Tag Archives: CNN

Qatar’s Interest In America

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Qatar is a very questionable friend. They have been one of the major sponsors of terrorism in the Middle East for years. They have housed terrorist leaders to protect them. They have always played both sides of the coin.

On Tuesday, The Washington Free Beacon reported:

A veteran producer at CNN now serves as a registered foreign agent for the Qatar Foundation working to “elevate and promote” the regime-led nonprofit “within U.S. media,” federal disclosures reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show.

Monika Plocienniczak joined CNN as an associate producer in 2010, shortly after she graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. She left the network five years later to work in the public relations industry, eventually joining the New York-based firm RF Binder as a managing director in December 2023.

It was then that Plocienniczak registered as a foreign agent representing the Qatar Foundation. In her federal disclosure, which is active through October 2026, Plocienniczak says she provides “work related to media outreach and engagement to elevate and promote the public profile of Qatar Foundation within U.S. media around its three core mission areas: education, research, and community development.”

The Qatar Foundation has paid RF Binder at least $460,000 since Plocienniczak registered as its agent, according to the firm’s semi-annual statements. The most recent of those disclosures covers a six-month period ending on April 30, meaning Qatar has likely paid the firm more in the second half of 2025.

RF Binder has also filed scores of disclosures—including as recently as September—that show emails the firm sent U.S. media outlets on behalf of the Qatar Foundation. They present Qatari professors, doctors, and “businessmen” as “experts” who are available to speak on topics like “propaganda on social media in the Gulf region,” the “startup ecosystem in Doha,” “Donald Trump’s election win,” and “the Israel-Hamas conflict, Israel-Hezbollah conflict, and regional repercussions.”

Some of those “experts”—like Mehran Kamrava, a Georgetown University in Qatar professor who has accused Israel of showing a “pattern of systematic killing” in Gaza—were subsequently quoted by outlets like the Washington Post and Bloomberg. CNN featured a Qatar-endorsed “expert,” Hamad Bin Khalifa University professor Sultan Barakat, in a December 2023 segment titled “Concerns over how the Israel-Hamas war is impacting the region.” Barakat said that “Iran does not seek conflict with the United States,” but “Netanyahu does.”

Please follow the link to read the entire article. The mainstream media is questionable enough without being influenced by foreign countries that support terrorism.

One Unexpected Positive Consequence Of The Shutdown

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On Friday, The Hill posted an article about what may be the only positive result of the shutdown–some of the corruption in our government may actually be dealt with!

The article reports:

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Thursday said the Trump administration is planning to have all Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries reapply for the program due to alleged fraud. 

The secretary said after receiving data on SNAP recipients from 29 red states that “186,000 deceased men and women and children in this country are receiving a check.”

…Every state has a periodic recertification process that requires SNAP or food stamp recipients to update their whereabouts and earnings, according to the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Most municipalities require updated data every six to 12 months. 

The article concludes:

More than 41 million Americans rely on the benefits to buy groceries, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

However, Rollins told Newsmax that 120 Americans have been arrested for committing SNAP fraud and on Thursday told CNN the program was “corrupt.”

“These are the things that we’re uncovering that, for years, no one has really ever dug into because the feds didn’t have the system in place to do it. But we do now,” the secretary told Newsmax.

“The president has made this a priority,” she added. “We will fix this program.”

Imagine how many taxpayer dollars could be saved if we stopped all of the cheating in government programs.

An Interesting Rumor

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There is a rumor circulating that the Trump administration might send U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) officials to polling stations on Election Day. Some Democrat politicians have already gone on the record to say that they are opposed to the idea because it might intimidate voters. Wait a minute–only American citizens are supposed to be voting. Why would they be intimidated by ICE?

On August 14th, Newsbusters posted an article explaining the possible origins of the rumor.

The article reports:

Former CNN host Jim Acosta hates conspiracy theories unless, of course, he happens to be the one peddling them. On his Tuesday Substack podcast, Acosta mused, without evidence, that the Trump Administration could send ICE to polling stations to intimidate Latinos into not voting.

During a discussion with former Ohio Democratic Party Chairman and “democracy warrior” David Pepper, Acosta lamented, “The thing that you just mentioned a few moments ago about putting police officers or troops outside polling stations. It does remind me of something I saw—a very disturbing story in The Washington Post today that says that ‘the Trump administration is evaluating plans that would establish a ‘Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force’ composed of hundreds of National Guard troops tasked with rapidly deploying into American cities facing protests or other unrest.’ This is according to ‘internal Pentagon documents reviewed by The Washington Post.’”

Showing a lack of originality, Acosta proclaimed, “This is just nutty, dystopian, Handmaid’s Tale-type stuff.”

Where were these people when the New Black Panthers were standing outside a polling place with billy clubs in Philadelphia in 2008? Just for the record, the charges of voter intimidation against the New Black Panthers were dismissed by the Obama Justice Department in May 2009.

Current reporting says that there will not be ICE agents at polling places.

Did He Really Say That?

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On Monday, The Daily Caller posted an article about some of the recent comments made by New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

The article reports:

Republican strategist Scott Jennings showed receipts after calling out CNN host Omar Jiminez and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona on Sunday, saying they were ignoring the race-based tax plan that Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani of New York City placed in his platform.

Mamdani called for increasing taxes on predominantly white neighborhoods of New York during his campaign to win the Democratic Party’s nomination to challenge Democratic Mayor Eric Adams of New York City. Jennings accused Jiminez, who described the 2020 riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, as “mostly peaceful,” of using a “playbook” similar to that of former Vice President Kamala Harris while later dropping receipts to disprove his claim.

…Cardona chimed in as Jiminez was disputing Jennings’ statements during the exchange.

