The “Red Wave” Mass Hysteria Was A Sad Commentary On The Media-Polling Business Nexus

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The 2022 midterm election will not only go down in history as one which produced the most unlikely outcome for the party in power, but also, one where the pollsters got it totally wrong. As a matter of fact, the pollsters got it so wrong, that the public is convinced, they were deliberately misled with the “red wave/tsunami” predictions. It’s therefore only fair that the mainstream media journalists who got sucked into the red wave mass hysteria be named and shamed, and their actions memorialized for future reference–sort of a handy list, if you will.

MSNBC did an interesting, and quite frankly, hilarious mashup of the “red wave” mass hysteria that appeared to suck up even some well respected journalists from reputable networks. This shows how these faulty/fake polls can affect mainstream media coverage of elections, which can then have negative consequences, up to and including depressing voter turnout. This is therefore an issue that needs to be addressed head on as we approach the 2024 general elections.

Politicians are known to exaggerate, so they are not the subject of this naming and shaming. Our interest here is only on journalists, who ought to know better.

Fox News’ Steve Doocey(0:26): “You know, your predictions of a red wave are accurate.”

Unidentified Fox News Reporter(0:25):”…a red wave is coming.”

Fox News star Anchor Laura Ingraham(0:27): “Red Wave Rising.” This is the title of a whole segment Ingraham dedicated on the “red wave” on 10/18/22. Not a good look, Laura, not a good look.

Unidentified Reporter on NewsMax(0:34): “Sleepy Joe just guaranteed a red wave in Pennsylvania.”

Fox News’ Dana Perino(0:44): “Democrats are bracing for the worst case scenario, a red Tsunami.”

Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld(0:48): “We are officially on a red Tsunami watch.” He was apparently referring to an Axios piece by Josh Kraushaar titled “RED TSUNAMI WATCH.” Not a good look Josh, not a good look.

Fox News’ Clay Travis(0:51): “Red Tsunami grows…that means red Tsunami.”

Fox News’ Stephen Miller(0:59): “Poverty, joblessness, critical race theory, crazy gender ideology in our schools, we are going to see a red Tsunami.”

Unidentified host of Fox News’ The Five show(1:19): “Up next, Elon Musk ready to ride the big red wave.”

Fox News’ Steve Doocey(1:21): “Elon Musk tweeted massive red wave.” For the record, Musk did indeed tweet about a red wave. Other Fox News personalities who used this Elon Musk tweet to proclaim a “red wave” were Tucker Carlson(biggest star on Fox), Maria Bartiromo, among others. Not a good look, Elon, not a good look.

Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro(1:26): “You’re about to see a red wave, that makes ‘Day After Tomorrow’ [the popular movie] look like nothing.”

Leading Podcaster Joe Rogan(1:30): “That’s going to be responsible for the red wave. I think the red wave that’s coming is going to be like the elevator doors opening up in ‘The Shining'[popular 80’s movie]”

Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro(1:38): “Rogan said that the red wave is going to look like the elevator doors opening, and the blood pouring out of the elevator in ‘The Shining’, that is correct, except it’s not going to be an elevator, it’s going to look more like ‘Deep Impact ‘[popular movie], the tsunami at the end, but colored red.” Good Lord have mercy!!

Fox News Contributor Dan Bongino(1:54): “Remember that Teo Leone ‘Deep Impact’ disaster movie? That’s the red wave tsunami that will come ashore.”

Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro(2:00): “It’s going to be a brutal week for the Democrats beginning on Tuesday.”

Fox News’ Clay Travis(2:05): “Frankly, I’ve already DVR-ed CNN and MSNBC for election night, not because I’m going to watch, but just because I want to enjoy the tears post-red tsumami.” Hope you’re enjoying those DVRs, Clay.

Fox News’ Jesse Watters(0:13): “It’s going to be a wave election, and you [Democrats] gonna lose the Senate, I’ll bet you $1,000 now.”

Fox News’ Lisa Boothe(0:20): “Democrats are going to be crushed on November 8th because a red wave is coming.”

Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld(0:25): “Betting that Joy will learn two new words on Tuesday, red wave.”

Unidentified Fox Business host(0:29): “How big could that looming red wave get?”

Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo(0:31): “We begin this Sunday morning with expectations of a red wave this Tuesday.”

Fox News Contributor Marc Thiessen(0:37): “We’ve been hearing, ‘is it going to be a red wave?’, ‘is it going to be a red tsunami?’, I think it’s going to be a red hurricane.”

Fox News’ Pete Hegseth(0:51): “When the red wave comes, and it is coming, Joe Biden’s political utility is over.”

Fox News’ John Roberts(0:56): “Are we in for a red wind here, or a red wave?”

Fox News’ Martha MacCallum(0:59): “Red wave or red tsunami, what are you feeling today?”

Fox News’ Jesse Watters(1:02): “And don’t listen to the lies they are spewing, that this could take days…to know who won. This is total bs. A wave like this, we should know that night, basically, who won the Senate and the House, and even if it happens Wednesday into Thursday, it’s gravy.”

