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maxwell-grant · 3 years

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On The Shadow’s “new” backstory

Poke around any discussion of The Shadow and the movie in particular and you’re gonna find a lot of contention regarding the movie’s biggest shift from the source material, that was inventing a whole new backstory for the character where, prior to being The Shadow, he used to be a murderous warlord on Tibet who was kidnapped by monks and forced to undergo redemption and put his skills to fight evil.

It was not a popular decision at the time, to put it mildly. It didn’t do anything to improve the film (that text crawl really shoots the entire film in the foot), it soured a lot of fan opinions on the whole thing, and yet it’s become such a fixture of every story told with the character since then, that odds are most people think this is just what he always like, that this lip-service about redemption and being a former bastard turned hero was always what the character “was about”.

I have some complicated thoughts on it and how it’s affecte Shadow stories since then, most of whom are negative, but the thing is, I get where it’s coming from. I get why they felt the need to change his origin like that, and why it’s stuck around.

In the pulps, The Shadow’s backstory was, to sum it up, that he was a spy who went to war, learned a lot of skills and did a lot of things, and then pivoted to fighting crime in the late thirties. That was the backstory of most 30s American pulp heroes, actually, give or take a couple of differences. And for a pulp hero, it works. But modern audiences have been taught to expect more.

The movie, in trying to repackage the character for a modern audience, in turning The Shadow into a superhero so he could survive in a 90s blockbuster landscape, needed an appropriately punchy superhero backstory. Superhero backstories tend to be, in general, all about a dramatic hook that simplifies their motivations, powerset or life stories into a one-sentence pitch. Batman lost his parents in a brutal mugging as a child and swore to stop that from happening to others. Spider-Man’s uncle died because of his irresponsibility. Ben Grimm gained superpowers from space rays like his friends, except he got turned into a deformed rock monster who can never look normal again. Bruce Banner got caught in an atomic blast that made him into an unkillable rage monster. A dramatic transgression happened, they must correct it by becoming dramatic figures themselves.

They’ve made 3 John Wick movies with little more motivation to the central character other than “they killed his dog in the first movie”. That’s not a dismissal, it’s just effective storytelling. We don’t need more motivation for John Wick, we don’t need Batman flashbacks in every film, we get a one-sentence hook for a tangible, grounded motivation that lets the characters hit the ground running. “Used to be a savage murderous warlord, now applies said savagery to killing criminals” is a simple, easily understood pitch that’s considerably more dramatic than his former backstory. It works as a superhero backstory, and you can argue it’s even somewhat thematically fitting, since “a villain who turns evil against evil” has been part of The Shadow’s concept from day one.

So what’s the problem with it?

Well, for one, The Shadow is not a superhero. He doesn’t look like them, he doesn’t act like them, he doesn’t live in their world. They can try and turn him into one, and they have done that several times, but the character’s core traits, central appeal and identity are not only considerably older than the superhero, they run directly counter to what defines a superhero. The movie that tried turning him into a superhero was a box office and critical failure, and the Dynamite comics have largely just succeeded at keeping the character in the fringes of the public eye and nothing more. If turning The Shadow into a superhero was intended to revitalize his success to modern audiences, it clearly hasn’t worked in over two decades, despite superheroes being more popular than ever before. It’s kept him on little more than life support.

And two, one of the very problems of trying to turn The Shadow into a superhero, and give him an ultra-dramatic superhero backstory pitch, is because it runs counter to a cornerstone of The Shadow’s appeal: the mystery. Superheroes have to pull double duty in being both the impressive, great warriors and forces of change within a story, as well as being our relatable, POV protagonist whose struggles we relate to. The Shadow, in the pulps, split that balance, between himself, and the agents and protagonists of any given Shadow story. @oldschoolcrimefighters has brilliant writings on The Shadow and his agents that inspired me to do this blog in the first place and you should all read, and I’m going to quote this one in particular:

“..modern storytelling focuses more on characterization rather than plot. I think a lot of creators come at The Shadow with that in mind, and with a mindset built on other comics and properties: the titular character is the one to focus on. And the radio show, movie(s), and comics – the most readily available mediums for research – don’t do much to disabuse them of this idea.

So creators shine the spotlight on The Shadow. They try to humanize him, make him into someone we the readers will empathize with and relate to and root for and all that jazz. They give him motivations and backstories and banter, a token romantic interest (Margo) and sometimes sidekick (usually Moe) to bounce exposition off of and provide comic relief.

The Shadow doesn’t take kindly to spotlights. And even if he did, let’s be real, he’s not the most relatable dude. He’s a power fantasy. (And there’s nothing wrong with that.)

Whether or not he should be humanized at all is a touchy subject – I personally think the pulps portray him as a far more empathetic, fallible, playful being than people give them credit for. The thing is, when the pulps humanize him, it’s in a particular context. It’s in his relationships with other characters – especially the supporting cast – that his humanity shines.”

And that brings to the third problem: The Shadow doesn’t need a backstory that takes up so much screentime and focus. It has never factored into what made the character popular in his prime. In the pulps, we jumped right into his presence in the lives of others and his adventures, with only very sparse information about his past delivered every couple dozen books or so. It took over 131 novels for the name “Kent Allard” to even show up with a “proper” backstory, and even then, it consisted of little more than stuff we’d already been told prior about him (he was in the war, he used to be a spy, he traveled around the world with false names). And after a couple dozen stories, Kent Allard appeared less and less, about as often as the fake identity of Henry Arnaud, to the point the final Gibson stories omit him all together and even point to Lamont Cranston as the “true” identity of The Shadow. Kent Allard was just a name he went by a few times, and nothing more.

The most popular version of the character by far, the radio show, didn’t even have that. We knew nothing about the radio Shadow’s backstory other than some of his travels in the past he’d mention on certain episodes and what the opening narration told you. He was our POV protagonist in those episodes far more so in the pulps, and yet, clearly they must have been doing something right, if audiences never once missed the fact that they knew next to nothing about who he used to be before.

The very reason The Shadow became a character in the first place was because of popularity. It was because listeners tuning in to Detective Story Hour found themselves faced with the sibilant, cruel, snake-like whispery taunts of a narrator who talked and acted like no one they had heard announce other radio shows, who was easily the most interesting part of the shows he announced, and whose voice and personality held them in such fascination, even when he was literally nothing but a voice and a personality, that they started demanding to hear more of him, asking for stories starring this dark prince of radio that lived so vividly in their brains, that they didn’t notice, or care, that such stories about him didn’t exist yet.

And when he was turned into a crimefighting character, his backstory was built in a way that allowed Gibson and any future writers to play around with and insert events and adventures as they saw fit. His adventures with the Tsar in Russia, his travels to India, Africa, Tibet, his war experiences, unrecorded adventures with allies and agents and villains of any kind, his post-war travels as Kent Allard, whatever happened in the years between his crash in the Yucatan and his arrival in America. Hell, if you want to have a period where he really loses it and does immoral things he isn’t proud of, there’s any number of periods you can insert mistakes and bad decisions that would define his actions years down the lane. It was a sandbox of any possibilities, grounded to a strong character who we could follow into any adventure because we’d be interested in learning more about him.

A good backstory helps, and The Shadow’s motivation was grounded to it, but it was never a necessary component to his popularity. It was never something that needed much focus beyond the sparse information. When handled poorly, a backstory only really threatens to taint that appeal, and that’s what happened.

The “hook” that got audiences to pay attention to The Shadow was his sinister personality and charismatic cruelty. That was what they came for. What got them to stay, and read the stories and form lifelong devotions to the character and his adventures, was discovering that this personality belonged to a character who was, utterly, on the side of good, who used his skills and powers of great villainy to protect innocents, to help and uplift people just like the readers and listeners. That dual nature was a big part of why The Shadow was so enduring and popular in his prime, part of what set him apart from all of his contemporaries and imitators.

It’s hardly much of a contrast, hardly much of a fascinating and layered character that we want to learn about or spend time with, if he was just always a horrible villain who is only marginally less horrible now, is it? A Shadow who used to be every bit the horrible villain he looks and acts like isn’t really that interesting, it’s just what you’d expect from him at first glance. What’s the point of caring about a man trying to regain his humanity, if we never get to see much of that humanity in the first place? What’s the point of even going into his past if we know all about it?

What’s the point of taking this backstory that was all about open possibilities for storytellers, all about covering the intricate life of a complex and strong character, to reduce it into a quick, punchy one-sentence summation that simply sets down a baseline for all future stories to repeat ad nauseum?

It’s not that I don’t think you can tell stories about The Shadow’s backstory, quite the opposite. It’s not that I don’t think the character having a strong “hook” for audiences is unneccessary (he already has). And it’s not that I don’t think he needs a motivation (he already has). But I have to ask:

What’s the point of shining a spotlight on a shadow, if not to eliminate it?

#the shadow #the shadow essays #pulp heroes #pulp fiction #pulp #lamont cranston #kent allard

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thotsforvillainrights · 5 years

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Headcanons for Chisaki/Chrono/Setsuno/Mimic and Nemoto ? ♥ Like his S/O is from another state, let's say Russia and he is about meet his s/o 's family. When, he comes there, he realizes that his s/o's parents are well-known assassins for the yakuza and other mafias. And he tries to stay calm, but when they are having the family dinner, he says " well, tell me about your assasianations. ". And so, they explained situation, about them. But, even the S/O didn't know.

(Public Service Announcement: Not only am I baby, but I’m also a dumb bish! This ask was clearly explained to me but I still don’t fully get it. Out of fear of messing it up, I shifted it around. My apologies!)

~Russian Assassin S/O family~

headcanon|scenario|imagine|match-up

~Overhaul~

-Honestly he couldn’t even tell you were from Russia to begin with. He couldn’t base it off your (s/c) skin alone because sometimes there more to it than that. He can’t deny it once your parents call one day and you begin speaking full Russian, flawlessly. He begins to think ‘What the Hell?! Am I dreaming???’ until you explain to him that they’ve requested to meet him. For a little bit, he doesn’t want to go because it’s a new place and that meant new germs to possibly take on. However, he knew this day would come eventually so he went ahead and agreed to making the trip with you.

-You two made it safely, and that wasn’t the issue. The issue came when you entered the home and Kai saw your parents. He was luckily wearing a mask to hide the way his mouth popped open. However, he can’t really hide the surprise in his eyes. Your parents kept the same happy demeanor despite recognizing his face and association to the Hassaikai through files. “Please come! We’re having a lovely dinner complete with Borscht!” Your mom ushered for you two to follow her into the kitchen. Your dad closed the front door and trailed behind you two, keeping a close eye on Chisaki’s back.

