Saturday, October 12, 2019

IMPEACH TRUMP WHILE HILLARY CLINTON GOES FREE?

Will We Ever Prosecute?

Imagine that the local cops know that a gang member, named William, broke into the pawn shop and stole guns, jewelry, and money.  William's fingerprints, film image, and DNA add to the hard evidence log.  The owner knows it; the prosecutor knows it; William's gang associates know it.  But he is not arrested.  Nearby shopkeepers and neighborhood mothers are asking why he is walking the street.  No one explains it; mum's the word.  Could it be there is a grand plan to take out the gang's leaders?  No one knows; mum's the word.  Shopkeepers and residents are about to give up and start moving away from the area, and no one asks them to stay the course.
Fast-forward to today's still vocal Obama gang.  Why no indictments?  Mum's the word.  Can anyone hold to the faith in American justice?  Those who support the rule of law feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick a football.  It's coming — oh, wait, it's coming...oh, wait...
Without doubt, a criminal cabal is an extraordinarily complex organization, and understanding who did what, why, when, and how is a challenge to the mental faculties of anyone.  But, what happens if the full scope of activities is never clear?  Does everyone get off?  Does complexity confer immunity?
In engineering, there is no perfect answer to anything, so changes are made incrementally, addressing the problems as they are recognized.  Each step brings a clearer view of remaining problems, which are then addressed, each in its turn.  The completed project is still flawed, but the solution is practical and productive.
So it should be with a grandiose scheme like the Russia Hoax.  The ringleaders don't have to be handled with kid gloves.  They don't even have to be handled at all.  Just start with the low-hanging fruit, and get as far as possible.
Those old enough to remember My Lai, Vietnam, know that Lt. Calley and Cpt. Medina were not alone in their actions.  However, their prosecution forever changed the game of passing the buck on war crimes.
So, too, can rabid prosecution of bit players in the Russian Hoax forever change the landscape in plots involving treason.  Those who would participate at the lower levels must know they are subject to prosecution, so they remain circumspect in such a re-enactment of the coup attempt.  This would be the Achilles heel of another cabal — those who are intimidated by the prospect of prison.  Those who realize they don't have sufficient rank to escape punishment will be loath to participate in such a scheme.  Without them, there will be no operational viability to an unlawful coup.
Admittedly, there are always problems in pursuing a criminal case.  It must be so under our Constitution, but it cannot be impossible!
Prosecutors don't get all the information, but at a certain point, for each criminal, evidence accumulates that there is a real and provable crime.  It may not include every transgression of that person, nor is it the magic revelation, untangling the Gordian knot of the conspirators.  It is a simple criminal act.  It is what it appears, and it need not be put in the context of the big picture — it is as plain as the nose on your face.
That stage is the stimulus for a prosecutor.  It is the time to move.  If the DOJ acts, many of the sins can never be prosecuted, because the prosecution of their lesser crimes may foreclose pursuit of other crimes under double jeopardy protection.  However, failure to move puts evidence and witnesses at risk of being lost.  This point has passed for so many of the coup conspirators that it seems there will be no justice for many of them, like Lois Lerner.
Why?
A full recounting of all that is already known would be tedious, and to expound on the criminal conduct yet again seems shrill.  It is not necessary to understand the intertwining of all the crimes before simply bringing the charges that are facially obvious.  But the deferral of prosecution, for whatever reason it is done, allows many of the cabal to walk free when they shouldn't.  In fact, the indication is that they are continuing the very conduct for which they should be prosecuted.
Why has McCabe not been charged with lying to the FBI, lying under oath?  Nothing more is needed to start the dominos falling.  Who will step forward to exonerate him?  No one can, and no one will.  That omission — of a vigorously supported defense — will send a message to the others in the coup conspiracy.
Why has Samantha Power not been indicted for violating national security requirements in unmasking or transferring her unmasking authority to others?  It doesn't pass the smell test that she is too important to be prosecuted.
Why is Huma Abedin strolling around, free as a bird?  She forwarded classified emails to Anthony Weiner's laptop.  What else is needed to demonstrate a crime?
Did Strzok do anything?  Did Page?   Which one lied to Congress?  Their contradictory accounts mean at least one is a perjurer.  Sure, there is more "there" there, but it isn't necessary to keelhaul them; just send them to jail, and send others a message.
Listing all the cabal members, who are quite obviously criminal, is not easy — in fact, it not doable.  It need not be the aim.  A public that finds this whole thing partisan or tedious will not be easily impressed if a 2,000-count indictment naming 43 people is suddenly dropped.  Bringing along the public is certainly part of sending the message for future conspirators.  It probably is better done gradually.
 Removing the context and simply prosecuting crimes is the method to educate both today's and tomorrow's citizens.
Selecting single actors, and naming obvious crimes, will have a chance to convince even skeptical partisans that something is wrong.  The lack of support from other participants will indeed remove most doubt.
The full scope of what has gone on will never be known, but the lessons for future participants in such a scheme is essential.  The next time, the prosecution will be more severe, more certain, and more expedient.  Protecting the Constitution is more important than perfect justice.  Some miscreants will escape, but they will never sleep well again.  The lesson must be taught.
A DOJ that fails to move loses its credibility and its honor.  The foundation of the Republic is placed at risk.  Without the rule of law, what do we have?
At some point, deferral of prosecution is dereliction or abetting.  Has it reached that point?
Gordon Wysong is an engineer and entrepreneur who has served as a county commissioner in Cobb County, Ga.