Unidentified Fox News Reporter reporting on an actual tropical storm approaching Florida(1:17): “Right out the back door, I’ve got a tropical storm brewing right now. I think they’re saying it could be a category one by the end of the day. However, let me tell you what is the storm, that red wave…”  Oh boy!!

There’s also this clip from MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber which shows even journalists from CNN sucked into the “red wave” mass hysteria. Not a good look, CNN, not a good look.

CNN & ABC’s Alyssa Farah Griffin(7:29): “A red wave is coming. Republicans are going to win the midterms…”

New York Post’s Karol Markowicz(7:32): “Forget red wave, I’m rooting for a red tsunami. “

CNN’s Jake Tapper(7:35): “Politicos with whom I spoke today all agree, as of now, a modest red wave at the very least, seems to be building.”

Fox News’ Dana Perino(7:49): “Signs of a red wave are kind of getting bigger than ever, but not everybody in the media wants to hear that.” Dana is a former White House Press Secretary.

Fox News’ Jesse Watters(7:55): “It wasn’t looking like a red wave earlier in August, and now it looks like a tsunami.”

As MSNBC host Ari Melber aptly summarized it (8:00): “The point there is not that multiple news channels over there echo Fox and sound similar, as they make those predictions that have been proven false…It’s bigger than the media or polls. This is a larger effort to hack your mind, and the discourse, and shape the ultimate turnout for the results in our democracy itself…It is legal to be sure, but it’s also misleading with real consequences…If you really have a huge bankable lead, you don’t need to hype it. You just turn your voters out and win, but so many Republican leaders know their slate of MAGA candidates lately, is very weak…So Republicans concluded they needed to inflate their perceived support in the hopes that that might then create more support than they have actually have…”

Bottom line folks, this stuff is serious. New York Governor Kathy Hochul also addressed this fake poll issue, which featured prominently in her race. What Gov Hochul said about this serious issue lines up with the assessment by MSNBC’s Ari Melber.

Bottom line folks, voters have voters have a right to know which polling firms are credible, and those with a history of manipulating polls to aid campaigns. This will prevent reputable news channels from getting sucked into these “wave” hoaxes, as they report on elections.

For the record, Yours Truly never fell for the “red wave/tsunami” mass hysteria for one minute.

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Bombshell Intercept Report Exposes DHS’ Mission Creep From Fighting Terrorism To Disinfo

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A very interesting segment on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson show(10/31/22) featured a bombshell Pulitzer-worthy report by The Intercept’s Lee Fang, which revealed that the Department of Homeland Security(DHS), has for five years now, been collaborating with Twitter, Facebook, and other social media companies, in determining whose speech needs to be suppressed. This of course flies in the face of the “private company” defense usually used to justify questionable speech infringement practices by the social media giants.

More importantly, Lee Fang’s bombshell also touched on the apparent “mission creep”(his words) of DHS, where over the last five years, the powerful agency had unilaterally(without congressional approval) shifted from its stated focus of combating terrorism and terrorist groups like Al-Qaida, to combating disinformation online.

Asked whether the Biden administration was working with tech companies to censor people, Lee Fang responded (1:10): “Yeah, that’s right Tucker. We looked at really hundreds of documents that paint a vivid picture of the FBI, the DHS, closely collaborating with top social media platforms, Twitter and Facebook, to censor various forms of content under the banner of fighting disinformation, and the story shows a couple of things, one, it shows what you just mentioned, a very cozy relationship between the government and these tech giants. There’s those monthly meetings that you just mentioned, but also, just very cozy emails and texts, not a very adversarial relationship. We looked at one text where a Microsoft executive texts Jen Easterly, the top disinfo director at DHS, appointed by[President]Biden, basically saying that the private sector needs to get more comfortable with the government closely collaborating on reports, talking about the expanded role for DHS in censoring a really broad collection of topic areas of policy and political topics.”

Lee Fang then touched on what I believe is by far, the biggest bombshell from his piece, and that is, the “mission creep” aspect. Fang said(2:11): “Just broadly speaking, the story also just looks at the mission creep of DHS. This is an agency that was founded in the aftermath of 9/11 to combat foreign terror threats of Al-Qaeda and the like, but over the last five years, it’s kind of evolved in its mission, its move towards fighting disinfo, and their justification is disinfo radicalizes the homeland, it can lead to disruptions in public health, or political violence…”

Even given DHS’ understandable explanation for going after online disinformation, no reasonable person can ever conclude that Congress would have approved the same powerful tools/tactics used to counter terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda, to be applied against U.S. residents for basically saying the “wrong things” on social media. Sadly however, this is exactly where we find ourselves today, with DHS’ speech police designating people they deem “misinformers” as terrorists, and then mercilessly destroying their lives and livelihoods using among other things, the military. This is shameful conduct which most Americans have always associated with third world dictatorships.

