Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) appeared on the 05/22/24 edition of MSNBC’s All In w/Chris Hayes show, where she dropped a bombshell by calling for a U.S. Senate probe into the affairs of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Rep AOC’s call for an investigation is of course related to recent news reports that say a flag known to be sympathetic to the January 6th insurrection, was spotted flying at Justice Alito’s residence.
Asked by host Chris Hayes what she thought about the Alito news reports, Rep AOC replied(2:22): “I don’t even think that we have to wait until we have a Democratic House majority, because we have a Democratic Senate majority. This is an alarm that I have been sounding for quite some time now. I think that what we’re seeing here, is an extraordinary breach of not just the trust and the stature of the Supreme Court, but we’re seeing a fundamental challenge to our democracy. [Justice] Samuel Alito has identified himself with the same people who raided the Capitol on January 6th, and is now going to be presiding over court cases that have deep implications over the participants of that rally.”
Rep AOC went on to add that Democrats cannot just keep on sitting on power after getting elected. They actually have to use the power that voters bestow upon them, to start addressing this runaway Supreme Court, and other burning voter concerns.
Rep AOC specifically told host Chris Hayes(3:13): “Democrats have a responsibility for defending our democracy, and in the Senate, we have gavels. There should be subpoenas going out, there should be active investigations that are happening, and I believe that when House Democrats take the majority, we are preparing and ensuring to support the broader effort to stand up our democracy…When Democrats have power, we have to use it. We cannot be in perpetual campaign mode. We need to be in governance mode, we need to be in accountability mode, with every lever that we have…”
As you know, Yours Truly has for a long time lamented weakness by congressional Dems. It was therefore quite refreshing to see Rep AOC calling it out too.
#BREAKING: NBC's Sahil Kapur: "#Feinstein has been out for about TWO MONTHS, that means ALL of President Biden's judicial nominees that lack Republican support CANNOT move, CANNOT get out of committee…" 🤦♀️
A bombshell segment on the 05/20/24 edition of The Rachel Maddow Show (TRMS) delved into the GOP’s long history of using political pressure to scuttle criminal investigations and prosecutions targeting them.
Maddow’s intent was to bring attention to the Republican political attacks currently being leveled against Fulton County DA Fani Willis, as she tries to hold former President Trump accountable for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential elections in Georgia.
It is widely assumed by many, that the political attacks currently playing out against DA Willis are somehow novel, or totally unheard of in America, when as Maddow clearly illustrates, there is a very long and sordid history of Republican politicians successfully employing similar tactics in the past.
The full Maddow segment (YouTube) is available here for context, but my posts on X(formerly Twitter) get to the crux of her argument, and that is, the Republican attacks on Fulton County DA Fani Willis are nothing knew. Republicans have been doing these political pressure campaigns against prosecutors dating as far back as the 1940s. Such pressure campaigns have largely evaded media scrutiny because as she puts it, they make the country and all the stakeholders look bad.
#Maddow: "The prosecutors and investigators personally were CRUSHED. They were smeared and discredited and destroyed, so they were in no position to tell the story either, and so the story, mostly, was not told. But we NEED TO KNOW that story and stories like that…" pic.twitter.com/UsZnixTvpw
As Maddow correctly points out, it’s incumbent upon any democracy-loving individual, to step up and defend DA Fani Willis, or any other similarly situated prosecutor, against such political pressure campaigns. They are antithetical to a free and democratic society.
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Bombshell testimony at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing (05/08/24) regarding Havana Syndrome, opened up new leads for investigators to follow up on. The unmistakable message from all the three witnesses however, all of whom have deep experience/ties to the U.S. intel community, was that U.S. intel agencies, and the CIA in particular, were not leveling with the American public as to the cause of these ailments. More importantly, that the continued coverup threatens our national security because it provides an incentive for Russia and our other adversaries to ramp up the attacks.
The expert witnesses at the 05/08/24 hearing were Retired Army Lt. Colonel Gregory Edgreen (led DIA’s probe into havana syndrome), leading National Security Attorney Mark Zaid and award-winning journalist currently working for The Insider, Christo Grozev
We are not going to focus here on the technical/scientific issues surrounding havana syndrome but rather, the bombshell coverup allegations made by all the three expert witnesses. Reasonable people will agree that this by itself–a national security compromising coverup–should be sufficient cause for President Biden to do some “housecleaning” at the top echelons of our intel agencies.