“He literally wrote it in a statement, Omar! He literally wrote it down! Are you letting him get off the hook? Why?” an incredulous Jennings asked Jiminez, who responded, “No, I’m saying I am saying that he said that, but not on the basis of race specifically. I’m not saying he didn’t say that.”

“He did say that!” Jennings shot back.

The article concludes:

Jennings posted a screenshot from Mamdani’s campaign site targeting “whiter neighborhoods” on X Sunday after the exchange with Jiminez.

“Feel the need to show the receipts here,” Jennings said, adding screenshots of headlines from the Jerusalem Post and New York Post about Mamdani’s desire to target certain neighborhoods.

It is going to be interesting to see if the people of New York City elect him. If former governor Cuomo, Eric Adams, and Curtis Sliwa all stay in the race, there is a good chance that Mamdani will win.

A More Accurate Assessment

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On Thursday, Townhall posted an article about the damage done by America’s strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. There have been varying reports of the extent of the damage. This report comes from the UN Atomic Energy Watchdog Chief.

The article reports:

We’ve been subjected to fake news about the intelligence report showing that President Trump’s air strikes on Iran were ineffectual in crippling its nuclear capabilities. It’s what liberals clung to like grim death in the wake of Operation Midnight Hammer, a precision strike from our B-2 Bomber fleet that pounded the terror state. Key nuclear facilities were struck, but the media would have us believe nothing happened. Please. No one knew this operation was going to happen. There were no leaks, but somehow, we need to all believe this low-confidence, top-secret report that was leaked to the press.

CNN pimped this fake news story. After getting raked over the coals by the Trump administration, they’re circling the wagons around the fake news reporter who peddled this garbage. This liberal narrative hit another snag: UN’s nuclear watchdog chief said the air strikes severely derailed Iran’s nuclear infrastructure (via Washington Free Beacon):

The U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities set back the Islamic Republic’s program “significantly,” the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog organization said Tuesday.

“I think the Iranian nuclear program has been set back significantly, significantly,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Rafael Grossi said in a Fox News interview. He noted that “it is clear that there is one Iran—before June 13, nuclear Iran—and one now,” describing the difference as “night and day.”

Just before the Tuesday afternoon interview, the IAEA revealed that it detected “extensive damage at several nuclear sites in Iran, including its uranium conversion and enrichment facilities.” That damage caused a radioactive release, according to the organization.

I don’t think you can drop that much explosive material anywhere without doing significant damage. I don’t know whether the CNN was simply misled or just didn’t want to give President Trump a victory. It is sad that our mainstream media has gotten so far off the mark.

Who Actually Got Arrested?

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On Monday, Breitbart posted an article about the people Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have arrested since President Trump took office.

The article reports:

The vast majority of the illegal aliens arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s presidency were criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) clarified on Monday.

DHS responded to a CNN report suggesting that a very small percentage of illegal aliens taken in by ICE had “serious criminal convictions,” citing internal data.

“FAKE NEWS. Secretary Noem has unleashed @ICEgov to target the worst of the worst—including gang members, murderers, and rapists,” DHS said in response.

“In President Trump’s first 100 days, 75% of ICE arrests were criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges,” it added.

Regardless of what other crimes they committed, illegal aliens broke the law when they crossed the border illegally. Either we have a border or we don’t.

The article concludes:

However, despite the widespread outrage and protests, DHS kept a running list of some of the criminals it has arrested as part of its operation in L.A. DHS described these as some of the “worst” criminals, with criminal histories including but not limited to sexual battery, willful cruelty to child, assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft, child molestation, second degree murder, assault with intent to commit rape, and more:

Breitbart News reported:

One of the illegals arrested is Eswin Uriel Castro, who was previously deported. His convictions include “child molestation and being armed with a dangerous weapon,” per DHS, which also noted he has been arrested for robbery and domestic violence.

Anastacio Enrique Solis-Salinas, who hails from Nicaragua, has been arrested for willful cruelty to a child. Additionally, he has convictions for both domestic violence and hit and run.

Miguel Angel Palafox-Montes, who has “voluntarily” returned to Mexico twice, returned and was caught by ICE. He has “criminal convictions for grand theft, narcotics violations, and identity theft” with arrests for battery and burglary, per DHS.

A recent survey from the Economist/YouGov found that a plurality have a favorable view of ICE.

When The Interview Does Not Go As Planned

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Enforcing the rule of law can be messy. Maintaining control of a potentially dangerous situation can result in actions that are misunderstood. The media loves to misunderstand any action taken by a Republican or any individual associated with President Trump. If someone can make a scene, it can be promoted to media gold.

On Thursday, The Blaze posted an article illustrating what happens when the media misjudges its interviewee.

The article reports:

A security expert appeared to stun the CNN anchor who asked him to assess the incident where a Democrat politician was aggressively shoved out of DHS Sec. Kristi Noem’s press conference.

Democrats are outraged over the video footage of U.S. Senator Alex Padilla of California being dragged out of a briefing Thursday, but instead of justifying the outrage, Josh Campbell said the agents acted appropriately to the threat.

The security expert cited a number of actions which generally result in someone being removed from a press conference–interrupting the speaker before the question and answer period puts security guards on alert, and turning toward the agents escorting the person out is seen as indicating a lack of compliance.

A Fox News article posted Friday reports:

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Padilla did not initially identify himself as a senator, and was not wearing his Senate security pin.

However, footage captured by Fox News shows him saying, “I’m Senator Alex Padilla, I have questions for the secretary,” as he was escorted out of the room.

Noem told The Story’s Martha MacCallum that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) personnel began handcuffing the senator in the hallway, at which point he identified himself, and they ceased action.

