Sic Semper Tyrannis

"Trump or Biden? On the economy, the choice is clear" The Hill

"The Commerce Department just announced that GDP grew at an annual 33.1 percent rate in the third quarter, topping expectations and doubling the prior record period of growth set in the 1950s. The economy expanded more than 7 percent from the previous three months and recovered about two-thirds of the ground lost earlier due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The expansion was not bolstered by government stimulus; federal spending actually contracted in the quarter. Instead, the powerful gains were driven by consumer spending, inventory building by firms that had underestimated the rate of recovery, expanded business investment and a strong housing sector.

This is the way our country should grow — propelled by the private sector, not propped up by taxpayer-funded relief. Trump’s policies aim to encourage that kind of expansion; Biden’s do not.

Instead, Biden’s program harnesses income redistribution and government micro-managing for the purposes of achieving “racial equity,” among other goals."

"Biden has it wrong. Racial equity is an excellent goal best pursued through a growing economy that provides jobs and higher wages for everyone. That’s what we’ve had under President Trump, with the income gap between Blacks and whites beginning to narrow in 2019 and all categories of workers, including ex-felons, able to find work.

Last year Black household net worth increased 33 percent, albeit from a small base, while white net worth rose only 3 percent. Black homeownership in the most recent quarter was 46.4 percent, up significantly from 41.7 percent in the final period of 2016. That’s called progress.""  The Hill

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pl

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/523511-trump-or-biden-on-the-economy-the-choice-is-clear

Biden's Catholicism is a bad joke.

"Joe Biden is touting his Catholic faith as groups are hitting him on issues held near and dear to the faithful and opposed by the church, including religious freedom for nuns and abortion.

In an op-ed for the Christian Post, Biden wrote that his Catholic faith guides his policies, including wearing masks to defeat the coronavirus pandemic, rooting out systemic racism, ending the "evil of poverty," welcoming immigrants, and doing "everything in our power to ensure that all God’s children have the hope and future they so rightfully deserve."

In the vice-presidential debate, Kamala Harris said Biden would be the second practicing Roman Catholic president since JFK, as both campaigns seek to reach the key voting bloc in swing states."

"Ashley McGuire, senior fellow with The Catholic Association -- which has endorsed President Trump's re-election -- told Fox News Biden's candidacy has been confusing to Catholic voters "who believe that being Catholic is more than just another label."

“Joe Biden has campaigned on his Catholic faith while promising policies that contradict Catholic teaching and even threatening the Little Sisters of the Poor," McGuire said. "The Bishops Conference has warned of the devastating consequences of the Equality Act for religious liberty and for girls and women but Joe Biden supports it.""

"Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, a conservative political advocacy group, said Biden "has put himself on a collision course with the Catholic Church by promising to pass the Equality Act in the first 100 days of his presidency."

"Biden's aggressive support of the Act, together with his extreme abortion position, opposition to school choice, and pledge to restart the war on the Little Sisters makes clear his Catholic faith will be readily sacrificed at the altar of political expediency," Burch added. "Come Tuesday, Catholics must understand the existential threat posed by a Biden-Harris ticket. Donald Trump remains the best – and only – choice for Catholic voters this election.”"  FN

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IMO Joe Biden is not a plausible claimant to being an observant Catholic.  pl

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-catholic-vote-2020-election-religious-liberty

The Chinese Communist Party Is Playing A Very Dangerous Game Threatening To Take Americans 'Hostage'. by J

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is upset with the U.S.'s Department of Justice (DOJ) seeking prosecutions of several Chinese research scientists arrested in the U.S. this year.  So upset that it's threatening to take Americans in China 'Hostage' if DOJ doesn't drop its prosecutions. 

The reason that DOJ is pursuing their charges, is that the Chinese Researchers are affiliated with and working on behalf of the CCP's military wing the People's Liberation Army (PLA).  These Chinese Researchers lied about their affiliations and their active duty status with the PLA in their applications to enter and work in the U.S.

VISA fraud, and lying to U.S. Immigration Authorities are not things not be taken lightly.

The CCP is playing a very dangerous game. 

https://nypost.com/2020/10/18/china-warns-it-will-take-americans-hostage-if-charges-arent-dropped/

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/researchers-charged-visa-fraud-after-lying-about-their-work-china-s-people-s-liberationJ.

Halibut - 30 October 2020

pl

"Britain's Covid response is utterly mad – here are 10 reasons why" Dr. John Lee

" ... how can we find the right way forward? Revocation of progressively inappropriate emergency powers, with restoration of parliamentary scrutiny, accountability, transparency and debate must be part of it, along with involvement of a more diverse base of scientific and medical advisors.

If the NHS is struggling for capacity – which is debatable, and anyway substantially due to self-imposed rules related to “controlling” Covid – then sort it out: build more capacity, and remind NHS workers that they are there to look after the sick. 

The bottom line is that, at the present time, there is no reasonable scientific or medical justification for lockdowns, convoluted social distancing rules, masks, travel restrictions, quarantines or most of the rest of the flotsam that has attached itself to the Covid response. The sky is not falling. And the more people who understand the multifaceted reasons why this is the case, the sooner we will all get our lives back."  

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This doctor lays out the extent of the damage we have done to ourselves in the UK and US and the reasons why this happened.   The great majority of the reasons are political and psychological.  Cowboy up, folks!  Cowboy up!  pl

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/britains-covid-response-utterly-mad-10-reasons/

 

Glenn Greenwald Declares Independence from Journalistic Tyranny by Larry C Johnson

Glenn Greenwald, co-founder of the Intercept and best known as one of the journalists who interviewed Edward Snowden prior to Snowden's escape to Russia, fired a shot today at the corruption and rot that is permeating journalism. In a surprise move, Glenn resigned from the Intercept, his creation, because the editors refused to let him tell the truth about Joe Biden and his grifting ways.

Here are the salient points of Glenn's announcement:

Today I sent my intention to resign from The Intercept, the news outlet I co-founded in 2013 with Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras, as well as from its parent company First Look Media.

The final, precipitating cause is that The Intercept’s editors, in violation of my contractual right of editorial freedom, censored an article I wrote this week, refusing to publish it unless I remove all sections critical of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, the candidate vehemently supported by all New-York-based Intercept editors involved in this effort at suppression.

The censored article, based on recently revealed emails and witness testimony, raised critical questions about Biden’s conduct. Not content to simply prevent publication of this article at the media outlet I co-founded, these Intercept editors also demanded that I refrain from exercising a separate contractual right to publish this article with any other publication.

Glenn Greenwald is a gay man, he lives in Brazil and he would be considered a Democrat politically. But he also is a man of principle, integrity and courage. He first gained a following because of his insightful, hard hitting pieces on the George W. Bush debacle in Iraq. Later on he gained more notoriety and fame as one of two people to report on the intelligence trove smuggled out by Edward Snowden that revealed a massive level of spying on American citizens.

The New Drone Wars - TTG

Back in early 1981, I did a few “odd jobs” between graduating from the Infantry Officer Advanced Course and starting the SF Officers Course. One of these jobs was as an ARTEP evaluator for a mech infantry company on Fort Benning. While I had plenty of book learning about tank-mech infantry teams, I was much more comfortable following a dismounted night attack through a cold January swamp. There was no Moon and a stiff, steady breeze so I felt we were making a stealthy approach. Although the attack was well executed, I learned something disconcerting during the after action review. Our night approach through the swamp was monitored by a high flying AC-130 gunship from 1st SOW. The gunship caught the heat signature of each approaching soldier as they silently slid through that moonless swamp. The lesson I took was that the idea of remaining undetected in uninhabited forests and mountains was a myth. Combine that with the Fort Benning aphorism, “If you can be seen, you can be killed” and I quickly became enamored with the concept of urban guerrilla warfare once I reached 10th Group. We would survive behind the Iron Curtain only by hiding among those we were to liberate from oppression.

So what does this stroll down memory lane have to do with the new drone wars? A lot, actually. It’s the same principle. Armies can be seen and killed from above by a wide range of drones in 2020 just as we could be seen and killed by the AC-130 back in 1980. The difference lies in the proliferation of these drones and the fact that they are less expensive than manned aircraft. They also don’t expose pilots or operators to death or capture. 

First there were our Predators and Reapers hunting down jihadis and the occasional wedding party. We have well over 500 of these heavy drones. We have even more smaller drones down to man packed, hand launched tactical varieties. But we are not alone anymore. China is producing them like gangbusters. Turkey has emerged as a major leader in the development and employment of drones. One of these, the Bayratkar T2B, has had success in Syria, Libya and Azerbaijan. Erdogan has also deployed the T2B against the PKK within Turkey and northern Iraq. 

The T2B is a medium altitude tactical drone. It has a range of more than 150 km and can fly at a maximum altitude of 22,500 feet. It has a maximum speed of 120 knots, a cruise speed of 70 knots and endurance of more than 24 hours. The T2B is powered with a 100 horsepower Rotax civil engine, an engine common to ultralight and homebuilt aircraft. The unit cost of the aircraft itself is less than 100 thousand dollars. Its electro-optical reconnaissance, surveillance and targeting system is now produced by Aselan in Turkey at a cost of 400 thousand dollars per unit. Although it does use GPS, it is not satellite controlled. Ground stations control the T2B by line-of-sight radio signal. The munitions, also produced in Turkey by Roketsan, are laser-guided, precision, long range and light weight. They include thermobaric and tandem warheads effective against reactive armor. Overall, the T2B is an impressive piece of kit. 

