PrairiePundit

NY Times:
Lawmaker Raises Issues of Racism; Says Kelly Lied
John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, misrepresented Representative Frederica S. Wilson’s remarks when he said she bragged about securing $20 million for a South Florida F.B.I. building, a video shows.Ms. Wilson suggested the accusation was racially charged and said the White House “is full of white supremacists.” Accusations like this are the product of a weak mind.  The first defense of someone who is low functioning like Congresswoman Wilson is not to respond to the argument made, but to accuse the other person of being a "white supremacist" based on his rejection of her bad conduct. 

It is typical of many liberals these days who are desperately afraid that the robust economy that is putting more blacks back to work will lift them out of the dependency class Democrats depend on for votes.  That is why Democrats have been using the "white supremacist" pejorative regularly of late.

The accusation a…

New Yorker:John Kelly and the Language of the Military Coup
The only coup attempt that is being worked at this point is by liberals who are trying to overthrow a duly elected President with a bogus claim of collusion with Russia to win the election.   They are going through machinations trying to drum up an impeachment or if that is not available the 25th amendment which to them means anybody who disagrees with them is too crazy to be President.

John Kelly is the furthest thing from someone who would participate in a coup and I think that must trouble them.  They have been talking about him "controlling" the president and they seem distraught that he contradicted their ridiculous narrative on the President's call to the wife of a slain Green Beret.

When it comes to Trump, the left not only hates him beyond all reason but hates anyone who thinks the President is sane and might have a point. They hate everyone who voted for Trump.

Washington Times:
The company behind the anti-Trump intelligence dossier that rocked last year’s U.S. election went to federal court Friday to try and block the House Intelligence Committee from getting access to its banking records.

The firm, Fusion GPS, filed a petition in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, according to a source knowledgeable about the situation.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity with The Washington Times, said the House Intelligence Committeehad subpoenaed Fusion’s banking records in an effort to determine who financed former British spy Christopher Steele’s work to write the dossier during the summer and fall of 2016.
... They give one the feeling they have something to hide.  Transparency appears to be foreign to them.

Washington Post:
What John Kelly got wrong about Rep. Wilson and the family of a slain soldier

The White House chief of staff said he was stunned that the Democratic lawmaker was on the “sacred” call between President Trump and the widow of a soldier killed in Niger. But his critique overlooks the family’s long ties with the congresswoman. The fact that she may have been a long time friend of the family does not excuse her twisting the words of the President to make a bogus political argument.  That the Post would defend her despicable conduct is also reprehensible.  There was nothing rude or lacking empathy in what Kelly and the President said to the family.  It shows ignorance on the part of the congresswoman and the media to try to twist a statement of fact into some heartless statement.

It is probably because most of the reporters and the congresswoman have no concept of why people join the military and put their lives on the line for this country. 

I was an executive officer of a …

NY Times:
Bush and Obama Rebuke Trump by Implication Alone
In unrelated appearances, former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama warned of hatreds tearing the nation apart. Neither named President Trump, but they left little doubt of their target. Most of the violence and hate in the US emanates from the left.  From the campuses to the streets liberal fascism is seeking to use violence to suppress the first amendment rights of Americans who do not agree with them. 

There is no such organized violence on the right.   The suggestion that white nationalism is a growing threat is absurd.  There are not enough white nationalist to fill a hotel ballroom much less a football stadium.  It is just another meme the left is using to suppress and denigrate those who disagree with them. 

The statue protestors in Charlottesville got a little over a dozen people to show at their latest protest.  There was no violence this time because there was no Antifa attacking them.  At any rate, they do no…

Washington Examiner:
Senate Republicans are one step closer to fulfilling a long-time goal of allowing oil and gas drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge after Democrats failed Thursday night to stop it.

The Senate rejected a Democrat-authored amendment to its 2018 budget resolution that would have removed language allowing oil and natural gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The Democratic amendment, part of a marathon series of votes known as "vote-rama," failed by a 52-48 vote.