Lt. Col Edgreen began by putting out some important context, and that is, the U.S. government has a long history of slowly responding to emergent national security threats, adding that the lax havana syndrome response “is nothing new”.
Edgreen(10:16): “As a country, we have been here before. Most people think this all started in Havana in 2016, the wildly reported Havana Syndrome…but before Havana Syndrome, there was the Moscow Syndrome. Soviet intelligence bathed the U.S. Embassy in Moscow with microwave transmissions. The health effects were similar to what we see today. There are many examples of syndromes and ailments from Americans injured in the line of duty, that the government did not recognize for many years, which were eventually proven. Agent Orange used in Vietnam, the Gulf War Syndrome, Burn Pits during the forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In all of these examples, America took too long to acknowledge these injuries, and our service members languished without care. Havana Syndrome is no different. The gaslighting of AHI survivors continues to this day, as history repeats itself.”
Regarding documented reports of CIA officers being harassed overseas. Lt. Col Edgreen said(13:26): “There were reports of CIA incidents which included harassment, room intrusions, houses being defiled, tossed, pets poisoned, assaults on our personnel, and diplomats being drugged, doxxing, families harassed and attacked via directed energy, a red line to many because of the debilitating nature of these weapons…” Notice that these are the exact same complaints raised by targeted individuals in the United States, only to be summarily dismissed by the mainstream media as some form of “mass paranoia”.
Regarding the coverup, Lt Col Edgreen said(15:50): “I think the bar for AHI attribution was set so high because we do not, as a country and a government, want to face some very hard truths: Can we secure America? Are these massive counterintelligence failures? Can we protect our people on American soil? Is this an act of war?” Edgreen added, “It’s time to take action. This is a nonpartisan issue which has spanned several administrations. Let’s start to get this right with executive and legislative action…most importantly, pressure the government to fight back.”
Award-winning Journalist Christo Grozev testified that he had initially relied on information from U.S. government officials in his Havana Syndrome reporting, but was approached by an intel official in Europe, and advised to seek independent sources–Exhibit A as to a coverup, and a sad state of affairs indeed.
Attorney Mark Zaid testified(27:00): “A recent investigation by 60 Minutes, Der Spiegel and The Insider identified potential credible links between AHIs and alleged Russian operatives for military unit 29155. This included activities within the United States. What was the government’s response? CIA doubled down that there’s nothing to see, and that it knew of, and had already ruled out the same evidence. That is blatant falsehood that has infuriated many serving members of the intelligence community because so much of the evidence, to the contrary, is available to them in reports, briefings and cable traffic. Of course, this evidence is classified.”
Zaid added that regular law enforcement officials should be allowed to pursue investigations into Havana Syndrome rather than maintaining the status quo, where the CIA hogs such probes.
During the question and answer session, Christo Grozev said(29:59): “One of the most disturbing denials that I’ve seen in some of the publications leading up to our findings being published, was an attempt to create the impression that no technology would allow this impact on the human brain. That is provably untrue…There is sufficient evidence that it’s possible.” Grozev added that a Russian intelligence official told him that the Russians were doing this because America has been doing it to their intel officials as far back as the 80s. So this idea that AHIs are some mysterious occurrences requiring “new research” is highly questionable.
The biggest bombshell during the question and answer session came from Attorney Mark Zaid, when he was asked whether he believed the government was blocking some information. Zaid responded(37:44): “Information is absolutely being blocked from one agency to the other, particularly at the CIA. I mean, that’s who we’re going to point to the most, of information that the CIA has, that its sister intelligence agencies it hasn’t been shared with, and I can identify a number of specific classified documents in a proper setting.”
Bottom line folks, there’s no way to sugar coat this. Three esteemed expert witnesses testified in Congress on 05/08/24 that our intel agencies, and the CIA in particular, are not only engaged in a coverup when it comes to Havana Syndrome, but that the coverup threatens our national security because it provides an incentive for further such attacks. Heads must roll!!