As I mentioned, the PKK were the first to feel the wrath of the T2B. Those fighters hiding in the hills and mountains of eastern Turkey and northern Iraq have been getting clobbered since the droness were employed against them. I’m sure they learned the same lesson I learned forty years ago in that Fort Benning swamp. The difference is that my lesson was academic, the PKK’s lesson was catastrophically lethal. Erdogan also used the T2B and other drones against the YPG/SDF over the last few years.

The first time the T2B gained notoriety in the West was when they were used as part of Turkey’s Spring 2020 counterattack against the very successful R+5 Idlib Dawn offensive. A large number of T2Bs, along with a smaller number of the larger, satellite-controlled Anka medium drones were deployed from 1 to 5 March. At a loss of six drones, Turkey claimed it destroyed over a hundred SAA armored vehicles, dozens of artillery systems and hundreds of SAA troops. Take that claim with a grain of salt, but Russia and the SAA agreed to a ceasefire immediately after that.

Turkish drones also played a significant role, along with the imported Syrian jihadis, in stopping Haftar’s LNA from taking Tripoli in early 2020. Until that time Haftar was using Chinese made Wing Loong drones to great effect. The GNA compensated for the shorter range of the newly arrived T2Bs by establishing radio relay sites to extend their operational range. The T2Bs used a Turkish EW suite to jam the Russian made Pantsir-1 units and took them out systematically. They then played havoc among Haftar's forces deployed in the flatness of northern Libya. Haftar and the Wagner Group were forced to withdraw from the outskirts of Tripoli.

The newest deployment of the T2B is in the current Armenian-Azerbijani war. The Azeri and Armenian forces are generally similar in equipment, manpower and training. However, the Azeri’s employment of R2B drones has been devastating to the Armenian armor and artillery in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azeris are advancing with the help of those R2B drones. There is a constant stream of drone kill porn on the internet. This time it is Armenian targets being snuffed rather than footage of Predators snuffing jihadis.

The proliferation of attack drones, especially Turkish drones, is changing ground warfare. In Syria, Russia rushed additional air defense capabilities to SAA front line units to blunt the threat of Turkish drones. Movement, dispersion and concealment methods required modification. A hull down position for an AFV is nothing to a drone. After the March 2020 drone attacks in Idlib, the Russians sent wreckage of those Turkish drones back to Moscow to develop an effective countermeasure. They have now rushed the KRET Krasukha electronic jamming system to their base in Armenia where the system reportedly caused nine drones to loose connection with their control stations and crash. The Krashukha also blocks GPS signals to prevent drones from automatically returning to base. The T2B doesn’t appear to have that feature, but many drones do. In my opinion, this is the most promising countermeasure to the widespread use of drones. The Russian military, due to their massive investment in radio-electronic combat (REC) is in the best position to pursue this countermeasure. We could someday soon see serious deployment of REC at the company and battalion level. Sure we can change our TTPs (tactics, techniques and procedures) to reduce our vulnerabilities to the threat of constant areal surveillance and attack, but that would be debilitating to normal operations. We best get to stepping in developing and widely deploying an effective EW capability. China is right up there with Turkey and the US in the development of drone warfare.

TTG     

https://theintercept.com/2019/05/14/turkey-second-drone-age/

https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/turkeys-drone-war-syria-red-team-view

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/5/28/largest-drone-war-in-the-world-how-airpower-saved-tripoli

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiSTvlBYx14 (fresh drone porn)

https://asiatimes.com/2020/10/russia-knocking-turkish-drones-from-armenian-skies/

The Queen's Gambit

This is an exceptional series.  I recommend it.  pl 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Queen%27s_Gambit_(miniseries)

The purloined documents rest with the fishes?

"...  on Monday of this week, we received, from a source, a collection of confidential documents related to the Biden family. We believe those documents are authentic, they’re real, and they’re damning.”

“At the time we received them, my executive producer Justin Wells and I were in Los Angeles preparing to interview Tony Bobulinski about the Biden’s business dealings in China, Ukraine, and other countries,” Carlson continued. “So, we texted a producer in New York and we asked him to send those documents to us in L.A., and he did that. So, Monday afternoon of this week, he shipped those documents overnight to California with a large national carrier, a brand name company that we’ve used, you’ve used, countless times with never a single problem.”

“But the Biden documents never arrived in Los Angeles,” Carlson said. “Tuesday morning, we received word from the shipping company that our package had been opened and the contents were missing. The documents had disappeared.”

“Now, to it’s credit, the company took this very seriously and immediately began a search,” Carlson said. “They traced the envelope from the moment our producers dropped it off in Manhattan on Monday all the way to 3:44 a.m. yesterday morning. That’s when an employee at a sorting facility in another state noticed that our package was open and empty—apparently it had been opened.”

“So the company’s security team interviewed every one of its employees who touched the envelope we sent; they searched the plane and the trucks that carried it. They went through the office in New York where our producer dropped that package off. They combed the entire cavernous sorting facility. They used pictures of what we had sent so that searchers would know what to look for. They went far and beyond, but they found nothing.”

“Those documents have vanished. As of tonight, the company has no idea, and no working theory even, about what happened to this trove of materials, documents that are directly relevant to the presidential campaign just six days from now,” Carlson concluded. “We spoke to executives at that company a few hours ago; they seemed baffled and deeply bothered by this, and so are we.”  Daily Wire

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Well, well, perhaps Jimmy Hoffa has the stolen papers.

From the account of the investigation it seems clear that an employees of the company saw Carlson's name or some similar name like "Tucker Carlson Tonight"  on the envelope and decided to make a "statement."

I would like to thank several unpublished lefty drones for their assistance in this matter by pointing out to me that the story existed.  pl

https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-confidential-documents-obtained-by-tucker-carlson-on-biden-family-go-missing-report

If Joe Biden Can't Fix His Sick and Dysfunctional Family, How Can He Fix America? by Larry C Johnson

I don’t know who coined the phrase, “Whatever the Democrats accuse a Republican of doing, it means that the Democrats are doing worse.” Never has this been more true, especially in the case of Joe Biden. Grandpa Joe’s feigned outrage during the last debate about Donald Trump allegedly ripping illegal immigrant children from the loving arms of their families, stands in stark contrast to Joe Biden's inaction when notified that his son, Hunter Biden, had an “inappropriate” relationship with a member of the Biden family.

The fable about illegal immigrant children being separated from parents a la the selection line at Auschwitz did not start with Hunter Biden. It was a pre-planned media hit delivered courtesy of NBC’s Kristin Welker. But Joe Biden's response to Welker's query was more than the typical ramblings of a political hack. It exposed his own hypocrisy with respect to his own family.

Kristin Welker asked:

Mr. President, your administration separated children from their parents at the border, at least 4000 kids, You've since reversed your zero tolerance policy, but the United States can't locate the parents of more than 500 children. So how will these families ever be reunited?

Welker's question was inspired by a lawsuit filed by the ACLU on Tuesday, October 22, which claimed the ACLU:

had been unable to contact parents of 545 children who were separated at the border by the Trump administration, leaving the children living with sponsors throughout the United States.

While Welker's question implied that Trump was a heartless monster who did not care that children were languishing in cages worthy of a North Vietnamese prison camp, the truth is otherwise--the children are living with sponsors. They are not in squalor nor are they forcibly separated from parents frantically searching for them. Welker and the ACLU left out one important fact--89% of the parents, who have been deported, don't want their kids back at home. Chase Jennings, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, said:

"Not the economy, stupid" Telegraph

"It’s not the economy, stupid. 

Contrary to the conventional wisdom coined on the campaign trail for Bill Clinton in 1992, this year’s US presidential election will not be a referendum on Donald Trump’s economic handling of the Covid crisis, although it will shape the country’s recovery.

Whether Trump or his Democratic rival Joe Biden wins, the next president faces new Covid cases surging towards a third peak, escalating tensions with China and potentially 5m people in long-term unemployment. 

Voters have a stark choice between two approaches: higher taxes and investment under Biden, or the status quo of tax cuts and deregulation. Economists argue the former will lead to short-term pain for long-term gain."  Telegraph

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According to this article, a Democratic "sweep" will lead to even more massive deficit spending but higher GDP growth rates.

The author nevertheless is unsure as to whether or not enough voters will be persuaded by that prospect to vote for Harris/Biden.   

Joe seems to know that he will be nothing more than a place holder for Harris.  He referred to himself yesterday as her running mate.  IMO the Biden crime familia will make "good" use of what time he would have in office, whatever that would be.

The author takes note of the loyalty of Trump voters (both the faithful and those repelled by the prospect of a Harris presidency) but does not seem to have absorbed the phenomena of Trump supporters standing en masse at his rallies no matter what the time or the weather.

Last night, to his evident surprise, one crowd of thousands started chanting "we love you."

Who expected that?  pl

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/10/28/bidenomics-wont-help-joe-win-election/

"Plausible Deniability"

" ... the former CEO of SinoHawk Holdings, which he said was the partnership between the CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming and the two Biden family members.

“I remember saying, ‘How are you guys getting away with this?’ ‘Aren't you concerned?’” he told Carlson.

He claims that Jim Biden chuckled.

"'Plausible Deniability,' he said it directly to me in a cabana at the Peninsula Hotel,” he said.

In the interview, he outlines how an alleged meeting with Joe Biden took place on May 2, 2017. Fox News first reported text messages that indicated such a meeting. Bobulinski said that it was the Bidens, not him, who had pushed the meeting.