-Halfway through dinner, Kai decided to make a bold move to show he had the upper hand on them. “I felt as though I recognized you two. I’m sure you know who I am and what I’m affiliated with.” You tilted your head in confusion as Kai spoke. Your parents happy demeanor never left there face. Suddenly your mom nodded and replied with a smile. “Of course we do...Kai Chisaki. Young ward of the Shie Hassaikai in Japan.” Your jaw dropped and you shot a look of worry to Kai. He simply lifted his gloved hand and gently rubbed your head. “Perhaps you won’t mind some dinner story time. Tell me about your assassinations.”

~Chronostasis~

-Hari always felt like you were from somewhere else. It wasn’t the broken Japanese (unless you’re fluent..then just ignore that part), but it was your mannerisms that made you seem so foreign to him. He finally nailed it when he looked through some of your old photos. “Russia eh? Pretty damn cool if you ask me. Hey, what about you take me to meet your family? Please???” He convinced you to go...plus you missed home so of course you agreed!

-From the moment you made it to Russia, Kurono has been staring very intently on your parents as if there was a threat present. Meanwhile your mom showed you old baby stuff she had collected from your past, and your father chopped wood in the backyard until dinner was done. Kurono kept his serious and speculative demeanor as you traveled to the kitchen together and took you seats at the dinner table.

- It hadn’t even been a full 5 minutes at the dinner table when he suddenly spoke up. “With all due respect, let’s cut the shit here. I know you guys and I know what you do. Let’s hear about that instead of the boring crap.” While your parents started spouting off mission experiences, you were the only one that felt left in the dark. You had no idea!!!

~Setsuno~

-Toya was nervous from the moment he woke, to the moment he got out of the shower and got dressed, to the moment you boarded your flight. “Toya baby, please calm down.” You gently placed your hand on his shaking arm. “Calm down? What makes you think I’m not calm heh heh.” He tried to nervously laugh it off. “Oh I don’t know. Maybe the way you’re shaking right now, or maybe the way you downed 7 packs of peanuts since we’ve been on the flight.”

-Toya could feel his blood run cold for a second when he saw your parent’s. Part of this was because he was nervous about meeting them for the first time, and the other part was because they were well known professional assassins throughout the crime world. Why would you have kept this from him?! He looked at you expectantly and realization set in when he noticed the way you carelessly played cards with your dad. You must not have known this??? “Dinner's ready!” Your mother called out from the kitchen.

-”Uhm...Are you guys...I mean, you guys are definitely assassins. I apologize, but I would like to tell y/n about this too since they seemed to not know it.” Setsuno spoke up. You dropped your fork and did a double take. “I’m sorry...WHAT?!?!” You freaked out while your parents laughed carelessly. “I guess if we told you the Easter bunny wasn’t real, it was about time to tell you thr truth about us too!” You mom spoke cheerfully.

~Mimic~

-”Irinaka what are you wearing?” You tried to hold back a laugh from him. Mimic was currently in his full form wearing a tacky orange and green suit while nervously combing his hair in the hotel mirror. “Irinaka, just be comfortable. That’s the 5th suit I saw you pull out and try on. My parents aren’t going to care how you look. They care about what type of person you are.” You reassured him. “Yeah babe, I know. I just tryin to make a good impression on em.” Irinaka shifted himself to look at you over his shoulder. He noticed you were wearing a plain T-Shirt from your favorite show/movie, a pair of comfy pants, and you favorite old shoes. You were simple and comfy, so maybe he could be too?

-Mimic tapped his feet nervously while you chatted with your parent about Japan life. They were assassins...they were famous assassins. They could probably kill him 40 different ways with one blade of grass. They were either against the yakuza or with them depending on whatever side payed the most for their services...and now he was literally face to face with them. Normally he was braver but there was something terribly chilling the way they pretended as if nothing was wrong.

-Mimic seemed to become more like his normal annoyed self while your dad prattled on at the table about the winter this year. Your mom smiled and worked on a crossword puzzle, dipping her spoon into her bowl to eat every once in the while. You joked along with them until Mimic slammed his fork onto the table and glared in annoyance. “Cut it out with all the small talk and let’s hear about those assassinations instead.” You stared at him in confusion. Had he gone crazy? “Oh alright! I suppose it was getting a little boring here.” Your mom giggled. You then looked at her in confusion instead. Had SHE gone crazy!?!? Seems like you learned a new thing today.

~Shin Nemouto~

-Nemouto knew you were from Russia from the start. You two had really no secrets between each other. It was a comforting thing too! Therefore, he had plenty of time to prepare himself before the day came that you asked him to come meet your parents. Shin jumped on the offer and you two were off to Russia in a heartbeat (or as fast as the plane could carry).

-After being in the house with your parents for a while, your parents went into the kitchen to set the table and finish dinner preparations. Meanwhile, Nemouto excused himself to speak privately with you. He asked you multiple weird questions but you managed to answer them to best of your knowledge. Shin knew you were telling the truth but one last time he chose to use his quirk for a single question. “Y/N, have you been hiding your parents work from me?” He asked. Without hesitation you answered him. “No, I wouldn’t hide anything. My mom designs blankets and quilts downtown, and my father works at a local mine.” Perhaps, you didn’t know? “Time for dinner you two!” Your father called out. Nemouto kept his guard up as he entered the kitchen with you.

-Nemouto hadn’t hesitated to straight up use his quirk (as he usually did when he wasn’t sure about something). He really didn’t have to! Turns out your parents are open books when it comes to this stuff involving you and him now. Besides, they had dirt on him being a part of a criminal organization, and could get rid of him any time they pleased. Aside from that, they spent at least 30 minutes apologizing to you about never telling you this stuff.

»—————————–———————————————————–✄

TIp Jar: https://cash.app/$YuTakeyama

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mr-plague-doctor · 4 years

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A brief survival guide to the mania forest

Chapter one: the hanging tree

I'm a park ranger covering a large bit of woodland in rural Russia near a town where only populated by scientists on behalf of the organization I work for. They study strange things found in the world. You've probably never heard of the woodland nor the organization as both of them are put under wraps by the organization itself but that's a story for a different time. So I will make a large amount of these posts to give advice if you find your in the woods.

Now you may be wondering what the hanging tree is. Well it isn't hard to miss as it is the largest tree in the forest, the wood is much darker than the rest of the rest of the trees, not to mention the gallow attached to the base of the tree. Now if you end up seeing this tree whatever you do never disturb it. Don't touch it, don't even pluck a leaf from a branch.

If you do, hell has no worse than what you have in store for the next few hours of your life. For around an hour after nothing much should happen, for the next hour after that a boy should start appearing in the corner of your eye, you will know he is there but you won't be able to see him directly. The "fun" will start during the third hour. You will start to hear distant screams of pain but you will never be able to pinpoint the direction. Over the course of 3 more hours the screams will come closer and closer until they become nearly deafening.

Then an hour after that (7th hour for those not paying attention) the screams will stop and not even the birds in the trees will make a noise. Then the visions start. For 2 hour you will see people you've wronged in your life in your eyes. All of which will circle you and start laughing.

The worse the crimes the louder and more demonic the laughter. Then after 2 hours the visions will part and drag you to the gallows. After your head is wrapped in the rope. Well you can make that assumption on your own to what happens after that. There is one more strange thing.

Only the people that touched the tree see and hear the trees demonic doings. Too others your going insane for no good reason. When the visions drag you to the gallows, the only thing that others will see is you walking toward the tree. Putting your head through the rope. And jumping off the platform. With how many people this tree has killed, it may be the powersource to all the strange animals, happenings and items found in the forest. How this happens. Well that isn't my job to determine. That job goes to the men, women and creatures at the organization.

Happy travels my friends. Sleep well.

Chapter two: the unknown

Among the terrible objects and creatures of the mania forest there is the unknown. No one quite knows what it is. I'm not even sure what it is. While wandering the forest there is a clearing. This clearing is different then most other parts of the forest. All the grass in this clearing is dead. As soon as you walk in the clearing you will have a strong feeling to walk toward the middle.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say. There is a small stone pillar with a button on it. While walking toward the pillar loud music will start to play. Of course like most things in this fucking forest, it messes with your mind first. Though most of the other stuff in the forest does it for torturous glee but in this, things seem to use people's emotions as food. Though I'm getting ahead of myself. While walking to the pillar, music, bla bla bla, but the music played is that which reminds the person of their worst memory. For instance we had a test subject say that they witnessed a woman being drugged at a rock concert and did nothing about it. Now he said the music that starter was the song that was playing at the time he witnessed the drugging. As you get to the halfway point you will start to smell the place your memory takes place in. The man who witnessed the drugging said he started to smell sweat and whiskey. The exact same smell the rock show had that night. And finally when you reach the pillar, well you go, catatonic. The subject spoke that he saw the image. Over and over again. And he "woke up" so to say when one of our staff found him. There is nothing visibly dangerous about the clearing. Just make sure you have someone to wake you up. There have been cases where people have died of dehydration, or have been eaten by animals while catatonic.

Happy travels my friends. Sleep well.

A brief survival guide to the mania forest- chapter 3, the fungi forest

Well, There are a very large number of creatures in this forest, from fearsome predators, to meek prey praying that they can make it out of this hell hole. Well, this is not a creature, an item, nor a building, but instead a place. Me and the other rangers can this place the fungi forest. While it sounds like a subsection of the forest, yet no, it's a cave full of mushrooms. Well actually it's a little more than just that. Well there is nothing supernatural about the caves. We were told that an asteroid containing life hit earth and made a cave which millions of years later is now a massive cavern which is full of life. I may make a whole different survival guide only for the forest as it is gargantuan in size, so big that it has its own ocean, which also might need its own guide. I just wanted to mention it here so if i make a separate guide for it the guide will give it some context. Though I will give you one thing. Somewhere in what we call the shroom ocean. There is a thing we call the saw tooth. It is an unbelievably massive creature that feeds on the mushrooms in water. Now you may ask why, well the mushrooms are about 5 meters tall each. So just a few is enough to satisfy the massive creature. It also gets its name from the awful noise it makes. The beast sounds like a heavily distorted saw.. And if you hear a large saw rapidly approaching. Well, pray to every god you know. You’ll need it

Happy travels my friends. Sleep well.

