are indeed possible, the Trump administration should get out of the way and permit Kurdish representatives to do what is in their own best interest. For Washington to make these discussions any more difficult than they already are would be to commit the same mistake twice.”
“Democrats are turning California into a third-world hellhole without electricity, water, and freedom.
Due to Democrats’ love for trees, at least 800,000 Californians will be without power for several days. Instead of properly managing California forests to reduce the chances of big fires, Democrats are saying Californians have to go without lights, refrigerators, and air-conditioning. Democrats could also avoid this by not making the power company financially liable for all forest fire damages, but since PG&E is a company, not an illegal alien, the Democrats couldn’t care less about doing what’s best for California.
While they try to blame climate change and the infrastructure, the reality is that neither of those has caused any significant changes in the last ten years — but now, suddenly, due to Democrat policies, Californians have to start living in the 18th century.
The Democrats who run California also refuse to build more water storage capacity even though the state’s population has dramatically increased, ensuring that water has to be rationed during droughts.
Democrats are turning California into a third-world country economically. The income inequality between the über-rich Silicon Valley workers and the rest of Californians is huge, just like in third-world countries, while the elites live in luxury and the rest live in squalor.
Democrats are doing a great job manufacturing poverty and homelessness even as they fail to instill hope in Californians.
California has four times more homeless per capita and three times more poor per capita than the rest of America. Half the homeless in America are in California, even though California has only 12% of the U.S. population. Also, blacks are six times more prevalent in the San Francisco homeless population than they are in California in general.
The homeless explosion has brought the return of third-world diseases like typhus to California — not to mention streets littered with human feces.
Democrats are trying to keep people from having cars, just like the people of the Third World. After all, a car gives people the freedom to move, and freedom is a bad thing in the minds of Democrats since it limits the power the government has over citizens.
Recently, Gavin Newsom, the Democrat governor, transferred millions of dollars that the voters had been ensured would go to improve the state’s failing road infrastructure to a fund designed to convince Californians to give up their cars.”
“American Thinker’s scoop on Trump getting Port of Long Beach out of Chicom hands getting noticed”
“Here’s an impressive quiet accomplishment from the Trump administration, now noted by Judicial Watch:
Under a long-term deal sealed by the Obama administration, a Chinese Communist company was set to control the second-busiest container port in the United States. In an unreported Trump administration victory, the Communists are out after a drawn-out national security review forced a unit of China-based COSCO Shipping Holdings Co. (Orient Overseas Container Line—OOCL) to sell the cherished container terminal business, which handles among the largest freight of imports into the U.S.
It all started with a 40-year container terminal lease between the Port of Long Beach in southern California and Hong Kong. The Obama administration proudly signed the agreement in 2012 giving China control of America’s second-largest container port behind the nearby Port of Los Angeles. One of the Trump administration’s first big moves was to get the Communists out of the Port of Long Beach. After a national security review and federal intervention, the Long Beach terminal business, which handles millions of containers annually, is finally being sold to an Australian company called Macquarie Infrastructure Partners. That essentially kills China’s decades-long contract with the Obama administration.
The watchdog group didn’t say, but that news came about in May and was brilliantly reported by American Thinker contributor Chriss Street.
Here’s the excellent item, which certainly got notice at the time and is well worth a read or reread for a more detailed perspective:”
“Monday, October 7, marks one year since Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. He is already proving to be a brilliant and fair-minded conservative jurist who follows the Constitution as written.
While Kavanaugh will undoubtedly make his lasting mark on the Court in the coming decades, his confirmation process will, unfortunately, go down in history as one of the low points of American politics.
It will be remembered as the moment in which Democrats, starving for a political victory following their stunning defeat to President Trump in 2016, adopted a politics of personal destruction strategy, launching a highly coordinated smear campaign against the president’s judicial nominee.
As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I was on the frontline throughout the entire confirmation process and was one of Kavanaugh’s staunchest supporters.
It was surreal to see my Democratic colleagues abandon the basic tenants of due process, presuming Kavanaugh guilty until proven innocent.
Encouraged by their fanatical, left-wing base and a pliant media, no allegation was too far-fetched to embrace. They even sunk so low that they hyped up the egregiously false allegations made by the client of con-man lawyer Michael Avenatti. It was a disgrace.
Fortunately, their smear campaign failed. The truth prevailed and Kavanaugh was confirmed.
Fast forward to just a few weeks ago, when Democratic presidential candidates and mainstream media outlets pounced on a completely uncorroborated allegation against Kavanaugh published by The New York Times in the paper’s Opinion section.
Democrats like Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris rushed to call for Kavanaugh’s impeachment. However, the American people soon learned that the authors conveniently left out vital exculpatory facts, forcing the New York Times to issue an editor’s note correcting the story.
While September may have started with Democrats’ aiming their politics of personal destruction and calls for impeachment at Kavanaugh, it ended with them doing the same against President Trump.