“They were sort of wining and dining me and presenting the strength of the Biden family to get me engaged and to take on the CEO role to develop SinoHawk in the U.S. and around the world in partnership with CEFC,” he said.

He went at length into how Joe Biden arrived for a Milken conference, partly held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, and how he was introduced by Jim and Hunter Biden to the former vice president.

"I didn't request to meet with Joe" Biden, he said. "They requested that I meet with Joe [Biden]. They were putting their entire family legacy on the line. They knew exactly what they were doing.""  FN

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Bobulinski is a successful international business hustler.  I know the type well.  The Biden familia wanted him in this China deal for the purpose of having him hold the reins of this enterprise even as they looted it for the purpose of quickly enriching the fam.  

A TV commentator remarked last night after watching the interview that this defection from the Biden camp is reflective of an old  business truth which can be stated as "don't screw your partner if he has enough material to sink you."

I am unimpressed with selfless patriotism as Bobu's most basic motivation in sticking it to Joe, Jimmy and Hunter Biden.  A sense of betrayal in a business deal wrecked by the Bidens' overwhelming greed and their desire to consolidate family riches as fast as they could is a more plausible. motivation.

This does not mean that Bobu is not telling the truth.  His collection of e-mails addressed to him and incriminating memoranda is most impressive.

IMO, what has been revealed is a truth with regard to the Biden crime family.  They are nouveau riche grifters who will have a much grander stage for their efforts if Joe is elected as a presidential figurehead.  pl 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/plausible-deniability-tony-bobulinski-biden-family

Bobulinski will sing tonight

"Former Biden insider Tony Bobulinski allegedly has a recording of Biden family operatives begging him to stay quiet, or he will "bury" the reputations of everyone involved in Hunter's overseas dealings.

According to The Federalist's Sean Davis, Bobulinski will play the tape on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Tuesday, when Carlson will devote his show 'entirely' to an interview with the Biden whistleblower."

"According to a source familiar with the planning, Bobulinski will play recordings of Biden family operatives begging him to stay quiet and claiming Bobulinski's revelations will "bury" the reputations of everyone involved in Hunter's overseas deals."

As The Federalist notes:

The Federalist confirmed with sources familiar with the plans that Bobulinski, a retired Navy lieutenant and Biden associate, will be airing tapes of Biden operatives begging Bobulinski to remain quiet as former Vice President Joe Biden nears the finish line to the White House next week.

Bobulinski flipped on the Bidens following a Senate report which revealed that they received a $5 million interest-free loan from a now-bankrupt Chinese energy company.

According to the former Biden insider, he was introduced to Joe Biden by Hunter, and they had an hour-long meeting where they discussed the Biden's business plans with the Chinese, with which he says Joe was "plainly familiar at least at a high level." "  Zerohedge

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First of all, Bobulinski is NOT a "retired Navy lieutenant."  He is a former Navy Lieutenant.

Well, folks, it's up to you to watch TC's show tonight if you want to learn about this.  Tucker's show is the most watched news show in the history of cable television, so the pain should not be too great,  pl 

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/youll-bury-everyone-involved-bobulinski-recorded-biden-operatives-begging-him-stay-quiet

 

COVID-19 Note

In re COVID-19. People get the virus, but very few die! VERY FEW DIE! Does Trump look dead to you? He had the virus.  pl

Chinese intelligence files are the Achilles Heel of the Globalists

"GTV, a Chinese dissident billionaire’s Taiwan-based media outlet, is releasing sordid, depressing videos and photographs of a person purported to be Hunter Biden engaging in sex and seemingly smoking crack. That’s not the big news. The big news is that the same outlet claims that (a) Communist China owns Joe Biden; (b) Joe Biden sold out CIA assets in China who were then executed or imprisoned; and (c) GTV has millions of images showing other presumably influential people in comprising positions. If all this is true, we may see a complete realignment in Western politics.

The Hunter Biden videos and images are at GTV’s video site. I won’t give the link here because the material is pornographic. However, the following are two cropped pictures. In both, the person appearing to be Hunter is naked and with a woman. In the second picture, Hunter appears to be lighting a crack pipe while engaged in sexual activity with the woman:"

"What’s more interesting than the images themselves is the story behind them and the allegations included with them. Taiwan-based GTV and GNews, which published the material, are owned by Guo Wengui, a dissent Chinese billionaire.

Guo was born in mainland China and gained his wealth doing construction work. Eventually, he ran into trouble, and the Chinese government accused him of corruption. (The reality, of course, is that anyone who has become wealthy in China was corrupt.)

Guo escaped with his wealth to America. He is a fervent enemy of the Chinese Communist Party and has made it his mission to bring it down. One of his friends is Steve Bannon, with whose help he founded GTV and GNews. In June, Bannon joined with Guo to declare a “New Federal State of China” they hope will overthrow China’s communist government.

When the New York Post, on October 14, published its first report about Hunter Biden’s hard drive, that wasn’t the first time Hunter’s computer made the news. According to the Daily Beast, on September 25, a Guo-affiliated YouTube station uploaded a Chinese-language video announcing that Guo and Bannon had sent “sent three hard disks of evidence” to both the Justice Department and Nancy Pelosi.

Three days later, Himalaya Global, a movement that Guo and Bannon started, published a tweet making the same announcement, only adding that the disks created a “big money and sex scandal.” Twitter has since suspended the account, but the Daily Beast captured the contents:"

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

"Millions of images?"  Hmmm!  this would imply for me that this man Guo's money bought its way into the files of a major Chinese government intelligence collection or decision making institution.

It seems to me that Guo, as a former senior member of the CCP with a wealth of mainland contacts could do that.  People do come and go from mainland China and the smuggling of massive  amounts of data on miniaturized media devices would not be difficult.  It would be dangerous but not very difficult.  Transfer of the data could take place anywhere in the world.

The Chinese are pragmatic people.  The prospect of a nice house in British Columbia and the money with which to maintain the life style would persuade a lot of Chinese with access to the files.  

A "New Federal State of China?"  Yes!  Yes!  We should be putting money and effort into that project.  But, are we?  pl

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/10/forget_the_hunter_biden_sex_tapes_the_real_news_is_much_bigger_than_that.html

A transcript of the hearing on the request to dismiss the Michael Flynn case as a starting point

By Robert Willmann

To bring events up to date in the Michael Flynn criminal case, a starting point is the hearing of 29 September 2020 on the motion filed by the Department of Justice to dismiss the prosecution.  A transcript does not supply parts of a communication that also provide meaning, such as the tone, pitch, and loudness of speech, and the facial expressions and body language of participants.  Nor does it show the reactions of those listening.  But an accurate transcript is useful because it contains the unfiltered words that are said, and sometimes also a brief description of behavior that took place.  The first 164 pages are the hearing, and the remaining pages are a machine-generated index--

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/michaelflynn_transcript_hearing_on_dismissal.pdf

Today (Monday, 26 October), the Justice Department is to file documents after an unusual order by presiding Judge Emmet Sullivan last Friday, 23 October.  It says, in part--

"Accordingly, the government is HEREBY ORDERED to file, by no later than October 26, 2020, a declaration pursuant to penalty of perjury under 28 U.S.C. sec. 1746 in support of its motion to dismiss that the Exhibits attached to its motion and supplement are true and correct copies. It is FURTHER ORDERED that the government's declaration shall identify each exhibit by name, date, and author. It is FURTHER ORDERED that the government shall provide transcriptions of all handwritten notes contained in the Exhibits. The government has also filed on the record in this case numerous notices of filing discovery correspondence and Mr. Flynn has generally filed the discovery produced on the record in this case as Exhibits to his supplementary filings....  [T]he government is HEREBY ORDERED to file, by no later than October 26, 2020, a declaration pursuant to penalty of perjury under 28 U.S.C. sec. 1746 that the discovery documents provided to Mr. Flynn and filed on the record in this case are true and correct copies. It is FURTHER ORDERED that the government's declaration shall identify each discovery document by name, date, and author. It is FURTHER ORDERED that the government shall provide transcriptions of all handwritten notes contained in the Exhibits. Signed by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on 10/23/2020. (lcegs3) (Entered: 10/23/2020)".

It has been obvious that Sullivan is not going to rule on the request to dismiss the case until after the presidential election. 

A few other things have taken place since the hearing of 29 September, and I hope to describe them in the not too distant future.

 

When It Comes to the Bidens, Journalists and Social Media Are Deaf, Dumb and Blind by Larry C Johnson

How would social media and the so-called mainstream media react if a Russian site popped up tonight with a video of Donald Trump in a Moscow Hotel room engaged in voyeurism as two hookers rain a yellow shower on the bed where Barack Obama slept? Would they cover it? Would they allow the story and the video to be re-tweeted and linked on Facebook pages? You bet your ass they would. They would be scrambling for first dibs on the stories like passengers on the Titanic trying to grab a seat on the last lifeboat.

Bearing that in mind you can begin to comprehend both the malevolence of both social and regular media and the enormity of their hypocrisy by examining their reaction to the breaking news last night when the videos and photos from Hunter Biden’s laptop were published a la ‘The Full Monty” on a Taiwanese website. Facebook and Twitter immediately quashed anyone attempting to publicize the news. These Silicon Valley sychophants sprang instantly into full-on protection mode for the Joe Biden campaign. Truth no longer mattered. The social media colossi decided to squelch, erase and obliterate any information that exposed the corrupt dealings of the Chinese-compromised Joe Biden and his family of reprobates. The Chinese now own Joe Biden’s wrinkled posterior. I don’t know the Manadarin phrase for–“Joe’s their bitch”– but Sleepy Joe is beholden to the Chinese.