That means the budget resolution, which passed soon after, contains instructions for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to recommend policies to save $1 billion over the next decade, to be served by drilling in the refuge.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who in 2005 voted against allowing drilling in the refuge, provided a decisive vote this time, refusing to vote with Democrats who tried to block it. Senate Susan Collins, R-Maine, who also voted against drilling in the refuge…

Voice of America:

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley lashed out Wednesday at Iran for what she called a “laundry list” of bad behavior, and she criticized the U.N. Security Council for not holding Tehran accountable.

“Every six months the Security Council is presented with a laundry list of bad news but only somehow manages to only hear the good news,” Haley said, referring to the twice-annual report the U.N. secretary-general sends to the council on implementation of the 2015 nuclear deal.

Haley spoke at a monthly council meeting that primarily reviews the Israeli-Palestinian situation.
...
“Judging Iran by the narrow confines of the nuclear deal misses the true nature of the threat,” Haley said. “Iran must be judged in totality of its aggressive, destabilizing and unlawful behavior — to do otherwise would be foolish,” she said.

She called Iran out for its support of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and its supply of weapons to Shi’ite Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hezbollah militants in Lebano…

The Hill:
Bill Clinton sought State’s permission to meet with Russian nuclear official during Obama uranium decision I wonder if he was trying to get more speaking gigs at that rate.

Breitbart:
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Tom Homan confirmed on Thursday that a man arrested in connection with setting a fire in Sonoma County Wine Country is an illegal alien from Mexico who has been twice returned to his “home country.”

Homan also confirmed that ICE has issued detainer requests for Jesus Fabian Gonzalez five times now in the past year alone, including the one issued on October 16 in relation to his most recent arrest on suspicion of arson. All of the arrests were made “by Sonoma County on various felony and misdemeanor charges,” according to Homan.

Sonoma County is considered a sanctuary jurisdiction and does not fully cooperate with federal immigration officials. That includes not honoring ICE detainer requests. “ICE was never notified of Mr. Gonzalez’ various releases,” Homan wrote in the statement regarding Gonzalez.

There were several fires in the region, and it is not clear what role the fires Gonzales allegedly set played in t…

Washington Examiner:
As Congress debates reforming the federal tax code for the first time in more than 30 years, the states continue to confirm what too many in Washington are denying: Taxes matter for economic growth.

A new report released this week by the Tax Foundation – along with assessment of states' fiscal health, economic performance, and population changes – confirm that states with lower taxes and reasonable levels of government spending have stronger economies and are more attractive for businesses and individuals.

The State Business Tax Climate Index is an annual ranking of state tax systems and how well they are structured to promote economic growth. The usual suspects found themselves at the top as Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska, Florida, and Nevada took the top five spots. None of these states levies a tax on individual income (essentially, a tax on work). Wyoming and South Dakota also do not levy a corporate income tax, which unsurprisingly makes them attractive pl…

Radio Free Europe:
A second round of missile strikes by suspected U.S. drones has killed at least 11 more Taliban, including senior commanders, a day after strikes killed 20 militants in the southeastern border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, officials said.

Baseer Khan Wazir, the top administrative official in the Kurram Agency, part of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, told Reuters on October 17 that the drones fired on Taliban hideouts and killed at least 31 people over two days.

Taliban sources told Reuters that 24 members of the extremist Haqqani network, which is based in Pakistan and allied with the Taliban, were killed in drone strikes over two days, including some commanders.

An Afghan official told the Associated Press that the latest drone strikes on October 17 killed 35 Taliban fighters, including a commander of the Pakistani Taliban, Abu Bakr, and other senior insurgents.

Abdullah Asrat, spokesman for the governor of Paktia Province, told AP tha…

Circa:
A Russian nuclear executive, whose company was the target of an FBI investigation and who admitted to corrupt payments to influence the awarding of contracts with the Russian state-owned nuclear energy corporation, paid millions of dollars in consulting fees to an American firm in 2010 and 2011 to lobby the U.S. regulatory agencies and assist the Russian's who were then attempting to acquire twenty percent of American uranium, according to court documents, a former FBI informant and extensive interviews with law enforcement sources.