Are all Dems above the law?



In the present Ukraine matter, the mainstream media propaganda machine is missing something very basic.  The error is exposed by the uniform and diversionary way the Trump-Ukraine accusation is framed:  President Trump, they say, asked the Ukrainian government to investigate Democrat politician Joe Biden for the purpose of getting “dirt” on the rival candidate.  Because of this apparent internationalization of political intrigue, the conduct by Trump qualifies as a possibly criminal and impeachable offense -- that is, obtaining foreign campaign assistance of value.  So goes the simplistic narrative. 
Time out.  The underlying error in the popular view is the familiar illogic of presumption of motives.  Trump’s critics forcibly impose only one motive on the notorious telephone discussion between Trump and the Ukrainian president, i.e., help in domestic politics.  Rightfully, the case should be closed already against the critics because such presumption is inadmissible in serious discourse.  The explanation is that to assume one of an infinite number of potential motives is face-invalid and unreasonable.  All one must do to falsify such a pseudo-argument is identify a single plausible alternative motivation, and a big one is readily at hand:  As the chief law-enforcement officer of the United States, Donald Trump has a constitutional obligation to investigate illegal behavior, especially when committed at the highest level of our government.  Hence, a more-than-plausible alternative to the subjective and partisan attack device is conspicuously present, truly an elephant in the room -- that somehow remains inscrutable to the chattering class.  Lawful obligation trumps unwarranted and inadmissible assumption, as it were. 
And what evidence of illegality is there to justify the constitutional basis for Trump’s request that Ukraine investigate Joe Biden?  Merely objective evidence, both direct and circumstantial, that Biden has been running an international influence peddling (China) and extortion (Ukraine) operation.  Biden, of course, boasted of sacking the Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating his son’s company, but with the alternative and exculpatory rival motive of legitimate Western concern about government corruption in Ukraine already being refuted publicly by Ukrainians themselves in this case.  Then there is the $1.5 billion Chinese payment to the unqualified Hunter Biden’s rookie equity fund, ostensibly buying access to the office of U.S. vice president just as the elder Biden was assuming the China portfolio for the Obama administration.  Thank you, President Trump, for finally trying to advance the ball against high-level government corruption that typically goes unreported, uninvestigated, unprosecuted, and unpunished -- when perpetrated by Democrats. 
But the logical extension of the Democrat position on Trump/Ukraine “collusion” becomes even more bizarre.  If constitutional investigation or even phone interchange incorporating pursuit of foreign evidence by an American president is disallowed if it happens to implicate an opposition politician, then all opposition pols are therefore inviolable and above the law -- because they are interpretable as victims of presidential campaign misconduct via involving a foreign entity in domestic politics, as creatively construed. 
In other words, no matter what crime a partisan opponent has committed or is suspected of, the justice arm of government dares not investigate because, once it does, it is guilty of the illegal campaign behavior of targeting an opponent.  This is Catch-22 territory, thus an absurdity that, in turn, renders the Democratic complaint preposterous.  QED. 
A further weakness of the accusation is the “political opponent” dimension per se, again referencing Joe Biden.  Sorry, but Biden is not Donald Trump’s political opponent, and may never be, because he is not the presidential nominee of a political party.  Nor has the 2020 presidential campaign formally begun.  By the Democratic critic standard, President Trump cannot seek information on illegal behavior by any Democrat in the U.S. who meets the constitutional qualifications for the presidency, e.g., 35 years of age, because all are potential political opponents. 
How convenient that the Democrat position in the latest faux scandal reduces to this:  All Dems are above the law. 


The author’s area of specialization is social and political power and conflict.  He is a long-time registered Democrat and long-time registered Republican -- not simultaneously -- which should dispel any false impression of partisanship.  



Ready for Rep. Chelsea Clinton?

As if Joe Biden succoring his son with Ukrainian oligarch cash weren't enough nepotism for the princeling political class, here come the big leaguers in that game, the Clintons.
According to the New York Post:
The retirement of longtime New York Rep. Nita Lowey could open the door for a political newcomer with big political name — Chelsea Clinton.
“Is Chelsea Clinton going to make her move?” one New York Democrat asked shortly after learning of Lowey’s retirement.
Page Six first reported in 2016 that the former first daughter was being groomed for the 17th district seat. The district includes Rockland County and portions of Westchester, including the Chappaqua home of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
“Chelsea would be the next extension of the Clinton brand,” a source said at the time.
Ugh.
Rather than have Chelsea prove her chops at a minimum in a contested district, Democrats have wheeled out an easy one for her, a safe, solid blue district with no major exertion needed to win, as if to ensure that there is always a Clinton somewhere in power.
Funny how that coincides with Chels also signing her name to the claptrap book about 'gutsy women' her mom Hillary Clinton was shilling as her possible new presidential campaign entry, which is just the thing for getting press coverage before announcing a candidacy.
It's like the whole thing was planned all along.
And it's an amazingly bad idea. For all Chelsea's fantastic collection of academic honors or $100,000 a year consulting jobs, has the presidential daughter ever said so much as one thing that suggests any scintilla of talent or creativity? She's exists as a reminder that the ivy league system is probably to at least a certain extent, rigged.
So is the New York City and northward district ready to help perpetrate a Clinton dynasty by handing the pampered princess this easy seat? It willl be if these people vote for her. It's possible they won't - this time it seems there is some primary competition which might have been what prompted Lowey to throw in the towel. But it won't be a good thing for the Democrats to entrench an elite, built on scions of past lions, in place of the current dinosaurs who, like Lowey, are getting ready to retire.