The good folks at The Gateway Pundit reported on the sudden appearance of the hideous and perverse Hunter Biden videos and images and were immediately banned by both Facebook and Twitter. Jim Hoft posted the link to the site carrying the videos but was careful to keep salacious images obscured. But Facebook and Twitter reacted almost instantly and shutdown Jim’s Twitter account (you can read his experience here).

We can concede at the outset that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other internet expressions of self-conceit are not the Harper’s Weekly of the 21st Century. They are not real media and do not adhere to any journalistic standards. But the New York Times, the Washington Post and the major TV networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) are supposed to operate according to genuine standards of professionalism. But that dog is dead as King Tut. The last four years show beyond any shadow of doubt that the electronic and print media establishment has opted largely to eschew journalistic standards and embrace uncritically any slander and defamation of Donald Trump.

Let me take you back to January 2017. Here’s what the “responsible” media did with salacious, unverified news:

Interesting things - 25 October 2020

Learned here on SST that a lot of the huge book contracts given to swampies are a form of money laundering.  I have long tried to figure out how the publishing companies could afford to pay yuudge advances for ghost written books in a country where so few people read much of anything any longer.  Simple answer!  Big money people order yuudge numbers of books in advance so that the publisher is assured a profit.  

I begin to suspect that a Trump wave election is coming.  The size and ubiquity of the rallies, and the enthusiasm displayed at them must mean something.  Who ever expected to see nuns at a political rally?  What is this, Spain before their civil war?  The nuns fear al paredon or lamposts on K Street?   And then, there are the pro-Trump demonstrations in such unlikely place as Long Giland and Manhattan, the boat flotilla parades, the convoys of Trumpies, even at  the Biden "rally" in Pennsylvania yesterday,  etc. 

Joe and that pathetic creature, Obama can't attract a crowd anywhere.  Don't tell me they are doing "social distancing."  That is a joke and 1984 type spin.

Trump said last night at one of his heartland love fests that the swampies of the Deep State extend into his administration and that people like Brennan, Clapper and company continue to be protected from prosecution by; Christopher Ray, Durham, Barr, Gina Haspel and the like.  The unspoken promise involved in a second term includes dismissal for these people as well as the upper crust at the Pentagon.  

Things could be worse.  pl 

Joe Biden–The Art of the Steal and China Deal by Larry C Johnson

Joe Biden may not be the brightest light bulb in the tanning bed, he he knows how to work the Washington incest and looting system, which operates under the guise of lobbying but is really about selling access. Joe Biden sold out his country so that he could enrich himself and his family.

If you are a Biden supporter you will not like the facts presented below. But denial does not erase the emails, the text messages and the videos that confirm that Joe Biden used his son as a cut out to scoop up tens of millions of dollars. Denial does not eliminate the eyewitness testimony and documentary evidence from Hunter’s business associate, Tony Bobulinski, about a perverse deal with a Chinese businessman, Ye Jianming who sent $5 million dollars to the Bidens in August 2017. More about that later.

It is beyond dispute that Hunter Biden used his status as the son of the Vice President to leverage business deal that produced millions of dollars for him and, ultimately, his father, Joe Biden. Hunter lamented in a text to a family member:

I love all of you. But I don’t receive any respect and thats fine I guess -works for you apparently. I Hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family Fro 30 years, It’s really hard. But don’t worry unlike Pop I won’t make you give me half your salary.”

How Joe Biden was receiving this money remains to be revealed. However, the evidence of massive unexplained sources of income is visible in the four houses that Joe Biden, a former Government employee, now owns. Joe Biden became an instant multi-millionaire upon leaving office. It was not because he is a great raconteur or brilliant writer. He is not.

"... Even if Joe Biden wins, there's no way out now."

"Thanks to Hunter Biden, there's no way out for his father.

"Even if Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, is elected president, damning evidence will continue to emerge that his grifter-son fully embraced the Washington tradition of shameless influence-peddling.

If nothing else, Hunter is a monument to greed. An ellipse should be erected in his honor. 

But the unresolved and trenchant questions are: how much did Joe Biden know and to what extent was he involved in the illicit (if not illegal) schemes?"

Joe will never answer. You can take that to his bank. 

Biden, the elder, is hoping that he can limp across the electoral finish line by refusing to respond to those salient questions and by denouncing the incriminating evidence as "malarkey" and "a bunch of garbage." He scrupulously followed that script during Thursday night's presidential debate. He committed it to memory (such as it is). He deserves, I suppose, some credit for following directions. 

With a lead in the polls, Biden will now surely retreat to his basement bunker trying desperately to run out the clock until November 3rd. Does he intend to nap his way through the scandal? Why not?
 
Time is on Biden's side. The disturbing revelations of what can only be described as rank corruption have come too late in the game."

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

Teapot Dome, Grant's second term, the Corrupt Bargain, Harding's presidency, these were all disgraces, stains on the honor of the country.  Ah! Sorry!  I should not have used the outmoded and abandoned word, "honor."

"The Resistance" will now begin to have a different cast of characters if Biden wins.  Would Biden seek to use the coercive powers of the federal government and the states to destroy Resistance mounted against him?  In spite of the constant screams of "Dictator!" against him Trump never did.  pl

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/hunter-biden-joe-biden-gregg-jarrett

Thoughts from Chairman Joe - # 1

"I won't raise taxes on anyone who makes less than $400 thousand a year."

"If you make as much money as I do, your taxes will be raised."

Chairman Joe was a government employee all his working life.  How does he have such an income?  pl

 

"Who won the presidential debate? Donald Trump..." Telegraph

"Without the usual rhetorical violence, a real dividing line emerged between the two men, the issue that this election was always going to be about, dating back to February.

It's the coronavirus, stupid. Mr Biden essentially believes the economy should be shut down if scientists demand it. Mr Trump essentially believes America has to "learn to live with it". If restrictions run too tough for too long, he said, "the cure will be worse than the problem itself" - something Britain is starting to come to terms with. 

Millions of independent voters, particularly those with small businesses or employed in the hospitality industry, have got to hear that and think "you know what, he has a point".

From Mr Trump's rare victory of style emerges a narrative for his re-election - late, really late: 50 million Americans have already voted by mail. But better now than never.

The case for Mr Trump is this: you know who he is; you know his faults. But those faults partly come from being an outsider - unlike Mr Biden - and for all his many, many character flaws, Mr Trump does now have a record and he is the candidate who wants to get the economy rolling again.

It was doing amazingly well before coronavirus and you can blame its collapse on China, not him. Perhaps he's the guy to recreate that boom and put the country back on its feet? Many polls still rate the economy and his handling of it, even after months of layoffs."  Telegraph

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

Joe Biden employed a clever rhetorical device in responding to Trump's accusations of foreign corruption.  He said, "I have never accepted a single penny from a foreign source."  Sure! Hunter is holding the bag.

Joe's role as clan leader in what he understands to be a tribal world relieves him of the need to "hold" his own money.

The question remains of his palatial housing.  My guess would be that if you look at the title deeds you might find some interesting ownership.

The back and forth last night about character, corruption and ethics reminds me of this ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am9vJidoy8Q&t=46s

pl

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/23/us-presidential-debate-won-trump-biden/

Tora Tora Tora! ...... by Fred

Not a peep out of the MSM. 

Not a mention on NPR.

Not a single tweet. 

Surprise!

Trump Pre-Empts 60 Minutes Hit Job by Larry C Johnson

You gotta love Donald Trump. He finally realizes that the media cannot be trusted to ask honest questions and treat him fairly. Instead of asking him what is his favorite flavor of ice cream or whether he prefers kittens over puppies, CBS veteran Leslie Stahl feigns outrage and tries to ambush Trump with loaded questions.

Trump is having none of it. He counters every absurd assertion. The most glaring hatchet attempt by Stahl is her harping on the rising number of Covid cases. She is equating for the uninformed viewer that a rise in cases is the same as getting sick and dying.

But there is living proof sitting in front of her that even if you test positive and get sick from Covid, you can beat it and come back stronger than ever. In my own experience, I now have more than a half-dozen family members who have tested positive. A few were sick as if they had a bad flu. Some only had very mild symptoms and quickly recovered. None died.

Leslie Stahl is busy trying to play the fear card, figuring that the average American is so terrified that even the word "Covid" will reduce them to a puddle of quivering flesh. Not so.

What is so goddamn hypocritical of Leslie Stahl's hysterical posturing is her rant about masks (start at the 11:45 mark). Only later do we see the pictures posted by Trump's people of Miss Mask Crusader strolling around the White House without a mask. Talk about a double standard.

Leslie Maskless at the White House

RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP 22 OCTOBER 2020 by Patrick Armstrong

(This, BTW, is the 802^nd Sitrep – forgot to count. The first was in March 1997)

WAAAY HARSH! Putin is only worried about catching a cold at the West's funeral.

SOMETHING ELSE from the country that doesn't make anything. First of the new project 22220 class on its way to Murmansk: most powerful icebreaker ever made.

COVECONOMICS. IMF predictions are out. I am fascinated to see that it predicts Russia will do better (less badly) than anyone in the G7 or Euroland. China is set to grow a bit.

CLUELESS. Paul Robinson reminds us that so many Western "experts" haven't a clue: Putin is popular because Russians think he's doing a good job, not because "state TV" tells them he is.

RUSSIA-EU. I've long wondered when or whether Moscow will decide it isn't worth wasting its time talking to the West. Maybe it's about to start with the EU. A cheap and easy case to make its first step.

