Sic Semper Tyrannis

Happy New Year Australia - 2020

We Were Warned About the Deep State, but Refused to Listen by Larry C Johnson

Many of the critical tools employed in the coup to paint Donald Trump as a tool of the Russians and to manufacture a pretext for removing him from office, were created more than twenty years ago. I am talking about the surveillance state that the American electorate has ignorantly accepted as necessary in order to keep us safe from terrorists. Despite previous warning from whistleblowers like Russ Tice, Bill Binney, Ed Loomis and Kird Wiebe, no action to rein in the surveillance monster was taken until Edward Snowden absconded with the documents exposing the vast amount spying that the U.S. Government is doing to its own citizens. But even those weak efforts to supposedly rein in the NSA proved to be nothing more than mere window dressing.

The spying got worse. Just ask Donald Trump and the members of his campaign that were targeted first by the CIA and NSA and then by the FBI. Fundamental civil rights were trampled.

The real irony in all of this is that Barack Obama, as President, took credit for helping revise the laws in order to prevent the spying exposed by Edward Snowden. But under the Obama Administration, spying on political opponents--both real and perceived--escalated. We know for a fact that journalists, such as James Rosen and Sheryl Atkinson, were targets and their communications and computers attacked by the U.S. Government.

We know, thanks to a memo released by Judge Rosemary Collyer, that "FBI consultants" were making illegal searches of NSA material using the names of Donald Trump, his family and members of his campaign staff.

Lesson for today - Shoot back at the nuts!

"Many Democrats and liberal media figures sneer at the “good guy with a gun” narrative when it comes to the debate over gun control, dismissing it as a myth clung to by Bible-thumping rednecks. Yet, if there was ever a single incident to remind us just how wrong they are, it’s the tragic church shooting that was thankfully stopped in its tracks on Sunday.

An armed intruder interrupted a morning service at West Freeway Church of Christ near Fort Worth, Texas, disrupting the ceremony and shooting several worshiping Christians. At least two people are dead as a result, including the suspect, and one injured.

But things could have been much, much worse. Two armed people attending the service intervened and shot the attacker in his tracks after just seconds, undoubtedly saving many lives."   Washington Examiner

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/thank-the-second-amendment-texas-church-shooting-stopped-in-its-tracks-by-armed-hero

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"Hours after a knife-wielding man barged into a Hanukkah party in a New York suburb, stabbing five people, top officials condemned the crime as part of a disturbing trend. New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo called it "domestic terrorism," linking it to the recent spate of violence against Jewish people in New York.

Anti-Semitic attacks are on the rise around the country, leaving members of the Jewish community feeling frightened and unsafe. In New York City, anti-Semitic crimes have jumped 21 percent in the past year."  Washpost

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/acts-of-anti-semitism-are-on-the-rise-in-new-york-and-elsewhere-leaving-jewish-community-rattled/2019/12/29/f8c20578-2a7e-11ea-bcb3-ac6482c4a92f_story.html

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Well, pilgrims, the lesson contained in these two incidents seems clear to this old troglodyte.  These extremely orthodox Jewish folks were gathered together in their distinctive apparel to celebrate Hanukkah.  The door bell rings.  Someone goes to the door perhaps expecting another celebrant in side curls and funny hat.  Instead, there stood an African American man with a bushy beard and a big knife.  Unhappy with Jewish people for some reason, he proceeds to try to stab all present that he can reach and then flees into the street.

The same day down in Texas in a suburb of Ft. Worth, curiously called "White Settlement" another nut job suddenly produces a weapon from concealment and starts to shoot up the congregation.

Within seconds two congregants draw pistols and shoot him dead.end of attack.

It would seem to me that, however bad both incidents were, the second outcome is preferable.  N.B. that the New York killer was armed with a knife.  If any of the Jews had been armed with a gun this man could have been stopped before he got very far in his mad attack.

Think it over.  pl

Idlib battle footage - TTG

ANNA News has some excellent footage of recent combat in Idlib. It shows some 25th Special Mission Forces Division units on the attack. You get a good feel for the nature of the combat with small, combined arms units operating over fairly open terrain. Note the centrality of light infantry even in what can be best considered tank country. Note that this light infantry is unburdened by a 100 pounds of high speed gear, body armor or even helmets. I can relate to that. Note also the extensive jihadi trench works and underground shelters facing that light infantry. The 25th makes good use of various direct fire supporting weapons as well as artillery and aerial support. 

Bad weather is grounding/limiting Russian and Syrian air support for a few days. The 25th has paused their offensive while it rests and resupplies before continuing their attacks. The 5th Corps and Liwa Al Quds are keeping the pressure on the jihadis. The SAA goal is to take both Ma’arat Al-Nu’man and Saraqib to the north. Saraqib is at the critical junction of the M4 and M5 highways.

TTG

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/never-before-seen-battle-footage-from-syrian-army-offensive-in-southeast-idlib/ 

The Space News We're Excited About in 2020 - Gizmodo

(Artemis return booster)

"It’s time to look ahead to the coming year and all things that will be happening in space exploration. With new missions to Mars, a probe returning to Earth with samples taken from an asteroid, and even more batches of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites going into orbit, it’s going to be another fascinating year.

We’ll learn if NASA is returning to the Moon in 2024

Earlier this year, the Trump Administration accelerated the timeline for returning Americans to the Moon. The space agency was told, in rather blunt terms, that the Artemis lunar mission has to be done by 2024, but Congress raised serious concerns about this rather aggressive deadline."  Gizmodo

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Looks like a great year in space.  This compendium of the year's prospective activities should be helpful.  What role the new Space Force will play in all this is yet to be known.  Trump is not a visionary.  I suspect that his willingness to create a new US armed service implies the possession by the US of a lot of hardware and capability that has not yet been revealed to the public.  pl

https://gizmodo.com/the-space-news-were-excited-about-in-2020-1840538237

SAA at the gates of Ma’arat Al-Nu’man - TTG

BEIRUT, LEBANON (12:20 A.M.) – The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) continued their advance in the southeastern countryside of the Idlib Governorate this evening, as their troops seized more ground from the jihadist rebels. Led by the 25th Special Mission Forces Division (formerly Tiger Forces), the Syrian Arab Army has announced the capture of Al-Ghadfah after advancing north of Jarjanaz and east of Khirbat Ma’ratah in southeastern Idlib.

At the same time, the Syrian Army’s 5th Corps is still pushing northwest towards the Idlib-Hama Highway as they look to isolate another Turkish observation post in the Idlib Governorate.

As a result of these latest advances, the Syrian Arab Army now finds themselves approaching the gates of Ma’arat Al-Nu’man, which is a major city along the Idlib-Hama Highway.

In the coming hours, the Syrian Arab Army will attempt to capture the last remaining towns and villages under militant control before they begin the encirclement of Ma’arat Al-Nu’man. (Al Masdar News)

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The SAA has been preparing for an offensive to take Ma’arat Al-Nu’man for several weeks at least. In addition to the 25th Division, the 5th Corps and Liwaa Al-Quds are spearheading the offensive along with a host of supporting troops and militia units. Enough mass, I believe, to sustain the offensive until victory is achieved.

Just prior to the start of the SAA offensive, the jihadis of HTS launched their own offensive, a spoiling attack. The gamble did not pay off. The jihadis were able to advance in the first few hours, but were then beaten back… badly. Jihadi losses were around two hundred KIA/WIA along with a lot of equipment. These losses left the jihadis ill prepared to face the SAA offensive. Jihadi defensive positions, already shattered by weeks of aerial and artillery bombardment, fell quickly all along the front. In four days of fighting, the SAA took 35 towns and villages.

This will be a decisive victory with Damascus regaining control over most of the M5 and a good part of Idlib governorate. The Turks will probably have to relocate two, if not three, of their OPs.

In the meantime, Christmas celebrations continue in Aleppo.

Through the efforts and sacrifices of the SAA, these scenes will one day be possible throughout Syria. FIDO, my brothers, FIDO!

TTG

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-nearly-at-the-gates-of-maarat-al-numan-in-southeast-idlib/

https://southfront.org/russian-military-200-militants-killed-wounded-in-southern-idlib-clashes/

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-scores-another-big-advance-in-southeast-idlib-3-towns-captured/

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-completes-encirclement-of-turkish-military-post-in-southeast-idlib/

Happy Chanukah!

pl

Shia orphan chorus singing "Silent Night in a Beirut church

"La chorale des orphelines de la Fondation de l’Imam Moussa al-Sadr venue chanter Noel à l’église Saint-Elie de Beyrouth en est la parfaite illustration. Ce spectacle, a priori anodin, peut représenter un exemple à suivre pour les autres pays, notamment en Europe, où malgré les vaines tentatives de formatage artificiel des esprits, les uns et les autres vivent dans une méfiance réciproque sans cesse grandissante."   claudeelkhal blogspot

 

http://claudeelkhal.blogspot.com/2016/12/le-liban-cest-ca-aussi-une-chorale.html?

The Afghanistan Papers - TTG

“A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.”