Considering the constant stream of threats made against President Trump and the people in his administration, I believe that the actions taken by the security staff. There is no reason for outrage.

Who Is Supposed To Run The Country?

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On Friday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article about the current Constitutional crisis the political left believes we are in.

The article reports:

Scott Jennings, the lone voice of reason on CNN, recently pointed out that activist judges who are being ‘shopped’ by Democrats are bringing the United States towards a real Constitutional crisis as they continually interfere with what should be the president’s job.

Jennings goes so far as to suggest that if this continues, that Congress may have to intervene.

He also says, correctly, that what these judges are doing is a political ploy. It’s a direct effort to try to run out the clock on Trump’s presidency, just like they did with lawfare during Trump’s first term.

Scott Jennings stated:

Now, I do think that these individual district court judges that are being selectively shocked by people who oppose the president, trying to issue nationwide injunctions and stop the president from governing, I think that’s a real problem. I mean, it’s a constitutional crisis, in my opinion, for these individual district court judges to try to tie up Donald Trump. I mean, it’s obvious what they’re trying to do, which is to run out the clock until he’s no longer in office.”

“It’s sort of what the Democrats did the first time around,” Jennings continued. “They don’t want him to be able to govern.

Somehow these courts were not issuing nationwide injunctions when President Obama created DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) or when President Biden forgave student loans he had no power to forgive.

It is a disgrace that both the Republicans in Congress and the Supreme Court seem unable to find a way to stop this absurdity. If the district courts are not put back in their lane quickly, this will happen every time a President they do not approve of is elected. That is not the government our Founding Fathers created.

Whoops!

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On December 16th, The New York Post posted an article about a CNN story about a prisoner released from jail in Syria. The Syrian regime was knows for its horrific prisons and its brutal treatment of prisoners.

The article reports:

The prisoner CNN helped free from a secret facility in Syria was actually a notorious member of Bashar al-Assad’s forces known to torture those who refused to pay him off, according to a shocking local fact check.

The network went viral last week with footage of the startled prisoner being led from the prison by journalist Clarissa Ward, who called it “one of the most extraordinary moments I have witnessed” in her 20 years of reporting.

But “independent and unbiased” fact-checkers Verify-Sy published a detailed report Sunday saying that the seemingly innocent prisoner was actually Salama Mohammad Salama — a first lieutenant in Syrian air force intelligence with a long history of alleged war crimes.

“We have subsequently been investigating his background and are aware that he may have given a false identity,” CNN acknowledged to The Post. “We are continuing our reporting into this and the wider story.”

…Known as “Abu Hamza,” Salama worked at several security checkpoints in Homs and was involved in theft, extortion and coercing residents into becoming informants for Assad, local residents told the fact-checkers.

He also killed civilians during the Syrian civil war in 2014 — and allegedly detained and tortured young men on bogus charges, many of whom refused to pay bribes, Verify-Sy reported.

Locals claim he was locked up in the prison where he was discovered for less than a month due to a dispute with a high-ranking officer over sharing the extorted money.

This is the picture of the prisoner:

His coat doesn’t even look worn, and he appears to be well-groomed. CNN has been fooled again.

I Don’t Seem To Remember This Happening Before

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On Sunday, The American Thinker posted an article about some informal meetings now taking place at the Pentagon (as reported by CNN).

The article reports:

If this story of a cabal of Pentagon officials meeting to undermine the incoming constitutional commander-in-chief of the U.S. military had been a rumor circulating on X or I’d received in an email from some random source, I would have discounted it. But that’s not the case; it comes from CNN. This suggests that something is deeply wrong in the Pentagon—the same Pentagon that “forgot” to send absentee ballots to U.S. troops serving overseas, a gross violation of their civil rights, and one that ought to result in courts-martial all the way up to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

According to CNN, Pentagon officials are trying to figure out how to block any orders Donald Trump might issue to protect the Southern border or remove from U.S. soil the millions of unvetted illegal aliens currently occupying the U.S.:

Pentagon officials are holding informal discussions about how the Department of Defense would respond if Donald Trump issues orders to deploy active-duty troops domestically and fire large swaths of apolitical staffers, defense officials told CNN.

Trump has suggested he would be open to using active-duty forces for domestic law enforcement and mass deportations and has indicated he wants to stack the federal government with loyalists and “clean out corrupt actors” in the US national security establishment.

Trump in his last term had a fraught relationship with much of his senior military leadership, including now-retired Gen. Mark Milley who took steps to limit Trump’s ability to use nuclear weapons while he was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The president-elect, meanwhile, has repeatedly called US military generals “woke,” “weak” and “ineffective leaders.”

Officials are now gaming out various scenarios as they prepare for an overhaul of the Pentagon.

“We are all preparing and planning for the worst-case scenario, but the reality is that we don’t know how this is going to play out yet,” one defense official said.

I believe that the President is required by the Constitution to uphold the law. Border security is part of that law. It is my hope that any military or civilian personnel that interferes with the carrying out of immigration law will be shown the door (or worse) very quickly.

What A Difference A Day (Or Two Or Three) Makes

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On Saturday, Don Surber at Substack posts his highlights of the week. This weeks highlights were fun. Here are a few samples:

CNN reported, “Anti-Semitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans bring shame on Amsterdam, mayor says.”

Europe let millions of Muslims in and they brought pogroms with them. Who said Muslims don’t know European history?

…George tweeted with video, “Kash Patel just announced that massive declassification will occur in Trump’s Administration from the Epstein to the Diddy list. It’s all going to be made public.”

As a public service, I remind certain celebrities that Afghanistan, Morocco, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, UAE, Andorra and Qatar have no extradition treaties with the USA.