A brief survival guide to the mania forest. Chapter 4, the man with the mask

After a while, you start to get used to the forest. I mean once you learn about everything and how not to die, the job gets pretty easy. well , except for a few of the “things”. A few of the creatures of the woods can be described as `unpredictable”. While most things on the land are quite territory oriented, as in the stay mostly in the same area until provoked. There are others who wander, some whose methods or objectives are unknown. One of these minorities is something which we rangers call the man in the mask. It appears to be a african american male wearing attire which would fit a american soldier in World War two. But he's a modern gas mask. As creatures go “he” (for lack of a better word) is fairly new. Being that his first recorded appearance was in the late 80’s which coinsided with the murder of a world war two vetern which while not taking place in the woods but his body was hidden there. Also his killer was found later and was killed by the hanging tree when the cop found him. But anyway, his abilities.

It was found when the man travels a cloud of toxic gas follows. The gas is invisible and is nearly impossible to detect. The gas was found to be a match for a gas the Germans tested on american prisoners in WW2 but never got used in war. One of the prisoners who was tested was, well you can most likely guess that. Anyway, the gas itself seems to be acidic in nature. Only a few minutes after being exposed to it, your flesh will start to burn and after that your skin will well, start to melt off, But not always. There have been many cases of the man pulling out a gun and shooting someone, cases of the man strangling people, or just him leaving them alone. All of which have no pattern and are impossible to predict.

There have been attempts to kill the man, but all are unable to leave a scratch on him. A soldier once took a 50 caliber rifle into the woods and shot the man in the face. It left a massive hole in the man's head. But the hole filled itself back in. It was that day that the rangers found out, That it was not a mask on the man's face. But the gas mask is his face.so if you wander the forest and you see a man wearing a gas mask, run, there is a small chance you might make it out alive, it's always good to try

Happy travels my friends.sleep well

A brief survival guide to the mania forest. Chapter 5, the scorched king

There are things in the forest known as kings in the forest. In fact they are vital to the sorting system of things in the forest. These kings are normally some sort of animal, and they have territory in the forest, what makes them kings is that one, they are apex predators, two they have only one section of forest, and three they are so powerful that they can’t be killed with anything short of a nuke. This territory split the forest up into sections. Today I will be talking about one of the more notable kings. The scorched king, actually the scorched king is a species in the part of the forest known as the scorch. The name of the creatures is actually lava wolves, as they are wolves that have flaming fur. There is one wolf in particular that gets the title.

This wolf is one that is about the size of a full grown buffalo. Differently than the other wolves the king has a white fire while the other wolves have red fire. The scorched king earned its title after the fire on its body was found to be so hot that anything that touched, either turned to ash or melted. Making it impossible to kill it with any weapon we have now.

LISTEN I HAVE TO WARN YOU. SOMETHING IS TAKING OVER THIS FOREST. THE CREATURES ARE GOING…

End of message

A brief survival guide to the mania forest. Chapter “final”, the hive mind

Hello people of this great internet. How are we today? Now I must apologize if you were enjoying these chapters. That idiot was ruining everything. Now I must warn you very briefly (pun very intended) there are more than just the “mania forest” as you humans call it. These places are known as hell holes. And they are very abundant. Using my influence I will let you know of all of them. But not to much of their creatures. We can’t have all out chaos if you know everything now can we. okay fine i will give you a brief description of myself, so when the world ends YOU KNOW WHAT TO SCREAM AT. I am a disease. My victims have blood red eyes, and mostly are catatonic. I can switch between forms but only one at a time. And I transmit via bite, so don’t get bit. Disease in the body of Richard H. Cooper. Signing off

Travel poorly. Sweet nightmares my sheep

#scarystories

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katrandomtiger · 7 years

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Paper Spoons & Glass Knives

This is a Hitman: 76 and Detective Reyes enemies to friends to lovers deal.

The prequel

Read it on AO3

Flashpoint, Wyoming is an unknown, underfunded, and unimportant town with a very important purpose; tracking and eliminating hitmen.

For Senior Detective Reyes, his job was his life but after much failure and loss he’s burning out. That is, until the hitman that nearly claimed his life resurfaces in town. Now with the help of two rogues, Reyes and his international team must crack the biggest case of their lives and take down an empire before their reign becomes supreme.

Please excuse the information dump. The first few chapters contain a lot of information but once the main arc starts it should even out. I want y'all to know I started this in May, so yeah. A while ago. I’m excited.

This has nothing to do with the Hitmen video games or any other media, except for Bones, maybe. I just really like crime dramas.

There are a butt ton of background pairings but r76 is the main focus so I don’t wanna really flood the tags.

October 2nd, 207X – 09:00 - Flashpoint, Wyoming

‘Why does this shit always happen in the morning.’

Detective Reyes grumbled to himself as he ducked under the ‘do not cross’ tape and into a narrow alley. Graffiti and filth cover the walls and dumpsters that crowd the passage. The forensics team was nearly done cataloguing and bagging the area.

They’d gotten very well acquainted with this particular alley the last few weeks. This would be the third time this month that they’d been dragged out of the lab to pull a body out of the gutter. There was a fresh tag that looked suspiciously like something he’d seen doodled in the margins of Fawkes’s last report.

Dr. Zeigler looked to be finishing up her field exam on the victim with McCree standing by. All that was visible of the body was a blue arm.

“Who do we have here?” Reyes grumbled.

McCree whipped around and gave his partner a blinding smile before handing him a paper coffee cup. Reyes could forgive the sunshine-y morning attitude if he was being offered caffeine.

“Hitman under the call sign ‘Widowmaker’ aka. Amelie Lacroix. Went missing about two years ago after her debut performance as a prima ballerina in Paris, France. First confirmed kill was her husband Gerard Lacroix four months later. Put a bullet clean through his head from the roof of a building two blocks away.”

Reyes gave a low whistle as he crouched down next to Zeigler. Lacroix’s entire body was an odd shade of blue. The cause of the discoloration was unknow but it was a previously documented trait. What wasn’t documented were the extensive bruises and laceration decorating her corpse.

“Any idea of what happened?”

“It appears she was beaten to death, just like the others. Though it seems a little more violent than the last two,” Dr. Zeigler said, not bothering to face him as she pointed to a hand-shaped bruising on her neck, “Her gun was found covered in blood behind the dumpster.”

“They beat her with her own weapon? Yikes. Do we at least have finger prints this time,” Reyes asked as he stood back up and made his way over to the tarp full of evidence that had been set up.

“Don’t need them,” McCree drawled as he followed him over and picked up a small evidence bag. He hesitated before handing it over to his partner, “Killer left a calling card this time.”

The detective was quick to grab the bag. Inside was a plain cream colored card with a light smear of blood across the edge. Reyes turned the bag over slowly to reveal the seal of the United States Embassy with the number ‘76’ written across it in blood. His heart skipped.

“Shit.”

“Yup, seems your old friend, 76, is back in town.”

Reyes closed his eyes and rubbed his side as memories of a handsome blond officer came rushing to him.

Why Ana had insisted on dragging him along to the Fireman’s Charity ball when she had a perfectly good mystery novelist that would willingly schmooze with Commissioner Adawe was beyond Gabriel. The only good thing about the night was free booze and a cute secretary that he had turning red just by winking at them.

It wasn’t until the last guest arrived that Gabriel started paying attention to the crowd.

Gold was the first word that popped into his mind as the man entered the room, quickly followed by broad and handsome. Gabriel shifted ever so slightly to watch as the new arrival effortlessly danced his way through the crowd, winding through politicians and flirting with every lady he passed until he seemed to disappear.

Ana giggled as she had watched Gabriel push his way into the crowd. He could almost hear the teasing remarks he would receive later as he finally spotted the man again.

To Gabriel’s surprise, and the councilman’s wife’s dismay, the man immediately turned to him and introduced himself as James Hendricks. The two hit it off instantly.

As the night drew on, Gabriel realized that James seemed familiar. He felt as though he’d seen the face before but brushed it off as being paranoid. James had mentioned something about being a part of the Omnic Crisis so perhaps they had met briefly in the field. Gabriel couldn’t really bring himself to care.

At some point, they had shuffled into a vacant room to continue a rather heated discussion about the final strike on the Omnium in Russia without startling some of the more ‘refined’ guests. Gabriel had said something about how omnic joints would freeze up during the battle when James was suddenly much closer than he had been.

Hands slid along his waist and Gabriel soon found himself pinned to the wall. Cold blue eyes boring into his before their lips met.

The rest of scene went by in a blur as Gabe swept his arms up to hook around James’s neck to pull him closer, only to accidently swipe his sleeve across his face.

The smear of foundation never fully came out of that jacket but then again, neither did the blood.

Reyes shook his head as he remembered how all the life had drained out of James’s eyes when the façade was cracked. In just a few second ‘James’ was replaced by a snarling mongrel with an oversized handgun.

Before Gabriel had any time to react a silenced gun was planted firmly in his ribs.

“Esparza sends his regards,” the hound growled before pulling the trigger and sending Gabriel to the ground. His head met the granite floor with an echoing crack, the last thing he registered was a shaking hand slipping a card into his breast pocket and uneven steps leaving the room.

The sight of the scars and dark rings he had accidentally uncovered under 76’s eye still haunted Gabriel’s dreams. It wasn’t until after he woke up in the hospital that he realize why ‘James Hendricks’ looked so familiar.

“Gabe, you ok?” Jesse asked, putting a hand on his partner’s shoulder and giving him a gentle shake.

“No,” he replied simply before placing the card in a box and turning to look over the other bits of evidence. Broken chunks of reinforced plastic and glass were scattered in bags across the ground, “What are these from?”

McCree shuffled around to the other side of the tarp and bent over to pull out a large chunk of the plastic, “This, my friend, is the headpiece that our victim used to snipe with. It magnifies and displaces images while also giving readouts on wind speed and other factors. Oxton found this piece smashed up beside the gun and smaller chunks behind a dumpster.”

“So 76 took her out on her terms? How the hell did he get her down from the roof?”

“That’s a real good question.”

Reyes stalked over to where Zeigler was and nabbed a pair of gloves from her belt. She swiped at him halfheartedly even as she helped Oxton hoist the body onto a stretcher and into the coroner’s van.

“I don’t know if we should arrest this guy or give him an award,” McCree mused as Reyes started picking through a dead bush near where the headpiece had been found, “I think he’s taken out more troublesome hitmen over the last two months then we have in the last year.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think taking out the competition counts as turning over a new leaf nor is it a sign of good intentions. Besides we haven’t fully connected him to last month’s body count.”

“You got me there,” McCree chuckled lightly. He turned and sauntered off to where Zeigler was starting to curse the outdated equipment she was forced to use. She didn’t seem to be having a good day either.