Roughly $3 million in payments from 2010 to 2011 were made to APCO Worldwide Inc., which is described on their website as the second largest lobbying firm in the United States. The firm also provided in kind pro-bono services to Bill Clinton's foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative, services they begin 2007, according to APCO officials who spoke with Circa and press releases from the company. It was during the same time that then-Secretary…

Gen. Kelly eloquently makes the point about how casualty notifications occur and is appropriately critical of the congresswoman who gave a misleading characterization of Trump's phone call.

If you saw my two posts on this yesterday, you could probably tell how much the congresswoman's actions bothered me as unfair and wrong.  I think you will be able to see how his remarks changed teh demeanor of the media in the room.

Daily Mail:
Spam is being kept locked in plastic cases in Hawaii stores after several heists of the tinned meat
Spam heists are on the rise in Hawaii, so much so that stores are putting the fatty canned meat treat in plastic locked cases. The black market for Spam is real in Hawaii as the price of Spam has been on the rise.  I had no idea it was in such demand.  I can remember my mom preparing it with meals when I was a kid.  I suspect it would be too salty for my taste these days.  Spam was used in World War II to feed the troops.  Russians soldiers have said they would have starved without it.

Circa:
Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley asked the attorney of a former FBI informant Wednesday to allow her client to testify before his committee regarding the FBI's investigation regarding kickbacks and bribery by the Russian state controlled nuclear company that was approved to purchase twenty percent of United States uranium supply in 2010, Circa has learned.

In a formal letter, Grassley, an Iowa Republican, asked Victoria Toensing, the lawyer representing the former FBI informant, to allow her client, who says he worked as a voluntary informant for the FBI, to be allowed to testify about the "crucial" eyewitness testimony he provided to the FBI regarding members of the Russian subsidiary and other connected players from 2009 until the FBI's prosecution of the defendants in 2014.

Toensing's client was an American businessman who says he worked for four years undercover as an FBI confidential witness. Toensing said he was blocked by the Obama Justice D…

Bloomberg:
Filings for unemployment benefits plunged last week to the lowest level since 1973 as workers affected by hurricanes Harvey and Irma continued to return to their jobs, Labor Department figures showed Thursday.
...
The latest period also encompasses the reporting week that the Labor Department surveys for its October employment figures. Claims are at the lowest level in more than four decades, indicating employers have little desire to cut staffing levels amid a shortage of qualified workers.
... The effect of Trump's deregulation efforts appears to have increased job opportunities to a point not seen in decades.  It appears the unemployment problem was not structural but the result of over-regulation.

NY Times:
This Is What Victory Over ISIS Looks Like in Syria and Iraq
Hard-won battles to retake city after city from the Islamic State have come to an end. But the campaigns have left vast destruction in their wake, and the cities are ghosts of their former glory. The alternative to the creation of the rubble would have been to allow the genocide to continue and the mass murder attacks in Europe and the US to continue.

If the Iraqis were smart they would be focusing on rebuilding these cities.  But they seem to be influenced by the genocidal Islamic religious bigots that rule Iran so they are now attacking the Kurds with the weapons the US provided them to defeat ISIS.

Fox News:
The Florida Democrat who criticized President Donald Trump this week for being "insensitive" toward the widow of a U.S. soldier slain in Africa might be facing similar criticism herself.

It turns out that U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson has frequently voted against measures intended to help veterans and their families, according to VoteSmart.org, a vote-tracking site whose founding board members included former presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.

The measures that Wilson opposed included a bill that could have ensured that families of four soldiers slain in Afghanistan in 2013 received death and burial benefits.

In fact, Wilson’s voting record on veterans issues may call into question the sincerity of her recent defense of U.S. service members and their families.

Despite Wilson's claim to be “committed to honoring our service members, not only with words but with deeds,” she has voted against most bills ensuring continued funding for veteran benefits, including…

Kurt Schlichter:
Liberals Try To Connect With Normal Americans And It Goes Poorly

Key Democrats met secretly to confer about the party’s future as America approached the one-year anniversary of their stunning and hilarious humiliation by Donald Trump. The key question they sought to answer: “How can we Democrats appeal to those Jesus-loving, racist idiots who hate science and don’t live on the coast like everyone we know?”