ENEMIES. A recent Levada poll shows 82% of respondents think Russia has enemies: 70% name USA, 14% Ukraine, 10% UK, 7% EU, 7% Poland. Only half as many thought it had enemies in 1994.

KARABAKH. A Russian-brokered ceasefire failed immediately. But I get the impression that the fighting has stalemated and sooner or later Moscow will be required. It's one of Stalin's little cartographic jokes that has come back to make trouble. One should be aware that there are three pieces of territory. Armenia proper; the former Nagorniy-Karabakh AO – largely ethnic Armenian; the Azerbaijan territories conquered by NK two decades ago. Moscow is obliged to protect the first if attacked – which it has not been and for that reason likely won't be; the second needs some creative diplomacy to make the inhabitants feel secure (and the involvement of Ankara takes them straight back to the massacres a century ago and reinforces their conviction that their forever enemy are the Turks), the third is unquestionably Azerbaijan territory. (Moscow taught Erdoğan a very sharp lesson in 2015; love to know what discussions are going on in the background.)

START. Obama prolonged it as a sort of gentleman's agreement; but I don't think it's going to survive. For one thing, the US negotiator lives in cloud cuckoo land. But – maybe – a development.

CORRUPTION. I've long thought that corruption is a much more complicated subject than it's usually presented as and that we, on our side, might well have more invisible corruption than Russia. Read this and see what you think. And the Pelosis bought a piece of Crowdstrike – well, just... gosh! Of course, if it's not reported by the NYT it didn't happen, did it?

THE WISDOM OF RETIREES. MI6 head told us Russia was a "standing threat" "fundamental threat". Retired, he tells us not to exaggerate. I attempt to explain the appearance of reality upon retirement here.

AMERICA-HYSTERICA. "Scrambling their brains", Well.... I guess it does recognise the phenomenon of scrambled brains even if the explanation is a bit of a re-run. Heres' the story from one of the usual sources. Remember the crickets? Of course it's primarily anti-Trump agitprop: "the victims are left wondering why so little is being done by the Trump administration". It's all so idiotically transparent. (And anything you hear about H--- B--- is Russian disinformation and not really a story).

USA. Sure are a lot of pieces like this: America on cusp of a Civil War. Or this; this; this; and, especially, this. "For those who have followed events outside the United States during the past few decades, much of this sounds familiar. We’ve seen it before – inflicted on other countries". If the US itself is suffering a colour revolution, what happens to the colour revolutions in other places? If the USA is tied up in severe civil strife, secession movements, accusations of election fraud, lawfare and the like, in the background of a faltering economy, COVID and forever wars, it will take a lot of pressure off Russia. (Starting to sound a bit like the USSR in the 1990s, isn't it?)

RUSSOPHRENIA or or How a Collapsing Country Runs the World. I attempt to catalogue the craziness.

UKRAINE. Letter from three EU parliamentarians – strong supporters and believers – complain: "We cannot but see that the corruption perception in Ukraine in 2020 fell back to the 2017 mark, the praised reforms are backsliding...". What happens when these people finally realise they've been lied to and played for suckers from the start? Will they do anything or go away and just be replaced by new suckers?

FROM LAPUTA'S KITCHENS TO YOU. Fighting the Russians with slingshots. No, Rudi, complete nonsense: Ukraine started out with a big slice of the USSR's heaps of weapons. Like 1000+ tanks, 1000+ AIFVs and so on: Wikipedia list here. A better question is what happened to them?

© Patrick Armstrong Analysis, Canada Russia Observer

" ... Hunter sought dad's advice on deals." FN

"Tony Bobulinski, who was listed as the recipient of an email published by the New York Post that appeared to detail a business arrangement involving a Chinese company and members of the Biden family, has confirmed that the email is "genuine" and provided more information regarding the Bidens' role in the deal.

The email includes a note that “Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate.” A proposed equity split references “20” for “H” and “10 held by H for the big guy?” with no further details."

""The reference to 'the Big Guy' in the much publicized May 13, 2017 email is in fact a reference to Joe Biden," Bobulinski said in a statement to Fox News.

Bobulinski said he is the CEO of Sinohawk Holdings, which he explained "was a partnership between the Chinese operating through CEFC/Chairman Ye and the Biden family." He said he was brought on as CEO by Hunter Biden and James Gilliar, who was listed as the sender of the email.

Bobulinski went on to say he does not believe Joe Biden's past claim that he and Hunter did not discuss his son Hunter's business, claiming that Hunter "frequently referenced asking him for his sign-off or advice on various potential deals."

"I’ve seen Vice President Biden saying he never talked to Hunter about his business. I’ve seen firsthand that that’s not true, because it wasn’t just Hunter’s business, they said they were putting the Biden family name and its legacy on the line," Bobulinski said."

""I have extensive relevant records and communications and I intend to produce those items to both Committees in the immediate future," he said."  foxnews

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

The crack of doom, the bell tolling, a smoking gun, what would be the right metaphor?  Decisions, decisions ...  

Let us remember that the erstwhile Lt. (USN) Bobulinsky holds these messages in his own files not in the leprechaun's Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow that is the Zimmerman Telegram, er... Hunter's laptop.

"When Irish Eyes are smilin... '"  (mine) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcGmLu27OlI

 pl 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hunter-biden-business-partner-email-genuine-joe-biden-advice

"WHISTLEBLOWER: HUNTER BIDEN RAPED CHINESE CHILDREN" Church Militant

"A whistleblower is claiming there are multiple videos on Hunter Biden's laptop showing him raping and torturing underage Chinese girls, and that the Chinese Communist Party is using these videos as blackmail against Democrat presidential contender Joe Biden.

DingGang Wang, a member of Miles Guo's team, which has worked with Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani for many months, said in a Sept. 24 broadcast for Lude Media — two weeks before the New York Post bombshell — that he has reviewed the contents of a laptop owned by Hunter Biden.

"So what about Hunter Biden? Sex tapes, pedo tapes, one by one — Hunter Biden," said Wang. "Extremely disturbing and obscene ..."

Indicating extreme abuse, he continued, "Not treating the Chinese as human beings.""

""Who filmed these?" he asked. "The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did it!"

Wang indicates there is much more compromising material on the laptop, and that the CCP is using the child porn videos as blackmail against Joe Biden, whom they hope is elected president."

""The message of the CCP is: Don't ever think I don't have your secrets in possession," Wang explained. "To give you this hard drive is to let you know that, don't forget, we have evidence of your crimes. You have to win this election."

Sexual blackmail is a classic tactic of the communists, and was routinely used by the KGB. In addition to the famed "honeytrap," wherein female KGB agents seduced American men and caught their misdeeds on tape, there is evidence General Secretary Yuri Andropov created pedophile rings in order to blackmail businessmen and political leaders.

The tactic is also used in communist China."  Church Militant

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

It is a common practice in the dark world of clandestine intelligence to blackmail sources to insure their continued cooperation.  I never saw it done in the American intelligence services but I wasn't everywhere and cannot state categorically that something like this never happened on our side.  The best recruitments are the result of careful cultivation over long periods of time.  pl 

https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/whistleblower-hunter-biden-raped-chinese-children

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Militant_(website)

"... this whole pandemic really is a conspiracy." Telegraph

"I was waiting for a revelation that never came. Months went by and millions of tests were performed, revealing with increasing certainty that here was a virus with a very low death rate indeed. Exact approximations vary but the survival rate for Covid-19 is thought to be somewhere above 99 per cent, and maybe as high as 99.8 per cent. 

The average age of someone who dies from coronavirus is 82.4, which, by the way, is nearly identical to the average life expectancy in Britain (81.1). Surely it is people in this segment of society we should be focusing on protecting, I thought, as schools closed and businesses went bust up and down the country.

It looked vaguely promising in July when restaurants, hotels and shops reopened, and when most of Europe opened its borders to international travel, but this break from the tyranny of lockdown was short-lived. 

Between mid-June and mid-September – even as we socialised, holidayed, and swapped germs to our heart’s content – influenza and pneumonia contributed to more weekly deaths than Covid-19. Sweden, one of the only countries on Earth that refused to lock down, had by this point proved beyond reasonable doubt that its tactic had broadly worked; even with such little intervention, the nation had not collapsed into the sort of apocalyptic health crisis predicted by the likes of Neil Ferguson."  Telegraph

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

Once again, our cousins across the way are demonstrating that our hearts beat as one, unfortunately.  Their government is even nuttier than ours on the subject of locking down the economy over a fever epidemic that kills so few people among the vast masses of the population.   The hysteria involved in COVID-19 lockdowns is a phenomenon that we see often now.  The mass media have the ability to whip public opinion into a frenzy over any issue, any issue at all.  Politicians here and in the UK have learned that they can mount that tiger but they have not learned yet how difficult it is to dismount.  pl 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/almost-starting-think-whole-pandemic-really-conspiracy/

"His sister in law ---"

"A senior federal law enforcement official told Just the News on Tuesday night that the FBI is in possession of the laptop and that the bureau concurs with Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe's assessment that the laptop is not part of Russian intelligence operation, as some Democrats have alleged. That official declined to discuss the contents of the laptop.

Hunter Biden's attorney George Mesires did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The Biden presidential campaign's Communications Director Kate Bedingfield did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Giuliani said the materials he gleaned from the controversial laptop — which a Delaware computer shop owner alleges was left with him by Hunter Biden — gave him concern for the welfare of a minor girl. Giuliani declined to identify the alleged minor victim or who was in the photos.