…The Washington Times reported, “FBI brass ‘stunned’ and ‘shell shocked’ over Trump re-election.”

And we wonder how they could miss 9/11.

…The Jerusalem Post reported, “Qatar has reportedly clarified to the terrorist group Hamas, ‘You are not welcome here,’ KAN reported on Friday, citing a source familiar with the matter.”

It’s Qatar’s way of telling Israel, don’t tase me, bro.

…Liz Wheeler tweeted, “Trump is President-elect for two days:

    • Stock market hits record high
    • Migrant caravan at our border dissolves
    • Hamas calls for end to war
    • Bitcoin hits record high
    • Putin ready to end Ukraine war
    • Qatar kicks out Hamas leaders
    • EU will buy U.S. gas not Russian gas
    • Putin will sell oil in U.S. dollars
    • Zelenskyy phones Trump & Elon
    • NYC Mayor ends vouchers for illegals
    • Mexico to stop migrants at U.S. border
    • China wants to work peacefully with us
    • Big U.S. company to move out of China

“I repeat: Trump has been President-elect for two days.”

Nice, but what about fixing those McDonald’s ice cream machines?

…Breitbart reported, “A man who is apparently unhappy about President-elect Donald Trump’s victory said he is leaving America and relocating to Hawaii, a statement that has brought him all kinds of criticism.”

Hey, Democrats, we found your 2028 candidate.

…CNN reported, “Pentagon officials discussing how to respond if Trump issues controversial orders.”

The only proper response is to obey those orders from the commander in chief. Surely these men and women do not want to be hanged for mutiny.

It’s going to be an interesting four years.

Some Common Sense After The Election

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On November 6th, Townhall posted an article about some of the media analysis of the 2024 election. Some of the most helpful and intelligent commentary came from Scott Jennings on CNN.

The article reports:

As Townhall has been covering this election cycle, Scott Jennings has been a breath of fresh air and at times the only voice of reason during CNN panels that otherwise would go completely off the rails. He’s been ramping up the warnings as to how the tactics of the Harris-Walz campaign just weren’t working, and sure enough that proved to be true. Early on Wednesday morning, Jennings tried to offer his fellow panelists some insight, if only they’d take such a free gift.

When Anderson Cooper asked Jennings his thoughts, Jennings reminded that Trump won “a huge victory” and “a mandate,” but also addressed it in the context of how Trump “has an opportunity here to try to unite the country” after such a win. Trump indeed won the popular vote, the first time a Republican has done so since 2004, which CNN’s Harry Enten had also been warning viewers about as the election was approaching. “This is a big deal, this isn’t backing into the office, this is a mandate to do what you said you were going to do,” Jennings continued, as he mentioned Trump’s priorities centered on the economy, crime, and immigration.

“I’m interpreting the results tonight as the revenge of just the regular ‘ol working class, the anonymous American who has been crushed, insulted, condescended to, they’re not ‘garbage,’ they’re not Nazis, they’re just regular people who get up and go to work every day and are trying to make a better life for their kids and they feel like they have been told to just shut up, when they have complained about the things that are hurting them in their own lives,” Jennings continued, as he reminded his panelists of the ways in which President Joe Biden and the Harris-Walz ticket have insulted their political opponents. One could hear a pin drop as such points were made.

Please follow the link to the article to read the rest of Scott Jennings’ comments. I am amazed that he is on CNN.

The Strikers Are Looking In The Wrong Direction

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On Tuesday, The New York Post posted an article about the east coast port strike. The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) has gone on strike requesting (according to MSN) a major increase in wages and limited automation.

MSN quotes CNN:

The ILA reportedly opened the talks by asking for a 77% pay raise for its members over the six years the new contract would cover. The union said this amount was necessary due to inflation and years of insufficient pay raises. By Monday, USMX had counteroffered with a 50% pay raise over six years.

But the pay raise isn’t the only issue. The ILA wants a ban on all automation at docks, which it says could put some of its members out of work. However, the USMX only offered to keep the existing limits on automation that the old contract covered.

As a result of these discrepancies, the two sides were unable to come to an agreement before the previous contract expired, and thus the strike began just after midnight.

The New York Post article focused on the leader of the union:

Fiery union boss Harold Daggett has long cast himself as a staunch advocate for blue-collar workers, even as he has lived in luxury, owning a yacht and driving a Bentley — and fought off alleged ties to the Mafia.

Sporting a polo shirt with a chunky gold medallion around his neck, the 78-year-old Daggett, who as president of the International Longshoremen’s Association is leading the port strikes stretching from Maine to Texas, was prone to theatrical flourishes in a September interview as he geared up for the strike.

“They’re gonna be like this,” Daggett said, grabbing his neck in a choking gesture. “I’ll cripple you. I will cripple you and you have no idea what that means. Nobody does.”

…Meanwhile, Daggett — has worked at the ILA for 57 years and took the helm as president in 2011 — raked in $728,000 in compensation last year from the ILA.

He collected another $173,000 as president emeritus of a local union branch, according to labor department filings.

He lives in a 7,136 square-foot house valued at $1.7 million on a 10-acre lot in Sparta, New Jersey, according to Zillow and NJ Property Records.

It seems to me that the dock workers need to take a really good look at their union leadership before following Daggett too far off the cliff.

 

Some Things To Be Aware Of

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Kamala Harris’ choice of Tim Walz for her Vice-Presidential nominee is an interesting choice. The mainstream media is touting Walz as a long-serving veteran of the National Guard, but there is other information indicating that his service did not necessarily end as indicated in his publicity information.

On August 8, Red State posted an article detailing some of the problems with Tim Walz using his military service as a positive talking point.

