Have nothing to do with the [evil] things that people do, things that belong to the darkness. Instead, bring them out to the light... [For] when all things are brought out into the light, then their true nature is clearly revealed...

-Ephesians 5:11-13

Tag Archives: Twitter

Parkland High School Survivor Questioned After Going to a Shooting Range

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, April 27, 2018: 

When Kyle Kashuv, one of the more prominent figures in the ongoing debate about what to do to reduce high school mass shootings, went to a shooting range with his father last Friday, the first thing he did was post some pictures and some pro-Second Amendment comments on Twitter.

He should have known better. With the pain still fresh from the massacre that took place there on Valentine’s Day, he shouldn’t have been surprised at the response. A few of his fellow students at Marjory Stoneman High School took umbrage and reported his Twitter pictures and comments to school authorities. Kashuv explained what happened next:

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Michelle Obama DID NOT Blame Trump for the Florida Shooting!

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, February 19, 2018:

No, Michelle Obama didn’t say that. But the mainstream media came close.

Politifact immediately jumped on the fake news story that was beginning to gain traction on Friday following the ghastly atrocity in Florida by rating the story “Pants On Fire!” Politifact praised Facebook users who smelled the odor of fake news:

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Why Didn’t Politifact Jump on the “18 Mass Shootings” Lie as Well?

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Monday, February 19, 2018:

Politifact, the fact-checking website run by the Tampa Bay Times, was quick to discredit the blatantly false headline, “Michelle Obama: Florida shooting is clearly Trump’s fault, these shootings are happening constantly since he became our president” offered by an alt-right blogger.

Politifact searched for confirmation and, finding none, informed its readers “that former first lady Michelle Obama did not make those remarks … in any format whatsoever.” No website that picked up the story “should be trusted,” added the fact-checking service.

Wouldn’t that include Everytown for Gun Safety, which promoted the lie that there have been 18 mass shootings in the country since the first of the year? Wouldn’t those MSM outlets that picked it up without question also fairly and reasonably not “be trusted” either? John Lott, the founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center and author of bestseller More Guns, Less Crime, put the torch to the lie:

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Far-left Congressman Tweets: NRA and Its Spokeswoman “Becoming Domestic Security Threats”

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Friday, August 11, 2017:

It all started when someone, incensed no doubt about conservative television host Dana Loesch’s latest NRA video, tweeted on Wednesday: “Philando Castile followed the safety rules he was taught and he was shot to death. NRA said nothing. They are usually quick to follow up.”

Loesch tried to condense the story of Castile’s death, covered in detail by The New American at the time, into her own tweet in response: “He was also in possession of a controlled substance and a firearm simultaneously which is illegal. Stop lying.”

That was just too much for far-left New York Congresswoman Kathleen Rice, who entered the twitter conversation the next day: “So if a white guy [Castile was black] was shot dead during a routine stop w/ a legal gun & a joint in his car, NRA would remain silent? You’re the ones lying.”

Not hearing anything back from Loesch, Rice reentered the fray five minutes later: “I going to say it NRA & DLoesch are quickly becoming domestic security threats under President Trump. We can’t ignore that.”

Loesch was on Fox News, being interviewed by Mark Steyn, when Rice’s twitters popped up. Steyn told her on the air about them and Loesch expressed her surprise and disappointment that a member of the U.S. Congress was demeaning her rights under the Second Amendment. Immediately after leaving the show, Loesch tweeted Rice: “Rephrase. An elected gov’t official just labeled me and millions of others ‘domestic security threats.’ Wow.”

And then she asked Rice: “Hi Congresswoman, can you explain why you say I and millions of members are ‘domestic security threats?’ Thank you.”

Not getting an immediate response, Loesch then tweeted Rice: “Will ur secret police wear a certain uniform? I want to know who we should look for when we are all taken into custody.”