"There are many texts which I gave to them that point out that family was concerned about the safety of the child," Giuliani said. "I will tell you the evidence I gave them states it was reported to Joe Biden. What did he do about it?”

Kerik confirmed Wednesday he joined Giuliani in reporting the materials to police, suggesting the laptop content “raises serious questions as to Joe Biden‘s national security vulnerability.”"  Justthenews

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

A mobbed up Irish crime family?  It surely sounds like that.  If you have never seen the great, great 1990 film "State of Grace," please do so.

I watched Giuliani's interview on Newsmax (link below).  In it Giuliani states baldly that Beau Biden's wife was Hunter's mistress for a number of years .  I am told that there is video proof of this on the hard drive. A trophy?  Sibling rivalry?  Who knows.  pl

https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/rudy-giuliani-reports-evidence-alleged-child-endangerment-delaware-police

https://youtu.be/coFx3ZDXWrg

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/10/20/exclusive-bevan-cooney-moved-from-prison-cell-after-providing-email-account-exposing-hunter-biden/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Grace_(1990_film)

Discredited Intel “Professionals” Push Lie About Russian Interference by Larry C Johnson

A letter published today (Monday, October 19, 2020) with the signatures of 50 "former intelligence" officials is a self-inflicted wound of comedy and absurdity wrapped in the specious claim of special expertise. Thank God none of these clowns still hold a position anywhere in the national security bureaucracy. Their inability to grasp basic facts and engage in simple reasoning perhaps explains why the Obama team abandoned American military and intelligence officials at Benghazi in September 2012 and why they considered ISIS as "a junior varsity" team.

Basically, this group of mediocrities are sure that the Hunter Biden emails are part of some nasty Rooskie plot:

. . . we write to say that the arrival on the US political scene of emails purportedly belonging to Vice President Biden’s son Hunter, much of it related to his time serving on the Board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.

There is only one teeny, tiny problem. They have no facts to back up their deluded judgment, supposedly based on years of experience. Just goes to show that experience without real intelligence is no substitute for competence.

Let us start with the facts that are documented:

An Apology To U. S. Special Forces By Walrus.

TV and movies present an image of U.S. special forces of all varieties as being the most aggressive in the world and not particularly concerned about legalities, Geneva Conventions etc. This is an article of faith among left wingers world wide and the so called right thinking intelligences in the West. You are portrayed as not very bright homicidal knuckle draggers, compared to say, the magnificent Australian Special forces - surgical foreign policy tools, etc., etc. Well I now wish to apologise for entertaining such thoughts.

There is an ongoing Australian Army investigation into what are, I believe, potentially Calley grade war crimes by Australian special forces over a long period in the middle east. Crimes that are not justified by the pressures of combat, etc.

The latest allegation, from a U. S. marine aircrew, is that an Australian special forces unit holding several captured Afghans, when told that their U.S extraction helicopter was overloaded by one man, responded by shooting and killing one of their prisoners to lighten the load.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-21/soldiers-killed-man-who-could-not-fit-on-aircraft-says-us-marine/12782756’

I have no reason to doubt this story, as it is just one of an ongoing stream that is non political. If what is portrayed is found to be true then I would like to see these units disestablished and rebuilt from the ground up because they in no way represent Australian ethos. Killing combatants is one thing. Killing prisoners and civilians is another. I apologise to American special forces for thinking that the Australian S.A.S was on some kind of superior pedestal. Yes, I have worn the uniform. I’m not some milquetoast. The honour of the Australian defence forces, or what passes for it these days, demands a thorough investigation and the punishment of those involved. I’m ashamed, and so is every service person, if these stories are found to be true.

A piece of heaven

Espadon

pl

A Bidengate summary from the Daily Mail

"Documents appear to show Hunter Biden's signature on $85 receipt for repair of laptops left at Delaware store at center of email scandal - while other paperwork reveals FBI's contact with owner

• A receipt from The Mac Shop in Wilmington, Delaware appears to show Hunter Biden's signature for work on three laptops for $85
• It has not been verified yet if that signature is actually Biden's 
• FBI paperwork also shows that shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac received a subpoena to testify before the US District Court in Delaware in December 2019
• Last week the New York Post published a report saying e-mails obtained from the laptop show Joe Biden allegedly was in on his son Hunter's business deals
• House Intel chair Adam Schiff said the 'smear' on Biden 'comes from the Kremlin' 
• DNI John Ratcliffe said the laptop is not a Russian disinformation campaign 
• Biden's campaign says the Democratic nominee engaged in no wrongdoing "

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

Well, pilgrims, he sure looks comfy in the tub.  I still wonder who took the pictures.  Was it the gal in California who later sued him over paternity of her child/fetus, whatever. 

Did he take the pictures himself?  Interestingly, the Bidens have not denied the implicit charge of corruption, bribery, etc., etc. that is the mass of incriminating e-mail traffic on the hard drive.  And then, there are the disgusting sex videos.  Does anyone think that these were faked?

SWMBO says that the Bidens have set a new standard for depraved and addled stupidity.  As usual, she is right.  pl

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8857893/Documents-Hunter-Bidens-signature-Delaware-computer-repair-shop-receipt.html

Does anyone care? I do.

"In this episode of Common Sense, Rudy Giuliani, who was the trailblazer for RICO prosecutions in the 1980s, demonstrates how the thirty years of the Biden Family selling public office, and many other crimes, makes a perfect RICO case."  RICO case

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

Rudy has a u-tube show.  pl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LuSpHJNPe0&feature=youtu.be

Did the Bureau sit on the laptop to "own" China Joe?

"It didn’t surprise the informed, and understandably a bit cynical, to hear that the FBI sat on Hunter Biden’s laptop instead of seeking justice. The bureau was previously involved in an illegal plot to take down Donald Trump, after all, and its Deep State elements would assuredly love to see Joe Biden succeed him in January. So why would they reveal damning information on their establishment hope? Yet suppressing Huntergate perhaps provided a secondary benefit:

The information could be used against Biden once he was in office.

This wouldn’t be anything new. It’s believed that longtime, legendary FBI director J. Edgar Hoover used “dirt files” on politicians for leverage; for one thing, it’s said, this enabled him to remain bureau head for as long as he wished. William Sullivan, once the number three official under Hoover, put it this way: From the moment the director got damning information on a senator, the man would be “right in his pocket.”

So not only could suppressing Huntergate get Biden in office, but then maybe it’s, “Nice presidency you’ve got there, Mr. Biden — I’d hate to see anything happen to it.”

Since the criminality in question could, apparently, put Hunter in prison along with destroying China Joe, the leverage is profound. It could not only be used to control Biden but also his wife, Jill, in the unlikely event she for a time is able to pull off an Edith Wilson (who supposedly ran the show when Woodrow Wilson became incapacitated). She wouldn’t want to see her stepson in the hoosegow and her family’s reputation ruined, after all."   American Thinker

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

Yes, this is an old tradition in the FBI.  Institutions like this develop a collective psychology and those traditions do not go away.  Felix Dzerzhinsky said that once a man was a Chekist he is always a Chekist.  pl

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/10/is_this_another_reason_the_fbi_hid_the_hunter_biden_laptop.html?utm_source=vuukle&utm_medium=newsfeed

Hanger Steak (onglet) tonight

From a Kosher butchery in Brooklyn, NY.  pl 

Peru, severely locked down, has the worst COVID death rate in the world.

"No country has been harder hit by Covid than my native Peru. Officially, the virus has claimed 33,600 lives from a total population of 32 million – the worst fatality rate in the world. But the real figure is far higher. Peru has a rickety public health system, and relied on Chinese antibody tests rather than PCR tests, so many coronavirus casualties went undiagnosed. I spoke to half a dozen Peruvians this week, including a doctor and a government official. All of them thought the true number of Covid deaths was closer to 80,000.

What has turned the ancient seat of Spain’s Viceroyalty into such a global outlier? You might think the answer is obvious, namely that Peru is a poor, sprawling place, with shantytowns, crowded minibuses and teeming markets. But you’d be wrong. Well aware of its situation, Peru decreed what must surely count as the toughest and, relative to infection rates, earliest lockdown on the planet.

On March 16, when there were only 28 confirmed cases, Peru closed its borders and imposed an eye-watering curfew. Men and women were allowed to leave home on alternate days, and only for essential purposes. The restrictions were enforced by the army and, by and large, they were obeyed. Google images showed a massive reduction in the number of people outdoors.

The economic consequences were catastrophic. Even in a wealthy country such as Britain, closures hit folk with cash-in-hand jobs much harder than people who can work from home. In Peru, where around two thirds of the economy is informal, things ground to a halt. Yet it did not slow the virus. Peru’s excess deaths – the number of people who have died in 2020 as against what would normally be expected – are the highest in the world."   Telegraph

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

I was in Iquitos once.  A small group of SF sergeants from 8th Group in Panama were there for six months in 1966 doing some sort of training for the local forces of order.  They got bored after a few months and decided in their happy, goofy way to stage the death and funeral of one of the team, someone popular with the townspeople.

The city dwellers mourned and followed the horse drawn hearse to the plaza in front of the cathedral.  The vehicle was one of those glass sided things with black plumes on the heads of the horses.  The deceased was laid out on top of the hearse surrounded with flowers.  Eulogies were spoken. The city brass band played the "Dead March in Saul."

At the emotional apogee of the thing, the deceased sat up and waved to the crowd and thanked them in fluent Spanish for their concern.

