Biden’s weakness is on display for the world to see. Putin didn’t invade Ukraine on Trump’s watch. Iran didn’t attack Israel thru their Palestinian proxies on Trump’s watch. China didn’t become increasingly belligerent toward Taiwan on Trump’s watch.
As brash and loud as Trump is, it required no aggression on the US’s part to hold these things at bay. Strength is projected. Trump did so. Biden does not. It shows. We went from peace accords in the mid east under Trump, to the verge of WW3 under Biden’s.
“Bernie Marcus: Every Day Biden Does Something To Weaken America; Country Must Have Change In 2024”
“Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus discusses his recent op-ed in RealClearPolitics endorsing Donald Trump for president with FBN’s Larry Kudlow:
BERNIE MARCUS: I’m not with Home Depot anymore, I’ve been out of there since 2002, I retired in 2002. It’s a great company and always will be.
But I’ve been around a long time. I’m 94 years old, and I’ve seen presidents come and go. Republicans, Democrats, and frankly I’ve never lived through a period like this. This is the most incredible period I’ve seen before in my life. I’ve always said that the American people will be smart enough to pull us out of anything, and they’ll always be the buffer between good and bad.
First of all, let me explain to you that I’m a Republican but I’m an American first. I’m the original great story in America, grew up in Newark, New Jersey in a tenement, poor as hell, and had no money. My family had no money and look where I am today. It could have only happened in America, and frankly could only happen under the system that we have, which is the system of free enterprise and capitalism.
I watched this guy in the White House, I mean, I can’t believe what he does every day. I get up in the morning and I say, “What the hell did he do today that’s going to destroy America?” And he never fails to surprise me. He always comes up with something, and it’s never good. I don’t know who the hell his advisers are, I don’t have a clue, but he’s supposed to represent all people in America and he doesn’t.
The poor people are the people who continuously vote that way, which is incredible to me how that happens. But I see them in this last election prove that maybe the American people aren’t that smart. Maybe they’re not going to bail us out, and the only one out there that I know that has the experience to fix things, that’s what he does, he fixes things.
Now, you may not like what he says, and he pisses off a lot of people. Every time he opens his mouth between Air Force One and the helicopter, he says something that irritates somebody. But the truth of the matter is that if we don’t change the government in this next ’24 election, this country is dead. I’ve never said that before. I don’t see any way out.
LARRY KUDLOW: Just to say what you will about Mr. Trump, he brought us peace and prosperity and right now, in your article you make this very clear. We need a strong, strong hand in the White House. Now more than ever we need a strong hand in the White House.
BERNIE MARCUS: Well, it’s not only the economy, I mean, look what’s happening. This president has got two wars on his hands, Ukraine and Israel, and God knows where that’s going to happen, where it’s going to go. We have China sitting out there as a terrible threat, along with Russia. And he just doesn’t know which way to go. I don’t know who’s feeding him, or pulling his strings, maybe you do, but he doesn’t come up with the right answers no matter what he does.
And the American people are going to suffer because of it.
I mean, right now people can’t pay their bills. The Job Creators Network that I helped found about eight years ago had a lot to do with the corporate tax cut. Ryan wasn’t going to consider it and they kind of forced it through. That kind of saved America. But Trump was totally behind it. Look at what happened!”
—-
It’s time folks got over their TDS and accept reality.
“I am 94 years old and like many of you, I am exhausted by politics and saddened by what I see happening to America. I had hoped it was time for me to move to the sidelines and let younger generations continue the fight to preserve America’s founding freedoms and values. But, like so many of us, I realized that I could not let myself walk away; the stakes are just too high.
We cannot let the America we see today be what we leave to our children and grandchildren. Many of our once-great cities have devolved into lawlessness with random violent attacks on innocent people, rampant looting, and large-scale homeless encampments. There are rarely consequences for the wrongdoers because George Soros-elected prosecutors across America refuse to prosecute them.
Moreover, our southern border is unprotected, and millions of people we know nothing about pour into our nation to receive care and benefits that we cannot afford to provide to our struggling military veterans. Worse, many of the border crossers may be gang members who commit violent crimes here. Schoolchildren across America cannot read, write, or do basic math, while our educational leaders tell us that they know better than parents how to raise our children. Working men and women are struggling to provide for their families and must raid their retirement funds just to feed, clothe, and take care of their children. These are just a few of the problems America is facing after three years of bad government policies. They cannot be our legacy.