Loesch gets much credit for knowing precisely whom she is dealing with in Congresswoman Rice, and what Rice has in store for all Americans who own guns in the brave new communist world she is working to create. Unfortunately, most Americans watching the unfolding chatter, banter, and challenge on Twitter don’t know the back story. The New American is happy to provide it.

On her website Rice touts her experience as a former homicide prosecutor in Brooklyn followed by a stint as district attorney of Nassau County: “I aggressively enforced gun laws and led intelligence-driven investigations to take down gun traffickers and seize illegal guns before they reached our neighborhoods,” she asserted.

She is right about one thing: She was certainly aggressive in enforcing those laws. So aggressive in fact that in 2012 a federal jury tossed a case she brought against gun dealer Martin Tretola and awarded him $5 million for compensatory and punitive damages in an effort to offset the pain and suffering he endured for false arrest and prosecution by her.

So aggressive in fact was Rice’s enforcement of gun laws that this isn’t the only case staining her history as DA. Antowine Butts spent two years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit before being released as the case against him unraveled. Butts sued Rice, claiming that she and detectives involved in the case coerced witnesses into testifying against him. One of those witnesses even claimed, under oath, that Rice had arrested the wrong man but she ignored him. For that injustice Butts was awarded $220,000.

If these were the only instances, one might perhaps be persuaded to look the other way. But Newsday took a look and in October 2014 published a 16-page long exposé of her corruption while DA:

A Newsday examination of Rice’s career found at least five instances, including the troubled Butts case, in which Rice was accused of intentional misconduct or of committing a procedural effort serious enough to put her case in jeopardy.

 

At least two convictions Rice helped secure have been overturned for those reasons, and at least three sitting or retired judges have rebuked Rice over her handing of a case. A fourth judge sanctioned her in another case.

When House Representative Carolyn McCarthy from New York’s Fourth District retired in 2014, Rice left her position and ran a successful effort to replace her. She was sworn in under oath to preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States on January 3, 2015, and has worked night and day to violate and undermine it ever since.

The week after the Orlando nightclub shooting in June 2016, Rice joined about 20 other far-left members in an infamous “sit-in” — a communist tactic — that shut down the House for 24 hours. The protest was over the House not voting for a gun bill in response to the shooting. She joined other far-left members such as John Lewis and Nancy Pelosi in singing the communist anthem “We Shall Overcome” along the way.

Her voting record reflects her ideology. The Freedom Index, published quarterly by The New American, is based on how closely her votes hew to the Constitution she swore to uphold and defend. Her rating is seven percent out of 100 percent.

Loesch, and now the readers here, know exactly who Rice is and what she stands for — all information that her website and the fake news media have hidden from view. Rice is using another well-honed communist tactic in her tweets: accusing Loesch and the NRA of exactly what she herself is guilty of.

Austin Booted Uber and Lyft, Startups Struggle

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Friday, March 24, 2017:

Every year the South by Southwest (SxSW) conference held in Austin, Texas, in March celebrates one or more high-tech “breakout” companies. In 2007 it was Twitter, in 2011 it was GroupMe, and in 2015 it was Meerkat.

This was supposed to be Fasten and RideAustin’s year, two of the local ride-sharing companies that had allegedly “filled the void” when city council member Ann Kitchen ran off Uber and Lyft last year.

Thousands of attendees flew in for the conference, and they needed a lift (or Lyft) but

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Trump, Nieto Agree to Dial Down Rhetoric Over Border Wall

English: CARTAGENA/COLOMBIA, 7 APRIL 2010 - En...

Enrique Peña Nieto

The flurry of tweets following President Trump’s signing of the Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements executive order last Wednesday resulted in the Washington Post describing “a deep rift” between the United States and Mexico, and Mexico’s former Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda labeling the situation a “crisis” that is “going to last a long time.” On Thursday, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto (shown) canceled a face-to-face meeting he was to have with President Trump this Tuesday after Trump suggested it would be better to cancel the meeting if Mexico refused to pay for the border wall Trump promised to build.