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Former Porn Star Stormy Daniels recently appeared to testify at former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial currently playing out in Manhattan, New York. As was expected, a lot of juicy details came out of her testimony, some previously known by the public, and others totally new. Trump’s supporters have predictably sought to downplay, even totally disregard Daniels’ testimony, but as MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow recently said on her colleague Nicolle Wallace’s show, we cannot/must not forget the fact that the person at the heart of this sordid affair, is someone who could potentially end up as U.S. president again. Put another way, this is, as Maddow would put it, “a big freaking deal”.
Maddow said(5:55): “The very big picture here is, we are thinking seriously as a country, about putting somebody back in the White House, who mounted a violent effort to overthrow the government the last time that he was voted out, who says that parts of the constitution should be terminated, who says he wants to put the U.S. military in American cities, he wants to build camps for tens of millons of people. That’s what we’re thinking about doing. There’s like this huge yikes factor when it comes to him.”
Maddow adds(6:43): “On top of the scariness about what he’s offering us as a political figure, on top of his likely criminal liability in his multiple criminal trials, we also then just get this yuck factor stuff[with the porn star].”
Maddow then lists the yucky stuff
“She’s doing a porn company promotion at a golf tournament.”
“His infant son is four months old.”
“He has his bodyguard ask her if she’d like to have dinner, so she goes to his room. There is no dinner. He’s wearing satin pajamas. She says get dressed.”
“He tells her I’ll get you under my reality competition TV show and I will help you cheat at it. I’ll give you advance notice on the challenges on the show, and that will help you.”
“He tells her me and my wife don’t sleep in the same room.”
“He asks her when she was last tested for sexually transmitted diseases.”
“He tells her she reminds him of his daughter.”
“She goes to the bathroom, she comes out of the bathroom, and he’s stripped down to his underpants.”
“She tries to leave, and he steps between her and the door. She doesn’t want to do it. She says she doesn’t feel threatened but he says to her, I thought you were serious about what you wanted. If you ever want to get out of that trailer park…”
“They have sex. She’s not into it. He does not wear a condom. That is particularly concerning to her, and he should know that it is because she has just explained to him about her work in the adult film industry.”
“They meet several more times, he makes more sexual advances, they never have sex again, and ultimately it is only when he finally says no, I’m not putting you on my TV show, that she stops picking up his calls.”
Maddow then bottom lines it perfectly saying, “[President]Jimmy Carter almost lost in 1976 because he said he had committed lust in his heart, but this is who we are thinking about putting back in the White House right now, along with what he has threatened to do to the country, in part out of anger for the criminal liability that he has brought on himself by trying to cover up things like this, behavior like this, character like this.”
On 05/08/24 U S. President Joe Biden sat down with Outfront CNN host Erin Burnett in Milwaukee Wisconsin, for a wide ranging interview that included his reelection campaign, the economy, his thoughts about his Republican challenger Donald Trump, AI, the crisis in Gaza… The interview provided an excellent compare and contrast situation between president Biden and his Republican challenger Trump, thanks in large part to excellent questioning by host Erin Burnett.
As host Erin Burnett correctly pointed out at the start of the interview, President Biden was in the battleground state of Wisconsin to tout plans for the creation of a massive Microsoft AI (artificial intelligence) data center, that will reportedly bring some 2,000 union construction jobs to that region, plus provide AI training to some 100,000 people (more job opportunities). As Erin pointed out, Trump, while president, promised the creation of some 13,000 FoxConn jobs in the same area, a promise we now know, never panned out. Only about 1,000 jobs exist right now, as opposed to the promised 13,000.
Asked why Wisconsinites should believe his jobs promise after clearly being duped by his predecessor Trump, Biden’s response boiled down to this(1:42): “He [Trump] has never succeeded in creating jobs, and I’ve never failed. I’ve created over 15 million jobs since I have been president. 15 million in 3.75 years and secondly, Microsoft is a serious player, and they are very much engaged in making sure that they pick this area as the home base for their AI initiative in the nation. They are going to do it.” Biden then delivered a body shot to Trump (liver shot if you will), telling host Erin, “When has he [Trump] ever done anything that he said? I’m not being facetious…” You get the drift–Trump is all talk, or as they say in Texas, “All hat and no cattle”.