We already know more about the facts of President Trump’s call with his Ukrainian counterpart than the so-called “whistleblower” did because we’ve seen the transcript, unlike the individual who filed the complaint. The transcript directly contradicts the Democratic narrative that the president engaged in a “quid pro quo.”
The latest impeachment push is already unfolding in a way that’s eerily similar to the Kavanaugh spectacle, including Democrats knowing about the allegations before they were made public — giving them time to create their narrative in advance.
This week the public learned that Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and his staff were working with the so-called whistleblower and encouraged him or her to file the complaint.
It’s no surprise that Democrats have already deemed the facts as irrelevant because their end game is removing President Trump from power using any means necessary.”
“Lose an election you thought you’d win? Well Democrats’ have a solution for that: “We shall impeach all da things!!” Don’t like a Supreme Court justice? Impeach him! Don’t like the president? Impeach away. And if you’re Congressman “President” Swalwell, I assume you nuke whatever is left.
Of course there are no real grounds for impeachment—just failed lies and hoaxes. But who cares? Clearly the Christine Blasey Ford and Russian collusion hit jobs failed miserably, but damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!
Like a child with a box of matches, deranged Democrats seem to think they have their hands on a good idea. Their thinking goes something like this: “If we can’t be in control, let’s burn it all down, destroy norms, throw an epic political tantrum, hold the American people hostage! That’ll show the irredeemable deplorables to question their betters!”
The Democrats’ sycophant propagandists in the corporate leftist media are barking and clapping away like circus seals, cheering them on. Both sets of deranged people appear perplexed, however, that outside of their bubble within the Acela corridor people in real America, as Politico chronicled, think the idea of impeachment is absurd. The corporate leftist media’s reaction, from Chuck Todd’s meltdown over the weekend to the Politico piece, is one of shock and disgust that people are not listening to their enlightened masters on this matter.
Even worse (for them), polls show a majority of people actually agree with President Trump that the Bidens’ behavior in the Ukraine—and I would add, China—should be investigated. Oh, the horror of it all! This is not how it’s supposed to be: the peasants in the hinterlands are supposed to accept the absolute tripe being force fed to them; obediently and without question. In the minds of Democrats, the corporate leftist media, and of course the deep state actors, the world has been thrown off its axis and is spinning out of control. They must step in and save the “world.” But what world? Whose world?
What they will never understand, cannot understand, is that perhaps the real world—not their twisted and warped one—is being set right. Maybe, just maybe the American people have finally caught on to the games being played by certain people in the swamp: there is an axis of statist forces that truly think they should be running the country, elections be damned. These forces, Democrats, the corporate leftist media, and deep state actors believe that Americans should just accept their vision of open borders, one sided trade deals, man made global warming, infanticide, and trust the massive and ever growing administrative state to handle all the details.
These people all move within the same circles and share the same worldview, many proudly displaying the pieces of paper given to them upon their graduation from the indoctrination centers of higher learning. These pieces of paper, of course, demonstrate that they are the most intelligent, the “most best of the best,” that they are the most enlightened among us. Or so we are told. What’s really been really done over the years at these indoctrination centers is a collective stunting of mental acumen—annihilating such basic skills as common sense (only indoctrinated idiots believe there are 63 genders) and deductive reasoning (only indoctrinated idiots think Trump is a Putin puppet). What’s resulted is a world of idiocracy posing as an elite, one detached from reality and common sense.
That’s what the last several years have been all about: a collision of worldview and value sets. The breathless rumors of Russian collusion, Kavanaugh gang rapes, none of it was really ever about THAT. It was all about how we deplorables view the world, a difference of policy, and about how America is to be governed—what we do as a country both domestically and on the international stage. They are quite sure not just that we are wrong but that somehow our opinions are illegitimate. Those people lost an election and they couldn’t stand it that an unwashed outsider walked into their holy of holies and called them fools, much to the delight of the Americans who elected him.”
I am seriously considering boycotting October 15 debate to bring attention to DNC/corporate media’s effort to rig 2020 primary. Not against Bernie this time, but against voters in early states Iowa, New Hampshire, South… –> https://t.co/x5P3GFGbynpic.twitter.com/UgKCj6DGI0
“One of the attorneys that assisted the anonymous “whistleblowers” accusing President Donald Trump of conspiring with foreign leaders to interfere in the next U.S. presidential election used to report directly to former director of national intelligence James Clapper.
Charles McCullough, an attorney who assisted Andrew Bakaj, a former staffer for Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, at the beginning of the process was previously the inspector general of the intelligence community (ICIG) at the height of the Clinton email scandal.
McCullough told The Federalist however, that he is no longer involved in the whistleblower’s representation.
“I am not part of the whistleblower legal team,” McCullough wrote to The Federalist in an email. “I assisted with process issues Andrew at the very beginning, and then withdrew.”
Now a partner at the Compass Rose Legal Group with Bakaj, McCullough’s professional biography on the law firm’s website notes that he reported directly to Clapper as ICIG and “oversaw intelligence officers responsible for audits, inspections, investigations.””