The tempest died down immediately after President Trump and Mexican President Peña Nieto had a nice long chat by phone on Friday. Following that call — originally scheduled to for 10 minutes but lasting more than an hour — the White House said

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Trump Showed His Hand to Mexican President Nieto, via Twitter

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Monday, January 30, 2017:

Poker Rule No. 65 is “Don’t Show Your Hand:”

The problem with showing cards when you have them is that people then assume that the next time you don’t show them you don’t have them. And when you want them to think you have them the next time you feel obligated to show your hand again. If you start showing people your cards all the time, they are going to figure out the way you play long before you figure out the way they play.

If one player is Donald Trump, you don’t allow the media to see your hand either, especially since they will do everything in their power to expose his hand, disrupt the game and make Trump look like a fool.

The flurry of tweets last week taught Trump that lesson.

Following issuance of his executive order to start building the wall along the US’ southern border, Trump tweeted:

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Trump’s 36-Year-Old Son-in-Law Won the White House for Him

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Wednesday, January 11, 2017:

Jared Kushner’s father-in-law, Donald Trump, gave him an early birthday present, naming him to his new administration as a senior advisor on Monday. The next day Kushner turned 36.

Married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka (shown), Kushner responded to the “all hands on deck” message following Trump’s nomination at the Republican National Convention last summer. Kushner dropped everything and started building a national political campaign from scratch. Blessed with precious little political experience, but with smarts (degrees from Harvard and New York University), Kushner saw the problem: no staff, no money, no experience, no strategy, no nothing. So he called on some of his contacts in social networking, asking for referrals to the brightest and the best to help.

He found Brad Parscale, a web designer in San Antonio, and built a team of 100 people around him. Calling the team “Project Alamo,” the two learned the ropes quickly: traditional TV, radio, and print advertising were 1) expensive, and 2) not very effective in reaching the people Trump needed to win. Instead, through trial and error, Kushner spent less and less on TV and radio and focused on the social networking tools Facebook and Twitter. Said Kushner:

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Trump Names Son-in-law as Advisor; Media Raises Nepotism Issues

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Tuesday, January 10, 2017: 

Jared Kushner of the New York Observer.

Jared Kushner

President-elect Donald Trump named his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as a senior advisor in his administration on Monday:

Jared has been a tremendous asset and trusted advisor throughout the campaign and transition and I am proud to have him in a key leadership role in my administration.

 

He has been incredibly successful in both business and politics. He will be an invaluable member of my own team as I set and execute an ambitious agenda, putting the American people first.

The anti-Trump media jumped at the chance to question Trump’s decision, claiming that it violated anti-nepotism rules put in place after President John F. Kennedy named his brother, Robert Kennedy, as attorney general.

Jamie Gorelick, an attorney advising Trump and Kushner on the matter, said there’s little to be concerned about:

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Trump’s Twitter Response to Putin on Nukes Sets Media on Edge

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Friday, December 23, 2016:  

Donald Trump enters the Oscar De LA Renta Fash...

When President-elect Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday about the need for the United States to “greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes,” it set members of the left-wing media and watchdog groups on edge. For example, John Tierney, executive director of the hard-left Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, exclaimed:

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The Donald Pouts, Doesn’t Need Koch Brothers’ Money

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Monday, August 1, 2016:  

Donald Trump in February 2009

On Saturday Donald Trump pouted on Twitter: “I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch. Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better.”

It’s likely to turn out that The Donald will enjoy a coattail effect from Koch’s political advertising without appearing to be beholden to them.

The teapot tempest that the mainstream media tried to embellish (the Washington Post said that the Koch Brothers “refused to help Trump,” adding that Republican donors in the Koch Brothers’ Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce “are rebelling against” him) may actually turn to Trump’s advantage.