The article notes:

The media has been torn over the subject. CNN debunked Walz’s claims that he served in combat (see Even CNN Torches Tim Walz in Blistering Fact Check About Carrying Weapon ‘In War’ – RedState). But the preponderance of evidence is beginning to indicate that Walz himself portrayed his service as duty in combat. A Bloomberg profile posted the day of Walz’s announcement specifically says that Walz served in Iraq. It has since been edited with no explanation of how the error came to be (see NEW: The Tim Walz Stolen Valor Scandal Just Got Much Worse Following Bombshell Report – RedState).

The Harris campaign has sought to minimize Walz’s lack of manliness by denigrating JD Vance’s service in the US Marine Corps in Anbar Province, Iraq. A top Harris surrogate claimed that Vance had not served in the military; see Top Harris Surrogate’s Claim About Vance’s Military Service Is So Disgusting Jim Acosta Has to Jump In – RedState and Harris and Walz Using the ‘Big Lie’ With No Media Pushback Portends a Very Ugly Campaign – RedState.

It is pretty obvious that Walz left the National Guard to avoid being deployed. A lot of people did that. It is not unusual. The problem in Walz’s case has to do with his role in his unit. One of the lessons learned in Vietnam was that units that were deployed intact had a better success rate than units where individuals were swapped out as individuals. Unit continuity is an important part of success, and units that trained together and deployed together generally had better survival rates. Walz was the top non-commissioned officer in his unit, and the unit depended on his leadership. When he left abruptly after saying he would stay, he left a large vacuum. That is a problem the most veterans will acknowledge. Whether or not they will vote for him I don’t know, but it is a problem.

Please follow the link to the article for further illustrations of the media attempting to put a lot of lipstick on a pig.

Some Things To Consider

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The Supreme Court released a decision today stating that a former president is entitled to “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority” and “presumptive immunity” for all official acts. But it held there is no immunity for “unofficial acts.” If nothing else, it postpones Jack Smith’s trial of the President until after the election. It also enrages most of liberal America.

But what happens if President Trump is elected President? Why is much of the political left in panic mode about President Biden as the Democrat candidate? There is no obvious evidence of President Biden being involved in pay-to-play schemes as President–the evidence on Hunter’s laptop is before Joe Biden became President. Will the Trump Justice Department pursue that evidence? If they do, which they rightfully should, the media will scream that it is political retribution. That is one ace the crooks in the deep state have up their sleeve. Washington needs to cleaned up–hosed down, disinfected, exorcised, etc. President Trump is the obvious person to do this because his success is not dependent on the media or the deep state (in fact, quite the opposite–they have worked hard to make him fail).

I don’t believe that the government can hold the media accountable for their lies–the American public needs to do that. Five major corporations own the mainstream media. The Chinese subsidize much of the American media–CNN’s ratings are generally so far in the basement that they are looking for a sub-basement. We the public can simply stop buying their newspapers, magazines, etc., stop visiting their websites and streaming services, and stop watching their cable news channels. After a while they will either tell us the truth or go bankrupt. Either one is a win.

Can this mess be cleaned up? I don’t know. I do know that it won’t be cleaned up if we don’t try. For many years I paid no attention to politics–I was busy working and raising a family. During that time, those in Washington built their mini-empires. Now it’s time for all Americans to pay attention, vote, and turn this mess around. We can do it if we are willing to put in the effort to learn exactly what is going on instead of believing everything we are told.

The Whole Campaign Was A Lie

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Remember when Joe Biden announced that he was running for President?

On April 25, 2019, CNN reported:

In his campaign announcement video, Biden rebuked the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017 and President Donald Trump’s handling of the aftermath.

“He said there were quote some very fine people on both sides,” Biden said. “With those words, the President of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it. And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I had ever seen in my lifetime.”

Biden framed the 2020 race as a “battle for the soul of this nation.”

The threat to this nation was in his own mind–he totally misquoted President Trump.

On Monday, The New American posted an article reminding us what President Trump said about Charlottesville.

The article reports:

Just as it’s “garbage in, garbage out” with a computer, feeding incorrect data (lies) to the population has serious consequences. After all, how can people make correct judgments about what politicians and policies to support — i.e., civilization-preserving decisions — if they’re being fed misinformation about those politicians and policies?

And, boy, the lies do fly fast and furious, too. A good example is how a prominent billionaire, a Ph.D. physicist, and a Substack investment writer confess that they’ve just discovered the truth about the anti-President Trump “very fine people” hoax.

The article at The New American notes:

Despite this, the Democratic Party and mainstream media ran with the “story” that Trump praised the neo-Nazis as “very fine people.” But here’s the truth, courtesy of RealClearPolitics:

Here are the unambiguous actual words of President Trump:

“Excuse me, they didn’t put themselves down as neo-Nazis, and you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. You had people in that group – excuse me, excuse me, I saw the same pictures you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name.”

After another question at that press conference, Trump became even more explicit:

“I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and white nationalists because they should be condemned totally.”

The article notes that the lie about what President Trump said spread and that Joe Biden repeated the lie often during the campaign and is still repeating it. If you are truly concerned about the soul of the nation, you don’t continually lie about your election opponent when that lie can easily be exposed. Unfortunately, the mainstream media has not done their job of honest reporting and exposed the lie.

Please follow the link to The New American article to read the screenshots of the Tweets about this misquote.

 

The Insanity Continues

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On Wednesday, KAKE posted an article sourced to CNN about a young man who was not allowed to attend a band concert because he was wearing a dress. The occurred in Mississippi where the high school principal stated, “Boys can’t wear skirts or dresses” and later said, “You can’t represent our school dressed like that.” The article reports that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and ACLU of Mississippi have filed a federal complaint against the Harrison County School District on behalf of the  child’s mother because of the incident. This is insanity. The child’s mother needs to get the child the psychological help he needs to deal with his gender dysphoria. Wearing a dress is not a solution–it is part of the problem.

