WARNING: Explicit Language
Monday, August 14, 2023
Sunday, August 13, 2023
The Weaponization of Justice
August 13, 2023
The Weaponization of Justice
By Clarice Feldman
If you read nothing else this week, read Victor Davis Hanson’s article in American Greatness detailing how Obama began “the most radical revolutions” in our history. As legal matters -- the lawfare waged against former President Trump and the Department of Justice’s pussyfooting around the Biden bribery took this week’s center stage, it’s useful to note his remarks on the weaponization of justice in this country.
Here’s a sample:
Administrations and their efforts to stock the justice department with supporters come and go. But in the last decade the Left has viewed the Department of Justice as a political extension of the party -- whose unchecked power must properly be directed to hurt enemies and help friends. [snip]
Never in U.S. history have the Department of Justice and sympathetic state and local prosecutors indicted a leading opposition candidate and likely nominee of one of the two major parties, and at the beginning of a presidential campaign. Donald Trump is currently charged with nearly 100 felonies by at least two prosecutors. He likely eventually will be hit with more than- 500 indictments, from four prosecutors, every one of the latter with a long record of either leftwing associations or Democratic service.
The mass murderer Charles Manson faced less legal exposure. No one believes Trump would have been indicted on such counts -- most of them involving allegations from years past -- were he not running for President.
One count that Donald Trump is not charged with is bribery, or taking money while in office, a crime cited as impeachable in the Constitution and germane to the accusations that Joe Biden and his family raked in millions from foreign governments due to the improper use of his prior Vice Presidency. [snip]
Given such asymmetry in the application of the laws, conservative or even apolitical Americans are apprehensive that any political prominence will draw the attention of government in effort to either indict or bankrupt them with legal expenses.
The last four FBI Directors have either admitted they lied under oath, or preposterously under oath claimed ignorance or amnesia about events directly under their control. Or they simply stonewalled subpoenas and testimonies about alleged FBI crimes.
Saturday, August 12, 2023
Friday, August 11, 2023
Barack Obama Might Be The ‘Real’ President Of The United States
The most likely person serving as Biden’s brain (a dubious distinction, to be sure) is none other than Biden’s former boss, the forty-fourth president of the United States, Barack Obama.
By
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden participate in a video teleconference with the staffs of Embassy Baghdad and Consulates Erbil and Basrah, at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., Oct. 24, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.
Look at the staff who comprise Joe Biden’s presidential administration. Study the policies emanating from the Biden White House. Observe Joe Biden in public. It should be evident to any objective observer that the forty-sixth president is not running things in Washington today.
He’s just the figurehead for a much larger operation whose presence is felt everywhere but rarely seen.
The real question is who is pulling Biden’s malleable strings? Is it Communist China? Desperate Ukraine? His wife, Jill Biden?
The most likely person serving as Biden’s brain (a dubious distinction, to be sure) is none other than Biden’s former boss, the forty-fourth president of the United States, Barack Obama.
Obama’s Influence is Far and Wide in Biden’s White House
The Biden administration is staffed by Brack Obama retreads. It’s been reported that President Biden routinely speaks with his old boss. Their conversations are sweeping. Not just relegated to brief exchanges of pleasantries. Instead, the conversations are deep and over matters of policy.
Some in the press have ruefully remarked that Joe Biden’s first term as president is nothing more than Obama’s unofficial third term. There are few policies that Mr. Biden has implemented that have not come directly from the Obama playbook.
The turgid economy. America’s flailing about on the world stage. The massive societal upheavals primarily related to race and gender issues. A community organizer’s fingerprints are all over this current presidency as much as they were Obama’s.
If one wanted to have a clear understanding of the forces behind Biden’s shambolic presidency, one must look back to the start of Donald Trump’s presidency.
From the moment that Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election, the Obama political war machine went into full gear.
Why Barack Obama Went After Trump
Trump was a direct threat to Obama’s legacy. Any other Republican presidential nominee would have, on some level, preserved aspects of Obama’s legacy.
Not Trump. After all, he wasn’t a member of the establishment.
Obama understood that Trump was something totally different. With Hillary out of the picture, Obama moved quickly to protect his presidential legacy and pave the way for the restoration of the Democratic Party’s power (which had died, in part, because of his abysmal leadership).