Gabriel gave a noise of annoyance before turning back to the bush. All he was finding were more small chunks of plastic and assorted garbage.

“Hold on a minute- Oxton! Grab me an evidence bag, would you?”

“On it boss man!” she yelled, nearly causeing Angela to drop the stretchrt as she sprinted to the tarp, jumped over it, rolled, grabbed a bag, and sprinted the rest of the way over to him. He had to hold up an arm to shield his face from the gravel the younger officer kicked up, “Here you go!”

“Thanks. Next time, less theatrics, yeah?”

“No promises, sir,” she chirped before bouncing back over to help one of the techs start loading the evidence.

Reyes shook his head fondly before turning back to the bush and gently pulling out a receipt for a nearby grocery store. The time stamp was from the night before around ten.

“Alright people,” he shouted, calling attention from the circus act behind him, “I’ve got a lead. Lena, stay here and help them finish packing this up. Make sure you have everything photographed for Jamie and Winston to work with. Jesse, I want you to come with me.”

“Where are we headed to, partner?” Jesse asks as he trotted over to the tiny hovercar before squeezing into the passenger seat. He liked to joke that putting the both of them in there made it look like a clown car, especially when Gabe was having a bout of road rage.

“Kat’s Grocery Mart.”

“Oh?” Jesse hummed thoughtfully as he reclined into the worn fabric of the seat, “Used to go there all the time went I lived over here. Not the cheapest but they do have the best fresh produce in Flashpoint.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes as he glanced over to his partner. Leave it to Jesse to know everything about the grocery stores in this town, though Gabe supposed he had a pretty good reason. Jesse’s mother probably made him memorize every store location and layout where they lived so he could run errands for her during the day without having to worry about getting cornered by a rival gang.

Back when Jesse was a young and scrawny teenager, he ran with the Deadlock gang down in New Mexico. He bragged that he was their number one look out because of how good his aim and eyesight were. Gabe didn’t doubt it, especially after seeing Jesse land a shot on a suspect from a half a block away at a dead run.

And Jesse couldn’t run straight if his life depended on it.

Luckily for young Jesse, the owner of the restaurant the gang had been planning to hit was a very forgiving woman. Rita McCree had a criminal record bigger and older than most the boys in the Deadlock gang. Even if she hadn’t caught Jesse it was doubtful the gang would have been successful with their raid.

Rita caught Jesse scouting out her place and pulled him into the kitchen by the ear. She took him in, fed him, set him straight, and even adopted him. Mama McCree was a force to be reckoned with. She made sure nobody could mess with her boy.

Gabriel shuddered at the memory of her face when Jesse lost his arm when a police raid on the gang went wrong. He had his cuffs out just in case she decided to run off and demolish the gang with nothing but a cast iron skillet.

Gabriel tuned back into what was happening in the car only to find that his partner had started discussing the finer points of making chili with himself. A dorky grin was plastered across his face as he started imitating his ma.

“-and that is why we have spice warnings on the menus for even our mildest chilies,” Jesse said as they pulled into the parking lot, “Ma said she once had an old white guy try to tell her the apple pie was too spicy.”

Reyes snorted before heaving himself out the car door and into the store with Jesse close behind. The place looked well-kept, one of the cashiers greeted Jesse with a broad smile as they walked up to the customer service office and asked for the manager. They were escorted up the stairs and into a small cluster of offices where they kept the surveillance tapes.

“We need to see the footage from around 10:15 last night, register three,” Reyes told the man helping them, “I would also like to speak to the girl who was working last night if she’s here, need to know if she saw anything strange.”

The man gave him a dead look before nodding and shuffling out of the room. Gabriel glanced over at Jesse who rolled his eyes and said something along the lines of ‘service jobs do that’. Gabe shook his head and turned to the screens in front of him before hitting the play button.

Sure enough, two minutes into the feed a tall man with impossibly wide shoulders and graying blond hair wanders up to the register with a golden retriever at his side. Gabe notes that the man doesn’t seem to have an even gait and the dog is almost herding him to the conveyer belt. He responds to the cashier’s questions with a light smile before handing her the cash and turning to the door. The camera there catches a perfect picture of the man’s face.

“Shit.”

Jesse sits quietly behind him. A knock on the table next to the stairs startles both officers away from the screen and to a young cashier who looks ready to cry.

“Mr. Edwards said you wanted to speak to me about something?” she managed to squeak.

Reyes looked over to his partner. McCree was better with kids then him.

“We just needed to ask you about a gentleman that came through your line last night, darlin’,” Jesse started, pointing at the image on the screen, “Did you notice anything strange about this man last night?”

“Mr. Morrison?” she said incredulously, “Is he ok? Did something happen? He seemed antsy last night but he said he was just meeting an old friend.”

“Wait, you know this man?” Gabe raised his eyebrows incredulously.

“Ye-yeah, he’s become one of our regulars. He started coming in about two months ago. He’s super nice and sometimes he’ll swap recipes with one of our office ladies. His service dog, Lucy, is a real sweetheart too. He lets us pet her sometimes.”

“How often does he come in?” Jesse asked before the detective could say anything.

“Every other day,” the cashier, Nicole, says, “He usually doesn’t come in so late but he told Matt, one of the stockers, that he had an unexpected visitor. Mentioned something about making her a surprise… Is he ok?”

The two officers exchange a look. Seems that 76’s visitor got their special surprise alright, but why? It was unusual for hitmen to go after each other and why was 76 hanging around in a grocery store of all places? Also, what was with the dog?

“Mr. Morrison is fine, we’ll need your contact information though, just in case something else comes up.” Reyes motioned for McCree to get it while he downloaded the footage.

After they questioned all the employees in the store about ‘Mr. Morrison’ they hopped back into their car and headed for the station. It seemed that no one had a bad thing to say about the man. The only complaint was from a particularly whiny deli clerk who didn’t like that service dogs were allowed in the store.

“This is going to be harder than I thought,” Jesse groaned once they arrived at the station.

“What did you expect? That a hitman of 76’s age and caliber would just fall right into our lap?” Gabriel snorted as they made their way down the hall. Satya gave them a curt nod as they passed the reception desk.

“Well when you put it that way,” Jesse said sheepishly as they got into the elevator.

“Going up?” called a voice from down the hall. A short woman in uniform turned around the corner swiftly.

“Chief Amari,” Jesse greeted enthusiastically, “get in here before Gabe gets the doors closed!”

“He better not close those doors or he’ll be on desk duty for the rest of the week.”

Reyes’s hand hovered by the button as he weighed his options. Ana stepped on before he could make a move and promptly shoved him into the wall before hitting the button for the forensic labs. Jesse laughed as Gabe steadied himself on the handrail.

“So,” Ana started as Gabriel straightened and pretended to dust off his jacket, “how’s the investigation going?”

“Better than we expected. Not only did the killer leave a calling card but he also left evidence that we traced back to a grocery store,” he said. The three stepped into the lab, Jesse immediately took the footage over to where Fawkes was having a heavily one sided conversation with one of the giant clean-up guys.

“I heard about the calling card. How are you doing?” Ana asked sympathetically.

“I’m fine. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“Gabe, I am not above sending you to talk to the psychologist. If it is too much tell me.”

Gabriel fixed her with a glare as she swept by him and into the lab where Lacroix’s body was already laid out and being prepped for autopsy. Angela was breezing back and forth between the tables with Winston close by. Even from a distance he could see the dark marks marring her otherwise flawless blue skin. Gabriel could only imagine the kind of beating she took to receive such marks.

Ana had a few words with the analysts before walking back to Gabriel and taking him to her office. The room was softly lit and smelled of tea. Pictures of Ana’s daughter and late husband dotted the shelves. Gabriel sank down into one of the armchairs as Ana rounded her desk and plopped into her chair.

“So Fareeha is coming home for the weekend next week and I was wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner.”

Gabriel blinked in surprise at the sudden change in topic, “Of course I want to come over and see my god daughter, what kind of question is that?”

Fareeha had just left in August for college in Colorado. With her gone everything had been almost unbearably quiet. It was almost like he’d lost another daughter…

Gabriel shook his head violently to rid himself of that train of thought. He didn’t need to have another breakdown in Ana’s office. The sad look she was giving him wasn’t helping though.

“Well I’m glad to hear that. Jesse and Reinhardt are coming too. I think Fareeha said something about bring one of her new friends up with her too.”

“Well I’m glad to know she’s making friends.”

Ana hummed in agreement, “She said she was having some difficulty but she started working for the school and met some very nice people. She loves it out there.”

They lapsed into a comfortable silence before the door violently swung open an a very disheveled McCree burst into the room. He was breathing hard and had a slightly crumpled letter in his hand. Both senior officers held their breath when they noticed the tears rolling down his face.

“Y-You didn’t,” he sniffled with a shaky smile.

Ana’s face broke into a broad grin as she hurried over to the sobbing cowboy and pulled him into a tight hug. Gabe grabbed the letter from his shaking hands and read it. He couldn’t help the pride that swelled in his chest as he threw an arm around Jesse’s shoulders.

“Good job, vaquero,” he said as he set the FBI acceptance letter down on the desk.

Who’s ready? I’m (not) ready!

Updates should be weekly but I’m in college so who really knows. The first 5 chapters have been pre-written so that should help.

If you ever need anything tagged, please tell me! Your feedback is very important to me!

#r76 #reaper76 #jack morrison #gabriel reyes #jesse mccree #tw: violence #tw: death #sorry i had to kill amelie in the first chapter #fanfiction #overwatch #whispers from the scrapheap

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go-redgirl · 5 years

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Mueller Report Exonerates President Trump [Weekly Update] Judicial Watch ^ | March 29, 2019 | Tom Fitton

Mueller Never Had a Good-Faith Basis to Pursue President Trump Did Deep State Cover Up Chinese Hack of Clinton Email System? Judicial Watch Sues to Find Out What Were Obama’s Spy Chiefs Telling the Media about Trump?

Mueller Never Had a Good-Faith Basis to Pursue President Trump

The fizzling out of the corrupt Mueller investigation is great victory for the rule of law and our constitutional republic. Here is the statement I issued in response Attorney General Barr’s initial summary of the special counsel’s report.

The long, national nightmare is over and President Trump has been vindicated. The corruptly-created and constitutionally abusive Mueller investigation failed to find any evidence to support the big lie that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government.

We’re pleased that AG Barr rejected Mueller’s attempt to smear President Trump with obstruction of justice innuendo by concluding that no such charges could be credibly sustained. Frankly, Mueller never had a valid basis upon which to investigate President Trump for obstruction of justice.