“The documents were generated by a federal project examining the root failures of the longest armed conflict in U.S. history. They include more than 2,000 pages of previously unpublished notes of interviews with people who played a direct role in the war, from generals and diplomats to aid workers and Afghan officials.”

“The U.S. government tried to shield the identities of the vast majority of those interviewed for the project and conceal nearly all of their remarks. The Post won release of the documents under the Freedom of Information Act after a three-year legal battle.”

“In the interviews, more than 400 insiders offered unrestrained criticism of what went wrong in Afghanistan and how the United States became mired in nearly two decades of warfare. With a bluntness rarely expressed in public, the interviews lay bare pent-up complaints, frustrations and confessions, along with second-guessing and backbiting.” (WaPo)

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Thus begins “The Afghanistan Papers: A secret history of the war,” a six part investigation put together by a team led by Craig Whitlock. Access to the first two parts and all the interview documents is available at the Washington Post without a paywall or article limitation. It took the Post three years and two lawsuits to get their hands on the interviews and records of the Congressional created Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). I found the scope of the deception and incompetence to be eye opening. Not unbelievable, just eye opening in its scope. Unfortunately, there was not a lot of coverage of this story outside of the WaPo series. It was lost in the waves of impeachment coverage.

I found the interview of Michael Flynn to be typical of the candid exasperation of those interviewed. By 2006 Flynn realized the war was useless. He said only a handful of US military and policy people could speak Dari or Pashto after years of war and that rosy assessments from operational commanders and policy people based on numbers and stats were produced at all levels. 

He’s right, except not everyone thought the war was useless by 2006. I was the Chief of our Afghan Task Force for a six month period that year. The detachment chiefs in country were still pretty optimistic, lured by the siren song of counterrorism. Of course we were expanding our presence back then. Maybe we did turn one of the never ending series of corners. But in a year or two, we would begin pulling back towards Bagram. After several years at war, we were still totally reliant on interpreters in both Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s shameful. There was a time when failure to operate in the host country and/or target country language would mean a quick trip back to become a lowly CONUS case officer. Assessments based on numbers and stats… welcome to PowerPoint nation. The Six Sigma mindset was rampant among our “management.” That gimmicky mindset is applicable to manufacturing widgets, not creating intelligence and foreign policy or fighting a war. No wonder we never had a clue in Afghanistan.

WHY WE PERSIST

The origin of the war was vengeance, pure and simple. Without the quick capture or killing of bin Laden, our vengeance was never fully satisfied. The eventual killing of bin Laden after waiting so many years didn’t satisfy our vengeance. It was too late. Our vengeance shriveled into boredom and indifference.

Since the generals and politicians couldn’t officially acknowledge that we went into Afghanistan seeking revenge, they offered a succession of reasons for being there from “fighting them there so we don’t have to fight them here” to fighting a full blown counterinsurgency and building a new Afghanistan and finally to bringing opportunity to young Afghan women. All these things we did in a half assed manner. We were never asked to pay the full price and make the WWII-like sacrifice to meet any of these goals so our boredom and indifference flourished.

THE FUTURE

Candidate Trump indicated very early on that he intended to withdraw from Afghanistan. Unfortunately, he soon succumbed to his advisors and generals advice of increasing troop strength in 2017 as part of a surge strategy. This makes him no better or worse than his two predecessors who succumbed to the same kind of advice.

However Trump has recently restarted negotiations with the Taliban and has renewed his pledged to remove several thousand troops. "We're going down to 8,600 [from the 12,000 and 13,000 US troops now there] and then we make a determination from there as to what happens," Trump told Fox last August. "We're bringing it down." Of course the drawdown will be seen by the neocons as a unilateral concession to the Taliban. That shouldn’t phase Trump. I think he plans to reannounce this withdrawal next month. DoD officials have said that the smaller US military presence will be largely focused on counterterrorism operations against groups like al Qaeda and IS, and that the military's ability to train and advise local Afghan forces will be reduced considerably. Sounds like they’re still looking for a reason to stay.

Trump can break the cycle. He holds no ideological conviction for staying in Afghanistan. If he could get over his BDS (Bezos derangement syndrome), he could seize this Washington Post series, or at least the SIGAR lessons learned reports, and trumpet them through his twitter feed and helicopter talks. I believe he alone can generate a public cry for getting the hell out of Afghanistan and carry through with that action no matter how much his generals scream about it. But without a loud public outcry, especially from his base, Trump has no incentive to break the cycle. So all you deplorables better start hootin’ and hollerin’. Hopefully enough SJWs will join you to pump up the volume.

TTG

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/

The Ghost of FISA warrants past visits Judge Collyer

In the spirit of Adam Schiff's parody of the transcript of  Trump's ill conceived (and executed) phone call to Zelensky I offer this version of an imagined visit by the Ghost of FISA warrants past to Judge Rosemary Collyer, head of the FISA court panel of judges.  Her term was to expire in March but she has apparently decided to return to the District Court of the District of Columbia before that.  pl

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The Ghost - Rosemary! Rosemary! You have been a naughty girl!   You knew the Steele Dossier was opposition research!  You knew it and you still granted those crooks at DoJ and the FBI a surveillance warrant on that pathetic creature Carter Page.  You knew the whole thing was a sham.  You knew it!  Now the chickens are coming home to roost! (H Rap Brown reference from the 60s)  You published a letter saying they should be better boys and girls at the FBI.  They did not like that and Lou Dobbs told millions that you are a phony.  Then you sent out another letter demanding "accountability" for those who lied to you and deceived you.  Now the FBI is really angry.  Do you think that they will not tell the truth to save themselves?  How are they different from you?  They will follow you back to the DC District court.  They will follow ...  I am sorry but I will have tell the nuns at Trinity University about this, so sad.

Rosemary - So what!  Trinity has been declared a Trump Free Zone!  I will be praised for my courage in being an early adherent to The Resistance.  I will be appointed to more boards there.  I might even be a graduation speaker.  Let's see, my talk can focus  on the perfidy of  anyone like Kelly Ann Conway who IS NOT in The Resistance.  She is a Trinity alumna you know.

The Ghost - This may work out for you.  If a Democrat is elected this time there may be a SCOTUS seat in it for you.  Those old geezers can't last forever.  Sleep well your honor.

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In the interest of full exposure, I know Judge Collyer slightly having testified several times in her DC district court as an expert in a habeas corpus case involving a Gitmo prisoner whom I thought had been framed by Central Asian police and handed over to the US as an Al-Qa'ida official.  I thought and still think that the aforesaid police were just trying to get rid of someone to whom they owed money. 

When I first entered her court she remarked that I looked like a stereotypical colonel, a British colonel actually.  I thanked her.  In the course of the hearing she spoke to me in chambers to say that she was under  a lot of pressure from "people who wanted this prisoner kept at Guantanamo."  I said that I had thought she was appointed for life.  She did not respond to that.

So far as I know the prisoner is still at Guantanamo.

BTW, Rosemary and SWMBO were educated by the same order of nuns.  pl

https://www.eurasiareview.com/20122019-fisa-judge-rips-into-fbi-demands-action-oped/

http://www.allgov.com/news/appointments-and-resignations/presiding-judge-of-the-foreign-intelligence-surveillance-court-who-is-rosemary-collyer-170209?news=860072

"Ornament of the World" PBS

This is an excellent narrative of the 'Ummayad Caliphate of Cordoba which ruled for so long what are now Spain, Portugal and the Balearic Islands as al-andalus.  i recommend it to all.  pl

https://www.pbs.org/show/ornament-world/

Did John Brennan's CIA Create Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks? by Larry C Johnson

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report insists that Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks were created by Russia's military intelligence organization, the GRU, as part of a Russian plot to meddle in the U.S. 2016 Presidential Election. But this is a lie. Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks were created by Brennan's CIA and this action by the CIA should be a target of U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation. Let me explain why.

Let us start with the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment aka ICA. Only three agencies of the 17 in the U.S. intelligence community contributed to and coordinated on the ICA--the FBI, the CIA and NSA. In the preamble to the ICA, you can read the following explanation about methodology:

When Intelligence Community analysts use words such as “we assess” or “we judge,” they are conveying an analytic assessment or judgment

To be clear, the phrase,“We assess”, is intel community jargon for “opinion”. If there was actual evidence or source material for a judgment the writer of the assessment would state, "According to a reliable source" or "knowledgeable source" or "documentary evidence."

Pay close attention to what the analysts writing the ICA stated about the GRU and Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks: 

We assess with high confidence that the GRU used the Guccifer 2.0 persona, DCLeaks.com, and WikiLeaks to release US victim data obtained in cyber operations publicly and in exclusives to media outlets. 

• • Guccifer 2.0, who claimed to be an independent Romanian hacker, made multiple contradictory statements and false claims about his likely Russian identity throughout the election. Press reporting suggests more than one person claiming to be Guccifer 2.0 interacted with journalists.
  • Content that we assess was taken from e-mail accounts targeted by the GRU in March 2016 appeared on DCLeaks.com starting in June.