It is because of DHS’ mission creep, that Yours Truly believes Lee Fang’s bombshell piece deserves a Pulitzer. Simply put, DHS’ mission creep, which at the very least should have been run through Congress for approval prior to enforcement, has not only seriously impacted the lives and livelihoods of many U.S. residents who have nothing to do with terrorism, but has also robbed them of their rights under the first amendment.

Congress needs to immediately step in to not only address DHS’ mission creep, but also to hold the officials involved accountable, preferably, via referral for criminal prosecution given the way their unconstitutional actions upend innocent people’s lives

It’s also important to point out here what history has taught us, and that is, not everything the government labels “misinformation” is necessarily so. Often times, there are topics the government simply doesn’t want out there, being discussed in public. One recent classic example is directed energy weapons. For decades, government agents, and their surrogates in the mainstream media, went out of their way to label people who expressed concerns about these weapons as delusional conspiracy theorists. In 2022 however, we not only have the same directed energy weapons being openly discussed by the same mainstream media channels who denied their existence, but also, the government considers the threat so serious, that Congress swiftly enacted a handsome compensation scheme for victims of such attacks.

Bottom line folks, as host Tucker Carlson correctly stated, this bombshell piece by The Intercept is not only a great story, it’s also a huge public service for which Lee Fang deserves a lot of praise and reward. The only question now is whether Congress will do its job, and rein in Mission Creep DHS, and its unconstitutional speech police.

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Jared Kushner Discusses His New Book “Breaking History” On Fox News’ Hannity Show

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Former President Trump’s Senior Adviser and Son-in-Law Jared Kushner, appeared on Fox News’ Hannity show (08/22/22) to discuss his new book, “Breaking History, A White House Memoir”. The basic premise of Kushner’s book is that his Father-in-Law accomplished quite a lot in four years, and would have done much more, had he not been subjected to “false investigations”.

Kushner specifically told host Hannity (1:50): “You were speaking earlier about all of the different accomplishments he was able to have economically. Those weren’t an accident. It’s been awful to watch the inflation that’s happened, the rising gas prices, but all that happened under the guise of all the investigations and attacks and I write extensively in the book. Every one who has read it says that it’s a very fast-paced read and that’s because I weave together all of the efforts to try to push forward on the different policies, while simultaneously dealing with all these false investigations that we had to fend off because even though they were based on crazy accusations from the beginning, whether it was the Russia hoax, or trying to get Trump, or impeach him for trying to  investigate corruption in Ukraine, they were serious accusations and we had to take it.”

Kushner also said his book lays out how former President Trump negotiated a deal between Russia and Saudi Arabia in order to save our oil and gas industry. He appeared to blame the current problem we have with high gas prices, on the fact that President Biden doesn’t get along with world leaders like his Father-in-Law did.

He specifically told host Hannity(2:47): “President Trump got along with people in the world. He got along with Vladimir Putin, he got along with President Xi. That didn’t mean he didn’t have tough discussions with them, but I really go through the way that he dealt with them, which is how he kept the world peaceful. All the critics who were lying about the Trump administration for four years, they were saying that if Trump was elected, he would lead to world war three, but we had six peace deals during Trump’s time, and the world was a very very safe place. We go through all that extensively in the book.”

Kushner also talked about his efforts to broker a peace deal in the Middle East. He said(4:10): “One of the efforts that I worked on, that I detail in the book, was the efforts in the Middle East to try to bring peace between Israel and the Arab countries, and that’s something that the conventional thinking was that it would never happen, but President Trump was an outsider. He brought a businessman’s approach to Washington. Businessmen are results-driven, unlike politicians who generally want to just process…I write about how an outsider without a lot of political experience, and a team, came in and were able to achieve results that the political career people were not able to achieve, and so the book really goes through that in detail.”

The interview then came to the million dollar question which every viewer had probably tuned in for, and that is, whether former President Trump would run again in 2024. I got the sense from Hannity’s questioning, that he was almost dissuading Trump from running again because of the toll his presidency has had on his family, but I’ll let you be the judge on that.

Hannity(4:54): “When you factor in all that your family went through, we’re talking about Don Jr, and Eric, and Lara, and Ivanka…when you factor all of that in, do you want him to? Would you want to go through that again?”

Kushner responded in relevant part(5:31): “I think that the way we all viewed it, is that the cost of service, and of the attacks, was very small relative to the impact that President Trump and his administration were able to make for so many people and their families…”

I think it’s safe to say that any reasonable person presented with Kushner’s “small cost” response to Hannity’s question, would conclude that he believes former President Trump will indeed run again in 2024.

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Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Proposed Bill Seeks To Outlaw Gender-Affirming Care

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Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene(R-GA) appeared on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Show (08/18/22) to discuss a new bill she is sponsoring, called Protect Children’s Innocence Act, which seeks to among other things, outlaw gender-affirming care. Rep Greene labeled such procedures “child abuse”.

Rep Greene told host Tucker Carlson (0:35):“When it comes to gender affirming care, which is really child abuse…this practice should never happen, it’s so disgusting and appalling, and it’s an embarrassment to our country.”