Let’s be clear, neither Mueller, the Obama FBI, DOJ, CIA, State Department, nor the Deep State ever had a good-faith basis to pursue President Trump on Russia collusion. Russia collusion wasn’t just a hoax, it was criminal abuse, which is why Judicial Watch has fought and will continue to fight for Russiagate documents in federal court.

The targeting of President Trump served to protect Hillary Clinton and her enablers/co-conspirators in Obama administration from prosecution. Attorney General Barr can begin restoring the credibility of the Justice Department by finally initiating a thorough investigation of the Clinton emails and related pay-to-play scandals and the abuses behind the targeting of President Trump.

Judicial Watch has long called for the shutdown of the Mueller special counsel operation and has pursued dozens of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits in connection with the illicit targeting and other abuses of President Trump. Judicial Watch FOIA litigation exposed, for example:

The dossier-based Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant applications targeting President Trump

FBI payments to Christopher Steele

FBI firing of Steele

Extensive DOJ (Ohr) collusion w/Steele, Simpson, Fusion GPS

No court hearings by defrauded FISA courts before warrants were issued

Anti-Trump bias by Mueller deputy Andrew Weissmann

As you would expect, the Democrats are refusing to back down from their collusion lies. As I told the media this week, we must demand accountability for this attack on the Republic. Judicial Watch, not Congress nor the corrupt media, remains the best path forward for getting the full truth about the effort to overthrow President Trump, which is the worst corruption scandal in American history.

Did Deep State Cover Up Chinese Hack of Clinton Email System? Judicial Watch Sues to Find Out

Back in 2015, the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG), an office under the Director of National Intelligence, discovered that Hillary Clinton’s emails werebeing sent to a state-owned Chinese company.

Bells went off, and the ICIG sent an emissary to the FBI to meet with Peter Strzok, who was later removed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and fired from the FBI after his bias against President Trump was revealed. The FBI was being run at time by James Comey.

As you might imagine, nothing happened.

We want to know what was discussed at this meeting, and we are suing the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) for details.

We sued after the ODNI failed to respond adequately to a July 13, 2018, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request ( Judicial Watch Inc. vs Office of the Director of National Intelligence (No. 1:19-cv-00807)). We are seeking:

Any and all records regarding, concerning, or related to the meeting between Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) official Frank Rucker, ICIG attorney Jeanette Macmillian, former Federal Bureau of Investigation Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok, and other[s] regarding security threats associated with the private e-mail server utilized by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

This request includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Any and all reports, notes, briefing materials, presentations, or similar records created in preparation for, during, and/or pursuant to the meeting.

Any and all related records of communication between any official, employee, or representative of the ICIG and any other individual or entity.

For purposes of clarification, the meeting in question was referenced by Rep. Louis Gohmert during the testimony of Mr. Strzok at a House of Representatives hearing on July 12, 2018.

Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) said during a hearing with FBI official Peter Strzok that the ICIG reportedly found an “anomaly on Hillary Clinton’s emails going through their private server, and when they had done the forensic analysis, they found that her emails, every single one except four, over 30,000, were going to an address that was not on the distribution list. It was a compartmentalized bit of information that was sending it to an unauthorized source.”

Gohmert said the ICIG presented the findings to Strzok, but that the FBI official did not do anything with the information.

Gohmert: Let me refresh your memory. The Intelligence Community Inspector General Chuck McCullough sent his investigator Frank Rucker along with an IGIC attorney Janette McMillan to brief you and Dean Chapelle and two other FBI personnel who I won’t name at this time, about an anomaly they had found on Hillary Clinton’s emails that were going to the private unauthorized server that you were supposed to be investigating?

Our lawsuit could further expose how anti-Trump activists like disgraced FBI official Peter Strzok bent over backwards to protect Hillary Clinton from having to answer for her national security crimes. The scandal of the illicit Trump spying is directly tied to the Deep State protection of Hillary Clinton.

We had a separate lawsuit against the ODNI that would have required it to conduct, as required by law, an assessment and prepare a report on how and whether Hillary Rodham Clinton’s email practices as U.S. Secretary of State damaged national security.

Hillary Clinton was given full cover by the Deep State. Don��t think the Deep State has has given up.

What Were Obama’s Spy Chiefs Telling the Media about Trump?

President Obama’s top spy chiefs appear to have been ringleaders in the illicit effort to overthrow President Trump. They enlisted the FBI, foreign spies, and the media in their efforts. I’m not at all surprised that they found a warm welcome at CNN.

Now we want to know the details of their connections to the network. We have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) seeking records of communications between former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and CNN around the time the Clinton-Democrat National Committee anti-Trump dossier was being pitched to key media outlets.

A House report detailed that Clapper leaked information regarding the dossier to CNN in January 2017. The former ODNI chief signed on as an analyst for CNN in August 2017.

We are also seeking records of communications between Clapper and Obama CIA Director John Brennan regarding the dossier, which was authored by former British spy and FBI payee Christopher Steele.

We sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ( Judicial Watch v. Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Central Intelligence Agency (No. 1:19-cv-00776)) after the agencies failed to respond to our April 23, 2018, FOIA request seeking:

All records of communication, including emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text messages and instant chats, between officials in the office of the Director of National Intelligence, including but not limited to James Clapper, and employees, representatives and contractors of CNN.

The time frame for the records request is May 2016 through May 2017.

All records of communications between the office of the Director of Central Intelligence and representatives of CNN; DCI John Brennan and DNI James Clapper regarding the collection of memos known as the “Steele Dossier:” and between DCI John Brennan and DNI James Clapper regarding CNN.

All records of communication, including emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text messages and instant chats, between officials in the office of the Director of Central Intelligence, including but not limited to DCI John Brennan, and employees, representatives and contractors of CNN. The time frame for the requested records is May 2016 through May 2017.

All records of communication, including emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text messages and instant chats, between DCI John Brennan and DNI James Clapper regarding the collection of memos known as the “Steele Dossier”. The time frame for records requested in this bullet item is May 2016 through January 2017.

All records of communication, including emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text messages and instant chats, between DCI John Brennan and DNI James Clapper regarding the news network CNN. The time frame for records requested in this bullet item is May 2016 through January 2017.

In a March 2018, report , Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee exposed that:

“Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, now a CNN national security analyst, provided inconsistent testimony to the Committee about his contacts with the media, including CNN.” And, “when questioned by the Committee … Clapper admitted that he confirmed the existence of the dossier to the media.”

Clapper later admitted he had discussed the Steele dossier with CNN’s Jake Tapper and other journalists in early 2017, shortly before President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

In a January 10, 2017 report with bylines from Tapper, Evan Perez, Jim Sciutto and Carl Bernstein, CNN first revealed that then-FBI Director James Comey had briefed then-President-elect Trump on the dossier’s allegations.

The Intelligence Committee’s report detailed that “Clapper subsequently acknowledged discussing the ‘dossier with CNN journalist Jake Tapper,’ and admitted that he might have spoken with other journalists about the same topic. Clapper’s discussion with Tapper took place in ‘early January 2017,’ around the time [intelligence officials] briefed President Obama and President-elect Trump, on ‘the Christopher Steele information.’”

Shortly after CNN’s January 10, 2017, report, BuzzFeed News published the dossier in full.

The four CNN reporters were awarded the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Merriman Smith Award for their coverage of the dossier story.

Brennan, in an interview with NBC News on February 4, 2018, insisted that the Steele dossier “did not play any role whatsoever” in early intelligence assessments on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Several subsequent reports strongly contradict Brennan’s claim.

We are again in court trying to get the truth about the Obama gang’s illegal leaks and conspiracy targeting President Trump. Clapper and Brennan were key proponents of the big lie, exposed by the Mueller report. President Trump did not collude with the Russians. Once again, our FOIA litigation is the best hope for getting full accountability on this attack on our constitutional republic.

Until next week …

TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections KEYWORDS: ag barr; brennan; cia; clapper; cnn; cover up; deep state; dni; email scandal; gohmert; hillary clinton; icig; judicial watch; jw; mueller report; president trump; strzok; tom fitton; trump; weekly update

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businessliveme · 5 years

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From Amazon Ring to NASA Moon Project: 15 Predictions for 2020

(Bloomberg Opinion) –It’s been my habit, as the year draws in the day, to offer my predictions for the coming year, but only after doing what every commentator should do — assessing my predictions for the year just ending. So before I get to my predictions for 2020, in the second half of this column, let’s see how I did in 2019.

Let’s put one of last year’s prediction right up top:

“The Washington Nationals will overcome the loss of superstar Bryce Harper in free agency and win the World Series over the Houston Astros.”

Nailed it precisely! If you need end-of-the-year help, Las Vegas or ESPN, give me a call.

The 2019 Scorecard

Now, as to the others, I predicted:

That Amazon would react to bad publicity during its 2018 HQ2 search by promising to put another headquarters in an economically distressed part of the country. Instead, the company is donating millions of dollars for “affordable housing” in Northern Virginia, where its new campus is planned. Mostly false, but I did get Amazon’s motive right.

That President Donald Trump would achieve neither his border wall nor a Fed hewing more closely to his views. True.

That the level of CO2 in the atmosphere would continue to rise. Although final figures for 2019 are not in, this one will almost certainly wind up in the “true” column.

That the melting Arctic ice cap would continue to pour thousands of gallons of water per second into the oceans. True, and true again.

That significant numbers of U.S. armed forces would remain in both Afghanistan and Syria. True, despite the president’s efforts in Syria.

That the New England Patriots would win Super Bowl LIII. True. Not a hard prediction but still true.

That allegations of fraud in the settlement fund established to pay former professional football players who have suffered neurocognitive damage would turn out to be a big story. Sadly, true. This month’s federal indictments were big news.

That despite investigations of Trump’s conduct, no resolution of impeachment would reach the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote in 2019. False, but so, so close. If they had but waited two more weeks!

That special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report would find no clear evidence that Trump committed a crime (true) and that NeverTrumpers would try to raise $1 billion to pay the president to resign. (I was mostly kidding but I wasn’t wrong.)

That homeschoolers would turn to virtual reality as a principal educational tool, and that over time others would embrace the idea. Still feels inevitable, but much too early to tell.

That during the summer of 2019, Marvel would finally announce a release date for the second “Black Panther” movie (true, right down to the time of year); that the highest-grossing film of the year would be “Avengers: Endgame,” if we count actual revenues during calendar 2019 (true, both worldwide and domestic); and that if we were instead to count all revenues for the movie’s run, the late-December-premiering “Star Wars: Episode IX” would win (I thought this was a slam dunk, but between tepid reviews and fissures in the fan base, I now believe this one may not work out.)