After opening the seminar by refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance, Chuck Schumer gaveled the meeting to order, sparking widespread protests. “Hammers are violent tools of oppression that cause oppressed people to literally shake. We need a national conversation about assault gavels that use automatic high-capacity clips,” sputtered the 112 year-old Senator Dianne Feinstein. “Sure, we should be able to have them, but not those, those … little people out there. They don’t need gavels.”

The assembly quickly agreed that in 2018 Democrats must prioritize sensible hamm…

NY Times:

Tech Lobby Resists Calls to Reveal Online Ad Buyers

Senator John McCain and two Democratic senators will move on Thursday to force Facebook, Google and other internet companies to disclose who buys political ads.

But the tech industry is mobilizing an army of lobbyists and lawyers to help shape regulations proposed in response to Russian meddling in the 2016 election. This is a case where more disclosure is a good thing.  We already require it for TV political ads.  It should not be just about Russian meddling.  It should also reach ads placed by hostile groups from all sides.  It is not a foolproof correction to a problem.  I suspect the Russians or some other group will use front groups to sponsor the ads.

I would also like to see a requirement that when a company refused to allow ads to run on YouTube sites, as is their right, that should also be disclosed so that supporters of those sites can decide whether they want to engage in commerce with those former sponsors.  Left…

Jerusalem Post:
Clandestinely stirring up potentially violent protests in an attempt to try and force Israel to go against its best interests? Advice like this was par for the course with Clinton’s advisers.
...
In the entire forced dump of Clinton’s emails, you will be hard pressed to find a single one sympathetic toward the Jewish state from any of the people she relied on. The negative, poisonous approach to Israel throughout this email expose shows the atmosphere that she had established around herself. These emails seem to demonstrate that a huge segment of her close advisers and confidantes were attacking Israel, condemning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and strategizing how to force Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria at all costs.

This was occurring against the backdrop of Israel’s recent Gaza withdrawal, which led to the takeover of Gaza by Hamas. There is almost zero mention of the huge risks to Israel’s security in withdrawing as Clinton and the Obama administratio…

We Are the Mighty:
The U.S. and South Korea are developing new wartime operations plans to achieve rapid victory over the North should conflict occur, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff revealed Monday.

“We are drawing up a new operational plan while re-estimating overall conditions, including our capabilities in accordance with North Korea’s new advanced threats,” Gen. Jeong Kyeong-doo said, amid reports that previous war plans were pilfered by Pyongyang’s hackers, according to NK News.

The South Korean military is still unsure exactly what North Korea got its hands on, but among the stolen military documents are believed to be joint war plans and Seoul defense strategies. These plans were created several years ago, and North Korea’s capabilities have dramatically improved since then, as the regime now has an intercontinental ballistic missile and a staged thermonuclear bomb designed to level cities.

The new strategic plans are intended to secure victory for the allies in the sho…

Times:
At the end there was no final, suicidal shoot-out. A few dozen Islamic State fighters retreated, first to Raqqa’s hospital, then to the stadium. The jihadists, all foreigners, English, Russian and French-speakers among them, dragged their families behind them.

One little boy wore a suicide vest. They were shooting, but the advancing Kurds held their fire because of the women and children. “They looked like professionals,” Bahoz Ocalan, 33, a Kurdish fighter, said. “The way they were fighting and defending their positions, they looked like they were with a professional army.”

The situation was hopeless though, and the will of the militants wilted. Ammunition was low and a surrender was offered. In the end, 28 fighters trooped out of the stadium, Mr Ocalan said.

A new form of war had triumphed in Raqqa, with the victors deploying an overwhelming technical advantage to methodically destroy a city.

This was done in the name of saving lives. The London-based Syrian Observatory for H…

Fuel Fix:
The Texas Gulf Coast is leading the way as the nation ships out record levels of crude oil and petroleum products to foreign markets, including China, which is buying more American oil.