She went on to say (0:50): “I’m one of those that believes the Republican Party is only…worth deserving of the people’s vote if we are willing to stand up and stop horrific things like child abuse, and like so-called gender affirming care, which is really genital mutilation, it’s puberty blockers that cause chemical castration, teenage girls actually having their breasts chopped off, teenage boys being castrated. This needs to be illegal, and I’m introducing a bill called ‘Protect Children’s Innocence Act’, and it would create a law that would cause it to be a Class C felony for any person involved in so-called gender affirming care, that means genital mutilation surgery, that means hormones, that means puberty blockers, anything involving any youth under the age of 18, because these kids are too young to make these awful decisions that will affect them and will be permanent for the rest of their lives.”

Asked why her fellow House Republicans are not overwhelmingly supporting her bill, Rep Greene said(1:59): “You know, I should have every single Republican co-sponsor but unfortunately, I don’t yet, I only have five co-sponsors. I’m talking to all of my colleagues and urging them because…this is a referendum on the Republican Party. When we take back the majority if the American people elect us…we have a lot of work to do. Not only do we need to impeach [AG] Merrick Garland, we need to clean out the corrupt FBI, we need to hold the Democrats accountable and defund all of their climate garbage, 87,000 IRS army, but there is one thing that we have got to do, and we are not even a party worth deserving of the American people’s votes if we cannot protect children from this horrific child abuse, and create this to be a felony because this practice has to end…”

It will be interesting to see how Rep Greene’s colleagues in the House react to her bill, which has a potential of generating backlash among LGBTQ-friendly suburban voters, a few weeks away from the midterm elections.

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Trump’s Attorney Christina Bobb Addresses Bombshell News Of Nuclear Documents At Maralago

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Former President Trump’s Attorney Christina Bobb appeared on Fox News’ Ingraham Angle (08/11/22) to address the bombshell revelation by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, that among the documents sought by the FBI at Trump’s Maralago residence, were classified documents related to our nuclear capabilities, which of course have serious national security implications.

Asked to confirm whether there were classified nuclear documents at Maralago, Christina Bobb said she didn’t think so, but wasn’t sure because she had not spoken to former President Trump about the issue–a strange answer indeed.

Host Ingraham(1:18): “Okay Christina, just so I’m clear about this, I want to be really clear. Is it your understanding that there were not documents related to our nuclear capabilities, or nuclear issues that had national security implications in the president’s possession when the agents showed up at Maralago?”

Christina Bobb:“That’s correct, I don’t believe they were…”

Ingraham: “Well, do you know for a fact? Do you know for a fact they weren’t? Have you spoken to the president about it?”

Bobb: “I have not specifically spoken to the president about what nuclear materials may or may not have been in there. I do not believe there were any in there. The legal team had done a very thorough search, and had turned over…everything that we found, that we had, so it’s my understanding on very good belief, based on a thorough investigation, that there was nothing there.”

Any reasonable person presented with Attorney Christina Bobb’s remarks on the Ingraham Angle show, would find it very strange that she went on the show to discuss the bombshell news of possible nuclear documents at Maralago without first discussing the matter with her client(Trump). That just doesn’t add up, and to her credit, host Laura Ingraham’s tone suggested that she wasn’t buying it either.

The interview then moved on to the other big topic as to whether the feds provided Trump’s attorneys with a copy of the items taken from Maralago, the so-called “inventory list”. This is important because another Trump attorney, Lindsey Halligan, had stated on Fox News’ Hannity show the day before, that the feds never provided the inventory list. Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara, had also said on various TV shows that Trump’s attorneys told her, they were not shown the warrant during the FBI raid.

Asked about her on-scene interaction with the feds, Christina Bobb responded(8:17): “Well, initially, it started out a little heated. I was upset and they were not excited to see me, so we had a little bit of an incident initially, just me wanting access to the warrant. They didn’t believe they needed to even show me the warrant so we fought about that, not for very long, maybe a minute, not more than two, and I did have an opportunity to see it. They didn’t give it to me…”

So she clearly admits that she was shown the warrant(read it), something the other lawyer and Lara Trump say never happened. Also, crucially, the fact that she was shown the warrant means that she knows exactly what criminal statute is at play here.

Then this interesting exchange took place. Host Ingraham(9:13): “Did they give you the inventory list before they left, or while they were doing the raid that they don’t want to call a raid?”

Christina Bobb:“Yes…we do have the inventory list as you can expect, it’s not particularly helpful so, yes, I kind of have the inventory list, they gave me the official receipt…”

So Christina Bobb clearly admits that she was shown the warrant, which means she knows exactly what the applicable criminal statutes are, plus she admits to having a copy of the inventory list, something Lara Trump and the other attorney(Lindsey Halligan) maintain they were not given. Folks, a total mess.

Bottom line folks, there’s a lot of confusion coming from Team Trump regarding the Maralago raid. First they said they were not shown the warrant, which apparently they were, then they said they were not given the inventory list, which apparently they were, and now they are denying that the search had anything to do with nuclear-related documents, something that must have been very clear to Attorney Christina Bobb from the warrant she was shown. Is this a case of innocent incompetence, or willful lying to the public? Hmm, as Trump famously used to say, “We’ll see what happens.”