This should not be a partisan issue. This should be an issue for all Americans – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – that I hope to reach with this op-ed. You enjoy the freedoms and values on which the nation was founded. Sadly, I see these freedoms and values being eroded today as government gets bigger and weaponized against its political opponents.
I wrote this op-ed because of my love for America, not for any financial gain or advantage. I have been retired for 30 years and spend my time engaged in philanthropic causes, with which I have committed to share 90% of my net worth. I was born here and can give testimony about The American Dream. I lost my job and was broke when I was 48 years old. A dear friend of mine suggested that my misfortune presented a great opportunity to build a small business based upon an idea I had shared with him. Only in America, the land of opportunity, could being without a job and broke be a great opportunity. In 1978, my partners and I built four hardware stores, and this small business grew and is known as The Home Depot. We could only have done this in America because of America’s system of free enterprise and pro-jobs growth government policies. The state of America today, especially record inflation, government over-regulation, and the problems of the last three years, would prevent my partners and I from succeeding as we have.
Part of our legacy must be passing on to future generations of Americans our founding freedoms and values, including The American Dream. We must change the current trajectory of the nation and solve the problems created in the last three years. We must also reject calls from some politicians to replace our free market system with big government socialism. Most of them seem to have never had a job outside of government. All they know is making government bigger and more intrusive in the lives of its citizens.
I wrote above that I wanted to sit on the sidelines of politics, but the stakes were too high for me just to walk away. The stakes are America’s path forward. Do we want to continue the perilous trajectory we are now on? I do not because it would be disastrous for all Americans except the political elite.
For Democrats, the choice is simple. If you feel that you are better off now than you were three years ago, you should vote for Joe Biden or whoever is the Democrat candidate. For Republicans, the choice is also simple. Let’s face it: Donald Trump is going to win the nomination. You should be doing all you can to ensure his winning the general election.
I understand the frustration of some of my Republican friends who do not like or are offended by things Donald Trump does and says. I, too, have been frustrated at times, but we cannot let his brash style be the reason we walk away from his otherwise excellent stewardship of the United States during his first term in office. Now is the time for unity to save The American Dream for future generations.
For these reasons, I endorse Donald J. Trump as the nominee of the Republican Party and as our next President. I endorse him not only because he has the best chance of winning the general election but because he is the best person to take on and dismantle the administrative state that is strangling America. The new war in the Middle East will present great challenges for the free world for some time, especially in keeping other terrorist groups or nations out of the conflict. This will require a president with the judgment, strength, decisiveness, and courage that Donald Trump displayed in his first term when he ordered the strike that killed the Iranian terrorist Gen. Qasem Soleimani and dissuaded Russia from invading Ukraine. Many, including myself, believe that Hamas would not have unleashed its barbarism and cruelty on Israel if Donald Trump was our president today. The reason is America’s enemies respect and, more importantly, fear Donald Trump’s judgment, strength, decisiveness, and courage. It is critical that America’s next leader have these attributes in the face of Hamas murdering innocent babies, old people, including Holocaust survivors, entire families; burning alive innocent people; raping women and young girls; and other unspeakable acts.
I urge my fellow Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to put their love for America above all else. I urge the Republican National Committee to end the Republican debates that only benefit ad makers and political consultants. They are unproductive and embarrassing.”
“You may recall a stunning report from September that looked into an infrequently discussed Pentagon group known as the Iran Experts Initiative. In it, we learned about one of Joe Biden’s Iranian “experts” who was probably far too much of an expert in this field. Ariane Tabatabai is an Iranian-born aide and chief of staff to a Pentagon Assistant Secretary of Defense. She initially worked alongside the now-suspended Robert Malley on Biden’s efforts to restart Obama’s Iran nuclear deal. But the September report suggests she was working far more on behalf of the Iranian regime than our government. Still, she managed to keep both her new job at the Pentagon and her security clearance. Today, a new report was delivered to Biden revealing that Tabatabai was up to other activities. She worked on a covert campaign to smear the leading opposition group in Iran in support of the Iranian regime. And yet she is somehow still embedded inside of the Pentagon. (NY Post)
An Iranian-born Pentagon aide, who was revealed earlier this year to be part of a years-long, Tehran-backed influence operation, also sought to undermine the leading group resisting the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to a new report delivered to President Biden.