We assess with high confidence that the GRU relayed material it acquired from the DNC and senior Democratic officials to WikiLeaks. Moscow most likely chose WikiLeaks because of its self-proclaimed reputation for authenticity. Disclosures through WikiLeaks did not contain any evident forgeries.

Not one piece of corroborating intelligence. It is all based on opinion and strong belief. There was no human source report or electronic intercept pointing to a relationship between the GRU and the two alleged creations of the GRU--Guccifer 2.0 persona and DCLeaks.com.

Provoking a War with Russia? by Larry C Johnson

The anti-Russian insanity that dominates the politics of America is dangerous, stupid and detached from facts. Two news items from Wednesday (December 18th) should scare the hell out of you.

The first concerns Russia's Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, which is nearing completion and will deliver gas to Europe. According to Reuters:

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed legislation to slap sanctions on companies building a massive underwater pipeline to bring Russian natural gas to Germany, but it was uncertain whether the measures would slow completion of the project. 

Senator Jim Risch, a Republican and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the sanctions will prevent the project’s completion and are an “important tool to counter Russia’s malign influence and to protect the integrity of Europe’s energy sector.”

Nord Stream 2, led by state-owned Gazprom, would allow Russia to bypass Poland and Ukraine to deliver gas under the Baltic Sea to Germany. U.S. lawmakers say Ukraine could lose billions of dollars in transit fees if it is built.

This is not the fault of the Democrats. This is being driven by Republicans, with Senator Ted Cruz leading the charge.

RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP 19 DECEMBER 2019 by Patrick Armstrong

PARIS MEETING. It happened but nothing much happened. Agreed to a ceasefire and to uphold Minsk. But Zelensky can't deliver: the Ukronazis amuse themselves by popping off rounds into towns in Donbass and Kiev refuses to take the next step: local elections in the rebel areas (Number 4). Nothing suggests that Macron pushed anything, although Zelensky wasn't able to make Number 9 into the next step. The EU extended sanctions; they include a demand for the "complete implementation of the Minsk agreements". If Macron had been serious about bettering EU-Russia relations, he would have had his representative object because Russia has no obligations under Minsk; if he didn't already know that, he learned it at the meeting. So, thus far, no evidence that his actions comport with his words.

PUTIN PRESS CONFERENCE. (Eng) (Rus) I'll say more next time if anything strikes me. Haven't seen anything new so far. Again, lots of details, mostly internal.

SHADOW ECONOMY. I had thought that the imposition of the flat income tax rate of 13% in 2001 had pretty well eliminated the problem of the "grey economy". But a recent study, comparing statistics on taxpayers against the number working, suggests that the "shadow economy" might be as high as 18% of the total workforce. I'm not convinced by that number: some people make too little to pay tax; added to which, given that there are proposals to raise the level from 13%, this study may be part of that discussion because it says that, were the non-payers to be captured, the tax rate could be cut to 11%. So that number might too high but it's something to keep an eye on.

LUZHKOV. Yuriy Luzhkov died last week. Long-time mayor of Moscow, he was fired in 2010. I remember the moment when, as it were, Moscow city began to turn around. There was a garbage skip on the little street where the Canadian Embassy was. It would fill up, keep filling, overflow, fill up some more, overflow again. One day, early in 1994, it was emptied and thereafter was regularly emptied. Say what you like about him and his wife dipping their beaks, but he got stuff done.

INF. Washington has killed the INF Treaty which prohibited intermediate range missiles in Europe. Foreign Minister Lavrov says Moscow will never be the first to deploy them in Europe. If the US did deploy them (their last attempt sparked huge protests) Moscow can have them there the next day.

CORRUPTION. Aleksey Kuznetsov, who was Moscow Region finance minister 2000-2008, was sentenced to 14 years for fraud and theft. He had fled the country but was extradited from France.

WADA. A 4-year ban on Russia. Two comments: more medals for us! And I guess the Russian team did too well in Syria. Anyhow, the new way is getting doctor's notes.

UK ELECTION. The craziness has hit there. Johnson is a Russian stooge; Russia has won the election; Fusion GPS (!!) tells us the UK needs a Mueller report.

SKIPALMANIA. "Ex-MP NORMAN BAKER is certain Russia has killed many people on British soil... but he believes we've been fed a pack of lies over the Salisbury poisonings". Say what you like about the DM, but occasionally it veers away from the-re-type-what-you're-handed mode. (PS Mr Baker, you're late to the party – you're just repeating Rob Slane – but welcome. BTW if they're lying to you now, what makes you so sure they weren't then too?) Skripal has phoned Russia three times – surreptitiously?

AMERICA-HYSTERICA. "Pentagon Concerned Russia Cultivating Sympathy Among US Troops". Too stupid to waste a sneer at.

EUROPEANS ARE REVOLTING. Erdoğan threatens to close the two US bases in Turkey if Washington goes ahead with sanctions. A YouGov poll finds that a majority of Germans are in favour of reducing reliance on US (55%) and increasing ties with Russia (54%). NATO's biggest problems are internal cohesion. Germany rejects Washington sanctions on NordStream2. Der Spiegel defies Browder.

BAD DAYS FOR LIARS. Afghanistan war lies. Browder. Media lied about "Russiagate"; so did Schiff. And Comey. And of course, all the lies revealed by the IG: and that was just the FBI part of it. More from OPCW. All helping to make the idea of war with Russia more acceptable.

FAKE NEWS. Ukrainian reporter killed by Putin Ukronazis.

UKRAINE. One of Kiev's biggest supporters reiterates his advice that Kiev should let the Donbass go: too expensive to fix and they don't want to be in Ukraine anyway. All true enough but it's noteworthy that neither now, nor three years ago, does he mention Crimea. But the same arguments apply, don't they? And probably in Mariupol, Odessa, Transcarpathia and...

© Patrick Armstrong Analysis, Canada Russia Observer

"You can't have them until you play by my rules." Mommy Pelosi

 

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would not commit on Wednesday to sending the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Republican-held Senate, a surprise move that injects new uncertainty into Congress' timeline of the President's trial in the chamber.

"That would have been our intention, but we'll see what happens over there," Pelosi said at a post-impeachment vote news conference Wednesday night when asked about sending over the articles.

LIVE UPDATES: The latest on President Trump's impeachment

Some progressives have urged Democratic leaders to withhold the articles until Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, agrees to the parameters for the Senate trial that Democrats have called for, as well as agreeing to bring in firsthand witnesses like acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to testify.

 

 

On Thursday morning, Pelosi used her weekly news conference to express her concern over having a fair trial in the Senate, saying while the Founding Fathers had anticipated the possibility of a rogue President, "I don't think they suspected that we could have a rogue president and a rogue leader in the Senate at the same time."

"The next thing for us will be when we see the process that is set forth in the Senate, then we'll know the number of managers that we may have to go forward and who we will choose," Pelosi said. "That's what I said last night, that's what I'm saying now.""   CNN

 

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I watched her weekly-weekly today.  The basic message was that she will not send the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate for its action until the senate agrees to conduct Trump's trial  to her taste.  One tires of such words as astonishing but this development calls for hyperbole.  I have been a close student of the US Constitution since I was a boy.  I actually won the American Legion oratorical contest for the State of Maine in 1958 with a presentation on the subject "The Constitution, Ours to Defend."  Well, pilgrims, I am not a constitutional scholar but it does not take much knowledge to know that how the senate does anything, including this, is none of her damned business.

 

IMO what is occurring is a Democratic Party attempt to seize power across the country by parlaying its 2018 House of Representatives victory, control of some state governments (California and Virginia come to mind), its alliance with what Dobbs calls the National Left Wing media and its sissified rich kid agitprop bullies.

 

Good luck on that.  IMO what the Democrats are doing is a preparatory stage for a political disaster in 2020 that will rival Corbyn's.

 

The Democrat's have somehow completely lost their grip on reality.  pl

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/18/politics/nancy-pelosi-sending-impeachment-articles-senate/index.html

The Corrupt Judge Sullivan by Larry C Johnson

A fair person who read the filings of Sidney Powell and then read the outrageous order of Judge Sullivan would reach no other conclusion than that Sullivan is a corrupt, tottering fool. You can read the whole sordid piece here. Sullivan insists that Michael Flynn lied and, because he acted on the advice of incompetent counsel in accepting the initial plea, he has no way out. It is a complete and outrageous travesty. This is the kind of decision making that we used to associate with Soviet kangaroo courts. If this kind of thing persists I would not be surprised to see Americans take up arms to restore and protect their rights.

Michael Flynn has two basic options--stick with his plea and "trust" the judge to go along with sentencing recommendations. In light of what happened to Rick Gates today--prosecutors recommended no jail time but the judge sentenced him to jail anyway, I would not trust Sullivan for anything. The other option is to withdraw the plea and fight it in court. Yes, that can be risky but the facts are on the General's side. A great wrong has been done to him and with the likes of Sidney Powell fighting for him he can prevail.

Bill Mauldin's Christmas

"Wisht somebody would tell me there's a Santa Claus."

From all of us to all of you, wherever you are.  Merry Christmas.