“Our entire crony capitalist system, Democrat 

and Republican alike, has become a kleptocracy 

approaching par with third-world hell-holes. 

 This is the way a great country is raided by its 

elite.” ---- Karen McQuillan  AMERICAN 

THINKER.com


ABOUT THE BOOK THAT EXPOSES THEIR 

BRIBE-SUCKING CRIMES



#1 New York Times Bestseller!
Peter Schweizer has been fighting corruption―and winning―for years. In Throw Them All Out, he exposed insider trading by members of Congress, leading to the passage of the STOCK Act. In Extortion, he uncovered how politicians use mafia-like tactics to enrich themselves. And in Clinton Cash, he revealed the Clintons’ massive money machine and sparked an FBI investigation.
Now he explains how a new corruption has taken hold, involving larger sums of money than ever before. Stuffing tens of thousands of dollars into a freezer has morphed into multibillion-dollar equity deals done in the dark corners of the world.
An American bank opening in China would be prohibited by US law from hiring a slew of family members of top Chinese politicians. However, a Chinese bank opening in America can hire anyone it wants. It can even invite the friends and families of American politicians to invest in can’t-lose deals.
President Donald Trump’s children have made front pages across the world for their dicey transactions. However, the media has barely looked into questionable deals made by those close to Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Mitch McConnell, and lesser-known politicians who have been in the game longer.
In many parts of the world, the children of powerful political figures go into business and profit handsomely, not necessarily because they are good at it, but because people want to curry favor with their influential parents. This is a relatively new phenomenon in the United States. But for relatives of some prominent political families, we may already be talking about hundreds of millions of dollars.

Deeply researched and packed with shocking revelations, Secret Empires identifies public servants who cannot be trusted and provides a path toward a more accountable government.


Schweizer: Biden Needs to Address Ukraine Accusations ‘Front and Center’









1:18


Breitbart News senior contributor Peter Schweizer, author of “Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends,” on Friday stressed the importance of 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden addressing the Ukraine issue involving him and his son, Hunter.
Schweizer said the former vice president needs to address his family’s dealings in Ukraine “front and center” rather than ignoring because polling indicates most people believe it needs further investigation.
“[Hunter Biden] has been radio silent, and I think if you look at the way the Bidens have handled this issue, it’s been to not answer any questions, which I think just raises further suspicions,” Schweizer told Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom.” “Hunter Biden is somewhere, allegedly in California hiding out, and Joe Biden won’t answer any questions on this. He gets angry.”
“I think at some point they’re going to have to address these issues front and center because as it stands right now, polls indicate that most people believe this needs further investigation and needs to be looked at,” he added.

GRIFTER AND PHONY CHARITY 

FOUNDATION FRAUDSTER HILLARY 

CLINTON’S LONG SERVICE TO 

AMERICA’S MOST EVIL BANKSTERS


The judge found these releases, together with the publication of Clinton’s secret speeches to Wall Street banks, in which she pledged to be their representative, were “matters of the highest public concern.” They “allowed the American electorate to look behind the curtain of one of the two major political parties in the United States during a presidential election.”


“Clinton also failed to mention how he and Hillary cashed in after his presidential tenure to make themselves multimillionaires, in part by taking tens of millions in speaking fees from Wall Street bankers.”


THE BRIBES SUCKING LIVES OF HILLARY  &  BILLARY

The Clintons have been a criminal enterprise since they came to power in Arkansas.  The list of scandals they have generated is long and tawdry.  Their principal goal then and now has always been to enrich themselves.  They never once had a moral compunction about lying, cheating, selling, and stealing their way to wealth. They are the Perons of America.  They eventually set up a "foundation" and the money kept rolling in. 


Only six percent of the billions of dollars the "Foundation" takes in goes to charity.  The rest subsidizes the lavish lifestyles of the Clintons and their sycophants; those people who have sold their souls to rub shoulders with unadulterated power.

VIDEO:
THE FRAUDULENT CLINTON FOUNDATION EXPOSED.
PAY-TO-PLAY FROM THE FIRST DAY!


Is it a signal that she's back in the game because she's selling her president-ability to the world's global billionaire crowd and laying the groundwork for more funds?  There are all kinds of ways for foreign billionaires to get money to the U.S. without consequences, after all.  What's more, it's pretty much the biggest base of support she has, which is at least one reason why she lost the 2016 election.