The American ambassador in Lima, far away from Amazonian Iquitos, was not happy when he heard of this episode.  For some reason I was sent down there to unscrew this mess.  I felt like I needed a new butt after the ambassador got through chewing it, but at Iquitos the city administration told me they thought the funeral was funny and that they wanted our sergeants to stay, especially "El Muerto."  pl

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/18/peru-has-toughest-lockdown-world-still-ended-worst-fatality/

"Why the French Don’t Show Excitement" Emily Monaco

"  ... with a fairly good grasp of the language, I was convinced that I would soon assimilate into French culture.

Of course, I was wrong. There’s nothing like cultural nuance to remind you who you are at your core: my Americanness became all the more perceptible the longer I remained in France, and perhaps no more so than the day a French teacher told me his theory on the key distinction between those from my native and adopted lands.

“You Americans,” he said, “live in the faire [to do]. The avoir [to have]. In France, we live in the être [to be].”

The moment he said it, it made perfect sense. I thought back to my life in New York, where every moment was devoted to checking tasks off a perpetual to-do list or planning for the days, weeks and years to come. In France, however, people were perfectly contented to just be."  Emily Monaco

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

I have frequently been accused of living too much in the "etre" rather than the "faire."  At times people have been more specific to the point of saying that I am an unnatural American, someone who ought to go hide myself somewhere among people more like me, like maybe in Mediterranean Europe.  They were probably right in saying that.

At the US Army War College, I was judged to be the most Type B officer on post at Carlisle Barracks.  I was assigned as home work to the semi-psycho extreme Type A guys.  They were told to watch me and to try to learn to calm down.  These were the kind of people who would spike little kids in the head in volleyball games, just to win, anything to win, all the god damned time.

Being Type A or B doesn't have anything to do with how aggressive you are or how much you accomplish.  No.  It has to do with your attitude toward life.

Perpignan to the Spanish border, we should have emigrated to somewhere along there.  pl

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/why-the-french-don-t-show-excitement?utm_source=pocket-newtab&fbclid=IwAR1E7GNMQnp9PikITejinWKKSkQUBrxXnvjDkTlPw6zcDnB7Bf49XZhDBWQ

Happy Anniversary to The World Turned Upside Down by Fred

On the 17th of October, 1781 – General Charles Cornwallis offers his surrender to the Americans at Yorktown, Virginia. Let's raise a glass and listen along to the song that brings such cheer.

"Hunter Biden Business Associate Flips From Prison, Releases Emails Detailing China Influence-Peddling Operation" Zerohedge

"Emails from a former business associate of Hunter Biden's inner-circle who's serving time in prison for a 2016 investment scheme reveal that Hunter and his colleagues used their access to the Obama administration to peddle influence to potential Chinese clients and investors - including securing a private, off-the-books meeting with the former Vice President."

"Cooney believes he was the "fall guy" for an investment scheme in which Hunter and business associate Devon Archer avoided responsibility. He reached out to Schweizer after the journalist published Secret Empires in 2018. Archer was initially spared jail and handed a second trial, however a federal appeals court reinstated Archer's fraud conviction in the case last week.

Cooney provided Schweizer with written authorization, his email account name, and password to his Gmail account to retrieve these emails. He authorized, in writing, the publication of these emails— notable because it is the first time a close associate has publicly confirmed Hunter’s trading on his father’s influence. -Breitbart

More revelations:

In a November 5, 2011 email, one of Archer's business contacts suggested helping to arrange White House meetings for a group of Chinese executives and government officials who would make "potentially outstanding new clients." The group, the China Entrepreneur Club (CEC) included CCP loyalists, Chinese billionaires and at least one "respected diplomat" from Beijing. According to the report, CEC - established in 2006, has been referred to as "a second foreign ministry" for China's communist regime. The gross income of CEC members is estimated to be equivalent to roughly 4% of China's GDP, according to the email.

"I know it is political season and people are hesitant but a group like this does not come along every day," said intermediary Mohamed A. Khashoggi on behalf of the CEC to a Biden / Archer associate. "A tour of the white house and a meeting with a member of the chief of staff’s office and John Kerry would be great," reads the email."  Zerohedge

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

These e-mails are separate from the cache of e-mails being published by the NY Post.  pl

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/hunter-biden-business-associate-flips-prison-releases-emails-detailing-china-influence

The lawyer's e-mail message

Larry Johnson is otherwise engaged today and has asked me to post the e-mail message that was sent to the computer shop owner from a lawyer.  It references a previous telephone discussion.  pl

 

"From: "Mesires, George R."
Date: October 13, 2020 at 6:58:59 PM EDT
To: JP MacIssac
Subject: George Mesires contact information

John Paul:

Thank you for speaking with me tonight. As I indicated, I am a lawyer for Hunter Biden and I appreciate you reviewing your records on this matter. Thank you. 

George 

George R. Mesires

Partner

george.mesires@xxxxxxxx

Connect: xxxx

xxxxxx direct

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

311 S. Wacker Drive, Suite 4300 Chicago, Illinois 60606, USA

Welcome to Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP (Faegre Drinker) - a new firm comprising the former Faegre Baker Daniels and Drinker Biddle & Reath. Our email addresses have changed with mine noted in the signature block. All phone and fax numbers remain the same. As a top 50 firm that draws on shared values and cultures, our new firm is designed for clients."

Yes, The Hunter Biden Emails Are Authentic by Larry C Johnson

This is the story of an American patriot, an honorable man, John Paul Mac Isaac, who tried to do the right thing and is now being unfairly and maliciously slandered as an agent of foreign intelligence, specifically Russia. He is not an agent or spy for anyone. He is his own man. How do I know? I have known his dad for more than 20 years. I've known John Paul's dad as "Mac." Mac is a decorated Vietnam Veteran, who flew gunships in Vietnam. And he continued his military service with an impeccable record until he retired as an Air Force Colonel. The crews of those gunships have an annual reunion and Mac usually takes John Paul along, who volunteers his computer and video skills to record and compile the stories of those brave men who served their country in a difficult war.

This story is very simple--Hunter Biden dropped off three computers with liquid damage at a repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware on April 12, 2019. The owner, John Paul Mac Isaac, examined the three and determined that one was beyond recovery, one was okay and the data on the hard drive of the third could be recovered. Hunter signed the service ticket and John Paul Mac Isaac repaired the hard drive and down loaded the data. During this process he saw some disturbing images and a number of emails that concerned Ukraine, Burisma, China and other issues. With the work completed, Mr. Mac Isaac prepared an invoice, sent it to Hunter Biden and notified him that the computer was ready to be retrieved. Hunter did not respond. In the ensuing four months (May, June, July and August), Mr. Mac Isaac made repeated efforts to contact Hunter Biden. Biden never answered and never responded. More importantly, Biden stiffed John Paul Mac Issac--i.e., he did not pay the bill.

When the manufactured Ukraine crisis surfaced in August 2019, John Paul realized he was sitting on radioactive material that might be relevant to the investigation. After conferring with his father, Mac and John Paul decided that Mac would take the information to the FBI office in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mac walked into the Albuquerque FBI office and spoke with an agent who refused to give his name. Mac explained the material he had, but was rebuffed by the FBI. He was told basically, get lost. This was mid-September 2019.

Two months passed and then, out of the blue, the FBI contacted John Paul Mac Isaac. Two FBI agents from the Wilmington FBI office--Joshua Williams and Mike Dzielak--came to John Paul's business. He offered immediately to give them the hard drive, no strings attached. Agents Williams and Dzielak declined to take the device.

"The corporate capital of the world ..." (Delaware according to Joe)

"Biden, meanwhile, has continued his Invisible Man routine. ABC’s event was held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia under the obsequious supervision of George Stephanopoulos, who is more hammy than a pig farm. Stephanopoulos let Biden speak uninterrupted for long stretches. This was probably not in his man’s interest.

Biden speaks like a man who has just been hit on the head with a mallet. He looks dazed and angry, like a punch-drunk boxer. When Stephanopoulos asked him about mask-wearing, Biden free-associated aloud for a few minutes, then arrived at his conclusion with a look of stunned wonderment on his face.

“We should be thinking about making it mandatory,” Biden announced.

“How could you enforce that?,” Stephanopoulos asked.

“You couldn’t. That’s the problem. You can’t enforce measles,” Biden said triumphantly. Stephanopoulos looked appalled.

“It’s like you can’t mandate a mask,” Biden sailed on fearlessly. A few weeks ago, Biden said he’d mandate mask-wearing if he became President. Then someone explained to him that the President doesn’t have the powers to do it. Biden’s alternative, unveiled this evening, is to “get all the governors in a room”. If they wouldn’t mandate masks, Biden said he would “go to every mayor, to every councilman, every local official”. He stopped talking, and smiled like a triumphant simpleton.

Stephanopolous looked stupefied, or possibly on the edge of coma. By the halfway point, Biden was heading that way too. Trump’s steroids were still raging, but Biden’s pills were wearing off, and he kept fumbling his one-liners.

On foreign affairs, Biden sounded like Kanye West: “Our allies are go it alone, our ‘America first’ is America alone.” “He’s learned the Art of the Steal by the Art of the Deal from Xi in China.”

Biden was regressing fast as bedtime loomed. A question on LGBT rights generated a bizarre anecdote from his childhood about seeing two African-American men kissing in the street in Wilmington, Delaware. “The corporate capital of the world at the time,” he told Stephanopoulos, as though that explained it. 