“Report: Joe Biden Worked With Whistleblower As Vice President”
“President Joe Biden. The Examiner’s sources claim this would fit with previously released details about the whistleblower. For instance, the NY Times reported last month that he was a CIA officer and then later reported he had been detailed to the National Security Council. And the IC Inspector General reported the whistleblower had some possible favoritism for a Democratic candidate who was a rival of President Trump.
A retired CIA officer told the Washington Examiner: “From everything we know about the whistleblower and his work in the executive branch then, there is absolutely no doubt he would have been working with Biden when he was vice president.”…
A former Trump administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said Biden’s work on foreign affairs brought him into close proximity with the whistleblower either at the CIA or when he was detailed to the White House.
“This person, after working with Biden, may feel defensive towards him because he feels [Biden] is being falsely attacked. Maybe he is even talking to Biden’s staff,” the former official said. “Maybe it is innocent, maybe not.”
“Ukraine whistleblower wants to testify in writing instead of appearing in person”
“The Ukraine whistleblower at the center of the House Democratic impeachment inquiry wants to testify to Congress in writing instead of appearing in person, Fox News has confirmed.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that lawyers for the anonymous CIA officer have asked lawmakers if the whistleblower could submit testimony in writing, but the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have not yet responded.
The request comes amid Democrats’ desire to protect the identity of the whistleblower, along with worries over safety and media scrutiny. President Trump and Republicans believe the president should have a right to confront his accuser, and have also cited new reports indicating the whistleblower could have partisan motives. His attorneys have acknowledged he is a registered Democrat who has worked with at least one 2020 candidate. On Thursday, reports surfaced that the candidate was Joe Biden.”
The opening statement of Marie Yovanovitch should be read by everyone. What a scathing attack on an Administration she still works for! https://t.co/DZu5bu1cIe
“John Solomon has reported on what could be an important story connected with Ukraine and the Biden investigation. It sheds new light on the timeline:
A newly unearthed document shows that Ukrainian officials had opened a new probe into the firm linked to Hunter Biden months before President Trump’s phone call with that country’s leader, Fox News contributor John Solomon reported late Tuesday.
Solomon said Tuesday on “Hannity” that the U.S. government knew Ukraine was planning to look again into activities at Burisma Holdings, an energy company that employed then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son as a member of its board of directors, early this year. The report is noteworthy because President Trump has been accused by Democrats of threatening in July to withhold foreign aid to Ukraine unless its new president pursued an investigation into the company and the younger Biden’s role there.
“The U.S. government had open-source intelligence and was aware as early as February of 2019 that the Ukrainian government was planning to reopen the Burisma investigation,” he claimed. “This is long before the president ever imagined having a call with President Zelensky,” he added, noting Petro Poroshenko was still Ukraine’s president at that time.
Considering what’s been going on lately, this story should have large headlines in all the major papers. But when I searched on the topic (for “Ukraine investigation of Hunter Biden was reopened prior to Trump phone call”), nearly the only mention I could find of it were news outlets and blogs on the right – plus Microsoft News, which has a video of reporter Solomon saying it to Hannity on Fox. No major MSM news outlets appear to be covering it so far.
John Solomon, who broke the story, also discussed it on Twitter. But when I look at that thread, the vast majority of respondents in the often-contentious Twitter crowd seems to support Solomon. This would indicate that Solomon is mainly preaching to the choir on the right on Twitter. If people on the left were reading Solomon, there would be many more attacks there, but it would at least be an indication that the news was reaching a significant number of people on the left. But apparently it’s not.”
————
Solomon’s work on these hoaxes has been top notch.
“Document reveals Ukraine had already reopened probe of Hunter Biden-linked firm months before Trump phone call”
—–
“On “Hannity,” Solomon said his reporting revealed the requested reopening of the probe into Burisma involved, in part, “unusual transactions” in the natural gas giant’s accounts.
Solomon said the timeline of the alleged “illicit funds” coincided in part with the time Hunter Biden held a place on the firm’s board. The younger Biden was reportedly paid as much as $1 million per year for his time on the board, but Solomon said investigators in Ukraine filed a 15-page “notice of suspicion” indicating they were “looking at the possibility that the $3.4 million paid to Hunter Biden’s firm may have been part of the illicit funds that were moving through the company.”
“A month later, in April, the prosecutor’s office — open-source intelligence, again — the U.S. government officials confirming they were aware of this — made a request of another investigative agency in Ukraine for assistance in going through these bank records,” Solomon claimed.
“That is a significant change in the timeline — it was omitted from the whistleblower’s complaint, and the question is did he not know it or did he exclude it because it didn’t fit the narrative he was trying to write,” he continued.
And yet the criminals in FBI leadership ran with it any way.
Andrew McCabe said at a recent event that Christopher Steele told the FBI he could not vouch for all of the materials in the dossier, and the sourcing chain he used.