“The couple parlayed lives supposedly spent in “public service”
into admission into the upper stratosphere of American wealth, with incomes in the top 0.1 percent bracket. The source of this vast wealth was a political machine that might well be dubbed “Clinton, Inc.” This consists essentially of a seedy money-laundering operation to ensure big business support for the Clintons’ political ambitions as well as their personal fortunes.

The basic components of the operation are lavishly paid speeches to Wall Street and Fortune 500 audiences, corporate campaign contributions, and donations to the ostensibly philanthropic Clinton Foundation.”


"But what the Clintons do is criminal because they do it 

wholly at the expense of the American people. And they feel 

thoroughly entitled to do it: gain power, use it to enrich 

themselves and their friends. They are amoral, immoral, 

and venal. Hillary has no core beliefs beyond power and 

money. That should be clear to every person on the planet by

now."  ----  Patricia McCarthy - AMERICANTHINKER.com


THE PHONY CLINTON FOUNDATION CHARITY slush fund


“There is no controlling Bill Clinton. He does whatever he wants and runs up incredible expenses with foundation funds,” states a separate interview memo attached to the submission.

“Bill Clinton mixes and matches his personal business with that of the foundation. Many people within the foundation have tried to caution him about this but he does not listen, and there really is no talking to him,” the memo added.

HILLARY CLINTON: Serving the super-rich and filling her bottomless pockets as she does!


"And this being Hillary, with her stated presidential ambitions still remaining, it's also a distinct possibility that donations to the Clinton Foundation are still being sought, especially since they have dropped to nearly nothing now that Clinton has no influence to sell.  With Hillary, it's always about money.  Her stint as secretary of state was completely about pay to play, after all." MONICA SHOWALTER – AMERICAN THINKER


Is it a signal that she's back in the game because she's selling her president-ability to the world's global billionaire crowd and laying the groundwork for more funds?  There are all kinds of ways for foreign billionaires to get money to the U.S. without consequences, after all.  What's more, it's pretty much the biggest base of support she has, which is at least one reason why she lost the 2016 election.

FEINSTEIN HAS SPENT HER POLITICAL LIFE STALKING THE HALLS OF CONGRESS SNIFFING OUT DEALS THAT PUT HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS IN HER POCKETS.
SHE HAS AVOIDED PROSECUTION BY VOTING AGAINST ANY ETHICS BILLS AND HER HUSBAND, RICHARD BLUM'S HANDING OUT "CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION" BRIBES TO EVERY DEMOCRAT OUT THERE!



*
IN THE November 2006 election, the voters demanded congressional ethics reform. And so, the newly appointed chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is now duly in charge of regulating the ethical behavior of her colleagues. But for many years, Feinstein has been beset by her own ethical conflict of interest, say congressional ethics experts.

“All in all, it was an incredible victory for the Chinese government. Feinstein has done more for Red China than other any serving U.S. politician. “ Trevor Loudon

“Our entire crony capitalist system, Democrat and Republican alike, has become a kleptocracy approaching par with third-world hell-holes.  This is the way a great country is raided by its elite.” ---- Karen McQuillan  AMERICAN THINKER.com



They Destroyed Our Country
“They knew Obama was an unqualified crook; yet they promoted him. They knew Obama was a train wreck waiting to happen; yet they made him president, to the great injury of America and the world. They understood he was only a figurehead, an egomaniac, and a liar; yet they made him king, doing great harm to our republic (perhaps irreparable.)”