Pat Lang

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Mauldin

Pope Francis on the Nativity Scene - TTG

The enchanting image of the Christmas crèche, so dear to the Christian people, never ceases to arouse amazement and wonder. The depiction of Jesus’ birth is itself a simple and joyful proclamation of the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God. The nativity scene is like a living Gospel rising up from the pages of sacred Scripture. As we contemplate the Christmas story, we are invited to set out on a spiritual journey, drawn by the humility of the God who became man in order to encounter every man and woman. We come to realize that so great is his love for us that he became one of us, so that we in turn might become one with him.

With this Letter, I wish to encourage the beautiful family tradition of preparing the nativity scene in the days before Christmas, but also the custom of setting it up in the workplace, in schools, hospitals, prisons and town squares. Great imagination and creativity is always shown in employing the most diverse materials to create small masterpieces of beauty. As children, we learn from our parents and grandparents to carry on this joyful tradition, which encapsulates a wealth of popular piety. It is my hope that this custom will never be lost and that, wherever it has fallen into disuse, it can be rediscovered and revived.  (Pope Francis)

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Pope Francis issued this apostolic letter during his recent visit to Greccio, the site of the first nativity scene or Christmas crèche. I never knew that Saint Francis was the creator behind this Christian phenomenon. Francis, the Pope not the Saint, goes on to explain the meanings behind the symbology and the proper place of the nativity scene in the faith and lives of Roman Catholics. You don’t have to be “raised by Jesuits” to appreciate this letter. It is far more a historical and anthropological study than an evangelical sermon… unless you’re looking for an evangelical sermon. Enjoy.

I was attracted to this letter because the nativity scene was part of every Catholic house at Christmas I ever entered in my life. My house is no different. Every year I set up the same Goebel figures that I set up for SWMBO’s and my first Christmas in our own house in Mililani Town, Hawaii. I think we bought the set at the Pearl Harbor Base Exchange. It wasn’t all that expensive and we’ve only added the two camels and a sheep in all these years. We like it and it serves to remind us every day of the season of the meaning of Christmas to Christians.

When I was growing up, my family would make at least one trip to downtown Waterbury, Connecticut to see the Christmas decorations and lights. One of the highlights was the massive Christmas crèche set on the city green. It included elaborate cave and village scenes with scores of figurines. Very impressive and without a hint of controversy in the late 50s and 60s. Waterbury went well beyond the Christmas crèche as evidenced in this story of a unique landmark of the 50s, 60s and 70s.

https://www.ctexplored.org/a-pilgrimage-to-waterbury-where-a-lighted-cross-stood-sentinel-over-a-miniature-holy-land/

Merry Christmas to all,

TTG

https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/papa-francesco-lettera-ap_20191201_admirabile-signum.html 

Going nuclear… power that is - TTG

For the last 20 years, the future of nuclear power has stood in a high bay laboratory tucked away on the Oregon State University campus in the western part of the state. Operated by NuScale Power, an Oregon-based energy startup, this prototype reactor represents a new chapter in the conflict-ridden, politically bedeviled saga of nuclear power plants.

NuScale’s reactor won’t need massive cooling towers or sprawling emergency zones. It can be built in a factory and shipped to any location, no matter how remote. Extensive simulations suggest it can handle almost any emergency without a meltdown. One reason is that it barely uses any nuclear fuel, at least compared with existing reactors. It’s also a fraction of the size of its predecessors. (Wired)

————

This sounds promising. The complete NuScale reactor is the size of two school buses can can be transported in three pieces by barge, rail or highway. It reminds me of the Russian nuclear power barge Akademik Lomonosov now on station in the Russian Arctic… only better. That barge uses two nuclear ice breaker reactors to produce 70 MW of electricity. The NuScale reactor produces 60 MW. Ten NuScale reactors can be put in the footprint of a containment vessel of a standard current reactor, but what’s the point of that? They should be deployed to communities as decentralized power sources mitigating the need for long distance transmission lines.

Obviously even these small reactors are too much for the hard core global warming crowd. I don’t see why. I count myself as part of the “Laudato Si” crowd and I’m all for these reactors and their decentralized deployment. It beats coal and even natural gas. They are proven and more reliable than current renewables. Besides, the manufacture of photovoltaic cells and batteries is not all that green. Even so, I’m looking forward to VW’s new electric microbus.  

TTG

https://www.wired.com/story/the-next-nuclear-plants-will-be-small-svelte-and-safer/

https://www.nuscalepower.com/technology/technology-overview

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_floating_nuclear_power_station

"SpaceX to cap transitional year with launch, poised for big things in 2020"

"Monday's launch

Weather conditions appear to be favorable for Monday's launch attempt of the JCSAT-18/Kacific1 commercial satellite from Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida. The launch window opens at 7:10pm ET (00:10 UTC Tuesday), and closes at 8:38pm ET (01:38 UTC). A backup launch window is available on Tuesday, opening at the same time.

This particular first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket has flown twice, in May 2019 and July 2019, on supply missions for the International Space Station. SpaceX will attempt to recover the stage after the launch of the heavy, geostationary-orbit-bound satellite on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship in the Atlantic Ocean. The company will also attempt to catch both fairing halves in separate recovery ships."  arstechnica

---------------

Up! Up! and Away!  Looks like a banner year coming for SpaceX.  IMO Musk's competitors in the space business are going to have a tough time catching up to him.  pl

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/12/spacex-to-cap-transitional-year-with-launch-poised-for-big-things-in-2020/

Seeking a guest author

for Virginia government affairs.  pl

"Can the US win in Afghanistan?" IQ Squared Debate - 2009 (Republished 12/15/2019)

The Washington Post  has been publishing a series of articles based on "leaked" US government documents concerning a government investigation into our operations in and government lies about Afghanistan.

I participated in the linked debate at NYU in October 2009.  I think it is interesting to compare what was said then to the situation now.  My little talk is linked in the top row second from the left.   pl   

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=%22america+cannot+and+will+not+succeed+in+afghanistan%2fpakistan&qpvt=%22america+cannot+and+will+not+succeed+in+afghanistan%2fpakistan&view=detail&mid=7DAE3516F3FE932C26117DAE3516F3FE932C2611&FORM=VRDGAR

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/#nav 

Fiberglass propane tanks - Who knew?

Any "poop" on whether these things are safe, what they weigh, etc.?  pl

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ow+they+make+fiberglass+propane+tanks&qpvt=ow+they+make+fiberglass+propane+tanks&view=detail&mid=FBB90CC80D25ADA454D1FBB90CC80D25ADA454D1&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dow%2Bthey%2Bmake%2Bfiberglass%2Bpropane%2Btanks%26qpvt%3Dow%2Bthey%2Bmake%2Bfiberglass%2Bpropane%2Btanks%26FORM%3DVDRE

Roll up the map of Labor Britain - We will need it not (paraphrase of the younger Pitt))

"Jeremy Corbyn will stand down as Labour leader before the next election after losing dozens of seats across the country, with Boris Johnson's Conservatives being the main beneficiary. Meanwhile, the SNP made large gains and dominate Scotland once again. In a poor night for the Lib Dems, the Remain party stayed static and their leader Jo Swinson lost her seat."  Telegraph

---------------

My congratulations to our British cousins on this defeat of the forces of weirdness.  Corbyn was a close approximation of the Sanders/Warren - "squad" side of the Democratic Party.  May he rest in peace.  The maps and charts in this Telegraph article are impressive.  Alas, there is a paywall. 

I assume that the SNP will launch an ultimately,  probably,  successful campaign for independence after Brexit is done,  but, what does it matter?  Scottish soldiers are no longer needed to defend the limes of the empire.  Those are Jacobite tribesmen at the top.  Some of my ancestors were such as they.

BJ is going to inhabit or maybe continue to inhabit Number 10 with a paramour?  (using Trey Gowdy's phrase)  Oh well, "the caravan marches on" even as the dogs (like me) bemoan the past.  She looks nice.

Once again - Bravo!  pl

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-results-2019-maps-breakdown-constituency/

The impeachment - 13 December 2019

The impeachment.   The two articles of impeachment are so anemic as to invite ridicule.

1.  "Abuse of power" by expressing concern over thievery by Ukrainians and Americans?  This is a charge?  The Washington Post has been running a series of articles based on "leaked" US Afghan IG reports and interviews with people involved in that wretched place.  These articles reveal the massive scale of the thievery that lost America enormous amounts of money taken through graft and bribery.  Was it unreasonable for this president to solicit the Ukrainian president's cooperation in trying to deal with a similar situation in that country.  He mentioned Uncle Joe Biden and his drug addled son?  Well, why not?  The younger of the two has IMO been used as the family bag man for collecting protection money.  Joe Biden himself looks to me to be a political version of Jimmy Hoffa the mobbed up Teamsters boss of long ago, but, with less charm, "a little for you, a lot for me," etc.   He was potentially a rival for the 2020 election?  He was not then a candidate.  Is every human or semi-human to be exempt from  investigation and prosecution because he MIGHT become a political rival?  The Democrats know full well this would be absurd.