The article reports:

When presented with an ultimatum to have her mother bring “boys’ clothes” or not be allowed to participate, A.H. chose to change into a button-down shirt and dress pants and continue with the concert.

“A.H. felt utterly humiliated to be seen in clothing that was inconsistent with her gender identity,” said the complaint.

The Harrison County School District enforces a sex-based dress code that requires students to “follow the dress attire consistent with their biological sex,” according to the district’s student handbook.

The complaint states the school board added the “biological sex” provision to the dress code during a July 2023 meeting “in response to transgender and gender nonconforming students’ complaints about not being permitted to wear clothing associated with their gender identity and/or expression at school-sponsored events.”

This is a high school child. He is not old enough to smoke or drink. He cannot get his ear pierced without his parent’s consent. Why is his mother enabling him in a mental illness?

The article concludes:

In Mississippi and in other states, LGBTQ+ students are seeing their rights being chipped away. On Monday, Mississippi’s Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill that requires people to use restrooms and housing at public education institutions that corresponds to their gender assigned at birth.

People will only be allowed to use housing or bathrooms based on their “sex ‘determined solely by a birth,’ without regard to the fluidity of how someone acts or feels,” the bill states.

Rob Hill, state director for the Human Rights Campaign Mississippi, said all Mississippians deserve “a state that allows them to exist in peace – and a government focused on making life better for all of us.”

“Instead, Governor Reeves caved to MAGA politicians, stoking anti-trans panic, flinging the doors open to harassment and discrimination, and attempting to strip basic rights from LGBTQ+ people in our state.”

No bias here!

Transitioning is not a decision that should be made before age 21. Some of the steps taken are irreversible, and a teenager does not have the mental capacity to understand fully what that means. Parents also need to steer their children away from transitioning and help them find the root of that desire. Being a teenager is difficult. Adding irreversible surgery and drugs to the mix is not helpful.

 

April Inflation Statistics

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On Tuesday, CNN reported that according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Tuesday inflation in April was the highest it has been all year.

The article reports:

Wholesale inflation picked up in April to its highest rate in a year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Tuesday.

The Producer Price Index, which measures the change in prices that manufacturers pay to suppliers, was 2.2% for the 12 months ended in April, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Tuesday.

That gain is higher than what was seen in March, which was downwardly revised from 2.1% to 1.8%.

On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.5%, a faster pace than March’s 0.1% loss (also downwardly revised) and ran much hotter than what economists had anticipated. Economists were expecting a monthly gain of 0.3%, according to FactSet consensus estimates.

“The concern here is that we now have a trend, an upward trend in producer prices, which can only be passed through to consumers and result in upward pressure on consumer price inflation over the coming months,” Kurt Rankin, senior economist for the PNC Financial Services Group, told CNN in an interview.

And that means interest rates will stay higher for longer and could further delay the Federal Reserve’s plans for cuts on that front, he said.

…While higher energy costs (up 2% in April) helped to push goods prices higher, services inflation is what drove up the overall PPI last month. Nearly three-quarters of the April monthly gain was attributable to price hikes seen by producers of services, according to the report.

Services providers saw a 0.6% increase in prices for the month, the fastest pace seen for that category since March 2022, Rankin noted.

“Services has been the issue over the past year as consumers continue to spend money, and costs for services-oriented businesses is still stronger than goods inflation; but goods producer prices are now also rising after having fallen through most of 2023,” he said.

This is bad news for consumers and also bad news for the Biden administration that wants to get re-elected in November. The promise of cutting the interest rate before the election to bring consumer costs down will not be kept if inflation continues on its current path.

Are We Living In A Police State?

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News organizations are firing employees because of law ratings. CNN, BuzzFeed, and Vice Media have all recently announced layoffs. CBS is also firing reporters.

On Thursday (updated Friday), The New York Post reported the following:

The acclaimed CBS reporter who was investigating the Hunter Biden laptop scandal before she was fired last week had her personal files seized by the network in an “unprecedented” move, sources told The Post on Thursday.

Catherine Herridge — who is the middle of a First Amendment case being closely watched by journalists nationwide — was among 20 CBS News staffers let go as part of a larger purge of hundreds of employees at parent company Paramount Global.

Her firing had stunned co-workers, but the network’s decision to hold on to her personal materials, along with her work laptop where she may have other confidential info, has left many staffers shaken, according to insiders.

“It’s so extraordinary,” a source familiar with the situation told The Post, noting that the files — which are presumptively now the property of CBS News — most likely contain confidential material from Herridge’s stints at both Fox and CBS.

The source said the network boxed up all her personal belongings except for Herridge’s notes and files and informed her that it would decide what — if anything — would be returned to her.

“They never seize documents [when you’re let go],” a second source close to the network said.

Brit Hume posted the following on Twitter:

 

This is just one more step in the direction of a police state where the media is controlled by the people in power.

The article at The New York Post concludes:

Jonathan Turley — a legal scholar and a former CBS legal analyst who first broke the news of Herridge’s documents being seized in an opinion piece for The Hill — said the timing of the journalist’s termination raised suspicions.

“She was pursuing stories that were unwelcomed by the Biden White House and many Democratic powerhouses, including the Hur report on Joe Biden’s diminished mental capacity, the Biden corruption scandal and the Hunter Biden laptop,” Turley wrote.

Under normal circumstances, journalists are entitled to their notes and make available the files if needed in future ligation, but leaving sensitive documents in the hands of unnamed CBS officials, could compromise Herridge’s numerous other confidential sources.