It all started when The Donald held a town hall meeting in Colorado Springs (where the Koch Brothers were holding their biannual meeting of well-to-do Republican donors at the Broadmoor Hotel) on Friday, with an evening presentation in Denver, but wasn’t invited to drop by the hotel in between for a quick chat. The Brothers Koch countered that Trump hadn’t even been invited so how could he turn down their invitation?

No matter. Charles Koch made clear that he and his brother David had other plans for the millions they hoped to raise anyway. Originally (that is to say, before Donald began getting traction during the Republican primaries) the network planned to raise nearly $900 million, with most of it to be directed at the presidential campaign. Now, however, that number has been cut back to $750 million, and only a third of it will be spent on political advertising. Charles made that clear Saturday night in his opening remarks to the 400 well-heeled who gathered at the Broadmoor. Koch said:

We have an uphill battle … the majority of Americans are focused on … an increasingly stagnant, two-tiered society, with the rich and politically-connected doing well and most everybody else stuck down below.

 

People have lost their optimism … they’re frustrated and disillusioned … they’re looking for answers.

Koch made it clear that neither Trump nor Clinton would be the ones to provide them:

Unfortunately [people are] looking in the wrong places. They’re looking to politicians. To me, the answers they’re getting are frightening because these answers will make matters worse … some of these solutions … would not just make them a little worse, but much worse….

 

The good news is that we have built this network for just such a condition. That puts us in a position to make progress in spite of the current political situation where, in some cases, we don’t really have good options.

Message: we’re going to spend your money on defending Republican Senate seats while hoping to extend the party’s present 54-46 advantage. Mark Holden, general counsel and senior vice president of Koch Industries, served as chair for the gala affair and told reporters that the network had “no intention to go after Donald Trump” and would only run ads critical of Clinton if they would help Republican senatorial candidates in critical states with close races.

RealClearPolitics shows Republicans ahead in most states, but, in many cases, by very narrow margins. In New Hampshire, incumbent Senator Ayotte holds just a 0.6 percent polling advantage over her rival, while Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Toomey holds just a 0.3 percent advantage over his Democrat opponent. Even in Florida Senator Marco Rubio is far from a shoo-in, leading his Democrat opponent by only 4.4 percentage points. At the moment RCP is calling the Democrats to gain at least one seat in November, dropping the Republican advantage to 53-47.

The Kochs have already contracted to spend $40 million of their donors’ money (each donor had to have the ability and make a promise to donate a minimum of $100,000 to the Koch’s network before being invited to the weekend fete at the Broadmoor) for political ads in five critical states: Nevada, Indiana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Ohio and they’re considering helping Rubio in Florida if he needs it.

After pouting on Twitter that he doesn’t need the Koch’s money, Trump announced a dollar-for-dollar match campaign fund drive over the weekend. He emailed his list: “Our fundraising department can barely keep up. I am going to personally match your donation today, and every day you donate up to midnight [July 31], up to $2 million.”

As suggested, Trump may just be able to have his cake and eat it too: he can raise plenty of money on his own, thank you very much, and still take advantage of any anti-Clinton ads the Koch Brothers decide to run in close Senate races. In the meantime he maintains his image as the “independent” candidate.


Sources:

The Wall Street Journal: Koch Brothers’ Network of Donors Meets Without Donald Trump

CNBC.com: Donald Trump says fundraising ‘crushed’ goals, rejects money from Koch brothers

The Washington Post: Koch network refusing to help Trump

Charles Koch’s Vision for a Brighter Future – opening remarks Saturday night

RealClearPolitics: Dems to pick up one seat in Senate as of 7/31/2016

RealClearPolitics: Senate No Toss Ups 2016

China’s Failing Attempts to Censor the Internet

This article first appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, February 26, 2015:

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Internet censorship czar, Lu Wei, are learning that Princess Leia was right when she said in the movie Star Wars about extending increasing totalitarian political control, “The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”

When Wei visited Silicon Valley heavyweights last December, he noted that Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, had an anthology of President Xi’s speeches on his desk. Included in that book was a speech in which Xi laid out his vision of the Chinese Internet: 

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Senator Coburn: “The DOD is the ‘Department of Everything'”

What Freedom Looks Like

(Photo credit: Roger Smith)

Following his office’s publishing of his annual “Wastebook” last month, Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has now released another oversight report, this one exploring waste and “non-defense” spending in the Department of Defense (DOD), entitled the “Department of Everything.”