Corruption blinders of the media and other Democrats

Most journalists and Democrats didn’t express any concerns when:
  • VP Biden threatened (promised) Ukraine that he would cut off a billion dollars in aid to them if they didn't fire the prosecutor investigating a company his son was involved with.
  • Hunter Biden got paid $50,000 a month as a board member of a corrupt Ukrainian gas company when he had no expertise on the product of the company.
  • Obama promised the very dangerous Russia and Putin that he would be flexible if he was reelected (somehow no one at FBI or elsewhere was ever concerned that Russia may have tried to influence the 2012 election to elect the flexible president.)
  • Hillary, Obama and many others violated the nation's security laws by using her non-government computer.
  • Obama gave kickbacks to union supporters when he violated the nation's bankruptcy law with the bailout of GM.
  • Obama used taxpayer dollars to reward political supporters like at Solyndra.
  • Hillary, through her family and foundation, got huge amounts of speech money and donations from foreign countries. Russia, for example, got Uranium for their generosity. (If there is any doubt about whether they were      kickbacks, that should have disappeared when the donations dried up and speech fees dropped or dried up when she no longer could return favors)
  • Obama shipped over $1 billion in taxpayer money in unmarked bills, to Iran tyrants, who still pledge death to America, to get a deal.
  • Obama dictatorially stopped a years’ long investigation into a billion dollar a year drug running ring by terrorists to appease Iranian tyrants because he was more concerned about his legacy than the safety, health and lives of the American people. 
  • Hillary and the DNC paying over $10 billion to buy a fake dossier from a foreign national to destroy Trump. It appears they didn't think they could beat him based on the truth or their policy proposals. 
  • Obama and his administration, including the FBI, Justice Department, the intelligence agencies and the State Department, using the fake dossier as a source for FISA warrants and to infiltrate the Trump campaign with informants. (they obviously didn't believe their record or policies would win the votes). Instead of the media and other Democrats caring about this pure corruption they have participated in perpetuating the lies about Russian collusion for over three years.
  • The Obama Administration, at the Justice Department, EPA and CFPB using taxpayer money for political purposes and political supporters by creating slush funds from money confiscated from businesses that they pretended would go to victims. 
If the media and Democrats want to investigate anything, how about a possible corrupt payback from Netflix to Obama? Obama gave the very wealthy Netlfix, Google and others huge financial benefits with net neutrality and Netflix gave the Obama's a huge contract even though they had no video production expertise or experience. It is similar to paying Biden's son huge amounts of money with no expertise. 
But now when President Trump may have said something to a foreign leader about investigating corruption by Biden's son, that is supposed to be an impeachable offense. Shouldn't a President want political corruption by politicians to be investigated? Shouldn't the media and other Democrats be more concerned about the corruption itself than the phone call?
From this story, it appears that the media and other Democrats believe that every phone call that Trump makes to a foreign leader should become public knowledge if any bureaucrat makes a whistle blower report when they disagree with something the president does. That would certainly be cumbersome, and foreign leaders would no longer want to have discussions if every discussion could be made public. 
Elizabeth Warren says she wants to get rid of corruption but not once have I heard her complain about the massive corruption during the Obama years or at her precious CFPB, so she really doesn't care. 

Isn't it odd that no bureaucrats seemed to care about the corruption of Obama/Biden?  It shows why we need to drain the swamp.


TRUMP AND HIS SAUDIS


The Saudi Challenge
Jamal Khashoggi's murder -- and no one now questions whether the Washington Post contributor was killed by Saudi agents in the kingdom's consulate in Turkey -- has far-reaching implications for the Trump administration. President Donald Trump appears to want to help sweep the incident under the rug, providing cover for the Saudis' ludicrous suggestion that the killing was a rogue operation or an interrogation gone awry. And he's enmeshed the highest officials of his administration in the mess by sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Riyadh, where the secretary was photographed, all smiles, sitting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who most likely ordered Khashoggi's murder. The administration is giving itself little leeway to take serious measures to protest the killing, signaling to the world that the U.S. cannot be counted on to stand up against bloodthirsty autocrats, even when a U.S. resident and member of the American press is the victim.
I doubt that Trump understands -- or cares about -- what message he's sending. Wealthy Saudis, including members of the extended royal family, have been his patrons for years, buying his distressed properties when he needed money. In the early 1990s, a Saudi prince purchased Trump's flashy yacht so that the then-struggling businessman could come up with cash to stave off personal bankruptcy, and later, the prince bought a share of the Plaza Hotel, one of Trump's many business deals gone bad. Trump also sold an entire floor of his landmark Trump Tower condominium to the Saudi government in 2001. During the campaign, the Trump Organization registered more than a half-dozen limited liability companies in the kingdom, in anticipation of cashing in on Trump's enhanced renown. When Trump actually won (which apparently he didn't think he would at the time), someone must have explained he couldn't move ahead with new business there as president, because he withdrew the registrations. Of course, a little thing like benefiting from the office of the presidency hasn't stopped the Trump Organization, run by the president's two eldest sons, from accepting Saudi largesse since the election. With many Trump properties and brands losing customers in today's highly polarized political atmosphere, Saudis are spending lavishly on Trump properties in Washington, New York and even Chicago as many others avoid them.
But if Trump doesn't get why looking the other way when an American journalist is tortured, beheaded and hacked to pieces by a team of Saudi government operatives is bad, surely national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary Pompeo do. Autocrats are stepping up their game around the world. Russian President Vladimir Putin didn't hesitate to order a hit on British soil of an ex-KGB agent and his daughter earlier this year. But the United Kingdom responded quickly, kicking out Russian diplomats and imposing sanctions. The United States followed suit, but only because Congress, not Trump, knew that to do otherwise would have let down an ally and encouraged a despot. When asked in a "60 Minutes" interview Sunday whether he believes that Putin was involved in the poisoning and other assassinations, Trump's response was: "Probably he is, yeah. ... But I rely on them. It's not in our country."
The Trump administration relies on Saudi Arabia, too. It is the enemy of our enemy Iran, which, in political calculus, makes Saudis our "friends." But even friends require reining in at times. And these friends need us more than we need them. We are no longer dependent on oil imports; our oil reserves surpass those of Saudi Arabia. Although Trump worries about losing that promised $110 billion Saudi arms purchase he keeps touting (but which has yet to materialize), the Saudis don't have anywhere else to go if they want to keep their airplanes in the air. They are locked in by past purchases; no one else can deliver the spare parts for U.S.-built weapons. As for the help in challenging Iran, they have no choice there, either. Iran is far more a direct threat to the kingdom than it is to the U.S. And as for their most crucial role -- the war on Islamic terrorism -- the Saudis claim to fight terrorism but are also a major source of funding for radical Islamic schools and mosques that recruit terrorists around the world.
The administration has only a short time to come up with a proper and proportionate response to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The president thinks Americans will move on -- but his inaction makes the world a more dangerous place. And next time, the attack just might be on American soil.