2.  "Obstructing congress"  What we are seeing in the behavior of the Democratic majority in the House and minority in the senate is an attempt to seize control of the federal government using the constitutional powers to "advise and consent" on appointments and the ability to impeach in the House..  They have not yet tried to impeach federal judges appointed by the other party but IMO they will try that soon.  In this article of impeachment they claim that the president has obstructed their function by relying on the doctrine of Executive Privilege to deny them access to his present and past staff.   Trump did not invent this doctrine.  It is a well established feature of American law.  Without it no president could conduct internal policy discussions or confidential discussions with foreign leaders.  The Democrats know full well that the principal of Executive Privilege is often contested in the courts.  That is what they should have done this time, but instead they have chosen to charge the president for impeachment for claiming Executive Privilege.  They do not claim this is a violation of law.  They merely stamp their feet and scream that they are unhappy and want him gone.

This farce will end in a trial in the US Senate with the Chief Justice of SCOTUS presiding.  The Republicans control the senate and will not allow Trump to be deposed.   The senate can dismiss the charges by a simple majority vote and that is what Senator Lindsey Graham wants to see happen.  Trump does not want that.  He wants to be tried for the purpose of turning the tables on the Democrats.

I think he is correct in wanting that.  If that occurs, witnesses must be subpoenaed and examined in open court.  The Bidens must be so called to demonstrate the reasonable nature of Trump's concern over their behavior in Ukraine.  pl

The Fabricated "Predicate" to Spy on the Trump Campaign by Larry C Johnson

While Inspector General Michael Horowitz did a pretty fair job of documenting the crimes of the FBI in getting the green light from a Federal Judge to spy on Carter Page as an ostensible agent of the Russians, he utterly failed to investigate the cornerstone (aka the "predicate") for launching this whole sordid affair. That predicate?  George Papadopoulos, an obscure foreign policy advisor to the Trump Campaign, reportedly told  Australia's High Commissioner to the UK (and Clinton crony), Alexander Downer, that the Russian Government had dirt on Hillary Clinton. But Papadopoulos was simply passing on gossip he heard from Joseph Mifsud, an intelligence agent tied to British secret services, not the Russians.

In a competent world of law enforcement and intelligence officials, this kind of hearsay (I heard it through the grapevine) would not pass the laugh test. But not in the partisan world of the FBI. The FBI leadership, according to Inspector General Horowitz, unanimously agreed that the unsubstantiated hearsay justified launching a full scale counterintelligence investigation and spying on the Trump campaign. Michael Horowitz reports that:

. . . the FBI opened Crossfire Hurricane on July 31, 2016, just days after its receipt of information from a Friendly Foreign Government (FFG) reporting that, in May 2016, during a meeting with the FFG, then Trump campaign foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos "suggested the Trump team had received some kind of suggestion from Russia that it could assist this process with the anonymous release of information during the campaign that would be damaging to Mrs. Clinton (and President Obama)."

McCabe said the FBI viewed the FFG (aka Downer) information in the context of Russian attempts to interfere with the 2016 U.S. elections in the years and months prior, as well as the FBI's ongoing investigation into the DNC hack by a Russian Intelligence Service (RIS). He also said that when the FBI received the FFG information it was a "tipping point" in terms of opening a counterintelligence investigation regarding Russia's attempts to influence and interfere with the 2016 U.S. elections because not only was there information that Russia was targeting U.S. political institutions, but now the FBI had received an allegation from a trusted partner that there had been some sort of contact between the Russians and the Trump campaign.

Here is Mueller's account of how the investigation started:

Horowitz's Futile Attempt to Polish the FBI Turd by Larry C Johnson

There is an old saying in the Navy, to wit, "You can't polish a turd." This poetic, vulgar phrase helped old sailors teach new sailors that you can't transform something inherently bad into something good and pleasant. DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz's investigation of the FBI's handling of the Carter Page FISA application is a case study in turd polishing. No matter how much you rub it and massage it, the end product is a putrid, disgusting thing.

The media mob, unwilling to actually read the report, seized on the following Horowitz conclusions as proof that this was all about nothing:

we concluded that the quantum of information articulated by the FBI to open the individual investigations on Papadopoulos, Page, Flynn, and Manafort in August 2016 was sufficient to satisfy the low threshold established by the Department and the FBI.

We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI's decision to seek FISA authority on Carter Page.

But these are not the major conclusions of the Horowitz report. The Inspector General's review of the FBI actions in their wide ranging effort to secure a FISA warrant to spy on Carter Page is damning. The FBI lied, obfuscated and hid exculpatory evidence.

Time Off

I am going to take something like ten days off over the period of my eye surgeries.  Sissy?  Sure.  Why not.  If you want me to start up again put some money in the till.  That would be a gift, not a fee.  Otherwise I must say that I have become fatigued with this site and its ever growing troll infestation.  Au revoir!  pl

Saudi Arabia - a family holding company, not a friend.

I speak fluent Arabic.  I was the first professor of the Arabic Language and Middle East Studies at West Point where I was twice judged best classroom teacher and was offered permanent tenure which I declined not wishing to become a permanent school teacher rather than a soldier.

I have spent 40+ years working on or in the Middle East as an active duty US Army officer, diplomat, senior civilian DoD official responsible for intelligence on the Middle East, and South Asia and a business executive directly involved with places like Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia was created by the conquest of the Arabian Peninsula after 1900 by tribes loyal to an extreme form of Wahhabi fanatic Islam based on the Hanbali school of Sunni Islam as reinforced by the extremist medieval scholar Ibn Taimmiya.  For him the only good non-Muslims were either slaves or corpses whose women had been taken as booty and distributed among the true Muslims.

The Saudi pseudo state remains largely motivated by the same ideas.  There is no constitution but Sunni Hanbali religious law.  There is no toleration of other than the official cult.  There are Shia Muslims in the Eastern Province but they are in constant danger from the regime.

The Al-Saud family (thousands great and small) run the place as their private holding.  Any talk of Saudi citizenship is a bad joke.  In SA there are; The Family, their toadies and flunkies, the Wahhabi Ulema, foreign guest workers and tribal, rural Arabs some of them migratory and others small town people.  This melange is held together by an effective police state that is restricted in power only by the royal prerogative.

Modernization? Hah! MBS has confessed to the brutal murder of Kashoggi.  The native masses, to the extent that they exist, have been intensively and exclusively conditioned with Ibn Taimmiya's views on the inherent enmity between the Faithful Wahhabi Sunni and the Kuffar (infidels, i.e. us).  The number of Saudi subjects of the king who are not horrified and disgusted by the West is trivially small.

The US has maintained a relationship with this conglomeration since 1944 when FDR met aboard a US cruiser in the Gulf with the creator of The Kingdom.  This symbiosis used to be justifiable on the basis of containment of the USSR and the oil of Arabia.  Neither of those necessities exist any longer.

Donald Trump is driven by  desire to sweeten the balance sheet of the US as well as a deluded belief in whatever it is that he thinks Israel stands for.   Israel seeks to manipulate the medieval barbarism of Saudi Arabia to further its fantasy of regional hegemony.  They should "wise up."

The Saudi who killed three people at Pensacola is representative of the breed.

It is time for a basic re-appraisal of our relationships in the ME.  pl

"Faint tapping" The beginning of the end for Japan

"Admiral Isoroku Yamamotu, the virtual commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy was opposed to war against the US.  Educated in part at Harvard and a former naval attache at Washington.  He knew that once aroused the US would settle for nothing less than total victory in the Pacific.  The road to Hiroshima and Nagasaki began at Pearl Harbor.  The Japanese were lucky that we did not wreak destruction on them with the totality that their behavior in China indicated they would have wrought on us.  Yamamoto died in the war.  He was lucky.  We would have executed him as we did Tojo, Homma and Yamashita.  pl

 

This is the best documentary on Pearl Harbor that I have seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNat7tGgc6s&t=5s

Several Things - December 6 2019

Joe Biden   I keep saying that Joe Biden is IMO a nasty bully masquerading as a benevolent, highly experienced and wise curmudgeon with deep roots in the Labor Unions.  He is none of those things.  In evidence of that he yesterday advanced menacingly toward a man who had the audacity to challenge the "Joe Biden" show and narrative.  This was in Iowa.  The man told him he (Biden)  was too old to be president (He is). The man questioned the probity of Joe's narcotics addled son''s appointment to the board of directors of  a corrupt enterprise in Ukraine.  Joe was visibly enraged and it seemed for a minute that he would attack this citizen.  Really, Democrats?  Really?  Him?  Bloomberg? Hilly?  Booker?  Castro? Warren?

Jobs.  The Labor Department employment report released today states that the US economy added 266,000 new jobs in November rather then the expected 186,000.  The unemployment rate fell to 3.5 %.  This is full employment because there is a certain amount of structural unemployment inherent in any economy.  "Impeachment?" What's that?