It also potentially violates HIPAA laws, as her files may also contain personal and family medical records.

Turley said CBS’ “heavy-handed approach” to the files” is “dead wrong” and that it had “sent a chilling signal in the ranks” of the network.

SAG-AFTRA, the union which represents CBS staffers, condemned the network for seizing Herridge’s notes and research from her office.

“This action is deeply concerning concerning to the union because it sets a dangerous precedent for all media professionals and threatens the very foundation of the First Amendment,” the union said in a statement to The Post.

The union added it has been in touch with CBS News and is hopeful the matter “will be resolved shortly.”

We are in a dangerous place.

Tell Us Something Without Actually Telling Us Something

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Recently WWAYTV3 in Wilmington, North Carolina, reported that Hertz is cutting back on its rental of electric vehicles.

The article reports:

Hertz, which has made a big push into electric vehicles in recent years, has decided it’s time to cut back. The company will sell off a third of its electric fleet, totaling roughly 20,000 vehicles, and use the money they bring to purchase more gasoline powered vehicles.

Electric vehicles have been hurting Hertz’s financials, executives have said, because, despite costing less to maintain, they have higher damage-repair costs and, also, higher depreciation.

“[C]ollision and damage repairs on an EV can often run about twice that associated with a comparable combustion engine vehicle,” Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr said in a recent analyst call.

And EV price declines in the new car market have pushed down the resale value of Hertz’s used EV rental cars.

“The MSRP declines in EVs over the course of 2023, driven primarily by Tesla, have driven the fair market value of our EVs lower as compared to last year, such that a salvage creates a larger loss and, therefore, greater burden,” Scherr said.

Simply put, people are generally willing to pay a certain amount less for a used car than for a new one. As the price of new car goes down, that also pushes down what people are willing to pay to buy a used one.

As of now, electric cars are not the answer to green energy. There are serious ethical questions about the mining of the lithium that is used to make the batteries, and there are safety issues–don’t try to evacuate from a hurricane in an electric car if the puddles you are driving through contain salt water–that can cause the car to ignite. Iceland successfully uses hydrogen as fuel for its busses. There are other options for cutting pollution than electric cars.

Inquiring Minds Want To Know

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On Friday, Rumble posted an article that included a tweet by Roger Stone that asked a very interesting question.

Here is the tweet:

The article notes:

Have you heard the latest? The Biden Boys are set to fiercely fight their congressional subpoenas. Remember what happened to the Trump officials who took a similar stand during the January 6th sideshow?

Who can forget when Peter Navarro refused to testify before the circus known as the January 6th Committee? That poor guy was convicted of contempt of Congress so quickly, it made his head spin.

On October 6, 2014, Politico reported:

A federal judge has declined a House committee’s bid to have Attorney General Eric Holder held in contempt of court — and perhaps even jailed — for failing to turn over documents related to the Justice Department’ s response to Operation Fast and Furious.

However, in a ruling Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson also denied Holder’s request for an indefinite stay of her prior order that the attorney general must turn over any “non-privileged” documents the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee subpoenaed as part of an investigation into the botched gunrunning investigation. The judge previously ruled that Holder must give the panel any documents that are not both predecisional and deliberative in nature.

On November 17th, CNN reported:

The White House says the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden lacks constitutional legitimacy and is calling on GOP-led congressional committees to rescind their subpoenas and interview requests, according to a new letter obtained by CNN.

The move sets up a showdown with House Republicans as the White House criticizes what it describes as “Congressional harassment of the President,” calling on the committees to withdraw subpoenas and a series of requests for interviews aimed at White House officials and Biden family members and associates.

Earlier this week, House Oversight Chairman James Comer said he sent a subpoena to former White House counsel Dana Remus to discuss Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents. The Kentucky Republican had previously requested that Remus to appear for a voluntary interview, but the White House did not comply. And last week, the House Oversight Committee issued subpoenas to the president’s son Hunter and brother James as well as a Biden business associate.

Ignoring subpoenas only matters when you are a Republican.

 

Does Anyone Else Have A Problem With This?

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On Thursday, The U.K Daily Mail reported that a CNN journalist was embedded with Hamas on October 7th and had prior knowledge of the attack. CNN has since fired the journalist.

The article reports:

CNN has ‘suspended all ties’ with a freelance photojournalist who appears to have been embedded with Hamas on October 7 at the time of the terror group’s barbaric assault on Israel. 

Hassan Eslaiah has been filing photographs of the conflict to CNN and The Associated Press since the Hamas attack on October 7. They include images of a burning Israeli tank from which soldiers were kidnapped.

Now, photos have emerged of him posing with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. He also posted a now-deleted video to Twitter in which he described how Hamas fighters kidnapped Israeli soldiers from the burning tank. 

The article concludes:

Honest Reporting notes that photographers Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa and Yasser Qudih ‘happened to be at the border just in time for Hamas’ infiltration.’

In response to the reporters, a Reuters spokesperson said that the agency acquired pictures on October 7 from photographers that it did not previously have a relationship with. 

‘The photographs published by Reuters were taken two hours after Hamas fired rockets across southern Israel and more than 45 minutes after Israel said gunmen had crossed the border. Reuters staff journalists were not on the ground at the locations referred to in the HonestReporting article,’ the statement also reads.  

‘Did the photojournalists who freelance for other media, like CNN and The New York Times, notify these outlets? Judging from the pictures of lynching, kidnapping and storming of an Israeli kibbutz, it seems like the border has been breached not only physically, but also journalistically,’ the HonestReporting feature read. 

In his video front of attack, Eslaiah appears to be wearing his own clothes and is not identifiable as a member of the media. 