Trump scrambles to cover for Saudi regime as crisis over Khashoggi murder mounts

By Barry Grey
19 October 2018
Following US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s emergency talks in Riyadh and Ankara, and amid mounting reports implicating Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Trump administration is scrambling to shield Washington’s closest ally in the Arab World.
On Thursday, Trump continued to suggest that Prince Mohammed and his father, King Salman, may have had nothing to do with the disappearance and evident torture and murder of Khashoggi on October 2 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. However, after being debriefed by Pompeo following the latter’s talks with Prince Mohammed and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump told reporters it appeared that Khashoggi was dead.
The official line is that Pompeo secured a pledge from the Saudi leadership to hold accountable anyone found in the course of the regime’s own investigation to have played a role in Khashoggi’s disappearance. On that fraudulent basis, Pompeo advised Trump to give Riyadh several more days to provide an accounting, after which the White House will decide its response.
Meanwhile, unnamed Turkish officials and the pro-Erdogan newspaper Yeni Safak reported Wednesday on the contents of what they claim is an audio recording of the events that transpired in the Istanbul consulate following Khashoggi’s entering the building on the afternoon of October 2. The 60-year-old self-exiled Saudi national and resident of Virginia in the US, who went from being a regime insider to a Washington Post columnist and critic of the new crown prince, ostensibly went to the consulate to obtain documents in advance of his impending wedding to a Turkish national. He never emerged from the consulate.
According to the Turkish accounts, he was almost immediately attacked by a team of 15 men who had flown that day to Istanbul from Saudi Arabia, brutally tortured, drugged, murdered, beheaded and dismembered. These sources say his fingers were cut off, but do not stipulate whether that occurred before or after he had expired. One of those reported to have been in the group is a forensic doctor who carried a bone saw.
The Washington Post on Wednesday published a detailed profile of the 15 men, complete with photos and scans of travel documents. It reported that at least nine of the men have ties to Saudi security. The New York Times reported Wednesday that at least four are directly linked to the crown prince, having traveled with him as part of his personal security detail.
The claim of Crown Prince Mohammed that he had no foreknowledge of a plan to kill the former regime loyalist-turned critic is absurd on its face. He is an absolute ruler in a brutal totalitarian dictatorship, and is known to closely oversee the activities of his security apparatus and to be personally extremely cruel.
Pompeo’s meetings on Tuesday with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed were aimed at signaling continued US support while making a pretense of seeking a full accounting of Khashoggi’s disappearance. The same is true of his meeting the following day with Erdogan, at which he evidently did not ask for a copy of the audio recording of the events inside the consulate.
For his part, the Turkish president has yet to publicly make any accusation against the Saudi leadership or endorse the reports being leaked by Turkish officials and the media. At odds with Riyadh over the Saudi regime’s support for US-allied Kurdish forces in Syria, its backing for the el-Sisi dictatorship in Egypt, and its lineup with Washington over Iran, Erdogan appears nevertheless to be reluctant to sever relations with the oil-rich Saudis and may be seeking to use Riyadh’s crisis as leverage in obtaining concessions.
On Wednesday after meeting with Erdogan, Pompeo told reporters on his plane back to the US: “I do think it’s important that everyone keep in their mind that we have lots of important relations, financial relationships between US and Saudi companies, government relationships, things that we work on all across the world. The efforts to reduce the risk to the United States of America from the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, Iran.
“We just need to make sure that we are mindful of that as we approach decisions that the United States government will take when we learn all of the facts.”
This amounts to an unwitting admission of the outright criminality of both governments.
As the former CIA director and current secretary of state, Pompeo’s reference to the “things we work on all across the world” includes conspiring to strangle, destabilize and potentially wage war against Iran, in alliance with Israel and most of the other Gulf oil sheikdoms.
These “things” also include the near-genocidal Saudi-led war in Yemen, which has already killed some 50,000 men, women and children and threatens another 14 million with starvation and deadly epidemics of cholera and diphtheria. The Saudis could not carry out their relentless bombing and de facto blockade of the Arab world’s poorest country without US arms, its mid-air refueling of Saudi bombers, its provision of intelligence and help in selecting targets and the assistance to its naval forces.
It is notable that in all of the US press commentary critical of Trump and the Saudi crown prince, there is virtually no mention of the US role in the slaughter in Yemen.
There is as well the collaboration between Washington and Riyadh in suppressing the Palestinians and propping up Israel, and their joint support for Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist terrorists in the war for regime-change in Syria.
The US is particularly reliant on the Saudi monarchy at the present moment, in advance of its November 5 deadline for imposing sanctions against all Iranian exports. It is counting on Riyadh to open its oil spigot to prevent a spike in oil prices as a result of a sharp reduction in Iranian oil exports.
At the same time, the administration is coming under increasing pressure, both internationally and at home, to distance itself from the crown prince. It made a reluctant concession to this pressure on Thursday with the announcement that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would join the swelling ranks of Western officials, bankers and media organizations that have announced they will not attend next week’s international investors’ conference in Riyadh, to be hosted by Crown Prince Mohammed.
Dubbed “Davos in the Desert,” the event is on the brink of collapse. On Wednesday, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde pulled out. Businesses that have made similar announcements include Uber, JPMorgan Chase, Viacom, BlackRock and Blackstone Group. CNN, the Financial Times, CNBC, Nikkei and the New York Times are among the media organizations that have withdrawn as media sponsors.
The likely debacle of the investors’ conference will intensify an already acute crisis facing the Saudi monarchy. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that global investors are growing increasingly alarmed at what the newspaper called Saudi Arabia’s “debt binge” in recent months. In the two-and-a-half years since May 2016, the country has floated $68 billion in dollar-denominated bonds and syndicated loans—up from zero.
In addition, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund took out its first-ever bank loan last month, raising $11 billion. And the national oil company Saudi Aramco plans to raise up to $50 billion.
Reflecting declining confidence in the regime, the cost of insuring against Saudi default has risen by 30 percent since the disappearance of Khashoggi, and even before the Khashoggi allegations, foreign direct investment had fallen to historically low levels.
Also on Thursday, the Washington Post published Khashoggi’s final column for the newspaper. Introducing the piece, Global Opinions Editor Karen Attiah explained that the Post had received the column one day after Khashoggi’s disappearance, but had decided to hold it in the hope that he would reemerge. In publishing the piece, the newspaper acknowledged that the author had died.
The content of the column points to Khashoggi’s likely links to sections of the US state and intelligence apparatus. A former aide to the Saudi chief of intelligence and one-time ambassador to the US, Khashoggi had long been known as an interlocutor between the Saudi regime and Western media and government officials. He also had close ties to Osama bin Laden.
In his final column he compares the suppression of speech and expression in the Arab world to the Soviet “Iron Curtain,” and calls for the development of an “independent” news source in the Middle East modeled after the cold war-era propaganda organ Radio Free Europe.
This would in part explain the furious reaction of Trump critics in both political parties, the media and the intelligence establishment to the administration’s efforts to alibi for the Saudi leadership. Obama’s CIA chief John Brennan, for example, has repeatedly denounced Trump’s attempts to cover for the regime and insisted that the crown prince personally ordered the murder of Khashoggi