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Trump’s Attorney Says FBI Never Provided Copy Of Search Warrant For Maralago Raid

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Former President Trump’s Attorney, Lindsey Halligan, appeared on Fox News’ Hannity show (08/10/22) to discuss the recent FBI raid of his Maralago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. Halligan, who called the FBI raid “an appalling display of abuse of power”, further accused the feds of using a sealed warrant for the express purpose of concealing what it is they were taking from Maralago, or the specific criminal statute(s) Trump is suspected to have violated.

Hannity (video at 0:56): “Did you ever get a chance to read the warrant. Did you ever get a copy of it, did you ever get any other information, do you know, are you aware of what they took out of Maralago?”

Lindsey Halligan: “That’s the thing, they had unfettered access to the property. They looked at God knows what in there, and did God knows what in there. We have no idea. What the FBI did was an appalling display of abuse of power. All documents requested were previously handed over. President Trump and his team painstakingly reviewed every single document at Maralago, and gave the government what they requested. If they needed any other documents they could have just asked. The warrant was secured under seal, so they tried to get away with concealing this overreach by obtaining a warrant under seal. Nobody knew about it, they knew that President Trump was in Bedminster, hasn’t been at Maralago for some time. They thought they could sneak in, snoop around without attorneys present in case they walked out with nothing so that nobody would know they snooped to this degree, and it’s unprecedented in United States history. The government seems to be out of control. It’s plagued with manipulation, corruption, greed, deceit and fraud.”

There’s no other way to interpret Attorney Halligan’s remarks on Hannity other than, (I’ll be happy to stand corrected of course) because the feds got the warrant under seal, neither Trump nor his attorneys, know what documents were taken from Maralago, or what criminal statute formed the basis for the search warrant. As a matter of fact, Halligan accuses the feds of seeking a sealed warrant for the express purpose of keeping Trump and his attorneys in the dark as to what was being taken from Maralago, or the criminal statute he is alleged to have violated, conduct she describes as “an appalling display of abuse of power.”

Bottom line folks, the FBI’s raid on Maralago has created a firestorm among conservatives, who have always characterized former President Trump as a victim of the “deep state”— a supposed bipartisan cabal of establishment elites (both elected and unelected) who are terrified he is out to shake up the status quo in Washington, and dislodge them from their entrenched positions of power.

The counter narrative proffered by liberals for the FBI raid, has been that Trump and his attorneys know exactly what was taken from Maralago because he had to have been given a copy of exactly what the feds took from his residence–the so-called “inventory list”.

Where, as here, Trump’s attorney claims she has no idea what was removed from his residence, or the criminal statute he is suspected of having violated, reasonable people will agree that given the fact that the subject of the raid is the immediate former President of the United States, some kind of explanation of the raid by the Department of Justice, is in order.

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Senator Mitch McConnell Discusses Inflation Reduction Bill On Fox News’ Special Report Show

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appeared on Fox News Special Report w/Bret Baier (08/03/22) to discuss the Inflation Reduction Act currently being negotiated in the U.S. Senate. Senator McConnell said he found the way Democrats characterized the bill “laughable”, because in his opinion, the bill actually increases inflation. Senate Democrats appear poised to approve the measure on a straight party vote.

Senator McConnell said this about the Inflation Reduction Act (0:27): “First, I think all of us were somewhat shocked by Senator Manchin’s reversal of positions he’d taken as recently as last week, against raising taxes. This raises taxes, it increases the burden of taxation on lower income people significantly. Calling it inflation reduction bill is rather laughable. Independent analysis indicates it actually increases inflation in the next two years, and may have an impact over ten years, and their policies from last year have already produced 40-year high inflation, so it’s a terrible package. It appears as if they are all in line, but one, it will be up to Senator Sinema from Arizona, who’s quite independent, to determine what the final contours of the bill are.”

Asked about the charge by irate Republicans, that he was “played” by Democrats regarding the reconciliation bill, McConnell responded (1:28): “Reconciliation is something done by one party only. There’s nothing we could have done to prevent the Democrats from doing a bill that only they will vote for, so it’s not a question of being played here, what’s the story line here is that Senator Manchin had agreed to something that he had said publicly and privately over the last two weeks that he would never agree to. We’re not involved in the reconciliation bill. There won’t be a single Republican vote for it. There’s nothing we could do to deter it, other than to criticize it publicly, and that’s what we’re doing right here.”

Host Bret Baier then cornered Senator McConnell with a very interesting question as to why he has repeatedly cited renowned economists Larry Summers and Jason Furman on ways to tackle the current record inflation, yet now he refuses to follow their advice that the Inflation Reduction Act will help reduce inflation? Senator McConnell accused the economists of trying to appease President Biden. He specifically said (2:41):“The quotes they used me in, were Summers’ observations about what they [Biden Administration] did last year. Two trillion dollars they dumped on the economy, that both Furman and Summers predicted would produce rampant inflation, and it did. What they’ve done this year is kind of fall in line, and I assume they wanted to get back on the White House Christmas card list, but people who are not active Democrats, independent observers have said it has no impact on inflation, at all, over the long term, and actually increases it slightly in the short term. So Furman and Summers were certainly helpful as active Democrats in describing last year’s bill, but this year they’re sort of falling in line because I think they want to get back in the good grace of the White House.”