I wonder if any of the super-duper-principled True Conservatives are going to criticize the totalitarian Democrats for their LGBT town hall, which was filled with vows to shred the Constitution and use raw State power to socially engineer the American people.
We hear a lot of nasty cracks from that crowd about religious conservative voters selling their souls to support Trump. Let them explain how conservative purity requires handing the country over to the left-wingers who just spent all night vowing to destroy religious freedom.
This was never difficult to understand, and it was never hypocrisy from evangelicals. The handwriting was on the wall during the Obama administration. They knew perfectly well what a President Hillary would unleash upon them.
You want to talk about bedrock conservative principles? Intrinsic to the very notion of conservatism is resisting the use of coercive force to make people abandon their beliefs and live according to the whims of those who have power over them.
If you're not ready to do whatever it takes to protect the Bill of Rights, the 1st and 2nd Amendments – and that VERY CLEARLY requires defeating the Democrat candidate in 2020 by all means necessary – then in what sense are you an American "conservative?"
If you're willing to put the totalitarian social engineers on the Democrat stage last night in power, then at BEST you're a progressive with a few qualms about their uglier methods and most extreme goals. You've conceded defeat to them and just want to negotiate a few details.
If you can't resist the spread of that toxic ideology into American politics with every fiber of your being, with every word you write, then you're not much of a conservative. This IS the hill you should be ready to die on. It's really the only hill there is. All else is valleys.
Our elections are binary choices. Wishing it were not so and fantasizing about third-party ideological crusades does not change that reality. Your choice in 2020 will be between totalitarianism and whoever the GOP candidate is. The Dems are making that painfully clear.
If you can find a better champion against totalitarianism in the GOP primary and persuade voters to support them, great. That's what primaries are for. Make your case with all due passion and all necessary honor. Realistically, all but impossible to beat incumbent president.
But once the candidates are chosen, your choices are either using all of your conservative intellect and energy to defeat the Democrat, or endorsing the use of raw government force to inflict mortal wounds on conservatism. Defense doesn't get to sit out red-zone plays.
If any of these Democrats gets into the White House, conservatism is going to become a stuffed and mounted animal on the wall of a drawing room where academics can while away their days discussing What Might Have Been if things had gone better after Reagan left office.
Conservatism is going to become a very small banner under which a few influential writers and politicians can gather to demand payoffs for their cooperation from the permanent left-wing masters of the total State. It will have no relevance to the lives of average working people.
I'm a lifelong reader of conservative publications, a fan of some people that will not like what I've written here. And I tell you: if you aren't willing to fight to conserve the most basic of American rights, I'm not that interested in hearing what you DO want to conserve. /end
Democrat presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren attacks men of faith, suggests that no woman would ever be interested in them if they did not support gay marriage because of their faith
Warren also shows that she is a sexist as she suggests no woman would ever hold that view pic.twitter.com/dOS9qkbT3l
JUST IN from @MarthaRaddatz: ISIS has breached several prisons in northern Syria. Official says Turkey is deliberately targeting American bases so we will depart. @ABC
Shep Smith has been there from the beginning and was the most talented breaking news anchor I ever saw. Fox News Channel will not be the same without him. pic.twitter.com/hKgE4oWx8P
Trump’s wimpiness is not limited to the Middle East.
Here's the official transcript of Trump's comments on China and the NBA yesterday. He mocked Steve Kerr for dodging the question while he himself was dodging three times. pic.twitter.com/11o7uY6RMa
Wandering Views 
Some people just don’t seem to understand this.
https://www.newsweek.com/us-kurdish-ties-not-betrayal-turkey-islamic-state-1464073
“U.S.-KURDISH SECURITY TIES WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE LONG-TERM | OPINION”
“resident Donald Trump’s announcement last Sunday of a U.S. redeployment of forces from positions along the northeastern Syrian-Turkish border has been panned by a wide swath of the foreign policy establishment as a betrayal of Waahington’s Syrian Kurdish partners. The anger in the Beltway is palpable: members of Congress are demanding an explanation; senior lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are calling for testimony; and editorial writers are bemoaning the internal chaos within the administration that led up to the decision.
It’s not surprising why so many are upset about the Trump administration’s decision. The Syrian Kurds have been Washington’s most effective counterterrorism partners against the Islamic State. Nobody else in Syria comes close. But just because the anger is boiling hot at the moment doesn’t necessarily mean it’s justified. There is a lot of misinformation percolating in the ether. It’s time to correct the record.
First, it’s important to remind people about what the U.S.-Syrian Kurdish partnership is—and is not—about. Washington invested in a relationship with the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces for a very specific reason: to chip away at the Islamic State’s territorial caliphate to the point where the terrorist group was no longer capable of holding dominion over a wide swath of territory. The combination of U.S. air power and Kurdish ground forces proved to be extraordinarily effective, so much so that the physical caliphate is now in the ash heap of history. The national security objective the United States sought to accomplish—the demise of ISIS as a territorial force—has in fact been accomplished.