TRUMP AND THE MURDERING 9-11 MUSLIM SAUDIS…
Why is the Swamp Keeper and his family of parasites up their ar$es??


WHAT WILL TRUMP AND HIS PARASITIC FAMILY DO FOR MONEY???

JUST ASK THE SAUDIS!


JOHN DEAN: Not so far. This has been right by the letter of the special counsel’s charter. He’s released the document. What I’m looking for is relief and understanding that there’s no witting or unwitting likelihood that the President is an agent of Russia. That’s when I’ll feel comfortable, and no evidence even hints at that. We don’t have that yet. We’re still in the process of unfolding the report to look at it. And its, as I say, if [Attornery General William Barr] honors his word, we’ll know more soon.

“Our entire crony capitalist system, Democrat and 

Republican alike, has become a kleptocracy 

approaching par with third-world hell-holes.  This 

is the way a great country is raided by its elite.” ---

- Karen McQuillan AMERICAN THINKER


PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES DONALD TRUMP: Pathological liar, swindler, con man, huckster, golfing cheat, charity foundation fraudster, tax evader, adulterer, porn whore chaser and servant of the Saudis dictators

THE TRUMP FAMILY FOUNDATION SLUSH FUND…. Will they see jail?
VISUALIZE REVOLUTION!.... We know where they live!
“Underwood is a Democrat and is seeking millions of dollars in penalties. She wants Trump and his eldest children barred from running other charities.”


Opinion: Trump And Pompeo Have Enabled A Saudi Cover-Up Of The Khashoggi Killing

October 2, 201911:45 AM ET
In the weeks following the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Trump spent more time praising Saudi Arabia as a very important ally than he did reacting to the killing.
Hasan Jamali/AP
Aaron David Miller (@aarondmiller2) is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former State Department Middle East analyst, adviser and negotiator in Republican and Democratic administrations. He is the author most recently of the End of Greatness: Why America Can't Have (and Doesn't Want) Another Great President.
Richard Sokolsky, a nonresident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, worked in the State Department for six different administrations and was a member of the secretary of state's Office of Policy Planning from 2005 to 2015.