Asked about criticism from House Republicans, some of whom don’t want him as Senate Majority Leader any more, over what they perceive as him being “played” repeatedly by Democrats, and making President Biden look good, McConnell responded(3:55): “Well, I guess they’ve forgotten the Supreme Court that I’ve helped usher into–three new Supreme Court justices, the 2017 tax bill…I think just because you have closely divided government doesn’t mean you do nothing. The past two administrations tried to achieve bipartisan infrastructure, didn’t get it done, we needed to rescue the post office. Just because it’s a Democrat in the White House, I don’t think means Republicans should do nothing that’s good for the country. In the meantime, on the big issues, we are totally opposed to what this administration is trying to do, but on things like school safety, mental health, infrastructure, postal reform, why would we not want to make progress for the country no matter who’s in the White House?”

Asked about reservation by some Republicans, that expanding NATO to include Sweden and Finland, increases the likelihood of sending our troops into combat in Europe, Sen McConnell responded (5:08): “The NATO alliance is the most successful military alliance in world history. The way to prevent Americans from having to actively get involved in combat is to prevent it in the first place, and that’s what NATO is about. It won the cold war without firing a single shot. Putin has succeeded not only in actually expanding NATO and making it even more effective as a deterrent. Remember Reagan said peace through strength, and that’s what NATO is all about, and that’s why Finland and Sweden add a lot to NATO.”

Asked to pick between the Russia-Ukraine war, and the situation at our southern border, which one was a bigger national security threat to the United States, McConnell said both were threats that needed to be dealt with seriously–probably not the answer Fox News viewers obsessed with the southern border, wanted to hear.

Importantly, when asked about his earlier prediction that there would be a “red wave” in this year’s midterm elections, McConnell appears to have had a change of mind (probably due to Kansas), saying now that it will be a “very tight” election. McConnell specifically said (7:02): “I think it’s going to be very tight, we have a 50-50 Senate now, we have a 50-50 nation, and I think when the Senate race smoke clears, we are likely to have a very, very close Senate still, with either up slightly, or the Democrats up slightly”–a far cry from the “red wave” talk we heard earlier in the year from McConnell and his fellow Republicans.

Asked about the Kansas abortion vote heard around the world, McConnell responded (7:35): “I think what the Supreme Court has done is said people who are elected by the American people are going to deal with this highly sensitive issue, and it will be playing out all year, and I don’t think we really know until the end of the year, what kind of an impact putting this issue back into the hands of those of us who are elected, as opposed to nine unelected judges, will have on the country. We’re in the process of finding that out…It tells us that there are a lot of people interested in the issue in Kansas, there’s no question about that.”

Asked whether he would survive his leadership role if “Trumpified” candidates(J.D. Vance, Oz, Blake Masters, Ted Budd etc) win this November, Sen McConnell responded (8:37): “I’ve been elected eight times without opposition. I don’t own this job, and there’s always an election every two years for leader. If anybody wants to challenge me, have at it.” McConnell added that he will still hang on as Minority Leader if Republicans don’t take over the Senate this Fall.

Asked whether, given his lengthy career in the U.S. Senate, there is a single issue the modern Republican Party gets right, which the old Republican Party got wrong, McConnell was all over the place. He didn’t give an answer that specifically answered the question.

Bottom line folks, the key takeaway from Senator McConnell’s interview on Fox News is that the “red wave” fantasy is gone. Republicans now acknowledge that even with the challenging economic times, and President Biden’s low approval numbers, the 2022 midterm elections will be very competitive. Reasonable politicos will agree that given historical trends re midterms, the fact that Dems are even still in the ball game, tells you all you need to know about the state of affairs at Trump’s GOP. 

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Trump Accused Of “Sports Washing” Saudi Arabia’s Complicity In 9/11 Attacks

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Terry Strada, the National Chair of 9/11 Families United On MSNBC’s Alex Witt Reports(07/30/22)

MSNBC’s Liz McLaughlin reported on Alex Witt Reports show(07/30/22) that outraged families of the victims of the September 11th attacks(2001) are protesting the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Tournament currently being held at former President Trump’s Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey. The protesters are essentially accusing former President Trump and the participating golfers, of “sports washing” Saudi Arabia’s role in the horrific 9/11 attacks, and their atrocious human rights record generally.

Asked by host Alex Witt, how the families were responding to the tournament, Liz McLaughlin responded (video at 0:31):“The families say they are disgusted, disappointed, that it feels like a gut punch after losing a loved one in that horrible act, to see a former President of the United States, who by the way, has the presidential seal emblazoned on golf carts, embroidered in golf towels at this tournament, which is less than 50 miles from ground zero, to have him take what they call blood money. LIV is bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, investing an estimated 2 billion in LIV Golf so far, and this new pro golf circuit is set to try to dethrone the PGA, but it has come with a lot of controversy, and Trump is set to host another one of these, later in the year.”