At bottom, the relationship between the United States and Syrian Kurdish fighters was one steeped in pragmatism, mutual interest, and a mutual enemy. Those who believe U.S. troops should remain in Syria’s northeast indefinitely in order to deter a Turkish military incursion into the area are misrepresenting the fundamental glue that held the U.S.-Kurdish partnership together and broadening its purpose far beyond its original intent. Indeed, this argument is a perfect illustration of mission-creep, in which U.S. policy in Syria becomes increasingly detached from the core objective in favor of those that are more ambitious and unattainable.
As difficult as it is for many in Washington to accept, the United States is not responsible for Syria’s internal politics—nor is the U.S. obligated to support or defend the political aspirations of the Syrian Kurdish community. To do so would likely create even more problems, putting the U.S. smack-dab in the middle of a decades-long Turkish-Kurdish rivalry and further deteriorating a U.S.-Turkey relationship that is already suffering from a number of disputes. Bluntly put: serving as the Kurds’ external protector in perpetuity is not what U.S. troops signed up for when they were first deployed to Syria years ago.
If there was any sin committed by the Trump administration, it was an unwillingness to support the Syrian Kurds as they sought to strike their own political accommodations in Syria. Instead, Washington gave the Kurdish leadership false hope that the U.S. military would maintain a long-term security presence in Syria’s northeast. Rather than speak frankly to Kurdish officials early on about the transactional nature of the partnership, the U.S. remained ambiguous and in fact openly opposed Kurdish attempts to reconcile with Damascus. For the U.S., isolating the Assad regime diplomatically and economically took precedence over accepting the reality that Assad—as loathsome as he is—was here to stay.
In the days since President Trump’s announcement, Syrian Kurdish officials have suggested that talks with Damascus may be the only opportunity to forestall a Turkish military offensive deep into their territory. Discussions would likely center on something close to the pre-war status-quo in northeastern Syria, where Damascus retakes control of the Syria-Turkey border and the Syrian Kurds are reintegrated back into the Syrian state with the same rights and prerogatives as any other Syrian citizen. Such a proposal would hardly be ideal. But yet again, a search for the ideal is a lost cause and a waste of valuable time which could otherwise be used to stabilize the situation before it descends into yet another armed conflict.
If talks are indeed possible, the Trump administration should get out of the way and permit Kurdish representatives to do what is in their own best interest. For Washington to make these discussions any more difficult than they already are would be to commit the same mistake twice.”
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I was wondering what Michelle’s thoughts are on this next one, since she’s living it.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/10/democrats_turning_california_into_a_thirdworld_hellhole_going_without_electricity_edition.html
“Democrats are turning California into a third-world hellhole without electricity, water, and freedom.
Due to Democrats’ love for trees, at least 800,000 Californians will be without power for several days. Instead of properly managing California forests to reduce the chances of big fires, Democrats are saying Californians have to go without lights, refrigerators, and air-conditioning. Democrats could also avoid this by not making the power company financially liable for all forest fire damages, but since PG&E is a company, not an illegal alien, the Democrats couldn’t care less about doing what’s best for California.
While they try to blame climate change and the infrastructure, the reality is that neither of those has caused any significant changes in the last ten years — but now, suddenly, due to Democrat policies, Californians have to start living in the 18th century.
The Democrats who run California also refuse to build more water storage capacity even though the state’s population has dramatically increased, ensuring that water has to be rationed during droughts.
Democrats are turning California into a third-world country economically. The income inequality between the über-rich Silicon Valley workers and the rest of Californians is huge, just like in third-world countries, while the elites live in luxury and the rest live in squalor.
Democrats are doing a great job manufacturing poverty and homelessness even as they fail to instill hope in Californians.
California has four times more homeless per capita and three times more poor per capita than the rest of America. Half the homeless in America are in California, even though California has only 12% of the U.S. population. Also, blacks are six times more prevalent in the San Francisco homeless population than they are in California in general.
The homeless explosion has brought the return of third-world diseases like typhus to California — not to mention streets littered with human feces.
Democrats are trying to keep people from having cars, just like the people of the Third World. After all, a car gives people the freedom to move, and freedom is a bad thing in the minds of Democrats since it limits the power the government has over citizens.
Recently, Gavin Newsom, the Democrat governor, transferred millions of dollars that the voters had been ensured would go to improve the state’s failing road infrastructure to a fund designed to convince Californians to give up their cars.”
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Trump quietly rights another wrong. 🙂
Globalists hardest hit.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/10/american_thinkers_scoop_on_trump_getting_port_of_long_beach_out_of_chicom_hands_getting_noticed.html
“American Thinker’s scoop on Trump getting Port of Long Beach out of Chicom hands getting noticed”
“Here’s an impressive quiet accomplishment from the Trump administration, now noted by Judicial Watch:
Under a long-term deal sealed by the Obama administration, a Chinese Communist company was set to control the second-busiest container port in the United States. In an unreported Trump administration victory, the Communists are out after a drawn-out national security review forced a unit of China-based COSCO Shipping Holdings Co. (Orient Overseas Container Line—OOCL) to sell the cherished container terminal business, which handles among the largest freight of imports into the U.S.