Next up on the interview was the economy, where host Erin Burnett pointed out that recent polls show his challenger Trump beating him when it comes to the question as to who voters think would handle the economy better. Specifically, Erin asked whether he was worried that time was running out for him to turn around that sentiment. President Biden responded in relevant part (7:31), “We’ve already turned around. Look at the Michigan survey. Over 65% of Americans think they are in good shape economically. They think the nation is not in good shape, but they are personally in good shape. The polling data has been wrong all along…” Yours Truly has warned about these mainstream media “polls” in a previous post.
The next major topic was the crisis in Gaza, which is having ripple effects way beyond the Middle East.
Host Erin Burnett(10:26): “I know that you have paused, Mr President, shipments of 2,000-pound U.S. bombs to Israel due to concern that they could be used in any offensive on Rafah. Have those bombs, those powerful 2000-pound bombs been used to kill civilians in Gaza?”
President Biden: “Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they [Israel] go after population centers. I made it clear that if they go into Rafah…I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem…” Simply put, the United States will continue supporting Israel in its efforts to counter terrorism, but it will no longer just rubber-stamp and supply weapons for anything Israel does to Gazans. The Biden administration will hold the Netanyahu government to some human rights standards, a commendable position indeed. As for the related protests popping out at U.S. institutions of higher learning, and the legitimate questions such protests have raised regarding the first amendment, President Biden said (13:06): “There’s a legitimate right to free speech and protest…They [students] have a right to do that. There’s not a legitimate right to use hate speech. There’s not a legitimate right to threaten Jewish students.There’s not a legitimate right to block people’s access to class. That’s against the law.”
Next up was a discussion about the real potential for a repeat of a January 6th style insurrection if Biden defeats Trump again. Specifically, Erin asked how seriously President Biden takes the remarks by Trump, that he will not accept the election results if he loses. President Biden responded(16:44): “Very seriously, just like I did with January 6th. The guy is not a democrat (small d)…You can’t only love your country when you win…He may not accept the outcome of an election? I promise you he won’t.”
The interview concluded with a question as to whether former President Obama, who did very well in his election and re-election, and who Biden served as vice president, was giving him any advice on how to run his re-election campaign. President Biden admitted that he was indded getting advice from Obama, adding that the advice was, “You’ve got to organize, block and tackle, people knocking on doors, putting up signs…”. One has to admit, that is as “Obama-esque” as it gets. Hopefully Team BidenHarris heeds his advice and get the results Obama always delivered–kicking Republicans in their you know what!!
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A bombshell segment on MSNBC’s Alex Wagner Tonight show (04/30/24) delved into a recent interview Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had with Time Magazine. As host Alex Wagner correctly pointed out, the biggest bombshell from the Time interview was Trump’s admission that if elected president again, he would be open to a draconian immigration policy that mirrors former President Eisenhower’s infamous “Operation Wetback.”
Time Magazine’s Eric Cortellessa(2:35): “You’ve said you’re gonna do this massive deportation operation. I want to know specifically how you plan to do that.”
Trump: “So, if you look back to the 1950s, [President] Dwight Eisenhower was very big on illegal immigration not coming to our country. And he did a massive deportation of people.”
Any reasonable person presented with Trump’s response would conclude, as host Alex Wagner did, that if elected president again, Trump intends to craft a draconian immigration policy that mirrors Eisenhower’s “Operation Wetback”.
It will be interesting to see how Hispanics, who Trump has successfully peeled off from the “reliable Democrats” tent, will react to this bombshell revelation. As host Wagner correctly pointed out, a lot of U.S. citizens of Mexican descent also got swept up in Eisenhower’s militarized “Operation Wetback” raids, and got deported illegally to Mexico.
Will a potential “Operation Wetback 2.0” be a game-changer with MAGA Hispanics in 2024, making them pull the lever for Biden? Hmm, as Trump famously says, “We’ll see what happens.”
I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the fact that in the interview, Trump also appeared eager to expand law enforcement’s “qualified immunity” to a point where it is practically “absolute immunity”. This would dramatically roll back progress that has been made–and there has been progress–in the fight against police brutality, especially as it pertains to Black and Brown communities. Will this be a game-changer for the so-called BlacksForTrump? Hmm, we shall see.
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