The forty-fourth president picked up where Hillary Clinton had left off. First, he poison-pilled the Senior Executive Service by converting a large number of his political appointees into members of the civil service.
These individuals were in key positions throughout the bureaucracy to sap the incoming forty-fifth president’s ability to get anything done. They would swamp and mar Trump’s nascent presidency with controversy long enough to allow for the Democrats to regain their footing politically after their stunning 2016 defeat.
Taking the Christopher Steele memo claiming that Russian intelligence had compromising materials on Donald Trump (a document that the Clinton Campaign had paid for), the Obama cadre used this false document as the basis for their first wave of attacks against President Donald Trump.
As the pressure surrounding the Russia collusion accusations mounted, a bevy of smaller controversies, some created by Trump’s own actions, many brought about by those aforementioned poison pill hires, erupted to further undermine Trump.
In an unorthodox move, the Obamas opted to remain living in Washington, D.C., after their two terms in the White House had ended. Just a few blocks away from the White House was where the Obamas landed. In a posh neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C. named Kalorama.
Obama’s Shadow Government
From there, Barack Obama effectively led a shadow government. His old consigliere, Valerie Jarrett, remained a fixture in the Obama’s home for much of the Trump Administration.
Throughout the chaos of the Trump years, an assortment of Obama era government staff made regular treks up to the Obama mansion in northwest D.C.
This revolving door of Barack Obama era notables would spend time with former President Obama and then sojourn over to the Washington studios of one of the mainstream media networks to disseminate a devastating round of attacks upon then-President Trump—a further attempt to stymie Trump from effectively implementing his agenda.
It all came to a crescendo with the 2020 Presidential Election. Once the Democratic Party’s primary got underway, most had assumed that Obama’s former vice-president, Joe Biden, would be the nominee.
But his struggles in the early stages of the campaign left much to be desired. Obama himself had spoken about Kamala Harris, who was running against Biden for the nomination, in ways that made it sound as though he were favoring her.
Once Biden was the nominee, Obama played a behind-the-scenes role in orchestrating Biden’s deal with Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) and Joe Biden in the run-up to the South Carolina Primary in 2020. That was the deal which saw Clyburn, a widely respected icon of the Civil Rights movement, endorse Biden, thereby getting large numbers of African-Americans to vote overwhelmingly for Biden.
In exchange, Biden vowed to place a woman of color (Kamala Harris) on the ticket as his running-mate.
Obama’s Third Term
After Biden became president, Obama’s closest aides became Biden’s top picks for key government roles. Interestingly, Obama himself told late-night comedian in 2015, Stephen Colbert, that his ideal situation for being president would be to have all the power but from behind-the-scenes; to have a figurehead managing all the day-to-day trappings of the White House while he just focused on policy.
Well, that’s exactly what he’s getting with empty-headed Joe Biden operating as his stand-in, while Obama’s former staff members execute former President Obama’s wishes from within the White House. The Republicans—specifically, Trump—got played by Obama.
Now, we’re all having to live through his disastrous third term.
A 19FortyFive Senior Editor, Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, as well as at American Greatness and the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower (Republic Book Publishers), Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (Encounter Books), and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (July 23). Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Look at the staff who comprise Joe Biden’s presidential administration. Study the policies emanating from the Biden White House. Observe Joe Biden in public. It should be evident to any objective observer that the forty-sixth president is not running things in Washington today.
He’s just the figurehead for a much larger operation whose presence is felt everywhere but rarely seen.
The real question is who is pulling Biden’s malleable strings? Is it Communist China? Desperate Ukraine? His wife, Jill Biden?
The most likely person serving as Biden’s brain (a dubious distinction, to be sure) is none other than Biden’s former boss, the forty-fourth president of the United States, Barack Obama.
Obama’s Influence is Far and Wide in Biden’s White House
The Biden administration is staffed by Brack Obama retreads. It’s been reported that President Biden routinely speaks with his old boss. Their conversations are sweeping. Not just relegated to brief exchanges of pleasantries. Instead, the conversations are deep and over matters of policy.
Some in the press have ruefully remarked that Joe Biden’s first term as president is nothing more than Obama’s unofficial third term. There are few policies that Mr. Biden has implemented that have not come directly from the Obama playbook.