It all started with a 40-year container terminal lease between the Port of Long Beach in southern California and Hong Kong. The Obama administration proudly signed the agreement in 2012 giving China control of America’s second-largest container port behind the nearby Port of Los Angeles. One of the Trump administration’s first big moves was to get the Communists out of the Port of Long Beach. After a national security review and federal intervention, the Long Beach terminal business, which handles millions of containers annually, is finally being sold to an Australian company called Macquarie Infrastructure Partners. That essentially kills China’s decades-long contract with the Obama administration.
The watchdog group didn’t say, but that news came about in May and was brilliantly reported by American Thinker contributor Chriss Street.
Here’s the excellent item, which certainly got notice at the time and is well worth a read or reread for a more detailed perspective:”
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/05/trump_administration_forces_china_to_sell_the_port_of_long_beach.html
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Democrats (and NTers) thrive in the politics of personal destruction. It’s all they have left.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/democrats-strategy-personal-destruction-trump-kavanaugh-thom-tillis
“Monday, October 7, marks one year since Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. He is already proving to be a brilliant and fair-minded conservative jurist who follows the Constitution as written.
While Kavanaugh will undoubtedly make his lasting mark on the Court in the coming decades, his confirmation process will, unfortunately, go down in history as one of the low points of American politics.
It will be remembered as the moment in which Democrats, starving for a political victory following their stunning defeat to President Trump in 2016, adopted a politics of personal destruction strategy, launching a highly coordinated smear campaign against the president’s judicial nominee.
As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I was on the frontline throughout the entire confirmation process and was one of Kavanaugh’s staunchest supporters.
It was surreal to see my Democratic colleagues abandon the basic tenants of due process, presuming Kavanaugh guilty until proven innocent.
Encouraged by their fanatical, left-wing base and a pliant media, no allegation was too far-fetched to embrace. They even sunk so low that they hyped up the egregiously false allegations made by the client of con-man lawyer Michael Avenatti. It was a disgrace.
Fortunately, their smear campaign failed. The truth prevailed and Kavanaugh was confirmed.
Fast forward to just a few weeks ago, when Democratic presidential candidates and mainstream media outlets pounced on a completely uncorroborated allegation against Kavanaugh published by The New York Times in the paper’s Opinion section.
Democrats like Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris rushed to call for Kavanaugh’s impeachment. However, the American people soon learned that the authors conveniently left out vital exculpatory facts, forcing the New York Times to issue an editor’s note correcting the story.
While September may have started with Democrats’ aiming their politics of personal destruction and calls for impeachment at Kavanaugh, it ended with them doing the same against President Trump.
We already know more about the facts of President Trump’s call with his Ukrainian counterpart than the so-called “whistleblower” did because we’ve seen the transcript, unlike the individual who filed the complaint. The transcript directly contradicts the Democratic narrative that the president engaged in a “quid pro quo.”
The latest impeachment push is already unfolding in a way that’s eerily similar to the Kavanaugh spectacle, including Democrats knowing about the allegations before they were made public — giving them time to create their narrative in advance.
This week the public learned that Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and his staff were working with the so-called whistleblower and encouraged him or her to file the complaint.
It’s no surprise that Democrats have already deemed the facts as irrelevant because their end game is removing President Trump from power using any means necessary.”
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Take note “moderates”, there’s no middle ground left with these extremists.
“Lose an election you thought you’d win? Well Democrats’ have a solution for that: “We shall impeach all da things!!” Don’t like a Supreme Court justice? Impeach him! Don’t like the president? Impeach away. And if you’re Congressman “President” Swalwell, I assume you nuke whatever is left.
Of course there are no real grounds for impeachment—just failed lies and hoaxes. But who cares? Clearly the Christine Blasey Ford and Russian collusion hit jobs failed miserably, but damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!
Like a child with a box of matches, deranged Democrats seem to think they have their hands on a good idea. Their thinking goes something like this: “If we can’t be in control, let’s burn it all down, destroy norms, throw an epic political tantrum, hold the American people hostage! That’ll show the irredeemable deplorables to question their betters!”
The Democrats’ sycophant propagandists in the corporate leftist media are barking and clapping away like circus seals, cheering them on. Both sets of deranged people appear perplexed, however, that outside of their bubble within the Acela corridor people in real America, as Politico chronicled, think the idea of impeachment is absurd. The corporate leftist media’s reaction, from Chuck Todd’s meltdown over the weekend to the Politico piece, is one of shock and disgust that people are not listening to their enlightened masters on this matter.
Even worse (for them), polls show a majority of people actually agree with President Trump that the Bidens’ behavior in the Ukraine—and I would add, China—should be investigated. Oh, the horror of it all! This is not how it’s supposed to be: the peasants in the hinterlands are supposed to accept the absolute tripe being force fed to them; obediently and without question. In the minds of Democrats, the corporate leftist media, and of course the deep state actors, the world has been thrown off its axis and is spinning out of control. They must step in and save the “world.” But what world? Whose world?