That despite the openly expressed skepticism of the federal judge overseeing the case, the $69 billion merger of CVS and Aetna would go forward. True.

That wealthy progressives who continue to sneer at the Republican tax cut as a giveaway to the rich would not offer the U.S. Treasury their gains from the rate reductions. True — and now members of Congress from high-tax blue states are demanding that their well-heeled supporters get an even bigger cut.

And that — sorry, but I can’t resist repeating — the Washington Nationals would win the World Series over the Houston Astros!

2020’s Predictions

Now we come to my predictions for 2020. As always, not all are seriously meant but some are meant more seriously meant than they might appear. I will leave it to the reader to figure out which are which.

1. Except for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the Democratic presidential candidates will condemn the Secure Act’s new limits on the ability of non-spouses who inherit retirement accounts to stretch their disbursements over a long period of time. In particular, the candidates will agree that adult children who inherit should be able to leave the money invested for as long as they like. (Those who voted for the new rules will say they didn’t understand the implications.) Most of the candidates will stop short of promising repeal, however, and will instead promise unspecified adjustments.

2. Due less to government spying than to the growing popularity of Amazon’s Ring and similar devices, the number of surveillance cameras in the world will blow swiftly past recent estimates of one billion. By the end of 2020, all but a fraction of the outdoor spaces in most cities around the world will be recorded on video somewhere, and significant inroads will have been made in suburbs and towns. (Say goodbye to the “shadow map.”)

3. Speaking of technology, for the second year in a row, the final appropriation for NASA will be insufficient to allow any significant progress on its goal of returning to the Moon by 2024. Rather than surrender the dream, proponents will push the realization a couple of years further down the road.

4. Despite concerns by consumer activists, the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint will survive judicial scrutiny.

5. The New England Patriots will win Super Bowl LIV in February. No, I’m not a particular Patriots fan. But I pick them every year anyway, because … well, come on. Even if you’re a Patriot hater, you know I’m right.

6. Due to global warming, the rate at which the Arctic ice cap is melting will continue to increase. (This has become an even easier prediction than picking the Patriots.) Meanwhile, such innovative ideas for mitigation as pumping river water southward instead of letting it flow north will be rejected by climate change skeptics as too expensive and by climate change activists as a distraction from the urgent need to sign lots of treaties.

7. Swirling rumors that Russia might annex its longtime ally Belarus will drive dictator Alexander Lukashenko to seek rapprochement with the U.S. and the West. Already Belarus imports nearly half a billion dollars worth of goods from the U.S. annually, with fertilizer leading the way. Russian boss Vladimir Putin will view closer ties between Washington and Minsk as a strategic threat and begin to rattle his sabers. President Donald Trump will assure everyone that his “good friend” Putin will “allow Belarus to go its own way.” Pundits will jump not only on “good friend” but also on “allow.”

8. The highest grossing film of the year will be Warner Brothers’ “Wonder Woman 1984.” People will look around and say, “Wait, this intellectual property isn’t owned by Disney? Is that even allowed?” Disney, wondering the same thing, will take swift measures to fix the problem.

9. A congressional near-ban on vaping products will pass and be signed into law by President Trump, well in advance of serious clinical studies about potential health hazards.

10. Despite news reports to the contrary, Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, accused of rape by two black women, will announce unequivocally that he will not be seeking the governorship of the state, or even another term in office.

11. The U.S. stock market will continue to rise through the first half of the year, bringing several new highs. As the political conventions approach during the summer, the market will begin to stutter. When the election season reaches full swing, we will see a significant drop, which the left will call a collapse and the right will call a correction. After the election, the markets will rise sharply.

12. The Los Angeles Angels will be the surprise team of the baseball season, but will lose in the playoffs to the Houston Astros, who will go on to defeat the Atlanta Braves (the other surprise team) in the World Series. (Bonus prediction: If Braves star Josh Donaldson jumps to the Washington Nationals, then the Nationals will reach the World Series once again, where the Astros will get revenge for 2019.)

13. Speaking of sports, nobody in the news media will offer any but the most half-hearted apology for the cravenness and stupidity of running all those photos of the Army-Navy game and asking whether the cadets who circled thumbs and forefingers were flashing white power signs.

14. Despite concerns raised in other countries, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will adhere to its position that there is no scientific evidence of any health problem from the trace amounts of nitrosamines in some prescription medications.

15. In the presidential election, the Democrats will flip Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin but the Republicans will flip New Hampshire. The result will be a tie in the electoral college. Under Article II, section 1, of the Constitution, the choice must then be made by the House of Representatives. Democrats cheer the perspicacity of the Framers until they realize that when the House sits to break an electoral tie, each state gets one vote. At that point Democrats remember that the Framers were white supremacists trying to protect slavery, and that the opinions of such monsters should play no role in contemporary governance.

The 26 states that have a majority red House delegation will vote Republican; the 22 states that have a majority blue delegation vote Democratic. The other two states, where the delegations are divided, will cast no vote, resulting in another tie.

The issue will be thrown to the courts. A letter signed by several hundred law professors will argue that all judges and justices appointed by President Donald Trump should recuse themselves, as they are likely to be biased. Television commentators will take up the cry. Conservative bloggers will reply that the argument is “another” attempted coup d’état.

Before the courts can rule, the political parties will agree to hold a new presidential election in February of 2021. Under the agreement, Trump will remains in office until that time but can take no action without the concurrence of Congress. Lawsuits will immediately be filed to block the plan, including by Trump himself, who will claim that not having been defeated in the election, he should win by default.

Alas, we don’t know how the lawsuits will come out, because my crystal ball runs only through 2020.

Those are my predictions for 2020. For you, my loyal readers, I wish a new year full of awe, joy, rationality, civility, and love.

The post From Amazon Ring to NASA Moon Project: 15 Predictions for 2020 appeared first on Businessliveme.com.

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newagesispage · 5 years

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OCTOBER 2019

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Stephen King has released yet another: The Institute

*****

Salmon Rushdie has given us Quichotte

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October 1: Jimmy Carter is 95!! Go Jimmy

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For some new discoveries and theories on the often told tale, check out Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA and the secret history of the 60,s by Tom O’Neill.

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Metallica has cancelled their tour.

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The Creamery Bridge in Vermont was closed for a time because of a Sasquatch scare.

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Days alert: Woo Hoo!! Dr. Rolf is back!! ** Why do they keep using that ‘WET PAINT’ sign all over the town square? A joke? Really painting the sets and they just leave them up for an inside laugh? ** The Shah/Jen story was good.. it showed what a good actor he really was. He was always so blah! It’s funny that as he left us , we finally get his back story. He even mentioned Norman Bates. ** Stefan is out. Claire is in. I loved Dr. Rolf’s “pro life” line. Will many of the young girls get pregnant, ( think Lani, Ciara, Gabi, Sarah, Haley and Kristen) and will all the babies get mixed up and will Days jump a year ahead? Well, that’s the rumor. ** What is up with Hope?

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Senator Chuck Grassley is applying for his second bailout since October for the farm he owns. ** $30 billion in welfare has been given to farmers.

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This whole vaping scare is not really a surprise. Why do companies have to be so greedy and fill these with nicotine anyway? Why do good flavors have to be taken off the market because parents can’t keep them away from the kids? Can’t we have fun flavored simple mist in a vaping apparatus that has no dangerous chemicals? So many people just need that occasional outlet and something to do when relaxing.

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Spy devices were found near the White House. They believe Israelis are responsible.

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Word is that around Liberty University, Jerry Falwell Jr. uses fear in dealing with staff and sends them pictures of his wife in sexual situations.

****

They need to make a biopic about Rickie Lee Jones and it should star Hillary Swank. JS

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A CIA source has been pulled from Russia they say because Trump can’t be trusted not to tell Putin who he is. The operative is the agent who confirmed the interference in the 2016 election and has worked there for decades.

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Rose McGowan and some of the Me too movers and shakers would like Lisa Bloom to be disbarred after her dealings with Harvey Weinstein.

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Mark Sanford is running for President.

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Sarah Palin’s husband has filed for divorce.

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Stacey Dash was arrested for domestic battery in Florida.

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Stranger Things has been renewed for season 4.

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Hey.. Robert King.. Glad that U R back!

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People from Alabama were calling the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in a panic after scary clown 45 included them in the path of Hurricane Dorian. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross threatened to fire meteorologists who contradicted the idiot.

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John Legend and Chrissy Teigen got into it with the Pres. She called him a pussy ass bitch.

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In the 80’s, 80% of our clothing were made here in the U.S., now it is 3%.

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The House Judiciary committee is holding hearings about hush money to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels.

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Conversion therapy leader, McKrae Game has announced he is gay.

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It is odd that we don’t hear more about women who are addicted to crime shows. It is such a thing.

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Weight Watchers is not WW. OK.

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North Carolina’s political maps have been deemed unconstitutional and must be redrawn.

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In Nashville, Rev. Dan Reehil has banned Harry Potter books at the St. Edwards School

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Why does Fallon imitate his guests all the time? He is always repeating what they do much like a child would.

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Scary Clown’s personal assistant, Madeline Westerhout is out.** John Bolton is out.

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$32.50 for a Trump key chain? What?

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SNL started off the season with a bang. Woody Harrelson hosted and ended by showing support for Greta Thunberg. The next hosts will be Phoebe Waller- Bridge, David harbor, Kristen Stewart and Eddie Murphy.

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A man was chopping down an old diseased tree when a cannonball fell out of it. This particular cannonball in a tree was near a home that was used as a hospital during the first battel of independence, Mo. in the Civil War.

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In Kentucky, Mitch McConnell said yes to treasury funds for an aluminum plant backed by a Russian oligarch. He said no to treasury funds for coal miner’s health care and pensions.

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Joe Biden pledges to take no fossil fuel money but then attended a fundraiser hosted by Andrew Goldman, founder of Natural Gas Company, Western LNG.** It’s so sad, Biden leads which makes it seem that the people who pay the least attention decide who is going to run this place.** He really has to stop saying, “Look”, all the time.