In 2021, it was widely reported that the Associated Press used the same office space as Hamas in Gaza. 

Eslaiah was previously pictured in a loving embrace with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in an undated photo. 

Honest Reporting was founded by veteran Israeli journalist Gil Hoffman. Its motto is the ‘audience deserves to know.’ 

‘When international news agencies decide to pay for material that has been captured under such problematic circumstances, their standards may be questioned and their audience deserves to know about it,’ one section of their report on Eslaiah reads.

‘And if their people on the ground actively or passively collaborated with Hamas to get the shots, they should be called out to redefine the border between journalism and barbarism.’ 

There should be a more severe penalty for withholding information about a surprise attack on innocent civilians.

Sometimes You Just Have To Wonder

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On Friday, Breitbart reported the following:

On Thursday, CNN hosts Poppy Harlow and Boris Sanchez blamed climate change for the recent surge in gas prices with the former saying that the surge in prices is a reason “to get it in check when it comes to climate change.”

On “CNN This Morning,” CNN Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans stated, “There [are] a couple of things happening here: They’re still well below last year. Last year, at this time, we were hitting record highs, right? $4.30, last year, at this time, today, they’re $3.71. They’ve been jumping overnight. Some of these jumps have been pretty big. One of the reasons is the incessant heat means these refineries have to — are going offline for maintenance, they can’t run full throttle when it’s 115 with the heat index, just like people can’t work full throttle outside or on factory floors when it’s so, so hot. So, that’s one of the reasons. The other reason is, Russia backed out of this grain deal. And so, you had a rise in all kinds of commodity prices, corn, wheat, barley, all these prices have been going up. And sometimes, you tend to see commodities move together. But mostly, this heat thing has some of these refineries either slowing down or offline for maintenance. And that means they’re not processing as much gasoline.”

We have summer every year. During the summer it gets hot. I remember back in the 80’s when they had to close the Phoenix airport because it was too hot and there wasn’t enough lift in the air for the planes to take off. I also know that they have found plant fossils in Greenland, a place where no one can currently plant anything. Can we assume that Greenland at some point was subject to global warming? If we are so warm now, why can’t we grow crops in Greenland in the places that are now iced over? I would also like to remind everyone that weather is cyclical and tends to average out. No one is currently mentioning that we had an unusually cold June this year. Don’t the temperatures generally average out?

Peace Would Be Better Than Escalation

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It is unfortunate that we keep throwing money and arms into an endless war that is doing nothing but kill large numbers of people on both sides. It is unfortunate that no one seems to be interested in finding a peaceful solution.

On Saturday, The Daily Caller reported:

Political leaders from Spain and the United Kingdom voiced their disagreement Saturday with President Joe Biden’s change of heart over providing widely-banned cluster munitions to Ukrainian forces, according to Politico.

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Spain’s Defense Minister Margarita Robles each voiced their disagreement with the Biden administration’s decision to provide cluster munitions to Ukrainian forces in Saturday remarks to reporters, according to Politico. Biden’s decision to send the munitions marks the latest reversal of U.S. policy to send weapons to the Ukrainians that had previously been deemed too sensitive.

Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated the administration’s view that Russia’s use of cluster munitions in the war “would potentially be a war crime” in February 2022. Biden said that the choice to change his mind and send cluster munitions to the Ukrainians was “a difficult decision” in a Friday interview with CNN.

The article notes:

“Spain, based on the firm commitment it has with Ukraine, also has a firm commitment that certain weapons and bombs cannot be delivered under any circumstances,” Robles said Saturday, according to Reuters. “No to cluster bombs and yes to the legitimate defense of Ukraine, which we understand should not be carried out with cluster bombs.”

The munitions are banned by numerous other U.S. allies, including Germany, France, Japan and Australia, because the submunitions they contain often do not detonate right away, leaving the dangerous duds on the ground and posing high casualty risk to civilians, according to the Cluster Munition Coalition’s website.

On July 8, CNN reported:

Cluster munitions scatter “bomblets” across large areas that can fail to explode on impact and can pose a long-term risk to anyone who encounters them, similar to landmines. Over 100 countries, including the UK, France and Germany, have outlawed the munitions under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but the US and Ukraine are not signatories to the ban.

I can’t help believe that this is a decision that America will regret in the future.

 

 

When CNN Gets It Right

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On Friday, Breitbart posted an article about the overlooked item in the discussion about forcing the government to forgive outstanding college loans.

The article reports:

On Friday’s “CNN News Central,” CNN Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans discussed President Joe Biden’s student loan plan that was struck down by the Supreme Court and noted that the plan was really “taxpayers paying off all this student debt, but not addressing the core problem.”

Romans said, “This would have been significant relief, when you think of 44 million Americans with this student loan debt. And the typical student loan forgiveness was going to be $10,000, about half of borrowers have 20,000 or less. So, that would have been a real big relief for so many people. But, from the very beginning, there was also the discussion that it didn’t do anything to address the root cause here, which is inflation in the cost of higher education, right? So, this would have been paying off a bunch of student debt, taxpayers paying off all this student debt, but not addressing the core problem. So, that’s someplace where the White House and higher education can really try to fix the core — the root of that problem.”

In September 2022, U.S. News posted the following graph:

Just as a point of reference, this is the inflation chart from the U.S. Inflation Calculator site:

Shouldn’t we be looking into the inflationary cost of college instead of enabling that inflation by offering to pay off student loans? I realize that our money is worth less than it was in 2003–but not two and a half times less. It’s time to put strings on student loans. Colleges need to be encouraged to act with more fiscal responsibility. Colleges also need to use some of their legacy money to lower the cost of tuition for students.