The turgid economy. America’s flailing about on the world stage. The massive societal upheavals primarily related to race and gender issues. A community organizer’s fingerprints are all over this current presidency as much as they were Obama’s.
If one wanted to have a clear understanding of the forces behind Biden’s shambolic presidency, one must look back to the start of Donald Trump’s presidency.
From the moment that Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election, the Obama political war machine went into full gear.
Why Barack Obama Went After Trump
Trump was a direct threat to Obama’s legacy. Any other Republican presidential nominee would have, on some level, preserved aspects of Obama’s legacy.
Not Trump. After all, he wasn’t a member of the establishment.
Obama understood that Trump was something totally different. With Hillary out of the picture, Obama moved quickly to protect his presidential legacy and pave the way for the restoration of the Democratic Party’s power (which had died, in part, because of his abysmal leadership).
The forty-fourth president picked up where Hillary Clinton had left off. First, he poison-pilled the Senior Executive Service by converting a large number of his political appointees into members of the civil service.
These individuals were in key positions throughout the bureaucracy to sap the incoming forty-fifth president’s ability to get anything done. They would swamp and mar Trump’s nascent presidency with controversy long enough to allow for the Democrats to regain their footing politically after their stunning 2016 defeat.
Taking the Christopher Steele memo claiming that Russian intelligence had compromising materials on Donald Trump (a document that the Clinton Campaign had paid for), the Obama cadre used this false document as the basis for their first wave of attacks against President Donald Trump.
As the pressure surrounding the Russia collusion accusations mounted, a bevy of smaller controversies, some created by Trump’s own actions, many brought about by those aforementioned poison pill hires, erupted to further undermine Trump.
In an unorthodox move, the Obamas opted to remain living in Washington, D.C., after their two terms in the White House had ended. Just a few blocks away from the White House was where the Obamas landed. In a posh neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C. named Kalorama.
Obama’s Shadow Government
From there, Barack Obama effectively led a shadow government. His old consigliere, Valerie Jarrett, remained a fixture in the Obama’s home for much of the Trump Administration.
Throughout the chaos of the Trump years, an assortment of Obama era government staff made regular treks up to the Obama mansion in northwest D.C.
This revolving door of Barack Obama era notables would spend time with former President Obama and then sojourn over to the Washington studios of one of the mainstream media networks to disseminate a devastating round of attacks upon then-President Trump—a further attempt to stymie Trump from effectively implementing his agenda.
It all came to a crescendo with the 2020 Presidential Election. Once the Democratic Party’s primary got underway, most had assumed that Obama’s former vice-president, Joe Biden, would be the nominee.
But his struggles in the early stages of the campaign left much to be desired. Obama himself had spoken about Kamala Harris, who was running against Biden for the nomination, in ways that made it sound as though he were favoring her.
Once Biden was the nominee, Obama played a behind-the-scenes role in orchestrating Biden’s deal with Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) and Joe Biden in the run-up to the South Carolina Primary in 2020. That was the deal which saw Clyburn, a widely respected icon of the Civil Rights movement, endorse Biden, thereby getting large numbers of African-Americans to vote overwhelmingly for Biden.
In exchange, Biden vowed to place a woman of color (Kamala Harris) on the ticket as his running-mate.
Obama’s Third Term
After Biden became president, Obama’s closest aides became Biden’s top picks for key government roles. Interestingly, Obama himself told late-night comedian in 2015, Stephen Colbert, that his ideal situation for being president would be to have all the power but from behind-the-scenes; to have a figurehead managing all the day-to-day trappings of the White House while he just focused on policy.
Well, that’s exactly what he’s getting with empty-headed Joe Biden operating as his stand-in, while Obama’s former staff members execute former President Obama’s wishes from within the White House. The Republicans—specifically, Trump—got played by Obama.
Now, we’re all having to live through his disastrous third term.
A 19FortyFive Senior Editor, Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, as well as at American Greatness and the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower (Republic Book Publishers), Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (Encounter Books), and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (July 23). Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Thursday, August 10, 2023
COVID-19: New strain spreading across UK designated 'variant of interest' by WHO
EG.5 - descended from the Omicron variant of COVID - has been detected in 51 countries and is growing in prevalence globally, including in the UK, US and China.