Stephanopoulos looked aghast, but Biden rallied, and produced a thick stream of pure and patronizing gibberish about early childhood education for African-Americans. “When you let them go to school, they make up rapidly whatever, whatever, um, fail… whatever… whatever shortcoming they had in their education prior to that. They’ve not heard as many words spoken, et cetera, et cetera. What happens is, studies show that 58 per cent will increase by 58 percent their chances of going through all twelve years of school.”

Like “they” say, a mind is a terrible thing to waste. "   Dominic Green

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

"The corporate capital of the world at the time ..."  Say - what?  

Dominic Green was not kind to Trump either, but his skill in describing the poor old man's drivel is reminiscent of some of the great satirical works of English literature,  "Tristram Shandy" comes to mind.

Sweet Jesus!  Are we really going to elect this poor fool?  Are we going to give him and "Pol Pot in a pants suit"  the Football and the Gold Codes?  pl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_and_Opinions_of_Tristram_Shandy,_Gentleman

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/10/16/patronising-biden-failed-make-headway-against-pantomime-trump/

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

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

Banned by Biden! A Digital Iron Curtain Descends Upon America. By Fred

Just what has been banned? Masks? Oh no, he's gonna make them mandatory nationwide, like women wearing a burkha in Saudi Arabia. You have undoubtablely heard about the Weineresque hard drive discovery involving Hunter Biden and his emails. You probably didn't see it on Twitter or Facebook. 

In a quite open effort to suppress news, restrain the trade of news organizations in competition with them, these two firms have actively 'shadow banned' the story and locked out a number organizations and people from their accounts, starting with:
The NY Post, one of the largest news organizations in the US and publisher of the story.

Censor the press? Why yes, that's exactly what was done here. Questions from other competitors in the press? Well those aren't banned; however, it sure looks like the Biden campaign supplies those to the fake news reporters. Let me suggest one.

"more interesting to me and my family ..." NY Post

"Hunter Biden pursued lucrative deals involving China’s largest private energy company — including one that he said would be “interesting for me and my family,” emails obtained by The Post show.

One email sent to Biden on May 13, 2017, with the subject line “Expectations,” included details of “remuneration packages” for six people involved in an unspecified business venture.

Biden was identified as “Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC,” an apparent reference to the former Shanghai-based conglomerate CEFC China Energy Co.

His pay was pegged at “850” and the email also noted that “Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate.”

In addition, the email outlined a “provisional agreement” under which 80 percent of the “equity,” or shares in the new company, would be split equally among four people whose initials correspond to the sender and three recipients, with “H” apparently referring to Biden."

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

Well, you can see why the Chinese wanted and needed Hunter's expertise.  He had demonstrated his worth with the Ukrainian companies.

And who is the "big guy" for whom Hunter is said to be holding 1o M?  pl

https://nypost.com/2020/10/15/emails-reveal-how-hunter-biden-tried-to-cash-in-big-with-chinese-firm/

Maybe, just maybe ...

"The 2020 presidential race may be closer than the polls suggest, according to an analysis of voter registration trends by JPMorgan Chase.

Changes in the number of voters registered to each of the major parties have proven to be a significant variable in election outcomes in the past, according to strategists at the New York-based bank, which analyzed trends in some of the battleground states that will be crucial to an electoral college victory.

Former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Trump by 9.2 points nationally, according to an average of polls compiled by RealClearPolitics, but his lead is at a tighter 4.9 points in hotly contested states."

"In Pennsylvania, for example, a blue-leaning state that Trump won by 44,292 votes in 2016, the Republican Party has since picked up nearly 200,000 voters.

JPMorgan says the gains suggest Trump could win the state by a margin of more than 240,000 in the upcoming election."

"Similar progress in battlegrounds Florida and North Carolina suggest Trump may take those states by a larger margin than in his first campaign as well."

"JPMorgan also believes a surge in the number of registered Republicans will tighten the race in New Mexico, but that the state will still go with Biden. On the flipside, a growing number of registered Democrats in Arizona will make the state close, but Trump should prevail.

While voter registration is encouraging for Trump and the GOP, it is “only one variable in determining the election outcome,” the JPMorgan team wrote, noting that the results should not be used to predict a state’s outcome."

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

Pilgrims!  Perhaps I should not despair for my country just yet. The Demo/Marxistas say that the long lines of early voters are all theirs. Well, "we will see."  pl

https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/voter-registration-trends-trump-edge-jpmorgan

" ... how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad." NY Post

"Hunter Biden introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive at a Ukrainian energy firm less than a year before the elder Biden pressured government officials in Ukraine into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the company, according to emails obtained by The Post.

The never-before-revealed meeting is mentioned in a message of appreciation that Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of Burisma, allegedly sent Hunter Biden on April 17, 2015, about a year after Hunter joined the Burisma board at a reported salary of up to $50,000 a month.

“Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together. It’s realty [sic] an honor and pleasure,” the email reads.

An earlier email from May 2014 also shows Pozharskyi, reportedly Burisma’s No. 3 exec, asking Hunter for “advice on how you could use your influence” on the company’s behalf.

The blockbuster correspondence — which flies in the face of Joe Biden’s claim that he’s “never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings” — is contained in a massive trove of data recovered from a laptop computer."  NY Post

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

Sadly, the MSM will insist on covering this up for Biden.  The NY Post is an exception that should be commended.  pl 

https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-biz-man-to-dad/

Grilled Cod

pl

"Catholic Bishop Rebukes Biden Over Abortion, Urges Him To Anticipate Divine Judgment"

"The Roman Catholic bishop of Knoxville, Tennessee, urged Democratic nominee Joe Biden to rethink his support of abortion in light of the fact that God is going to judge him.

“A question for Mr. Biden,” Bishop Rick Stika tweeted Sunday. “At your judgement before God, how will you explain changing your position about abortion and how will you explain promoting no limits and allowing all protections removed protecting the most innocent?”

“Will you tell God you supported the ultimate child abuse because of the American] Constitution?” Stika added. “I wonder what God must have asked many leaders throughout the centuries? Government over human rights and the taking of innocent lives. Many Catholics will need to answer this the first of many questions about the poor, the starving etc.”"

"Stika seemed to question the authenticity of Biden’s faith and went so far as to blast his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) as “an anti-Catholic bigot.”

“Don’t understand how Mr. Biden can claim to be a good and faithful Catholic as he denies so much of Church teaching especially on the absolute child abuse and human rights violations of the most innocent, the not yet born,” Stika tweeted, adding, “And he also praises his sidekick who has shown time and time again in senate hearings that she is an anti-Catholic bigot. So sad for this team.”

"In 2019, Father Robert E. Morey of Saint Anthony Catholic Church in Florence, South Carolina, reportedly denied Biden the sacrament of Holy Communion because of his abortion views. As The Daily Wire reported:

“Sadly, this past Sunday, I had to refuse Holy Communion to former Vice President Joe Biden,” Father Robert E. Morey of Saint Anthony Catholic Church told SCNOW. “Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church. Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching.”

“I will keep Mr. Biden in my prayers,” Morey added."

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

The question in this matter is not whether  a politician or jurist should separate his or her personal views from the task of formulating law or judging cases.  It is clear that they must if we are to have a secular state in the US.  

No. What these priests are talking about is the internal responsibility of the clergy to call to account supposed Catholics who want to claim membership in The Body of Christ while simultaneously and publicly defying the teaching of the church.  There are quite a few of these, Giuliani, the Cuomos, Biden, etc.   To justify this behavior a false category of "flexible" Catholics is created to justify the hypocrisy of political personal commitment to anti-Catholic behavior while claiming to be a devoted child of The Church

Catholicism is not anything like a Chinese restaurant menu in which one choses one item from Column One, two from Column B.  Perhaps you might prefer the analogy of a restaurant buffet.

Catholicism is a hierarchical religion.  Its body of teaching, what Feinstein call "dogma" is not negotiable in its elements.

To avoid total hypocrisy anyone claiming membership must accept it all and abjure advocacy of anti-Catholic actions or should publicly depart the church.

pl

https://www.dailywire.com/news/catholic-bishop-rebukes-biden-over-abortion-urges-him-to-anticipate-divine-judgment

A CALL TO RENEWAL BY MARK THOMPSON

A recent opinion piece by Claremont Institute’s Tom Klingenstein best summarizes our upcoming election–it is “a contest between a man, Trump, who believes America is good and a man, Biden who is controlled by a movement that believes America is bad.”

When our nation was attacked by a foreign terrorist group nineteen years ago, initially we were dumbstruck with wonder at the heroics of of intrepid firefighters and law enforcement officers, who repeatedly entered the blast riddled, burning World Trade Center buildings to save complete strangers. We gaped in horror when the Twin Towers collapsed, mortally crushing many of the first responders desperately trying to save souls. They gave their lives in order to save others. And we united as Americans in the aftermath of this terrible loss to honor and praise the first responders, both the fallen and the living.

But that unity of spirit now is vanquished. And instead of honoring law enforcement, the police are excoriated as evil doers by a small, but vicious segment of American society. Major cities long controlled by Democrat oligarchs, are shunning law enforcement and entertaining plans to “de-fund” police departments. In the view of these twisted politicians, all police are bad, not just a few “bad apples”. The slander of the police is being defined with Orwellian terms, such as social justice, and excused because America is now defined as being terminally infected with systemic racism. This hateful calumny is accompanied by domestic terror organizations, which are torching businesses while perpetrating their masquerade as “peaceful protestors.”

We have not seen this kind of consequential lying since the hey day of the Soviet Union and Fidel Castro’s Cuba. It is no coincidence that this propaganda onslaught comes on the eve of the most consequential election in our history. The timing is purposeful.