What they will never understand, cannot understand, is that perhaps the real world—not their twisted and warped one—is being set right. Maybe, just maybe the American people have finally caught on to the games being played by certain people in the swamp: there is an axis of statist forces that truly think they should be running the country, elections be damned. These forces, Democrats, the corporate leftist media, and deep state actors believe that Americans should just accept their vision of open borders, one sided trade deals, man made global warming, infanticide, and trust the massive and ever growing administrative state to handle all the details.
These people all move within the same circles and share the same worldview, many proudly displaying the pieces of paper given to them upon their graduation from the indoctrination centers of higher learning. These pieces of paper, of course, demonstrate that they are the most intelligent, the “most best of the best,” that they are the most enlightened among us. Or so we are told. What’s really been really done over the years at these indoctrination centers is a collective stunting of mental acumen—annihilating such basic skills as common sense (only indoctrinated idiots believe there are 63 genders) and deductive reasoning (only indoctrinated idiots think Trump is a Putin puppet). What’s resulted is a world of idiocracy posing as an elite, one detached from reality and common sense.
That’s what the last several years have been all about: a collision of worldview and value sets. The breathless rumors of Russian collusion, Kavanaugh gang rapes, none of it was really ever about THAT. It was all about how we deplorables view the world, a difference of policy, and about how America is to be governed—what we do as a country both domestically and on the international stage. They are quite sure not just that we are wrong but that somehow our opinions are illegitimate. Those people lost an election and they couldn’t stand it that an unwashed outsider walked into their holy of holies and called them fools, much to the delight of the Americans who elected him.”
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Friendly fire.
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Oh look, the Deep State is at it again. And this is on top of their known ties to Dems.
Anti-Trump Whistleblower Attorney Worked Directly For James Clapper
https://thefederalist.com/2019/10/09/anti-trump-whistleblower-attorney-worked-directly-for-james-clapper/
“One of the attorneys that assisted the anonymous “whistleblowers” accusing President Donald Trump of conspiring with foreign leaders to interfere in the next U.S. presidential election used to report directly to former director of national intelligence James Clapper.
Charles McCullough, an attorney who assisted Andrew Bakaj, a former staffer for Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, at the beginning of the process was previously the inspector general of the intelligence community (ICIG) at the height of the Clinton email scandal.
McCullough told The Federalist however, that he is no longer involved in the whistleblower’s representation.
“I am not part of the whistleblower legal team,” McCullough wrote to The Federalist in an email. “I assisted with process issues Andrew at the very beginning, and then withdrew.”
Now a partner at the Compass Rose Legal Group with Bakaj, McCullough’s professional biography on the law firm’s website notes that he reported directly to Clapper as ICIG and “oversaw intelligence officers responsible for audits, inspections, investigations.””
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They are quite the incesteous bunch.
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Chinese censors have nothing on them.
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But the woke clowns at ESPN weren’t going to be outdone either.
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The Sixers aren’t the only cowardly team either. And this whole farce of butt kissing to China goes down during the playing of our national anthem.
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Like I said, quite an incesteous bunch.
I guess we now know the candidate the fake whistle blower was involved with.
https://hotair.com/archives/john-s-2/2019/10/10/report-joe-biden-worked-whistleblower-vice-president/
“Report: Joe Biden Worked With Whistleblower As Vice President”
“President Joe Biden. The Examiner’s sources claim this would fit with previously released details about the whistleblower. For instance, the NY Times reported last month that he was a CIA officer and then later reported he had been detailed to the National Security Council. And the IC Inspector General reported the whistleblower had some possible favoritism for a Democratic candidate who was a rival of President Trump.
A retired CIA officer told the Washington Examiner: “From everything we know about the whistleblower and his work in the executive branch then, there is absolutely no doubt he would have been working with Biden when he was vice president.”…
A former Trump administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said Biden’s work on foreign affairs brought him into close proximity with the whistleblower either at the CIA or when he was detailed to the White House.
“This person, after working with Biden, may feel defensive towards him because he feels [Biden] is being falsely attacked. Maybe he is even talking to Biden’s staff,” the former official said. “Maybe it is innocent, maybe not.”
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More….
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/joe-biden-worked-with-whistleblower-when-he-was-vice-president-officials-reveal
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Well, the weather is great.
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Sure they do, in order to avoid a tough cross examination. Tell them no. If your testimony is true and honest, then own it.
But it isn’t, so the fraud continues.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ukraine-whistleblower-wants-to-testify-in-writing-instead-of-appearing-in-person-report-says
“Ukraine whistleblower wants to testify in writing instead of appearing in person”
“The Ukraine whistleblower at the center of the House Democratic impeachment inquiry wants to testify to Congress in writing instead of appearing in person, Fox News has confirmed.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that lawyers for the anonymous CIA officer have asked lawmakers if the whistleblower could submit testimony in writing, but the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have not yet responded.