The United States is routinely exporting more than 1 million barrels of oil a day and shipping out more than 6 million barrels of total petroleum a day, according to the U.S. Energy Department. More than two-thirds of those petroleum exports are shipped through Gulf Coast ports.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, which wreaked havoc along the Texas Gulf Coast, the International Energy Agency deemed the region "too important to fail" as a global energy trading hub.

Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources said this week it's piping more than 1 million barrels of Bakken shale oil from North Dakota down to Texas ports to export o China.

RELATED: Oil inventories take big dip

No matter what the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting countries does to try to offset American oil growt…

Daily Wire:
In a blockbuster revelation, Victoria Toensing, the attorney for an FBI confidential witness, alleged that the Obama Department of Justice blocked her client from informing Congress that Russian executives told him how they facilitated the Obama administration's 2010 approval of the Uranium One deal and transferred millions of dollars in Russian nuclear funds to an entity assisting Bill Clinton’s foundation.

As The Hill reports, those machinations allegedly occurred while Hillary Clinton was serving as Secretary of State on the government panel that approved the deal, according to Toensing, a former Reagan Justice Department official and former chief counsel of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Bill Clinton accepted $500,000 in Russian speaking fees in 2010, as The New York Timesreported in 2015; Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million to the Clinton Foundation.

Toensing wants the Trump Justice Department or the FBI…

Daily Signal:
The Heritage Foundation added another round of cases this week to its ever-growing Voter Fraud Database.

Accounting for these new additions, the database now documents 1,088 proven instances of election fraud, including 949 cases that have resulted in criminal convictions, 48 that have ended in civil penalties, and 75 that have seen defendants enter diversion programs.

Americans should be alarmed, not only because Heritage has compiled so many examples of fraud—impacting nearly every state and elections for all levels of government—but because this figure is likely just the tip of the iceberg.

The Heritage database is not a comprehensive tally of election fraud. That figure would almost certainly be substantially larger.

Most states, after all, lack the robust procedures needed to detect fraud when it occurs. Even when fraud is detected, prosecutors often opt not to pursue cases because their priorities lie elsewhere.

Put simply, American elections are vulnerable and fraudst…

NY Times:
Mother of Slain Soldier Says Trump Was Disrespectful
President Trump said the soldier “knew what he signed up for” during a condolence call, the mother of Sgt. La David T. Johnson said.That backs the account of a Democratic lawmaker, who first described the exchange between the president and the man’s widow. Mr. Trump has denied saying those words. This poor woman is a victim of a Democrat Congresswoman with a visceral hatred of the President.  She deliberately twisted his words of condolence.  Nothing Trump said was disrespectful.  Everyone who volunteers to go in harm's way knows they may not come back alive and so does their family.  That is why they are so special to this country, and it is shameful to see Democrats manipulate a family for political advantage. 

I was an officer in the Marine Corps who was wounded in action as XO of a rifle company of Marines.  I guarantee you that every Marine in that company knew they were putting their life on the line and they volun…

Washington Post:
‘Totally fabricated’: Trump disputes lawmaker’s depiction of his exchange with soldier’s widow

Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) told reporters she overheard the president tell the wife of fallen Sgt. La David T. Johnson that “he must have known what he signed up for.” I suspect that Frederica Wilson was hostile to Trump before any conversation took place and that may have colored her description of the conversation.  But, for the sake of argument, if Trump did say it, it was an entirely true statement.

I was a Marine officer who was wounded in combat and I knew from the moment I volunteered that I would be going in harm's way and there would be people trying to kill me.  My whole family knew it.

That is what makes the service our military people provide so special and why we honor them with respect for the flag they fought for.  It is also what makes their families special.  The suggestion that it is insensitive to state the obvious comes from people who probably …

NY Times:
Federal Judge Blocks Newest Version of Trump Travel Ban
Hours before President Trump’s third attempt at a travel ban was to take effect, a judge in Hawaii issued a nationwide order halting its enforcement for now. The same judge had blocked earlier versions. This guy is an example of what is wrong with liberal judges.  They make up the law and ignore the Supreme Court presidents even when their ruling have been overturned.  Hawaii has little legitimate interest in these travel bans because it is not a destination for people in most of the countries subject to the bans.