*****

The Sept. 12 Dem debate was exciting, I loved the kudos that Biden and then others gave to Beto for his actions in Texas after the shootings. Other than that Biden seemed to stumble a lot especially with his, “make sure the kids hear words” stuff. O’Rourke seems to have finally hit his stride with, “Hell yes, we’re gonna take your AR-15’s.” I’m not even sure I agree but I loved so much that he had the guts to say it. I’m in! His only real problem was the color of his tie, it washed him out. Later, Briscoe Cain sent a tweet to Beto: My AR-15 is ready for you.** Yang, as usual was not given enough time but he did calm the others when they wanted to spar. He spoke so clearly and did not sidestep. He had a great point with the U.S. not starting wars because we are not too good at rebuilding. Case in point: Puerto Rico. He also proposed $100 in democracy dollars so people can participate and give to the candidates they believe in. He seemed to tear up when talking about missing his son’s first day at school. His salesmen pitch like giveaway was too much though. ** Buttigieg had a good idea with his ‘community rural visas’ to bring immigration everywhere.** Warren and Sanders were straight forward with no real surprises. Gotta thank Bernie for reminding us that he didn’t vote for Bush’s war or Trumps military spending bills and the crowd seemed to love him. Both at the debate and after (like Bari Weiss on Maher’s overtime), people keep calling Bernie ‘President’. Accidents? ** Harris was cool and calm but seemed a bit scripted. She was the only one to really bring up Trump. ** Protestors had to be cleared as Biden started his final words. They were yelling, “We are DACA recipients. Our lives are at risk.” I’m sure it had to unnerve him as he began to talk of his sad life and his family. The late night comics said that he did a good job but I didn’t think so.** Klobachar told us a lot about herself. I think I learned the most about her. Castro, who I really liked a lot at the first debate, should just get out after this performance. ** Why was Rahm Emanuel there?** The Trump campaign sent a banner flying over Texas Southern University. ** DeBlasio is out.

*****

By the end of September, Warren is #1 in New Hampshire. She is 2 points behind in the nation and Yang is #4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“We will no longer sell the AR-15 to the public.”- Colt Thanks Beto!! A simple candidate has made more positive change than Scary Clown. Stop being so scared Dems, change can happen!

*****

When Warren was on Colbert she said,” Why don’t we just quit now and do a selfie line? The selfies are the most fun about this. Really? The night before, after her rally she selfied for 4 hours.

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Young people will propel the changes in the views of this country. The young demographic thinks differently on guns and climate and the young usually rule eventually. VOTE!!

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An intelligence official filed a formal whistle blower complaint against our ruthless Archie Bunker on steroids about his interaction with a foreign leader. It seems that it was a phone call with Ukraine’s Zelinski about the Biden’s but things are still unfolding. Did he pressure people to work with Guilliani? The transcript is out and Pelosi has started a formal impeachment inquiry. When the WH sent talking points to their republican colleagues to try to calm the waters, they accidently sent them to the Dems too. The WH also moved the info to a private server as we now know there is even more stuff there. Wouldn’t it be justice if the private server brought him down? ** Blame is flying everywhere. Trump has thrown Barr and Rudy and even Pence into the mess. Rudy tells us that he went to the Ukraine for the state department but they say no! He has been so rude and unhinged on the talk circuit. He has now been subpoened.** Joseph Maguire, acting director of National intelligence was only on the job a few days when he was informed of the whistleblower complaint. He was questioned all day in hearings and was very polite. Both sides could calm down on the snarky.** The Secretary of State is basically holding down 3 jobs. The WH is quite under staffed and there is talk that they may bring in outside people to handle the situation but Trump does not want that. The campaign is where they will really fight, that is where all their money is. ** The ambassador to Ukraine has stepped down.**

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Now word is that Trump and Barr tried to get Australian PM Scott Morrison to look into those who were behind the Russia investigation. Pompeo is now getting pulled in too. It is really like the tin foil hat conspiracy guy down the street is running this country.

*****

Never compare your insides to someone else’s outside. -Thank you Rob Lowe

*****

Hillary and Chelsea are headed out to promote their new book, Gutsy Women. It is impeccable timing but I am sure she is so sick of talking about the big blowhard elephant in the room. It really is time to hear from her again.

*****

Law and Order SVO started its 21st season with a little nod to Gunsmoke. What a great touch.

*****

Has the military really spent $200,000 on Trump’s Scottish resort?

*****

What’s up with the Cleveland Browns? They are winning.

*****

4 feet of snow in September in Montana?

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Seth Meyers went too far with his Rudy hate. I am a bit disturbed that Seth, Maher and Colbert get nearly as bold in the other direction as Fox News. Yes, these are evil people running the country and there is enough that they do without calling them out on things that are not your business. About Rudy marrying a second cousin, Seth said “that’s awful.” Don’t pass your prejudice and judgement on these people like others do on color and religion et al. Cousins can marry, it’s not illegal and how might that make the children of cousins feel?

*****

Pennsylvania Senator Michael Folmer was arrested for child porn that was on his computer and has since resigned. I am sure that if he went on Fox and said nice things about the fearless leader that he could get a job in the White House. It seems to be the way it is done, Fox is the audition.

*****

Robert C. O’Brien is the new National Security Advisor.

*****

The family of John Dillinger do not believe that he is in the grave. A body id buried in Indianapolis but they have asked for an exhumation.

*****

Millions came out on the 20th to ask for action on climate change. Go Greta Thunberg !! Some are spinning it that since she is autistic, she has been abused by her parents by being forced into her activism. I have seen no evidence this. She makes more sense than most leaders on the subject. Fox’s Michael Knowles even called her mentally ill and has since apologized. Thoughts? ** Central America is starving to death because of the impact of climate change. Reports from the Trump administration prove this and aid has been cut off which causes migration.

*****

Trump us jumping into bed with Saudi Arabia who has the 5th largest defense budget in the world. Troops are being sent to Iran.

*****

Doc Martin is here with its 9th season. The dog will fall in love. The Doc and Louisa’s relationship is doing well as their careers are shifting. It all just reminds me how much I want to live in Cornwall.

*****

The biggest grossing tours of all time as of this year are. 1. Ed Sheeran: The Divide 2. U: 360 3. Stones: A Bigger Bang 4. Guns N Roses: Not in this lifetime 5. Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams 6. Roger Waters: The Wall 7. AC/DC: Black Ice 8. Stones: No Filter 9. Bruno Mars: 24K 10. Madonna: Sticky and Sweet

*****

James Corden put Bill Maher in his place. Fat shaming is as wrong as any other. Bullying is never funny. The week after Maher’s rant, Michael Moore went on and had lost some weight. Hmmm.

*****

Hiking with Kevin has the best guests, there is really a cross section of all kinds of people. A hike seems to break down defenses and the stories are great!!

*****

The North Dakota pipeline spill that was said to be 10 gallons worth was really millions of gallons.

*****

Almost Family is a show about a sperm donor. It is good to see Tim Hutton again.

*****

A woman gets a late night show.. check out A Little Late with Lilly Singh.

*****

Prodigal Son stars Michael Sheen as a serial killer called The Surgeon.

*****

Julian Fellowes will bring us The Gilded Age about 1885 New York.

*****

Some are freaking about all the official stays at Trump properties. The whole thing is a ridiculous mess. Mitch and the boys would be screaming to the heavens if this was a different President. The really sad part is that the crews that are just there to help POTUS and the VP say the stays are so costly that their expenses won’t even cover food. ** Did a Glasgow refueling stop finally tip off the house oversight committee to the far reach of all these expenditures?** They claim there is never anything to hide. Why do they always hide everything?

*****

Demi Moore has a new tell all titled Inside Out that seems full of revelations.

*****

Check out the saga of the Donald J. Trump state park in NY which is really nothing more than a tax write off full of overgrown land and abandoned old buildings.

*****

Check out the Art Bell vault.

*****

Scary Clown was going to meet with the Taliban at Camp David as 9/11 was upon us.** The Taliban says their doors re open.**Word is that the congressional inquiry into 9/11 has 28 redacted pages which showed evidence of the Saudi’s involvement in the attacks.

*****

Scottish courts ruled that Boris Johnson illegally suspended parliament.

*****

From his reaction, Colbert behaves like Letterman in that a guest should dress a certain way. Personally, I like Conan’s casual ways. Now, I like Colbert but he also seems to push people to talk politics when they don’t really want to. Move on!

*****

“We are in a very difficult situation at the moment, especially in the U.S., where all the environmental controls that were put in place, that were just about adequate have been rolled back by the current administration so much that they are being wiped out.” –Mick Jagger

*****

“When you’re 85 years old and you have children and grandchildren, you will leave them nothing if we don’t vote these people out of office in Brazil, in London, in Washington. They are ruining the world.” –Donald Sutherland

*****

Check out the new film, The Burnt Orange Heresy.

*****

Finn Wittrock, Paul Giamatti and Amy Irving will appear in A Mouthful of Air.

*****

“The lungs of the earth are in flames.” – Leo Dicaprio. The Amazon, the world’s most diverse eco system is getting no help from its own leaders and they won’t accept help from the G7. It’s all about building more crap to them. It is as if three fourths of the U.S. was on fire.** Wouldn’t it be a great idea if Jeff Bezos, who has taken flak for not paying taxes and for workers conditions would step up and pledge a huge sum to help save the rainforest that bears its name?? The world needs heroes.

*****

Better Call Saul has wrapped season 5.

*****

Hasbro has bought Death Row Records.

*****

The San Francisco board of supervisors has declared the NRA a terrorist organization.

*****

New SNL cast member Shane Gillis who was in hot water after racist remarks surfaced, has been let go before he ever hit the stage.

*****

Mike Pence claims he was bit by American Pharoah but his trainer is not too sure about that.

*****

Obama Netflix?

*****

Kieran Culkin and Jazz Charton had a little girl that they named Kinsey Sioux.

*****

Dollface on Hulu looks interesting.

*****

In sexual harassment news: Brett Kavanaugh has been hit with other allegations. Not all accusations are coming from the victims.** Placido Domingo has been accused by 20 women of unwanted advances.