Trump has defended his actions saying, “nobody has gotten to the bottom of 9/11 unfortunately, and they should have”–essentially arguing that it’s unfair/inaccurate to place the 9/11 blame on Saudi Arabia. He also added that all the proceeds from the golf tournament will be going to charity, so he was not profiting from it.

As Liz McLaughlin correctly pointed out however, even though the U.S. government has never singled out Saudi Arabia as the masterminds of the 9/11 attacks, it is a fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were from the Kingdom, and the mastermind of the attacks, Osama bin Laden, was also born there. It has also been established that a lot of the funding for bin Laden’s Al Qaeda terrorist network, came from Saudi nationals. So any reasonable person would suspect that the Saudis were behind the 9/11 attacks. And even if one gives Saudi Arabia a pass over 9/11, it is impossible to ignore the Kingdom’s atrocious human rights record, which includes the brutal murder of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 

Terry Strada, the National Chair of 9/11 Families United, slammed Trump’s assertion that nobody has gotten to the bottom of the 9/11 attacks, telling host Alex Witt(3:02): “He sounds foolish saying anything like that. He met with the families. He met with me in the White House and we went there for the sole purpose of asking him to declassify FBI documents that were the investigative reports into this…so he sounds completely foolish when he says that nobody has looked into it. We asked him to look into it. It was his job as President to look into it. He failed us miserably back then.”

Bottom line folks, the pundits on Fox News recently made a big deal out of President Biden’s fist bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman(MBS) on his official visit to Saudi Arabia. It will be interesting to see if the same pundits also make a big deal out of former President Trump’s “sports washing” of Saudi’s atrocious human rights record and involvement in the 9/11 attacks. 

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Glenn Greenwald Says FBI Is Manufacturing Domestic Terrorism Cases

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Glenn Greenwald on Fox News’ Ingraham Angle (07/27/22)

Independent journalist and whistleblower Glenn Greenwald appeared on Fox News’ Ingraham Angle (07/27/22) to discuss the recent bombshell whistleblower revelation that the FBI is essentially manufacturing domestic terrorism cases to justify the Biden administration’s push to go after White Supremacists and other domestic violent extremists(DVEs) after the January 6th insurrection. 

Greenwald went even further than that, saying the practice of manufacturing domestic terrorism cases has been going on, even with the original war on terrorism that was launched after the 9/11 attacks–something Yours Truly has constantly screamed about, to your rolling eyes of course. 

This intro by host Ingraham is important in establishing the context for Greenwald’s interview (video at 0:34): “The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee[Rep Jim Jordan(OH)]told Fox Digital that new whistleblower documents allege that the FBI is pressuring[agents]to reclassify cases as domestic violent extremism, that are not examples of domestic violent extremism, and Jordan alleges that this is being done in order to justify the Biden administration’s push to focus on these cases and have a special unit focusing on them.” 

Asked by host Ingraham whether the FBI is making up domestic terrorism cases, Greenwald said (video at 1:13): “You know it’s not surprising…even though they now say January 6th is the reason they have to increase their attention to this problem, in fact, even before January 6th the Biden administration was saying one of its key priorities was to import the war on terror on to domestic soil and make that be a new war, only this time aimed at American citizens, and throughout 2021 there were so many instances where DHS issued one warning after the next…none of which materialized. You could see them exaggerating and inflating the threat the entire time because what they want to do is usher in all sorts of authoritarian attacks on civil liberties in the name of this domestic war on terror, and since they don’t have the cases, now they are just making them up, which is by the way what they did with the first war on terror as well.” 

Asked whether our intelligence agencies are abusing these tools to go after their political critics(something Putin and other autocrats are known for), Greenwald responded(video at 2:40): “You know we’ve obtained, and I’ve done reporting on the documents from Homeland Security where they identify the kind of people they regard as “domestic extremists”, and usually it’s just people with anti-establishment politics…people who are against the government, who question the legitimacy of government authority, even there are sometimes people on the left, say animal rights activists or environmental activists, and people on the right who are pro-life activists. It’s clearly aimed at any sort of exercise of free speech and free association and free political protesting that the constitution is supposed to guarantee, that they are going to say are just extremists and now should be regarded as terrorism.” 

Yours Truly has warned you about manufactured terrorism cases and importantly, how that is in itself, a threat to national security–to which you rolled your eyes of course. Here’s the point one more time, so that you finally get it. 

When these terrorism/ counterterrorism resources are abused by our Intel agencies to go after people they know, are not terrorists, and with seemingly zero pushback from Congress & MSM, sooner or later, the public loses confidence in our counterterrorism efforts/intel agencies.