In his “Wastebook” Coburn concluded that “all the outrageous and wasteful contents of this report were made possible by either the action or lack of action of Congress, earning it the well-deserved but unwanted distinction as the biggest waste of taxpayer money in 2012.”  Right behind the Congress, however, is the Department of Defense, which has been spending taxpayer monies on projects, programs and plans not related to the DOD’s primary function: defending the republic.

Although he thinks potential savings could exceed $70 billion over the next ten years if all of his suggestions were implemented, he also says that his report has just skimmed the surface, and savings could be much larger. He stated:

I prepared this report because the American people expect the Pentagon’s $600 billion annual budget to go toward our nation’s defense.

That isn’t happening. Billions of defense dollars are being spent on programs and missions that have little or nothing to do with national security, or are already being performed by other government agencies. Spending more on grocery stores than guns doesn’t make any sense. And using defense dollars to run microbreweries, study Twitter slang, create beef jerky, or examine Star Trek does nothing to defend our nation.

These are actual programs he and his staff uncovered by asking three simple questions:

  1. Does the mission of this program or agency directly relate to the mission of the Department of Defense?
  2. Does another federal agency or government or private entity already provide the services provided by this program or agency?
  3. Could these resources be better targeted towards higher priority defense needs, such as taking care of troops on the front lines or reducing our $16 trillion national debt?

What he and his staff found was merely a smattering, a skimming, a “starting point for reviewing Pentagon spending that is unnecessary, wasteful or simply not related to defense.”  He calls this wasteful spending a “rising tide of the red [ink] menace.” Here is some of what they uncovered:

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Looking Forward to Wednesday

Erick Erickson

Erick Erickson (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

I’m looking forward to Wednesday for lots of reasons, most of which you can surmise: the noise, the chatter, the incessant drumbeat of political ads interrupting every TV program, the constant ringing of pollsters on my phone, the yard signs, the answering the inevitable question: who do you think is going to win?

For Erick Erickson, of RedState, the race is already over:

We are less than a week from the election.

At this point, I just want it over.  I want my life back.  I’m worn out.  I am struggling to still care now that I have cast my absentee ballot.

I think most Americans feel that way.  The people of Ohio and Florida are begging for a return to TV ads for male enhancement drugs and self-lubricating catheters.

I could refer you to Real Clear Politics which reviews and summarizes the various polls. Or you could go to Rasmussen. Or Intrade. But Erickson can’t resist making

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Planning for Military Action Against the Tea Party

U.S. Army soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Divisi...

U.S. Army soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division wearing ACH helmets in the M81 Woodland pattern (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Kevin Benson, a retired U.S. Army colonel with a strong background in military tactics and a degree from the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) and Jennifer Weber, an associate professor of history at the University of Kansas, have just developed a scenario whereby U.S. military forces quashed a “tea party” insurrection in South Carolina in the year 2016.

The article, appearing in Small Wars Journal and subtitled “Scenario 2016,” purported to question the military’s readiness to put down such an insurrection if it were to occur. By creating the “story” of such an insurrection, the authors were able to suggest how military forces would handle certain legal restrictions, limitations, and the media. Their conclusion was that, given the state of technology and the likelihood of such action generating public outcry and additional civilian resistance, the operation to put down the insurrection would be challenging but, in the end, successful.