Ariane Tabatabai has retained her security clearance and position as chief of staff to the Pentagon’s assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict — despite a bombshell Semafor report in September detailing her ties to senior Iranian Foreign Ministry officials.
But Tabatabai and founding members of the influence operation, known as the Iran Experts Initiative, were also engaged in a “covert campaign” to smear the nation’s leading opposition group, known as the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), according to a recent report endorsed by former vice presidential national security adviser Lincoln Bloomfield and written by a University of Baltimore professor.
Will this sway Joe Biden to finally take some action? I wouldn’t count on it. We already know that Biden has been bending over backward and shoveling billions of dollars to Iran, all in an effort to curry favor with them. He does this despite being fully aware that Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism on the planet and that’s where most of our money goes. That money is currently funding groups that are attacking American forces on a daily basis around the Middle East.
So why would he mind having someone working in his Pentagon who is a Mullah-loving activist who sought to undermine the opposition to the Iranian terror regime? Why wouldn’t he allow her to keep a very sensitive security clearance and retain access to some of our most classified information regarding our adversary that is working to wipe Israel from the face of the planet? She was working covertly to undercut the Mojahedin-e Khalq. They are one of the only groups in Iran that fight for the rights of the women and children oppressed by the Mullahs and the “morality police.”
No matter how badly this administration handles virtually every policy matter of importance, the Biden team still manages to shock me on a regular basis. I suppose it’s possible that this woman somehow flew under the radar during her initial background checks and slid into a position inside the government. But multiple people in the know, both at home and abroad have come out and flatly called her an Iranian spy. How much does it take to lose a security clearance these days? Will we be offering a position to Kim Jong-un’s sister next?”
“In the spring of 2014, senior Iranian Foreign Ministry officials initiated a quiet effort to bolster Tehran’s image and positions on global security issues — particularly its nuclear program — by building ties with a network of influential overseas academics and researchers. They called it the Iran Experts Initiative.
The scope and scale of the IEI project has emerged in a large cache of Iranian government correspondence and emails reported for the first time by Semafor and Iran International. The officials, working under the moderate President Hassan Rouhani, congratulated themselves on the impact of the initiative. At least two of the people on the Foreign Ministry’s list were, or became, top aides to Robert Malley, the Biden administration’s special envoy on Iran, who was placed on leave this June following the suspension of his security clearance. A third was hired by the think tank Malley ran just as he left for the State Department.
The documents offer deep and unprecedented new insights into the thinking and inner workings of Iran’s Foreign Ministry at a crucial time in the nuclear diplomacy — even as Tehran’s portrayal of events is questioned, if not flatly denied, by others involved in the IEI. They show how Iran was capable of the kind of influence operations that the U.S. and its allies in the region often conduct.”
—
“Khatibzadeh wrote again a week later, on March 11, and said that he had gained support for the IEI from two young academics — Ariane Tabatabai and Dina Esfandiary — following a meeting with them in Prague. “We three agreed to be the core group of the IEI.”
Tabatabai currently serves in the Pentagon as the chief of staff for the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, a position that requires a U.S. government security clearance. She previously served as a diplomat on Malley’s Iran nuclear negotiating team after the Biden administration took office in 2021. Esfandiary is a senior advisor on the Middle East and North Africa at the International Crisis Group, a think tank that Malley headed from 2018-2021.
Tabatabai and Esfandiary didn’t respond to requests for comment on the IEI. Esfandiary’s current employer, the International Crisis Group, confirmed her participation in the initiative. But the Crisis Group, which promotes conflict resolution globally, said the IEI was an informal network of academics and researchers that wasn’t overseen by the Iranian Foreign Ministry and that it received funding from a European government and some European institutions, which they declined to identify.”
—-
Read the rest. It’s also another sign of how weak Republican “leaders” are for allowing this to go on.
Per colleague @ChadPergram, these are the 8 House Republicans who voted with Democrats on the impeachment resolution, which essentially killed it by sending it back to commitee. https://t.co/wJE7mzWF1o
B) Greene: But all we hear about is send money to Ukraine, send money to this. And people want Mayorkas impeached. They want accountability. And I can't believe it.
C) Greene: I'm outraged by articles of impeachment on Mayorkas have been sitting for months in the Judiciary Committee and many of the same Republicans that voted with Democrats to refer it back to committees sit on Judiciary Committee. So what are these Republicans even worth?
2) Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) -Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) -Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) -Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) -Rep. John Duarte (R-CA) -Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) -Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-OR) -Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH)
Several migrant families with children bussed to a newly-opened shelter at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn re-entered a bus shortly after arriving at the facility.
Per @GrabienMedia, CNN & MSNBC have likened Trump to Hitler 12 times so far today (owing to his calling illegal immigrants "vermin").
Bad, sure. But you know what reminds me of Hitler even more? Pro-Hamas anti-Semites protesting across America w/ swastikas & slogans about how… https://t.co/KhAXmGFyMc
Parents tried to get their public schools to listen to them. They emailed board members & spoke at school board meetings pleading for quality curriculum, safe learning environments, & complete transparency from the adults in charge. They were shut down & slandered. The result👇🏼. https://t.co/DMShEd0N3b
There’s an economic mystery confounding the White House: Most Americans are financially better off than they were before the coronavirus pandemic, but they feel worse about their economic prospects.https://t.co/GAuhIwzXjQ
It costs $80 for two people to have hamburgers / fries and a couple of beers at the pub.
It costs $50 – $100 to fill up your car.
No working class person’s wages have kept up with the inflation onslaught.
The stock market is stuck in a perpetual gain / loss cycle. The bond market is a mess. As result, retirees on pensions and fixed incomes are getting slaughtered.
New appliances – from toasters to furnaces – are barely affordable and don’t work as well as they used to because they’re hamstrung by bazillions of ridiculous regulations.
The housing market is a hot mess due to skyrocketing interest rates.
People are working two jobs or coming out of retirement to work and you all tout this as “job growth.”
The national debt terrifies everyone.
You’re describing a theoretical universe described by Ivy League professor who are 6 degrees of separation from the real world.
President Biden: I’m determined to put an end to trickle-down economics. I look at the economy through the eyes of the people I grew up with in Scranton and Claymont pic.twitter.com/FjDMVw8tJJ
On Wednesday's "Wake Up America," host Sharla McBride visits Joe Biden's hometown of Scranton, PA and finds out what people really think of the 46th President. @SharlaMcBridepic.twitter.com/2WNhHUwl9T
These accusations (another DC cop is a "victim" and no link to BWC footage but I'll try to find) do not in any way justify an armed FBI raid with military vehicles in a quiet neighborhood with a… https://t.co/fzaE0WuF6C
Bidens migration strategy becomes clear. Make America so expensive and inhospitable people just leave.
Fed-up migrants who trekked thousands of miles to US already heading home: 'American Dream doesn't exist' https://t.co/KB55ZqZ52O via @nypost
— David. Bidenomics is a hell of a drug. (@David32375134) November 13, 2023
True asylum seekers don’t complain about accommodations like they’re on vacation. These “migrants” were scamming the immigration system and taking advantage of the American people. https://t.co/SWPp2F6HbS
Wandering Views 
Biden’s weakness is on display for the world to see. Putin didn’t invade Ukraine on Trump’s watch. Iran didn’t attack Israel thru their Palestinian proxies on Trump’s watch. China didn’t become increasingly belligerent toward Taiwan on Trump’s watch.
As brash and loud as Trump is, it required no aggression on the US’s part to hold these things at bay. Strength is projected. Trump did so. Biden does not. It shows. We went from peace accords in the mid east under Trump, to the verge of WW3 under Biden’s.
“Bernie Marcus: Every Day Biden Does Something To Weaken America; Country Must Have Change In 2024”
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/11/12/bernie_marcus_every_day_biden_does_something_to_weaken_america_country_must_have_change_in_2024.html
“Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus discusses his recent op-ed in RealClearPolitics endorsing Donald Trump for president with FBN’s Larry Kudlow:
BERNIE MARCUS: I’m not with Home Depot anymore, I’ve been out of there since 2002, I retired in 2002. It’s a great company and always will be.
But I’ve been around a long time. I’m 94 years old, and I’ve seen presidents come and go. Republicans, Democrats, and frankly I’ve never lived through a period like this. This is the most incredible period I’ve seen before in my life. I’ve always said that the American people will be smart enough to pull us out of anything, and they’ll always be the buffer between good and bad.
First of all, let me explain to you that I’m a Republican but I’m an American first. I’m the original great story in America, grew up in Newark, New Jersey in a tenement, poor as hell, and had no money. My family had no money and look where I am today. It could have only happened in America, and frankly could only happen under the system that we have, which is the system of free enterprise and capitalism.