Why is this a national security threat? It is a national security threat because when real domestic terrorism threats arise, like the one we have now with White Supremacists, and the intel agencies need more powers(statutes) and resources($$) to tackle the legitimate problem, the abuses end up ruining the reputations of such agencies so much, that the public(Congress) is unwilling to grant them the extra power and resources they need, even though everybody acknowledges the White Supremacy problem. In other words, the public knows there’s a legitimate White Supremacy/violent extremism problem, they just can’t trust the corrupt intel agencies with any more powers–therein lies the national security threat/problem—the understandable lack of faith. The same applies with the problems we recently saw with COVID vaccines–very skeptical public because of long-running and yet unaddressed questions (zero congressional hearings) about non-consensual human experimentation, primarily by the military industrial complex. 

Greenwald is somewhat of a polarizing figure so naturally, there will be efforts by his former liberal allies in the mainstream media to dismiss his manufactured terrorism charge. It is important to point out however, that other very respectable figures have long raised concerns about this very issue, chief among them former FBI Special Agent Mike German, currently a Fellow at the Brennan Center. This video, on how our intelligence agencies, and the FBI in particular, have become the biggest threats to democracy, is a must watch, and largely validates what Greenwald said on Ingraham’s show.

Bottom line folks, a wise man once said, “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Ever since 9/11, we’ve given our intelligence agencies absolute power to prosecute the war on terrorism. There was a reasonable expectation from the public, that Congress and MSM, would act as checks to this absolute power, something we now know was a total fantasy. This absolute power has corrupted our intel agencies so absolutely, that now when they come begging for more tools to combat the legitimate threat of White Supremacy/domestic extremism, nobody wants to “extend them the extra line of credit.” This is just the latest example as to why strict oversight in instances where government agencies are granted immense powers over people’s lives, is not just good for the public’s interest, but also for the said agencies. 

Also, it cannot be left unsaid that even though the media and some in Congress are just now beginning to speak out about the abuse of our counterterrorism resources, they are yet to start addressing the equally important topic as to what is actually done to the said innocent manufactured terrorists–the so-called targeted individuals. Let’s just say, when that is finally exposed, hopefully soon, many will quibble with the notion that we are “the land of the free”.

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Is Nikki Haley Running For President In 2024? Sure Looks Like A YES

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Nikki Haley on Fox News’ America Reports show(07/19/22)

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, appeared on Fox News’ America Reports show (07/19/22) for an interview that raised a lot of eyebrows because it is the strongest indication yet, that she is indeed running for president in 2024. When asked by the Fox News hosts about a hypothetical match-up pitting her against Democrats Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, or even California Governor Gavin Newsome, the usually reserved Haley appeared uncharacteristically upbeat, telling the Fox News host, “bring it”–a clear indication that that she’s up for the challenge.

America Reports host (video at 3:22): “In terms of 2024…Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsome reaching out to some big money Wall Street donors about a potential run for 2024. When you take a look at Joe Biden’s polling numbers in that Sienna poll, he is well under water with every major demographic. Do you believe he’ll be the nominee in 2024?”

Nikki Haley: “I don’t know who they’re going to decide. I would love it if it is Biden, I’d love it if it is Kamala, I’d love it if it is Gavin Newsome, because we can beat them all day long, bring it. If that’s all they’ve got, bring it, because at the end of the day, we know what the American people want, and they want freedom, and they want to get government out of the way, and they want to make sure that their dollar is valued, and they want to make sure their kids have a better life, and that we have a strong America…that’s what they care about…”

She was then asked about her recent remarks at the Christians United For Israel(CUFI) event where she said this while talking about the Iran nuclear deal(video at 5:43): “No deal is better than a bad deal, and if this President[Biden]signs any sort of deal, I’ll make you a promise. The next President will shred it on her first day in office. Just saying, sometimes it takes a woman.” There was a long applause from the crowd, which obviously noted the “her first day in office” reference in her remarks. There’s absolutely no question that the politically savvy Haley intended for this to be a hint to the CUFI crowd and Americans generally, that she is strongly considering seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 2024.

Pressured by the Fox News hosts to elaborate further on her remarks at the CUFI event, Nikki Haley said(6:29): “Do I think the first female president, that it would be great if it was a strong conservative Republican? Of course I do. And sometimes does it take a woman? I mean we’ve tried men for a while, maybe a woman is what we need, but I don’t think I have to make that decision until the 1st of next year. Right now if we don’t win in 2022, there is no 2024.”

Asked whether she had the fire in the belly to mount a presidential run in 2024, she responded in the affirmative, saying: “I have the fire in the belly for America. I always have, and my parents reminded us every day how blessed we were to live in this country. All I’ve ever known to do is to fight for her, and so whether I run or not, I’m going to fight for this country until my last breath. It’s all I know to do.”

Bottom line folks, it has been widely speculated, including by Yours Truly, that Nikki Haley will mount a presidential run in 2024, so this should come as no surprise. It is however interesting because she took a few steps back on the issue in 2021 when it appeared that former President Trump had taken notice of her presidential ambitions and was displeased by them. Haley backtracked a little after that, saying she would not run for president if Trump was running. Has she now decided to run regardless of whether former President Trump runs? Hmm, sure seems like it, given her latest interview on Fox News’ America Reports show.

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