Thursday 10 August 2023 08:21, UK
Image:Coronavirus. File pic
A new fast-spreading COVID strain has been designated a "variant of interest" by the World Health Organisation.
EG.5 is descended from the Omicron variant of coronavirus and is growing in prevalence globally, including in the UK, US and China.
It has been detected in 51 countries in total, including South Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, France, Portugal and Spain.
In the week beginning 19 June, one in 13 cases were down to the COVID variant.
The latest data suggests it now accounts for 17.4% of cases - one in six - which the WHO described as a "notable rise".
However, it said the public health risk posed by EG.5 has been judged as low.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead on COVID-19, said EG.5 has an increased transmissibility but is not more severe than other Omicron variants.
"Collectively, available evidence does not suggest that EG.5 has additional public health risks relative to the other currently circulating Omicron descendent lineages," the WHO said in a risk evaluation.
"While EG.5 has shown increased prevalence, growth advantage, and immune escape properties, there have been no reported changes in disease severity to date," it added.
EG.5 includes subvariant EG.5.1 - which T. Ryan Gregory, a biology professor, has nicknamed "Eris" in posts on social media.
Last week, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said EG.5.1 now makes up one in seven new cases in the UK.
A new fast-spreading COVID strain has been designated a "variant of interest" by the World Health Organisation.
EG.5 is descended from the Omicron variant of coronavirus and is growing in prevalence globally, including in the UK, US and China.
It has been detected in 51 countries in total, including South Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, France, Portugal and Spain.
In the week beginning 19 June, one in 13 cases were down to the COVID variant.
The latest data suggests it now accounts for 17.4% of cases - one in six - which the WHO described as a "notable rise".
However, it said the public health risk posed by EG.5 has been judged as low.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead on COVID-19, said EG.5 has an increased transmissibility but is not more severe than other Omicron variants.
"Collectively, available evidence does not suggest that EG.5 has additional public health risks relative to the other currently circulating Omicron descendent lineages," the WHO said in a risk evaluation.
"While EG.5 has shown increased prevalence, growth advantage, and immune escape properties, there have been no reported changes in disease severity to date," it added.
EG.5 includes subvariant EG.5.1 - which T. Ryan Gregory, a biology professor, has nicknamed "Eris" in posts on social media.
Last week, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said EG.5.1 now makes up one in seven new cases in the UK.
Tuesday, August 08, 2023
The China Wars. Chapter 14 - Peter Zeihan
The China Wars. China's Unnatural Rise to Global Power.
A Cabal Created Power. Peter Zeihan
Jul 12, 2023
The Problems of China due to Natural Geography is the Reason the CCP believes they MUST Invade and Possess America.
Saturday, August 05, 2023
Pope visits Portuguese shrine known for apocalyptic prophesy linked to Russia as war rages on
Fatima is known for apocalyptic prophecies of hell, peace and Soviet communism that have found new relevance with Russia’s war in Ukraine
Pope Francis addresses the faithful after praying the rosary at the Catholic holy shrine of Fatima, in central Portugal, Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023.GREGORIO BORGIA (AP)
Fatima, Portugal - AUG 05, 2023 - 15:30 EDT
Pope Francis visited the Portuguese town of Fatima on Saturday to pray for peace at a shrine known for apocalyptic prophesies of hell, peace and Soviet communism that have found new relevance with Russia’s war in Ukraine.
But for the third time of his trip to Portugal for World Youth Day, Francis ditched his prepared remarks and didn’t even recite a prayer written for the occasion pleading for peace. The prayer had been expected to be a highlight of Francis’ visit to Fatima, given the shrine’s century-old affiliation with exhortations of peace and conversion in Russia.
Francis instead “prayed silently for peace, with pain,” while meditating for a long period before a statue of the Virgin Mary, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. And the Vatican later tweeted the prayer.
The unusual morning unfolded at the shrine where, according to legend, three young peasant children in 1917 saw visions of the Madonna. The apparitions turned the small town nestled in the fields of vineyards, olive groves and fruit orchards north of Lisbon into one of the most popular Marian pilgrimage sites in the world, drawing millions of visitors each year.