I watched this guy in the White House, I mean, I can’t believe what he does every day. I get up in the morning and I say, “What the hell did he do today that’s going to destroy America?” And he never fails to surprise me. He always comes up with something, and it’s never good. I don’t know who the hell his advisers are, I don’t have a clue, but he’s supposed to represent all people in America and he doesn’t.
The poor people are the people who continuously vote that way, which is incredible to me how that happens. But I see them in this last election prove that maybe the American people aren’t that smart. Maybe they’re not going to bail us out, and the only one out there that I know that has the experience to fix things, that’s what he does, he fixes things.
Now, you may not like what he says, and he pisses off a lot of people. Every time he opens his mouth between Air Force One and the helicopter, he says something that irritates somebody. But the truth of the matter is that if we don’t change the government in this next ’24 election, this country is dead. I’ve never said that before. I don’t see any way out.
LARRY KUDLOW: Just to say what you will about Mr. Trump, he brought us peace and prosperity and right now, in your article you make this very clear. We need a strong, strong hand in the White House. Now more than ever we need a strong hand in the White House.
BERNIE MARCUS: Well, it’s not only the economy, I mean, look what’s happening. This president has got two wars on his hands, Ukraine and Israel, and God knows where that’s going to happen, where it’s going to go. We have China sitting out there as a terrible threat, along with Russia. And he just doesn’t know which way to go. I don’t know who’s feeding him, or pulling his strings, maybe you do, but he doesn’t come up with the right answers no matter what he does.
And the American people are going to suffer because of it.
I mean, right now people can’t pay their bills. The Job Creators Network that I helped found about eight years ago had a lot to do with the corporate tax cut. Ryan wasn’t going to consider it and they kind of forced it through. That kind of saved America. But Trump was totally behind it. Look at what happened!”
—-
It’s time folks got over their TDS and accept reality.
“High Stakes and a Simple Choice”
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/11/09/high_stakes_and_a_simple_choice_150037.html
“I am 94 years old and like many of you, I am exhausted by politics and saddened by what I see happening to America. I had hoped it was time for me to move to the sidelines and let younger generations continue the fight to preserve America’s founding freedoms and values. But, like so many of us, I realized that I could not let myself walk away; the stakes are just too high.
We cannot let the America we see today be what we leave to our children and grandchildren. Many of our once-great cities have devolved into lawlessness with random violent attacks on innocent people, rampant looting, and large-scale homeless encampments. There are rarely consequences for the wrongdoers because George Soros-elected prosecutors across America refuse to prosecute them.
Moreover, our southern border is unprotected, and millions of people we know nothing about pour into our nation to receive care and benefits that we cannot afford to provide to our struggling military veterans. Worse, many of the border crossers may be gang members who commit violent crimes here. Schoolchildren across America cannot read, write, or do basic math, while our educational leaders tell us that they know better than parents how to raise our children. Working men and women are struggling to provide for their families and must raid their retirement funds just to feed, clothe, and take care of their children. These are just a few of the problems America is facing after three years of bad government policies. They cannot be our legacy.
This should not be a partisan issue. This should be an issue for all Americans – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – that I hope to reach with this op-ed. You enjoy the freedoms and values on which the nation was founded. Sadly, I see these freedoms and values being eroded today as government gets bigger and weaponized against its political opponents.
I wrote this op-ed because of my love for America, not for any financial gain or advantage. I have been retired for 30 years and spend my time engaged in philanthropic causes, with which I have committed to share 90% of my net worth. I was born here and can give testimony about The American Dream. I lost my job and was broke when I was 48 years old. A dear friend of mine suggested that my misfortune presented a great opportunity to build a small business based upon an idea I had shared with him. Only in America, the land of opportunity, could being without a job and broke be a great opportunity. In 1978, my partners and I built four hardware stores, and this small business grew and is known as The Home Depot. We could only have done this in America because of America’s system of free enterprise and pro-jobs growth government policies. The state of America today, especially record inflation, government over-regulation, and the problems of the last three years, would prevent my partners and I from succeeding as we have.
Part of our legacy must be passing on to future generations of Americans our founding freedoms and values, including The American Dream. We must change the current trajectory of the nation and solve the problems created in the last three years. We must also reject calls from some politicians to replace our free market system with big government socialism. Most of them seem to have never had a job outside of government. All they know is making government bigger and more intrusive in the lives of its citizens.