It has been a year since Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi entered Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul where he was slain and dismembered. There is still no objective or comprehensive Saudi or American accounting of what occurred, let alone any real accountability.
The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's admission in a recent CBS interview that he takes "full responsibility," while denying foreknowledge of the killing or that he ordered it, sweeps under the rug the lengths to which the Saudis have gone to obscure the truth about their involvement in the killing and cover-up.
The Saudi campaign of obfuscation, denial and cover-up would never have gotten off the ground had it not been for the Trump administration's support over the past year. The president and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not only refused to distance themselves from the crown prince, known by his initials MBS, but also actively worked to relegitimize him. The Saudis killed Khashoggi but Trump acquiesced in the cover-up and worked hard to protect the U.S.-Saudi relationship and soften the crown prince's pariah status. In short, without Trump, the attempted makeover — such as it is — would not have been possible.
The Saudis killed Khashoggi but Trump acquiesced in the cover-up and worked hard to protect the U.S.-Saudi relationship and soften the crown prince's pariah status.
Weak administration response
The administration's weak and feckless response to Khashoggi's killing was foreshadowed a year before it occurred. In May 2017, in an unusual break with precedent, Trump visited Saudi Arabia on his inaugural presidential trip; gave his son-in-law the authority to manage the MBS file, which he did with the utmost secrecy; and made it unmistakably clear that Saudi money, oil, arm purchases and support for the administration's anti-Iranian and pro-Israeli policies would elevate the U.S.-Saudi "special relationship" to a new level.
Predictably, therefore, the administration's reaction to Khashoggi's killing was shaped by a desire to manage the damage and preserve the relationship. In the weeks following Khashoggi's death, Trump spent more time praising Saudi Arabia as a very important ally, especially as a purchaser of U.S. weapons and goods, than he did reacting to the killing. Trump vowed to get to the bottom of the Khashoggi killing but focused more on defending the crown prince, saying this was another example of being "guilty before being proven innocent."
Those pledges to investigate and impose accountability would continue to remain hollow. Over the past year, Trump and Pompeo have neither criticized nor repudiated Saudi actions that have harmed American interests in the Middle East. Two months after Khashoggi's death, the administration, in what Pompeo described as an "initial step," imposed sanctions on 17 Saudi individuals implicated in the killing. But no others have been forthcoming, and the visa restrictions that were imposed are meaningless because none of the sanctioned Saudis would be foolish enough to seek entry into the United States.
What's more, the administration virtually ignored a congressional resolution imposing sanctions on the Saudis for human rights abuses and vetoed another bipartisan resolution that would have ended U.S. military assistance to Saudi Arabia's inhumane military campaign in Yemen.
The Saudis opened a trial in January of 11 men implicated in the killing, but the proceedings have been slow and secretive, leading the United Nations' top human rights expert to declare that "the trial underway in Saudi Arabia will not deliver credible accountability." Despite accusations that the crown prince's key adviser Saud al-Qahtani was involved in the killing, he's still advising MBS, has not stood trial and will likely escape punishment. A year later, there are still no reports of convictions or serious punishment.
Legitimizing Mohammed bin Salman
The Trump administration has not only given the crown prince a pass on the Khashoggi killing, but it has also worked assiduously to remove his pariah status and rehabilitate his global image. Barely two months after the 2018 slaying, Trump was exchanging pleasantries with the crown prince at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires and holding out prospects of spending more time with him. Then this past June, at the G-20 in Osaka, Japan, Trump sang his praises while dodging questions about the killing. "It's an honor to be with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, a friend of mine, a man who has really done things in the last five years in terms of opening up Saudi Arabia," Trump said.
And you can bet that when Saudi Arabia hosts the G-20, scheduled to be held in its capital of Riyadh in November 2020, the Trump administration will be smiling as its rehab project takes another step in its desired direction.
What the U.S. should have done
Trump has failed to impose any serious costs or constraints on Saudi Arabia for the killing of a U.S. newspaper columnist who resided in Virginia or for the kingdom's aggressive policies, from Yemen to Qatar. In the wake of the Khashoggi killing, the administration should have made it unmistakably clear, both publicly and privately, that it expected a comprehensive and credible accounting and investigation. It should have suspended high-level contacts and arms sales with the kingdom for a period of time. And to make the point, the administration should have supported at least one congressional resolution taking the Saudis to task, in addition to triggering the Magnitsky Act, which would have required a U.S. investigation; a report to Congress; and sanctions if warranted.
Back to business as usual
The dark stain of the crown prince's apparent involvement in Khashoggi's death will not fade easily. But for Trump and Pompeo, it pales before the great expectations they still maintain for the kingdom to confront and contain their common enemy, Iran, as well as support the White House's plan for Middle East peace, defeat jihadists in the region and keep the oil spigot open.
Most of these goals are illusory. Saudi Arabia is a weak, fearful and unreliable ally. The kingdom has introduced significant social and cultural reforms but has imposed new levels of repression and authoritarianism. Its reckless policies toward Yemen and Qatar have expanded, not contracted, opportunities for Iran, while the Saudi military has demonstrated that, even after spending billions to buy America's most sophisticated weapons, it still can't defend itself without American help.
Meanwhile, recent attacks on critical Saudi oil facilities that the U.S. blames on Iran have helped rally more American and international support for the kingdom.
When it comes to the U.S.-Saudi relationship and the kingdom's callous reaction to Khashoggi's killing, the president and his secretary of state have been derelict in their duty: They have not only failed to advance American strategic interests but also undermined America's values in the process.

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