The reasons opponents of the bans use this court is forum shopping.  They know this judge is hostile to the bans and that appeals have to go through the Ninth Circuit which has a history of activist liberal appellate judges.  This is an illegitimate attempt to thwart administration policies that are entirely constitutional.

There has been little consequence for those pushing false and misleading stories about the Trump campaign.  That needs to change.  I would like to see someone compile a list of all the false stories that can be referred to every time they trot out another one.

Mark Mix:
Big Labor admits in NAFTA demands forced unionism costs jobs, right-to-work laws attract them

...
As the Toronto Globe and Mail reported last month, the Trudeau government strongly believes that voluntary unionism gives the U.S. an "advantage" over Canada "in attracting jobs."

Normally, any powerful elected official who made such a claim would be denounced and ridiculed by union officials. But Trudeau wants to "fix" the U.S.'s right-to-work advantage by eliminating all state right-to-work laws rather than by prohibiting forced unionism in his own country. Consequently, Trudeau is now being hailed as a hero by union bosses such as Jerry Dias, the president of Unifor, a Canadian union conglomerate.

Union-label Canadian politicians' improbable vehicle for destroying the right to work is the ongoing renegotiation of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.

Dias encouraged the Trudeau government to demand that Congress and President Trump…

Roger Kimbel:
...
And yet on the ground, in the real world, Trump is methodically pushing ahead with the agenda he campaigned on. That includes:

Nominating judges and justices who can be counted on to interpret and enforce the law but do not endeavor to use the law to promote their social agenda;

Addressing the problem of illegal immigration and securing the borders of the United States;Developing America’s vast energy resources;Rolling back the regulatory state, especially the administrative overreach of agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency;Pursuing policies that put America, and American workers, first, not to the detriment of our relationships with our international partners but through a recognition that strength and sovereign independence make nations more reliable actors;Restoring the combat readiness and morale of the United States military;Simplifying the U.S. tax code, making it more competitive for U.S. businesses and more equitable for individuals;Getting a h…

CNBC:
The Trump campaign's digital director credits Facebook in helping to fuel the president's surprising win last November.

In an interview with CBS News' "60 Minutes" that aired Sunday, Brad Parscale said Facebook "was the method" for President Donald Trump's stunning rise to the White House. Parscale, who spearheaded the small Trump campaign team's digital and fundraising efforts, contended that the team took advantage of Facebook in a way Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign did not.

"Facebook now lets you get to places and places possibly that you would never go with TV ads," Parscale, web director at San Antonio-based marketing and design firm Giles Parscale, told CBS. "Now, I can find, you know, 15 people in the Florida Panhandle that I would never buy a TV commercial for. And, we took opportunities that I think the other side didn't."

He pointed to the Trump campaign having Facebook employees "embedded in…

Erick Erickson:
Oh how Democrats will make excuses for their own side. In Virginia, Ralph Northam is the Democrats’ nominee for governor. He has a black running mate named Justin Fairfax. Except, in Northern Virginia, you would never know that. Justin Fairfax has been memory holed in Northern Virginia. Ralph Northam deleted Fairfax from palm cards being passed out.

Why would they delete Fairfax in Northern Virginia? Well, one of the more powerful unions in Virginia favors a pipeline that Justin Fairfax opposes. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline has been pushed by the unions passing out the palm cards for Northam’s campaign. So the only statewide black Democratic candidate has to be deleted from the palm cards.
... It appears that he is really trying to hide his ties to the anti-energy left.  Opposition to pipelines is also anti-consumer driving up the cost of energy and its availability.  It also is detrimental to US national security.

erickson also points out that the media would be having a…

Washington Examiner:
House Oversight & Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy said Tuesday that President Obama's former United Nations ambassador has testified that not all of the "unmasking" requests made in her name were directed by her.

Samantha Power testified in Gowdy's committee last week, and Fox News reported weeks before her appearance that she was thought to have made as many as 260 requests to "unmask" Americans caught up in the surveillance of non-U.S. citizens.