I wrote above that I wanted to sit on the sidelines of politics, but the stakes were too high for me just to walk away. The stakes are America’s path forward. Do we want to continue the perilous trajectory we are now on? I do not because it would be disastrous for all Americans except the political elite.
For Democrats, the choice is simple. If you feel that you are better off now than you were three years ago, you should vote for Joe Biden or whoever is the Democrat candidate. For Republicans, the choice is also simple. Let’s face it: Donald Trump is going to win the nomination. You should be doing all you can to ensure his winning the general election.
I understand the frustration of some of my Republican friends who do not like or are offended by things Donald Trump does and says. I, too, have been frustrated at times, but we cannot let his brash style be the reason we walk away from his otherwise excellent stewardship of the United States during his first term in office. Now is the time for unity to save The American Dream for future generations.
For these reasons, I endorse Donald J. Trump as the nominee of the Republican Party and as our next President. I endorse him not only because he has the best chance of winning the general election but because he is the best person to take on and dismantle the administrative state that is strangling America. The new war in the Middle East will present great challenges for the free world for some time, especially in keeping other terrorist groups or nations out of the conflict. This will require a president with the judgment, strength, decisiveness, and courage that Donald Trump displayed in his first term when he ordered the strike that killed the Iranian terrorist Gen. Qasem Soleimani and dissuaded Russia from invading Ukraine. Many, including myself, believe that Hamas would not have unleashed its barbarism and cruelty on Israel if Donald Trump was our president today. The reason is America’s enemies respect and, more importantly, fear Donald Trump’s judgment, strength, decisiveness, and courage. It is critical that America’s next leader have these attributes in the face of Hamas murdering innocent babies, old people, including Holocaust survivors, entire families; burning alive innocent people; raping women and young girls; and other unspeakable acts.
I urge my fellow Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to put their love for America above all else. I urge the Republican National Committee to end the Republican debates that only benefit ad makers and political consultants. They are unproductive and embarrassing.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is weakness, and stupidity.
“We Still Have an Iranian Mole Inside the Pentagon”
https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2023/11/13/we-still-have-an-iranian-mole-inside-the-pentagon-n592174
“You may recall a stunning report from September that looked into an infrequently discussed Pentagon group known as the Iran Experts Initiative. In it, we learned about one of Joe Biden’s Iranian “experts” who was probably far too much of an expert in this field. Ariane Tabatabai is an Iranian-born aide and chief of staff to a Pentagon Assistant Secretary of Defense. She initially worked alongside the now-suspended Robert Malley on Biden’s efforts to restart Obama’s Iran nuclear deal. But the September report suggests she was working far more on behalf of the Iranian regime than our government. Still, she managed to keep both her new job at the Pentagon and her security clearance. Today, a new report was delivered to Biden revealing that Tabatabai was up to other activities. She worked on a covert campaign to smear the leading opposition group in Iran in support of the Iranian regime. And yet she is somehow still embedded inside of the Pentagon. (NY Post)
An Iranian-born Pentagon aide, who was revealed earlier this year to be part of a years-long, Tehran-backed influence operation, also sought to undermine the leading group resisting the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to a new report delivered to President Biden.
Ariane Tabatabai has retained her security clearance and position as chief of staff to the Pentagon’s assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict — despite a bombshell Semafor report in September detailing her ties to senior Iranian Foreign Ministry officials.
But Tabatabai and founding members of the influence operation, known as the Iran Experts Initiative, were also engaged in a “covert campaign” to smear the nation’s leading opposition group, known as the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), according to a recent report endorsed by former vice presidential national security adviser Lincoln Bloomfield and written by a University of Baltimore professor.
Will this sway Joe Biden to finally take some action? I wouldn’t count on it. We already know that Biden has been bending over backward and shoveling billions of dollars to Iran, all in an effort to curry favor with them. He does this despite being fully aware that Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism on the planet and that’s where most of our money goes. That money is currently funding groups that are attacking American forces on a daily basis around the Middle East.
So why would he mind having someone working in his Pentagon who is a Mullah-loving activist who sought to undermine the opposition to the Iranian terror regime? Why wouldn’t he allow her to keep a very sensitive security clearance and retain access to some of our most classified information regarding our adversary that is working to wipe Israel from the face of the planet? She was working covertly to undercut the Mojahedin-e Khalq. They are one of the only groups in Iran that fight for the rights of the women and children oppressed by the Mullahs and the “morality police.”