St. Nancy the hypocrite a reporter asked Pelosi yesterday if she acts from hatred of Trump.  She responded that having been raised as a Catholic she does not hate anyone because we are taught to hate the sin and love the sinner. Well, pilgrims, Catholics are expected to practice their religion through both faith and deeds and to accept the teaching of the Church.  In spite of the hopes of some, this is not a cafeteria operation.  One does not pick and choose among the Church's teachings. If you can't accept them, you leave.  Pelosi is in spiritual rebellion against the Church's teaching on abortion.  Catholic teaching is that abortion is murder plain and simple.  There are some Catholic politicians who claim to compartment their personal beliefs and actions from their responsibility to their non-Catholic constituents.  I do not challenge that having done much the same as a government servant but that is not the case with St. Nancy who is an ardent advocate for abortion.  BTW if the US government had sought to require me to do something immoral I would have refused and taken the consequences.

Riots in Paris  I like France, the French language, their wine, their cheese, their women and their style of life, but I am not blind to the faults of the French.  One of these is a tendency to take to the streets over grievances or perceived grievances  in society.  France has a highly regulated economy that does not particularly favor growth of the kind now being experienced in the US.  "Bureaucracy" as a word is French in origin.  At the same time the welfare state is massive and all pervasive.  In fact the welfare state with its early retirements and cradle to grave benefits is just too big to be sustained by the economy of the country.  This conflict of means and ends is strangling the country's ability to function.  Macron knows this and has been trying over the last year or so to "whittle down" the outputs enough to have them align with the inputs in the economy.  The result has been the "Yellow Sweaters" street riots and now a new wave of riots resisting attempts to change retirement laws.  This street activity will burn itself out but the  riots are likely to be prolonged. 

 The Shooting In Pensacola  A Saudi military trainee went shahiid (berserk)today and killed three people.  The naval aviation center there routinely trains foreign aviators.  There was nothing unusual in the man's presence on base.  He had been in training for a year.  King Salman sent his condolences supposedly saying to Trump that he and the Saudi people love the US and the American people.  Well, pilgrims, I lived in The Kingdom for several years and have visited many times and I do not remember indications of their love for us.  It will be interesting to learn if the student just ran amok crying Allahu Akbar! or couldn't make it in class or both.  pl

 

The Lebanese Connection

 

"A businessman who helped broker a meeting between an ally of President Donald Trump and an official of the Russian government has been indicted for allegedly funneling millions in illegal campaign contributions to support Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

George Nader, who was charged in another case earlier this year with child trafficking and transporting child pornography, was one of seven people named in an indictment unsealed in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday night involving the campaign payments.

Nader, 60, is charged with funneling money to Ahmad “Andy” Khawaja, 48, of Los Angeles in order to circumvent federal election laws that restrict the amount of donations from a specific individual and where that money is actually coming from, prosecutors say."

-------------

This is yet another explanation of a source of the vast and fabled campaign money that HC spent so lavishly in 2016.  pl

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/russia-probe-witness-charged-funneling-millions-hillary-clinton-s-2016-n1096221

RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP 5 DECEMBER 2019 by Patrick Armstrong

POWER OF SIBERIA. Putin and Xi turned on the pipeline on Monday. It carries gas from Russia's Far East into China and has a carrying capacity of 61 billion M3 per year. There'll be more. This has no small strategic significance: previously, for foreign sales, Russia was dependent on customers in Europe who are all, to a greater or lesser extent, subject to pressure from the war party. Added to which transport was affected by Kiev's whims. Turkstream (scheduled to start next month) and the two pipelines to Germany help with the second problem and this one with the first. Sooner or later, Russia-China pipelines would have appeared but I think Ishchenko's argument that the Western war on Russia speeded up the process is credible. (Come to think of it, now that Putin's hand is imagined everywhere, maybe it's time to consider that he's the American war party's real backer; after all, everything it's touched has turned to dust: from the forever wars, to Iran's increased influence, to the Russia-China alliance and now the furore in the USA over Ukraine – itself another disastrous project.)

WEAPONS. More and more projects are surfacing. The Ground Forces commander says the Kungas robot family is ready for the next stage of tests – the Uran-9 UCGV is already in service. In accordance with the New START Treaty, Avangard was shown to US inspectors and it's expected to be in service this month: a very hypersonic re-entry vehicle – there's no defence against it because it's less than 30 minutes from anywhere. These super weapons are not cost free: Putin confirmed that the August explosion in Severodvinsk did involve an unique weapon (one assumes either the Buravestnik or the Poseydon); work will continue said he. An over-the-horizon radar station is opened. The first upgraded White Swan strategic bomber is being tested.

SOFTWARE. A law has passed requiring electronic gadgets to have Russia software in them. The BBC idiotically says: "Others have raised concerns that the Russian-made software could be used to spy on users". "Idiotically" because one of the reasons for the law is that US-made software is spying on users.

DEMOGRAPHICS. Karlin sees a small increase in Russia's population over the next 30 years.

TOURISM. Moscow – World's Leading City Destination 2019. Russia does show well.

CORRUPTION. The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a case into large scale theft during construction at the Vostochniy launch complex.

BROWDER. His story has been swallowed whole all over the West, "Magnitsky laws" passed and he has been pretty successful in quashing Nekrasov's documentary. But, finally, a major Western news outlet takes up the story: Der Spiegel: "The case of Magnitsky: How true is the history on which US sanctions against Russia are based?" How true is it? Not very. (DS did it because of the ECHR decision?) DS merely repeats what Nekrasov discovered: watch the documentary and see the lies taken apart.

NATO SUMMIT. "NATO is obsolete" argues with "NATO is brain dead". "The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to Afghanistan": next month NATO will have doubled the USSR's time there; can it triple it? Busy busy busy: "much broader range of threats than in the past": Russia, Middle East, Africa, weapons of mass destruction, cyber attacks, threats to energy supplies, environmental challenges. Add China. And space. More money. Trump leaves early. Brain dead and obsolete.

OPCW. Corrupted over Douma, how about Skripal? Helmer tweets: "British Ministry of Defence document reveals it is missing chain of custody over Skripal blood samples which the ministry’s DSTL laboratory at Porton Down claims to prove a Russian Novichok attack. Publishing shortly." Somebody could have added "type A-234 nerve agent in its virgin state" or BZ to the sample? Nah, who'd do that?

WADA. A other corrupted organisation. (Tinfoil hat alert!) Dear Little Canada behind it?

THE FULL AMERICAN DELUSION IN 45 SECONDS. No comment.

THE DEMS STEP ON THE RAKE. Impeachment. Only question is how big will Trump's win be?

NEW NWO. "Macron offers a very coherent geopolitical view of the world. He’s probably now the only western leader to have one." Very interesting read. The Normandy meeting will tell us if he's serious.

EUROPEANS ARE REVOLTING. Six more EU countries join the INSTEX payment system to bypass US sanctions on Iran. US Germany Ambassador not amused. German poll: US down, Russia up.

UKRAINE MISCELLANY. A discussion of how dangerous the decision to use US fuel in Ukraine nuclear power plans could be. A Maidan participant realises that it was all for nothing. Ukronazis spotted in Hong Kong. The scourge has spread to the USA. Tails, dogs, chickens, roosts.

© Patrick Armstrong Analysis, Canada Russia Observer

The Michael Flynn sentencing hearing is cancelled while the judge considers the issue of exculpatory material

By Robert Willmann

New attorneys for Gen. Michael Flynn (ret.) entered appearances in his court case in June 2019.  He had signed a plea bargain agreement with the office of  "special counsel" Robert Mueller on 30 November 2017, and under that agreement, a criminal charge consisting of a single count was filed.  He pled guilty to it in court the next day.  A sentencing hearing began on 18 December 2018, but went off the rails and was to be continued at a later date.

On 30 August 2019, Flynn's new lawyers filed a request (a motion) that the prosecutors for the federal government turn over exculpatory material that they likely had access to and had not disclosed to him earlier.  The motion also asked the judge to issue an order that the prosecutors show cause why they should not be held in contempt of court for not turning over the material that might be favorable and helpful to Flynn.  Several papers were filed by both sides on the issue after that. 

A sentencing hearing had been reset to 18 December 2019.  However, as a result of the documents filed about the request for exculpatory material, Judge Emmet Sullivan decided not to have a court hearing on the motion, but instead would decide it on the documents that had been filed with the court clerk.  The last paper was filed on the issue on 4 November 2019.

Borovski and the Haredim

 

 

"Borovski said she left behind the ultra-Orthodox, known in Israel as the Haredim, never having opened a bank account, ridden a bus, applied for a job or talked to a stranger.

She has done all of those things now, in what she describes as a sprint to make up for the decades she spent in a cultural cocoon, never wandering more than 500 yards from the house where she said she and her 12 brothers and sisters learned nothing of science or math, or of history outside of religious texts. Borov­ski — who belonged to the Satmar Hasidic group, known for its especially strict religious adherence — said she wasn’t just denied television, radio and the Internet but was unaware of their existence.

“I’m trying to catch everything now,” she said during a break from a lesson on cell structure, part of a remedial studies program offered by Hebrew University of Jerusalem to students who missed out on basic schooling. “I don’t think I have enough time.”"  Washpost

------------

Yes, I know, pilgrims, the Haredim have a right to live however they please, just as Mormon schismatics, cloistered monks and the Amish/Mennonites do, but it is nevertheless interesting that this woman and those like her emerge into the "light" of the 21st Century as though they had just come from the womb.