The request comes amid Democrats’ desire to protect the identity of the whistleblower, along with worries over safety and media scrutiny. President Trump and Republicans believe the president should have a right to confront his accuser, and have also cited new reports indicating the whistleblower could have partisan motives. His attorneys have acknowledged he is a registered Democrat who has worked with at least one 2020 candidate. On Thursday, reports surfaced that the candidate was Joe Biden.”
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Yawn……. 🙄
The little boy is crying wolf again.
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Need a new narrative Ricky, this one’s busted too.
An accurate timeline, for a change.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/10/evidence-emerges-that-the-hunter-biden-investigation-may-have-been-re-opened-prior-to-trumps-phone-call/
“John Solomon has reported on what could be an important story connected with Ukraine and the Biden investigation. It sheds new light on the timeline:
A newly unearthed document shows that Ukrainian officials had opened a new probe into the firm linked to Hunter Biden months before President Trump’s phone call with that country’s leader, Fox News contributor John Solomon reported late Tuesday.
Solomon said Tuesday on “Hannity” that the U.S. government knew Ukraine was planning to look again into activities at Burisma Holdings, an energy company that employed then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son as a member of its board of directors, early this year. The report is noteworthy because President Trump has been accused by Democrats of threatening in July to withhold foreign aid to Ukraine unless its new president pursued an investigation into the company and the younger Biden’s role there.
“The U.S. government had open-source intelligence and was aware as early as February of 2019 that the Ukrainian government was planning to reopen the Burisma investigation,” he claimed. “This is long before the president ever imagined having a call with President Zelensky,” he added, noting Petro Poroshenko was still Ukraine’s president at that time.
Considering what’s been going on lately, this story should have large headlines in all the major papers. But when I searched on the topic (for “Ukraine investigation of Hunter Biden was reopened prior to Trump phone call”), nearly the only mention I could find of it were news outlets and blogs on the right – plus Microsoft News, which has a video of reporter Solomon saying it to Hannity on Fox. No major MSM news outlets appear to be covering it so far.
John Solomon, who broke the story, also discussed it on Twitter. But when I look at that thread, the vast majority of respondents in the often-contentious Twitter crowd seems to support Solomon. This would indicate that Solomon is mainly preaching to the choir on the right on Twitter. If people on the left were reading Solomon, there would be many more attacks there, but it would at least be an indication that the news was reaching a significant number of people on the left. But apparently it’s not.”
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Solomon’s work on these hoaxes has been top notch.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/john-solomon-says-new-hunter-biden-related-doc-shows-significant-shift-in-factual-timeline
“Document reveals Ukraine had already reopened probe of Hunter Biden-linked firm months before Trump phone call”
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“On “Hannity,” Solomon said his reporting revealed the requested reopening of the probe into Burisma involved, in part, “unusual transactions” in the natural gas giant’s accounts.
Solomon said the timeline of the alleged “illicit funds” coincided in part with the time Hunter Biden held a place on the firm’s board. The younger Biden was reportedly paid as much as $1 million per year for his time on the board, but Solomon said investigators in Ukraine filed a 15-page “notice of suspicion” indicating they were “looking at the possibility that the $3.4 million paid to Hunter Biden’s firm may have been part of the illicit funds that were moving through the company.”
“A month later, in April, the prosecutor’s office — open-source intelligence, again — the U.S. government officials confirming they were aware of this — made a request of another investigative agency in Ukraine for assistance in going through these bank records,” Solomon claimed.
“That is a significant change in the timeline — it was omitted from the whistleblower’s complaint, and the question is did he not know it or did he exclude it because it didn’t fit the narrative he was trying to write,” he continued.
“That’s a question for Congress to answer.””
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And yet the criminals in FBI leadership ran with it any way.
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Of course not. He’s got water to carry.
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He’s MIA. 🙄😂🤣😂🤣
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https://twitter.com/OzarkGlenn/status/1182425617750360065
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Oh Ricky…..
John Hayward has some questions.
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So pick a side.
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I mean really, is this what you’d prefer?
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Or perhaps Beto, who says your church will support and perform gay marriages or lose your tax exempt status.
This is an easy choice.
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Good riddance.
Now give Harris Faulkner his job.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/shepard-smith-leaving-fox-news-1247097
“Shepard Smith Leaving Fox News After 23 Years”
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Ben Shapiro had the best response to Beto. It was tough, but it needed to be.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/465459-conservatives-slam-beto-orourke-over-threat-to-church-tax-exempt-status
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Wow. Here it comes
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Winning?
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https://twitter.com/briangocial/status/1182758627582586881?s=21
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https://twitter.com/amyfiscus/status/1182834487526350853?s=21
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So you’re back to advocating war with a NATO ally?
Those are the choices, leave, or risk it. It’s easy for you to pick the latter, since you have no skin in the game.
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Trump’s wimpiness is not limited to the Middle East.
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