The warning to those inclined to use force against the federal government was clear: 

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Tea Party Accepts IRS Tax Exemption, Then Complains of IRS Intrusion

Internal Revenue Service

A coalition of Tea Party groups has decided that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is making it too difficult for start-up Tea Party groups to qualify for tax exempt status and so is creating one to fight back. The group is complaining about IRS requests for thousands of pages of documentation required to obtain or to keep their exempt status under Section 501(c)4 of the Internal Revenue Code. Eric Wilson, director of Kentucky’s 9/12 Project accused the IRS of “targeting local Tea Party, liberty groups and ordinary citizens” with an 88-question IRS questionnaire and demands that it be completed and returned within two weeks.

Said Wilson:

They’re trying to bury us in time, trying to bury us in paperwork, and they are making us use up resources we don’t have, especially small local organizations and small groups. And they’re doing this during a critical election year. This is not by accident. This is coordinated and this is targeted.

Toby Walker, president of the Waco, Texas, Tea Party, said the IRS demanded every Facebook, Twitter and social media post that was sent out by her group over the last two-and-a-half years, along with transcripts of every one of the group’s radio shows. The requests for such detailed and extension information is overwhelming the small staffs of many of the groups which often have fewer than 50 members and a very small part-time staff.

The benefits of obtaining tax exempt status for these groups apparently outweighed potential concerns that the IRS would grow fangs and seek blood. Under the applicable code, 501(c)4 groups may engage in political activity and enjoy tax exemptions on purchases and other activities, but contributions from donors are not tax deductible nor are lists of donors required to be made public. But such exemption requires following the IRS’ rules which, as these organizations are now learning, are changeable. Returns must be filed in a timely fashion even though no tax is due, and failure to file on a timely basis opens the groups up to the possibility of

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NY Times Targets Rep. Issa; Issa Fires Back

Darrell Issa

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr

The implications in the New York Times’ article about Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) were clear even in the title: “A Businessman in Congress Helps His District and Himself”—Issa was using his position as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee to enrich himself.

In the article, Eric Lichtblau implied that even the close proximity of his congressional office and his business office “on the third floor of a gleaming office building overlooking a golf course” in San Diego, signaled a highly suspect intermeshing of corporate and political interests. Lichtblau said that

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Technology Keeping Internet Freedom Ahead of Censorship

Internet

Image by Shahram Sharif via Flickr

Efforts by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to regulate the Internet may become irrelevant if the new technology being developed succeeds as expected. When the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled against the FCC last December, the FCC rewrote its rules to allow them to regulate the Internet anyway through the whitewash called “net neutrality.” Verizon immediately filed suit to overrule the new attempt, and a House subcommittee in March voted to invalidate the actions of the FCC. But the new rules remain in place until the issue is decided.

All of which may be irrelevant as new technology, called Telex, is being developed as a “work-around” for

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Debt Ceiling Talks: from Disagreement to Impasse to Crisis

Partisan Fail

Image by colarusso via Flickr depicting a political take on the Twitter "FAIL Whale" screen.

House Speaker John Boehner walked away Friday from debt ceiling negotiations with President Obama, saying that the White House had “moved the goalposts” in their weeks-long effort to come to terms acceptable to both Republicans in the House and Democrats in the Senate.

In his letter to members of the House, Boehner said, “During these discussions…it became evident that the White House is simply not serious about ending the spending binge that is destroying jobs and endangering our children’s future…. In the end, we couldn’t connect. Not because of different personalities, but because of different visions for our country.”

He went on to say:

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Bill of Rights Slows Government Probe of WikiLeaks

Julian Assange

Image by Poster Boy NYC via Flickr

On Tuesday, the quiet subterranean fishing expedition by the government into the WikiLeaks document disclosures last fall came to light for the first time in the courtroom of U. S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Carroll Buchanan in Alexandria, Virginia. In its search for incriminating evidence, the government demanded that Twitter release information about three suspects linked to WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange:

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Many of the articles on Light from the Right first appeared on either The New American or the McAlvany Intelligence Advisor.
Copyright © 2021 Bob Adelmann