As many of you know I was the chief intelligence liaison from DIA to the IDF General Staff intelligence service for seven years.  Because of that I spent a lot of time in Israel wandering around when not working and talking to IDF people about the Haredim among other things.  I don't think I ever ran into an IDF officer who had other than disdain for the Haredim.  A lot of the IDF were kibbutzniks, products of structured life on a collective farm in a socialist secular setting.  They thought the Haredim were ignorant freeloaders who used their cultist beliefs to hide out from the draft while collecting comfortable stipends from the government as "religious scholars."   In some Haredi groups the women shave their whole bodies and when out in public accompanied by a male relative wear funny looking curly synthetic hair wigs.  This was interesting.

Chacun a son gout the old maid said as she kissed the cow.  pl

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/shed-never-seen-a-smartphone-or-heard-a-radio-before-she-fled-shes-racing-to-catch-up/2019/12/04/c6347cf0-0709-11ea-9118-25d6bd37dfb1_story.html

HARPER: ANGRY AND SHRILL "SCHOLARS" NOT WHAT WAS NEEDED

Having spent most of Wednesday listening to the "scholars" testifying about the Constitutional standards for impeachment, I came away more convinced than ever that Alexander Hamilton was absolutely right when he warned in Federalist Papers 65 of the danger of the matter of impeachment of a President becoming hostage to partisan passions.

Hamilton wrote:

"A well-constituted court for the trial of impeachments is an object not more to be desired than difficult to be obtained in a government wholly elective. The subjects of its jurisdiction are those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust. They are of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be denominated POLITICAL, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself. The prosecution of them, for this reason, will seldom fail to agitate the passions of the whole community, and to divide it into parties more or less friendly or inimical to the accused. In many cases it will connect itself with the pre-existing factions, and will enlist all their animosities, partialities, influence, and interest on one side or on the other; and in such cases there will always be the greatest danger that the decision will be regulated more by the comparative strength of parties, than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt.

"The delicacy and magnitude of a trust which so deeply concerns the political reputation and existence of every man engaged in the administration of public affairs, speak for themselves. The difficulty of placing it rightly, in a government resting entirely on the basis of periodical elections, will as readily be perceived, when it is considered that the most conspicuous characters in it will, from that circumstance, be too often the leaders or the tools of the most cunning or the most numerous faction, and on this account, can hardly be expected to possess the requisite neutrality towards those whose conduct may be the subject of scrutiny."

Hamilton was primarily discussing the role of the Senate as the impartial jury hearing evidence of impeachable crimes following the passage of articles of impeachment by the House of Representatives.  But the fundamental issue of partisan fury is really what is at stake.

I expected partisan fury from the Democratic and Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee, but I was shocked and disappointed that the three "constitutional scholars" called by the Democratic majority were shrill, angry, exaggerated and thoroughly partisan.  Their job was not to discuss the evidence against President Trump, but to provide the panel and the American people with clear and dispassionate insight into the minds of the Founders, the history of the three previous impeachment proceedings and how it applies to the current matter.

I was most shocked by the shrill and anger from Dr. Karlan of Stanford, who is clearly an accomplished legal scholar, but let her partisan passions color her presentation in a way that only contributed to the sense that the critical issue of presidential impeachment has been thoroughly hijacked--as Hamilton warned--by partisanship, factionalism and ulterior motives.

In contrast, Jonathan Turley of George Washington University, at least grasped the danger of partisan hijacking.  With no small bit of humor, he noted the angry mood that has infected the nation, joking that even his dog is angry.  He focused on the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson, arguing it was the closest parallel to the present situation with Donald Trump--precisely because of the heavy partisanship in the current situation.  

Turley also expressed alarm at the speed with which the impeachment has been carried out and at the lack of consideration of exculpatory evidence.  In his tone, he brought a degree of serious scholarship to an otherwise kangaroo process. And to make matters clear, he told the panel that he did not support President Trump, did not vote for him, and is not himself caught up in the passions of partisanship on either side of the aisle.  A President should not be impeached over an abrasive personality and a tendency to punch back first and ask questions later.  If that was the standard, Donald Trump would be guilty as charged.

The denigrating of the impeachment process into a partisan circus is not what the Founders intended.  Hamilton spoke clearly but the Democrats and their constitutional scholars were tone deaf.  Very disappointing for our nation.

11 Nations or 1?

 

"People choose to move to places where they identify with the values," Woodard says. "Red minorities go south and blue minorities go north to be in the majority. This is why blue states are getting bluer and red states are getting redder and the middle is getting smaller."  Woodard

----------------

"Nation" is a much abused and misunderstood word in today's America.  Many Americans think the word means country as in "nation-state," a term that denotes a state the boundaries of which include within it just about all the members of a particular culture.  The construction of "nation-states" has often been an obsession .  France is an example.  The present country includes regions that were once culturally dissimilar.  Brittany, Guyenne, Normandy, Savoy were all regions that Louis XIV  and company obsessed over in the hope of absorbing them politically and culturally.  If you doubt that, drive around France and visit weekly village markets for the purpose of listening to them speak.  The record of their ancestral differences is evident from their speech.  "Nation" is  a term implying IDENTITY.  It is not a matter of lines drawn on maps. 

There was an earlier book entitled "The Nine Nations of North America" by one Joel Garreau.  That book had much the same thematic material as this.  I was much impressed with the earlier book and plan to read this one if my cataract surgery is successful. 

There is always a lot of loose talk about "The American People."  IMO that kind of talk is unproductive and largely the result of generations of nationalist (Yankeeland in source?) propagandist conditioning of children in the public and private schools, schools that function largely as training centers for this nationalism and the creation of an electorate that has  utopian expectations of government benevolence.

In spite of this program of indoctrination, cultural differences among citizens of the US persist on the basis of regional culture of various origin, and indeed, as Woodard writes, these differences are growing stronger as the population of the country re-distributes itself.

An example is the movement of large numbers of people from outside the "Tidewater" area into eastern Virginia, sufficient to have made the state Blue (Democrat) when it had long been "Red." (Republican).  pl

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-11-nations-of-the-united-states-2015-7

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nine_Nations_of_North_America

"How to deal with a "woke" teenager"

From Walrus

"After our daughter of fifteen years of age was moved to tears by the speech of Greta Thunberg at the UN the other day, she became angry with our generation “who had been doing nothing for thirty years.”

So, we decided to help her prevent what the girl on TV announced of “massive eradication and the disappearance of entire ecosystems.”

We are now committed to give our daughter a future again, by doing our part to help cool the planet four degrees.

From now on she will go to school on a bicycle, because driving her by car costs fuel, and fuel puts emissions into the atmosphere. Of course it will be winter soon and then she will want to go by bus, but cycling through the freezing builds resilience.

Of course, she is now asking for an electric bicycle, but we have shown her the devastation caused to the areas of the planet as a result of mining for the extraction of Lithium and other minerals used to make batteries for electric bicycles, so she will be pedaling, or walking.

Which will not harm her, or the planet. We used to cycle and walk to school too.

Since the girl on TV demanded “we need to get rid of our dependency on fossil fuels” and our daughter agreed with her, we have disconnected the heat vent in her room. The temperature is now dropping to twelve degrees in the evening, and will drop below freezing in the winter, we have promised to buy her an extra sweater, hat, tights, gloves and a blanket.

For the same reason we have decided that from now on she only takes a cold shower. She will wash her clothes by hand, with a wooden washboard, because the washing machine is simply a power consumer and since the dryer uses natural gas, she will hang her clothes on the clothes line to dry, just like my parents and grandparents used to do.

Speaking of clothes, the ones that she currently has are all synthetic, so made from petroleum. Therefore on Monday, we will bring all her designer clothing to the secondhand shop.

We have found an eco store where the only clothing they sell is made from undyed and unbleached linen and jute. Also can’t have clothes made on wool, because the emissions from farting sheep are supposedly causing bad weather.

It shouldn’t matter that it looks good on her, or that she is going to be laughed at, dressing in colorless, bland clothes and without a wireless bra, but that is the price she has to pay for the benefit of The Climate.

Cotton is out of the question, as it comes from distant lands and pesticides are used for it. Very bad for the environment.
We just saw on her Instagram that she’s pretty angry with us. This was not our intention.

From now on, at 7 p.m. we will turn off the WiFi and we will only switch it on again the next day after dinner for two hours. In this way we will save on electricity, so she is not bothered by electro-stress and will be totally isolated from the outside world. This way, she can concentrate solely on her homework. At eleven o’clock in the evening we will pull the breaker to shut the power off to her room, so she knows that dark is really dark. That will save a lot of CO2.

She will no longer be participating in winter sports to ski lodges and resorts, nor will she be going on anymore vacations with us, because our vacation destinations are practically inaccessible by bicycle.