No matter how badly this administration handles virtually every policy matter of importance, the Biden team still manages to shock me on a regular basis. I suppose it’s possible that this woman somehow flew under the radar during her initial background checks and slid into a position inside the government. But multiple people in the know, both at home and abroad have come out and flatly called her an Iranian spy. How much does it take to lose a security clearance these days? Will we be offering a position to Kim Jong-un’s sister next?”
—–
Here’s the original piece on the matter.
“Inside Iran’s influence operation”
https://www.semafor.com/article/09/25/2023/inside-irans-influence-operation
“In the spring of 2014, senior Iranian Foreign Ministry officials initiated a quiet effort to bolster Tehran’s image and positions on global security issues — particularly its nuclear program — by building ties with a network of influential overseas academics and researchers. They called it the Iran Experts Initiative.
The scope and scale of the IEI project has emerged in a large cache of Iranian government correspondence and emails reported for the first time by Semafor and Iran International. The officials, working under the moderate President Hassan Rouhani, congratulated themselves on the impact of the initiative. At least two of the people on the Foreign Ministry’s list were, or became, top aides to Robert Malley, the Biden administration’s special envoy on Iran, who was placed on leave this June following the suspension of his security clearance. A third was hired by the think tank Malley ran just as he left for the State Department.
The documents offer deep and unprecedented new insights into the thinking and inner workings of Iran’s Foreign Ministry at a crucial time in the nuclear diplomacy — even as Tehran’s portrayal of events is questioned, if not flatly denied, by others involved in the IEI. They show how Iran was capable of the kind of influence operations that the U.S. and its allies in the region often conduct.”
—
“Khatibzadeh wrote again a week later, on March 11, and said that he had gained support for the IEI from two young academics — Ariane Tabatabai and Dina Esfandiary — following a meeting with them in Prague. “We three agreed to be the core group of the IEI.”
Tabatabai currently serves in the Pentagon as the chief of staff for the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, a position that requires a U.S. government security clearance. She previously served as a diplomat on Malley’s Iran nuclear negotiating team after the Biden administration took office in 2021. Esfandiary is a senior advisor on the Middle East and North Africa at the International Crisis Group, a think tank that Malley headed from 2018-2021.
Tabatabai and Esfandiary didn’t respond to requests for comment on the IEI. Esfandiary’s current employer, the International Crisis Group, confirmed her participation in the initiative. But the Crisis Group, which promotes conflict resolution globally, said the IEI was an informal network of academics and researchers that wasn’t overseen by the Iranian Foreign Ministry and that it received funding from a European government and some European institutions, which they declined to identify.”
—-
Read the rest. It’s also another sign of how weak Republican “leaders” are for allowing this to go on.
LikeLiked by 1 person
More useless R’s….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ungrateful invaders.
LikeLike
Lather, rinse, repeat.
The media has obviously received their new talking points from the White House.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gee, whatever could it be….?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Haha. That’s funny.
“Except we aren’t “better off.”
It’s costs $100 to buy two bags of groceries.
It costs $80 for two people to have hamburgers / fries and a couple of beers at the pub.
It costs $50 – $100 to fill up your car.
No working class person’s wages have kept up with the inflation onslaught.
The stock market is stuck in a perpetual gain / loss cycle. The bond market is a mess. As result, retirees on pensions and fixed incomes are getting slaughtered.
New appliances – from toasters to furnaces – are barely affordable and don’t work as well as they used to because they’re hamstrung by bazillions of ridiculous regulations.
The housing market is a hot mess due to skyrocketing interest rates.
People are working two jobs or coming out of retirement to work and you all tout this as “job growth.”
The national debt terrifies everyone.
You’re describing a theoretical universe described by Ivy League professor who are 6 degrees of separation from the real world.
We live in the real world and it ain’t pretty.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
Challenge accepted.
The one lady is clearly not a fan.
LikeLiked by 1 person
HRW,
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well……
LikeLiked by 2 people
That is actually quite sad.
mumsee
LikeLike
Looks like the kid (aka Clark Kent) pulled it off.
*House Passes Johnson’s Plan to Avert Shutdown in Bipartisan Vote*
___________
You can’t always get what you want – but if you try sometimes, you get what you need.
-dj
LikeLike