But Tuesday evening, Gowdy told Fox News that Power told his committee that she was not the official requesting that unmasking in every case.

"I think if she were on your show, she would say those requests to unmask may have been attributed to her, but they greatly exceed by an exponential factor the requests she actually made," Gowdy said.

"So, that's her testimony, and she was pretty emphatic in it," he added. "The intelligence community has a…

Breitbart:
Small Plane Pulls ‘Boycott Jags & the NFL’ Banner Over EverBank Field Before Jaguars-Rams Game

Jacksonville has a strong Navy presence and needless to say many of the sailors and the city were upset about the disrespect for the national anthem and the flag.  I think the team management got the message, but whether the players will is not clear.

Noah Rothman:
In her latest reinvention, Hillary Clinton has emerged from the woods transformed into a self-styled Cassandra. She travels from sound stage to sound stage, reminding the public that her 2016 loss was not her fault and the Russians who undid her once-promising political career are coming again. This newest reboot is remarkable if only for its extraordinary immodesty. Few have done so much to undermine the fortunes of their ostensible allies, but Hillary Clinton is not done yet. Her vendetta has now led her to sabotage the so-called “Resistance’s” last, best hope for cutting the legs out from under the Trump administration: Robert Mueller’s probe into the Trump campaign’s links to Russia.

Nearly ten months into his presidency, Donald Trump has not stopped campaigning against Hillary Clinton—a fact the Clinton surely appreciates if only for the otherwise undeserved relevance it bestows upon her. When asked about the Mueller probe and the charge that his campaign “colluded”…

Washington Post:
How the Russians pretended to be Texans — and Texans believed them This is one Texan who found them too obnoxious to follow.  They looked more like re-tweet trolls than most Texans I know.  I got so disgusted with them that I just quit following Twitter during the campaign season, and when I went back after the election was over, they were gone.  They had zero effect on my decision to vote against Hillary Clinton.  If anything they made me dislike those who purported to be Trump backers and that may have been their intent to begin with.

There may have been some Texans who re-tweeted their stuff, but I am not aware of it. This looks like another attempt by the media to discredit Trump's victory.  Hillary Clinton would have lost Texas if no Russian did anything during the election.  She was wrong on the issues that matter and would have continued Obama's failed polices that harmed the economy and showed weakness in the face of the enemy.

Liberals are still living…

NY Times:
U.S.-Backed Forces Capture City Used as ISIS Headquarters
Losing the northern Syrian city of Raqqa is a blow to the Islamic State, which had long used it as the de facto capital of a self-declared caliphate. The remnants of ISIS leadership fled the area months ago.  They have now lost most of their prized real estate and are holding out against Syrian and Russian efforts to remove them from their last redoubt.  Hopefully the US back forces can help them gather intelligence on ISIS operatives in other parts of the world.  I suspect they will be scouring captured lap top computers for information, mixed in with the terrorists porn collections.

The Hill:
Before the Obama administration approved a controversial deal in 2010 giving Moscow control of a large swath of American uranium, the FBI had gathered substantial evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering designed to grow Vladimir Putin’s atomic energy business inside the United States, according to government documents and interviews.

Federal agents used a confidential U.S. witness working inside the Russian nuclear industry to gather extensive financial records, make secret recordings and intercept emails as early as 2009 that showed Moscow had compromised an American uranium trucking firm with bribes and kickbacks in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, FBI and court documents show.

They also obtained an eyewitness account — backed by documents — indicating Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed to benefit former President Bill Clinton’s charitable f…

Fuel Fix:
Texas electricity complaints last year hit their lowest level since the state deregulated its retail electricity market 16 years ago, demonstrating that complaints have fallen in sync with cheaper power prices, according to a new report released Tuesday.

The numbers of complaints reached new, post-deregulation lows each of the past three years, but the grievances still remain higher than before Texas ended regional utility monopolies. The broken-up parts of the old Houston Lighting & Power are now owned by CenterPoint Energy and NRG Energy, and there are hundreds of retail electricity competitors from which to choose.