Since our daughter fully agrees with the girl on TV that the CO2 emissions and footprints of her great-grandparents are to blame for ‘killing our planet’, what all this simply means, is that she also has to live like her great-grandparents and they never had a holiday, a car or even a bicycle.

We haven’t talked about the carbon footprint of food yet.

Zero CO2 footprint means no meat, no fish and no poultry, but also no meat substitutes that are based on soy (after all, that grows in farmers fields, that use machinery to harvest the beans, trucks to transport to the processing plants, where more energy is used, then trucked to the packaging/canning plants, and trucked once again to the stores) and also no imported food, because that has a negative ecological effect. And absolutely no chocolate from Africa, no coffee from South America and no tea from Asia.

Only homegrown potatoes, vegetables and fruit that have been grown in local cold soil, because greenhouses run on boilers, piped in CO2 and artificial light. Apparently, these things are also bad for The Climate. We will teach her how to grow her own food.

Bread is still possible, but butter, milk, cheese and yogurt, cottage cheese and cream come from cows and they emit CO2. No more margarine and no oils will be used for the frying pan, because that fat is palm oil from plantations in Borneo where rain forests first grew.

No ice cream in the summer. No soft drinks and no energy drinks, as the bubbles are CO2.

We will also ban all plastic, because it comes from chemical factories. Everything made of steel and aluminum must also be removed. Have you ever seen the amount of energy a blast furnace consumes or an aluminum smelter? All bad for the climate!

We will replace her memory foam pillow top mattress, with a jute bag filled with straw, with a horse hair pillow.

And finally, she will no longer be using makeup, soap, shampoo, cream, lotion, conditioner, toothpaste and medication. Facewashers will all be linen, that she can wash by hand, with her wooden washboard, just like her female ancestors did before climate change made her angry at us for destroying her future.

In this way we will help her to do her part to prevent mass extinction, water levels rising and the disappearance of entire ecosystems.

If she truly believes she wants to walk the talk of the girl on TV, she will gladly accept and happily embrace her new way of life."

Re-roofing today and tomorrow

  pl

The Intelligence Whistleblower protection Act did not apply to the phone call ... Reposted

(The House Judicial Committee takes the matter of impeachment up Wednesday.  This procedure is the fruit  of a poisoned tree  pl )

"The Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act of 1998,^[1] amending the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949 and the Inspector General Act of 1978, sets forth a procedure for employees and contractors of specified federal intelligence agencies to report complaints or information to Congress about serious problems involving intelligence activities.

Under the ICWPA, an intelligence employee or contractor who intends to report to Congress a complaint or information of "urgent concern" involving an intelligence activity may report the complaint or information to their agency’s inspector general or the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (ICIG). Within a 14-day period, the IG must determine "whether the complaint or information appears credible," and upon finding the information to be credible, thereafter transfer the information to the head of the agency. The law then requires the DNI (or the relevant agency head) to forward the complaint to the congressional intelligence committees, along with any comments he wishes to make about the complaint, within seven days. If the IG does not deem the complaint or information to be credible or does not transmit the information to the head of the agency, the employee may provide the information directly to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. However, the employee must first inform the IG of his or her intention to contact the intelligence committees directly and must follow the procedures specified in the Act.

The Act defines a matter of "urgent concern" as:^[2]

1. a serious or flagrant problem, abuse, violation of law or Executive order, or deficiency relating to the funding, administration, or operations of an intelligence activity involving classified information, but does not include differences of opinions concerning public policy matters;
2. A false statement to Congress, or a willful withholding from Congress, on an issue of material fact relating to the funding, administration, or operation of an intelligence activity; or
3. An action constituting reprisal or threat of reprisal in response to an employee's reporting an urgent concern.

ICWPA doesn't prohibit employment-related retaliation and it provides no mechanism, such as access to a court or administrative body, for challenging retaliation that may occur as a result of having made a disclosure.^[3] In 2006 Thomas Gimble, Acting Inspector General, Department of Defense, stated before the House Committee on Government Reform that the ICWPA is a 'misnomer' and that more properly the Act protects the communication of classified information to Congress.^[4] According to Michael German with the Brennan Center for Justice, the ICWPA, "provides a right to report internally but no remedy when that right is infringed, which means that there is no right at all."^[3]

According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, from 1999-2009, 10 complaints/disclosures were filed under this law, four of which were found to be credible by the relevant Inspector General. In three of these ten cases the whistleblower claimed that s/he was retaliated against: two CIA cases and one DOJ case. Subsequent investigations by the CIA and DOJ failed to find evidence of retaliation in any of these cases.^[3][5]

Additional protections for national security whistleblowers are provided through Presidential Policy Directive 19 and the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014.^[3] For more information about whistleblowers protections that apply to the intelligence community see the "national security protections" subheading under Whistleblower protection in the United States.

References

 

• Title VII of Public Law No: 105-272
• Goss, Porter J. (1998-10-20). "Text - H.R.3694 - 105th Congress (1997-1998): Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999". www.congress.gov. Retrieved 2019-09-20. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• "Secret Sources: Whistleblowers, National Security and Free Expression" (PDF). PEN America. November 10, 2015. p. 13. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 14, 2015. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
• "Statement on National Security Whistleblower Protection" (PDF). Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved December 21, 2010.

"Letter from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence" (PDF). Federation of American Scientists. March 8, 2014. Retrieved November 25, 2015."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_Community_Whistleblower_Protection_Act

---------------

This law provides an intelligence official with a legal means within which to report misdeeds in the world of intelligence operation, funding, etc.  It has nothing to do with government activities that are not intelligence activities.  There was nothing in the now famous 25 July call between Trump and Zelensky that was intelligence business.  None. Remember - the two presidents ARE NOT intelligence officials.

IMO the complaint was and is invalid and should not have been entertained at all by the IC IG.   The original opinion by DoJ on this matter was correct.  pl

Benchmarks to Look For in the Horowitz Report on FISA by Larry C Johnson

There are some very clear markers that Senators Grahama and Grassley laid down for Inspector General Horowitz in his investigation of the FISA process to spy on Carter Page. Since Graham will chair the hearing where IG Horowitz will present his report, I think it is pretty safe to assume that Graham will demand that Horowitz answer the issues he and Grassley raised in their letter of February 28, 2018.

Here is what IG Horowitz committed in writing to do in a letter dated March 28, 2018:

I write in response to your letter to me dated February 28, 2018, requesting that the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) review several matters, including issues surrounding the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) application and renewal of authority to conduct surveillance of a certain U.S. person under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). . . .

. . . the OIG is initiating a review that will examine the Department's and FBI's compliance with legal requirements, and with applicable DOJ and FBI policies and procedures, in applications filed with the FISC relating to this U.S. person. As part of this examination, the OIG also will review information that was known to the Department and the FBI at the time the applications were filed from or about an alleged FBI confidential source. Additionally, the OIG will review the Department's and FBI's relationship and communications with the alleged source as they relate to the FISA applications. If circumstances warrant, the OIG will consider including other issues that may arise during the course of the review.

To fully appreciate the import of Horowitz's promises to Graham, we should revisit the two Graham/Grassley missives that elicited this response. Here are the key issues raised by Graham and Grassley in their February 2nd memo to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein:

Academic Conformism is the road to "1984."

The world is filled with conformism and groupthink.  Most people do not wish to think for themselves.  Thinking for oneself is dangerous, requires effort and often leads to rejection by the herd of one's peers.

The profession of arms, the intelligence business, the civil service bureaucracy, the wondrous world of groups like the League of Women Voters, Rotary Club as well as the empire of the thinktanks are all rotten with this sickness, an illness which leads inevitably to stereotyped and unrealistic thinking, thinking that does not reflect reality.

The worst locus of this mentally crippling phenomenon is the world of the academics.  I have served on a number of boards that awarded Ph.D  and post doctoral grants.  I was on the Fulbright Fellowship federal board.  I was on the HF Guggenheim program and executive  boards for a long time.  Those are two examples of my exposure to the individual and collective academic minds.

As a class of people I find them unimpressive. The credentialing exercise in acquiring a doctorate is basically a nepotistic process of sucking up to elders and a crutch for ego support as well as an entrance ticket for various hierarchies, among them the world of the academy. The process of degree acquisition itself requires sponsorship by esteemed academics who recommend candidates who do not stray very far from the corpus of known work in whichever narrow field is involved.   The endorsements from RESPECTED  academics are often decisive in the award of grants.

This process is continued throughout a career in academic research.  PEER REVIEW is the sine qua non for acceptance of a "paper," invitation to career making conferences, or to the Holy of Holies, TENURE.

This life experience  forms and creates CONFORMISTS, people who instinctively boot-lick their fellows in a search for the "Good Doggy" moments that make up their lives.  These people are for sale.  Their price may not be money, but they are still for sale.  They want to be accepted as members of their group.  Dissent leads to expulsion or effective rejection from the group. 

This mentality renders doubtful any assertion that a large group of academics supports any stated conclusion.  As a species academics will say or do anything to be included in their caste.

This makes them inherently dangerous.  They will support any party or parties, of any political inclination if that  group has the money, and the potential or actual power to maintain the academics as a tribe.  pl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conformity