On Saturday, an estimated 200,000 turned out for Francis’ visit, packing the central esplanade long before the red-tinted moon set and the sun rose. Nearby wildfires turned the sky smoky black and sent ash snowing down on the crowd.
Francis’ visit marked a side trip from his main program in Lisbon to preside over the World Youth Day Catholic festival. The featured protagonists in Fatima were also young, including some young people with disabilities who read aloud prayers and young inmates who were allowed to attend. Babies were out in force, as parents offered them up to Francis to bless as he looped through the crowd in his popemobile.
“We are here with great joy,” said Maria Florido, a 24-year-old Spaniard who also saw Francis in Lisbon. “We woke up very early to come here and see the pope ... and we’re here with great enthusiasm.”
The Fatima story dates back to 1917, when according to tradition, Portuguese siblings Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their cousin Lucia said the Virgin Mary appeared to them six times and confided to them three secrets. The first two described an apocalyptic image of hell, foretold the end of World War I and the start of World War II, and portended the rise and fall of Soviet communism.
In 2000, the Vatican disclosed the long-awaited third secret, describing it as foretelling the May 13, 1981, assassination attempt against St. John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square, which fell on the anniversary of the original vision.
According to later writings by Lucia, who became a nun and died in 2005, Russia would be converted and peace would reign if the pope and all the bishops of the world consecrated Russia to the “Immaculate Heart of Mary.” Lucia later claimed that John Paul fulfilled that prophecy during a 1984 Mass, even though he never specified Russia in the prayer.
Fatima has long captivated Catholics, because of its blending of mystical, Marian apparitions, apocalyptic prophesies about the rise and fall of Soviet communism and the death of a pope. While Saturday’s wildfires and related ashfall were easily explained, they also harked back to another element of the Fatima phenomenon, an unusual weather phenomenon known as the “Miracle of the Sun.”
According to legend, on Oct. 13, 1917, the Fatima “seers” predicted that the Virgin would perform a miracle that day, and tens of thousands of people flocked to Fatima. They saw what witnesses reported was a vision of the sun “spinning” in the sky and zigzagging toward Earth.
Francis’ visit to Fatima fell on the anniversary of another odd weather phenomenon at a Marian church closely related to Fatima: According to that church legend, on Aug. 5, 1655, it actually snowed outside St. Mary Major basilica in Rome, where Francis always goes to pray before an icon of Mary at the end of each trip.
Vatican Media had said before the trip that Francis would pray for peace in Ukraine and the world while in Fatima. It seemed logical, given Francis had already consecrated both Russia and Ukraine to Mary in a prayer for peace following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, essentially fulfilling Sr. Lucia’s exhortation.
In the prayer tweeted by the @Pontifex account but not read aloud, Francis didn’t name either country but consecrated the church and world, “especially those countries at war,” to Mary. “Open paths where it seems that none exist,” he wrote. “Loosen the tangles of self-centeredness and the snares of power.”
Fatima Bishop Jose Ornelas made a prayer for Ukraine explicit in his remarks. “We associate ourselves to Your Holiness’ prayer for peace, for which this sanctuary is profoundly identified, thinking in particular of the war in Ukraine and so many other conflicts in the world,” he said.
In explaining the changes, Vatican spokesman Bruni said Francis “always addresses firstly the people he meets, as a shepherd, and speaks accordingly.” The 86-year-old Francis often deviates from his prepared remarks, even more when speaking in his native Spanish. Bruni denied the changes had any other serious reason, including with his eyesight.
Francis has been hospitalized twice this year, including in June when he spent nine days in the hospital recovering from abdominal surgery to repair a hernia and remove scar tissue on his intestine. Saturday was perhaps the most grueling day of his five-day visit to Portugal, given the round-trip helicopter ride to Fatima and a planned prayer vigil that wasn’t expected to begin until his usual bedtime in Rome.
To give him more rest before the vigil, the Vatican planned to move up an afternoon encounter with his fellow Jesuits, Bruni said.
On Sunday morning, Francis is to preside over a final, outdoor Mass – on a day when temperatures in Lisbon are expected to top 40 degrees C (104F) – before returning to the Vatican.
Friday, August 04, 2023
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