In its yearly review each fall, the Texas Coalition for Affordable Power report said customers filed 4,175 complaints with the state Public Utilities Commission, which oversees the electric industry, down from 4,835 last year and a record 17,250 in 2003.

However, the highest number of complaints before deregulation was 2,062 in 2001, the last year before the …

Melanie Phillips:
...
“There are laws of physics; there are objective facts; there are moral and ethical truths. But there is almost nothing important where no further enquiry is needed. What the “science is settled” brigade want is to close down investigation by equating questioning with superstition. It’s an aspect of the wider weakening of the Western mind which poses such dangers to the world’s future.

“Physics suggests, all other things being equal, that an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide would indeed warm the planet. Even so, the atmosphere is an almost infinitely complex mechanism that’s far from fully understood.

“Palaeontology indicates that over millions of years there have been warmer periods and cooler periods that don’t correlate with carbon dioxide concentrations…

“The growing evidence that records have been adjusted, that the impact of urban heat islands has been downplayed, and that data sets have been slanted in order to fit the theory of dangerous anthropogeni…

Washington Free Beacon:
President Donald Trump mockingly begged Hillary Clinton to run against him again for the White House on Monday, saying, "Hillary, please run again!"

After Fox News reporter John Roberts noted Clinton's support for protesting NFL players who take a knee during the national anthem and Trump's own tweet about Clinton possibly running again, Trump cut over him.

"Oh, I hope Hillary runs. Is she going to run? I hope. Hillary, please run again!" Trump said in a mock pleading voice.

Trump went on to say Clinton was "wrong" about her stance on the NFL players during his wide-ranging press conference outside the White House.

Trump has consistently criticized players mimicking Colin Kaepernick's initial protest; on Monday, he suggested owners suspend players who do not stand for our "great national anthem."

Trump called Clinton's stance on the NFL protests an example of why she lost.

"I fully understand why she …

Scout Warrior:
Navy Launches Most High-Tech & Stealthy Attack Sub Ever

...
Many of these innovations, which have been underway and tested as prototypes for many years, are now operational as the USS South Dakota enters service; service technology developers have, in a general way, said the advances in undersea technologies built, integrated, tested and now operational on the South Dakota include quieting technologies for the engine room to make the submarine harder to detect, a new large vertical array and additional "quieting" coating materials for the hull, Navy officials explained.
... The US has a technological edge on adversaries when it comes to stealthy attack submarines and it appears to be furthering that edge.  It becomes more important as Russia and China build advanced submarines and North Korea also threatens to add "boomers" to its arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Erick Erickson:
Did you hear the one about how everyone around Trump thinks he is an idiot and they’re pondering what to do if he pushes the button to launch nukes?

Yeah, I heard that one too long before Gabe Sherman wrote about it. It was in the conversations on social media of leftists horrified by what has happened.

I don’t doubt that Sherman has a source. He seems to have very good sources. But I do wonder about that source as I wonder about many of the sources reporters are using today. There is a familiar pattern of telling the left exactly what they want to hear and already believe and then a retraction afterwards.

Take the story about the mass resignations of Obama era personnel at the State Department during the inaugural. It fit exactly what the left’s fever dreams demanded. Only then it was retracted.

Take the recent story about Barack Obama warning Mark Zuckerberg about fake news and Russia. Only the Russia part was not true and had to be retracted.

Take the CNN story that…

The Hill:
The research firm that produced the controversial dossier containing unverified allegations about President Trump and Russia will reportedly not comply with the House Intelligence Committee's subpoena to testify.

Fusion GPS plans to decline the request of the committee's chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), to testify before the panel by invoking constitutional privileges, according to a letter obtained by Business Insider on Monday.
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The attorney said the subpoenas would violate "the First Amendment rights" of the firm's three founders, while also saying it would thwart future candidates who are running for public office "from conducting confidential opposition research in an election."

"Should you compel any of our three clients to appear at the scheduled deposition, they will invoke their constitutional privileges not to testify," Levy said in the letter, according to the report. "Since that will be the case, we ask that…