*****

The71st Emmys have come and gone. There is a lot to celebrate in television right now with over 500 scripted original shows. Highlights include Norman Lear winning for Live in front of a studio audience: Norman Lears’s All in the Family and The Jeffersons to become the oldest winner ever at 97. Other winners were Leaving Neverland for best doc. Glow won for stunt coordination. Succession won for their theme and for writing. RuPaul won for reality host and Drag Race won for show. Russian Doll took home cinematoghraphy. Carpool Karaoke : When Corden met McCartney:Live from Liverpool took home a statue. Peter Dinklage won for best supporting actor, Fleabag won big and Game of Thrones took home the top prize. Other winners were Bill Hader, Patricia Arquette, Ben Whishaw, Billy Porter and Jodie Comer. SNL with Adam Sandler and Last Week Tonight were winners. I was so excited to see that Ozark won for Julia Garner and Bateman for directing. Succession won for directing. I thought the fashion went wrong with Amy Poehler, and Dascha Polanco. There was awesome fashion with Regina King, Viola Davis, Maya Rudolph, Bob Odenkirk, Billy Porter, Angela Bassett, Michelle Williams, Kerry Washington, Zendaya, Sarah Silverman, Catherine Zeta- Jones, Karamo Brown, Gwyneth Paltro, Catherine O’Hara, Emilia Clarke, Phoebe Waller Bridge and Niecy Nash.** The In memoriam was fucked up when they honored Andre Previn but showed a very much alive Leonard Slacken. Let me run that part of the show, they are always messing that up. It may not matter much longer because the ratings were so low. It is already a shame that they don’t broadcast the daytime Emmy’s.

*****

R.I.P. Jim Leavelle, Carol Lynley, T Boone Pickens, Daniel Johnston, Robert Frank, Ric Ocasek, Eddie Money, Sander Vanocur , Peter Lindbergh, Robert Haunter, Jacques Chirac , Jose Jose , Bob Esty, Wayne Fitzgerald, Jessye Norman and Cokie Roberts.

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newsnigeria · 5 years

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Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/world-news/boris-johnson-brexit-deep-state/

Boris Johnson, Brexit and the Deep State

by Nick Griffin for Ooduarere viaThe Saker Blog

Nick Griffin, a life-long opponent of the European Union and former Member of the European Parliament, explains why – after three years of believing that the rulers of Britain would block Brexit, he now believes it is more likely than not to be delivered.

Are the British people really going to get Brexit? For years, the answer given by well-informed realists has had to be ‘No!’ The UK’s ruling elite was so thoroughly Europhile that they would do whatever it took to block the will of the British people, and Brussels would go along with this deceit, just as they did when the French, the Dutch and the Irish were sold out to the EU by their own masters.

But today I’m going to tell you that it is now more likely than not that Brexit WILL happen. Indeed, assuming the new Boris Johnson regime manages to cling on to power, or is forced into a general election in which Johnson reaches some sort of deal with Nigel Farage, it is now virtually guaranteed.

Of course, there is a faint possibility that the whole Johnson business is a giant game of three-dimensional chess, and that he’s running an elaborate scam with no intention of getting Britain out. But, realistically, if that was the plan, there would be absolutely no purpose in delaying such a betrayal, still less in raising so many expectations.

To encourage and then dash such hopes would be ludicrously self-defeating, so we have to assume that Johnson and Co are serious and that – barring a series of events outside of their control, they WILL deliver Brexit.

So what has changed? Has the Europhile British elite suddenly had a change of heart and decided to do the decent thing by the people who pay their inflated salaries?

Of course not. Leopards don’t change their spots. But, in the case of the UK elite, it was always divided into two leopards, with very different spots. One of them, for years now the stronger animal, was blue with yellow, spots – a thoroughly European beast.

The colours of the, until recently, smaller animal are harder to discern. At first glance, they could be seen to resemble the American flag although, of course, that’s just part of the camouflage. Look closer and the thing’s coat actually looks more like a mass of intertwined dollar signs and Israeli flags!

Even within the USA, opinion has been divided on Britain’s membership of the European Union. Obama, for example, more or less ordered the Brits to vote to Remain – a factor in the decision of quite a few of them to vote to Leave! The neo-cons, by contrast, have become much more hostile to Brussels – particularly since the EU started to display alarming degrees of sympathy for the Palestinians.

It wasn’t always like that. During the Cold War, the US elite was more or less unanimously in favour of British membership of the EU, which right from the start was consistently promoted by the CIA as a block to balance the Soviet Union.

When the Communist regime collapsed in 1989, the US power elite gradually shifted its position on the EU. It moved from fervent support to a sort of agnostic, nothing to do with us boredom. But then it gradually became clear that the European Union was steadily becoming the pawn of the German industrial complex.

Even worse, the Germans were beginning to cosy up to Russia. Within just a few years, the combination of German manufacturing, the European market and Russia’s raw materials were clearly presenting a future threat to the global hegemony of Wall Street, the Federal Reserve and the American military-industrial complex.

On top of this, the in-built liberal-socialist majority within the EU was making it an increasingly large stumbling block to the globalist privatisation free-for-all favoured by the ultra-capitalist ideology promoted by the extremely influential followers of Ayn Rand.

Franco-German moves to create a European Army were seen as a challenge to NATO and to its Stateside leadership, and only served to strengthen the arguments of the anti-EU faction within the US elite.

All this led a significant section of the US Deep state to move towards hostility to the European Union, and to put in place measures to undermine it. From about 2008, this included the relentless media promotion (and, no doubt, funding) of dissident, Euro-sceptic political movements, particularly UKIP in Britain and the Five Star Movement in Italy.

Extremely well-funded globalist and neo-con think tanks, particularly the Henry Jackson Society and the London-based Policy Exchange, began to organise. Their mission – to lay the theoretical groundwork for a globalist, economically liberal, Atlanticist faction within British politics to challenge the pro-EU majority.

To cut a long story short, that faction has just grabbed control of the British ship of state! The Europhile elite have not changed their minds, the highly honed survival instinct of the British Conservative party, which has made it the oldest political party in the world, has simply handed the reins of power to a different bunch of politicians, in hock to a different foreign power. The UK just lurched even further out of the orbit of the Brussels bureaucrats and even closer to the Anglo-Zionist Empire.

Johnson and his gang really do appear committed to delivering Brexit, but before those who voted for it in the first place get too excited, it has to be said that, in delivering the letter of what the people voted for, this bunch will go on to drive a coach and horses through the spirit of that vote.

Because the British people voted Brexit fundamentally in a collective cry of anger and pain over being turned into marginalised outsiders in their own country. Brussels rule was conflated not just with losing our traditional weights and measures, but with the destruction of the old industries – fishing, coal, steel, ship-building – and the devastation of the working class communities that relied on them.

And, of course, with mass immigration, including that from former British colonies in the Third World, an influx which if anything was slowed down by the more recent arrival of generally far more assimilable East Europeans, courtesy of the EU.

On top of that was all the unease of millions of normal people over the political elite’s Gaderene rush to embrace social ultra-liberalism, in particular dripping wet law and order policies and a mania for LGBTQ+ triumphalism. Relentless newspaper headlines about crackpot rulings by the European Court of Justice led to ‘Europe’ getting the blame for a breakdown in law and order and in traditional justice.

Finally, with the majority of the political class urging people to vote to Remain, voting to Leave became a way of punishing the political elite, not just in Brussels, but in Westminster as well.

And yet, looking at the new Boris Johnson cabinet, and listening to his first few speeches as new Prime Minister, it is already all too clear that, while we are going to get Brexit, it certainly will not be the Brexit that the majority of Brits thought they were voting for!

To illustrate this, let’s take a brief, non-exhaustive look at some of the key players in the Johnson regime.

Let’s start with the man himself, noting the speed with which he spoke out about his pride in his partial Turkish Muslim and east European Jewish ancestry and the way in which, if ‘Islamophobia’ or ‘anti-Semitism’ rear their heads, he automatically finds himself thinking in terms of those ancestral loyalties, rather than what is good for Britain – as the British people are surely entitled to insist on in their Prime Minister.

Then, in one of his final campaign speeches, Johnson told the LGBT+ Conservatives (the tautology neatly sums up the state of the party and, more generally, Britain’s ruling political and media classes) that he has their back:

“I will continue to champion LGBT+ equality, get tough on hate crime and ensure that we break down barriers to a fairer society,” Johnson said, according to the group.

“We must do more to ensure that trans rights are protected and those who identify as trans or intersex are able to live their lives with dignity,” he continued, noting that he was one of the first senior party leaders to support same-sex marriage.

Following his meeting with the queen to officially accept the premiership, Johnson specifically mentioned the LGBTQ+ community in his speech outside No. 10 Downing Street.

“[The U.K.’s] brand and political personality is admired and even loved around the world for our inventiveness, for our humour, for our universities, our scientists, our armed forces, our diplomacy for the equalities on which we insist — whether race or gender or LGBT …….. and for the values we stand for around the world,” he said

Once upon a time, British political leaders justified going to war by speaking of making the world safe for democracy. Boris Johnson started his premiership by committing Britain to a global struggle to make the world safe for buggery!

Nor is this fixation with LGBTQ+ new. Although the never-satisfied ‘gay’ lobby is whining about a couple of throwaway ‘homophobic comments’ he made decades ago, Johnson voted in 2003 to repeal Section 28 of the Local Government Act of 1988, by which Margaret Thatcher prohibited local authorities from “promoting homosexuality” or “pretended family relationships.”

This vote opened the door to the indoctrination of school-children with homosexual propaganda. Johnson also voted for civil partnerships for homosexuals and attacked the institution of marriage as ‘bourgeois convention’.

Johnson has also wasted no time reiterating his support for an amnesty for huge numbers of illegal immigrants and boasting of sharing the views of pro-immigration Labour party MPs. Ominously, he has also refused to pledge even to attempt to stick to the upper limits on immigration promised – but of course not delivered – by his predecessor Theresa May.

With Brexit making it harder for Poles and Hungarians to come to Britain, it is already clear from Johnson’s waffle about making the UK ‘open’ and ‘welcoming immigrants’, that, far from stopping immigration as millions of voters expected, Johnson’s Brexit will merely swap Polish immigrants for more Pakistanis, Bulgarians for Botswanans.

Johnson probably will set Britain free from Brussels, but he is also openly committed to speeding up the process by which the duly ‘liberated’ Brits are replaced in their own country by a further flood of immigrants. And the social liberals posing as Johnson’s fake conservatives will urge the stupid Brits to suck it up and celebrate their added diversity.

We’ve already seen the start of this process in Johnson creating what he refers to as a “cabinet for modern Britain” – wording that The Guardian’s Kehinde Andrews rightly described as a “euphemism for non-white”.

Leading Johnson’s Great Replacement charge will be Home Secretary Priti Patel, who has spoken gushingly of how the new government will “ continue to push for a dynamic, global Britain that is outward looking ……Our vision is for a truly global country – one where we welcome the brightest and best, where we are more outward facing, and where we decide who comes here based on what they have to offer.”

The Brits can’t say they weren’t warned. Because capitalism demands not just cheap labour, but also an endless supply of new consumers. Even the worse educated and least assimilable featherless biped on the planet thus has plenty to offer big business. The door is going to open wide to them all.

Patel was forced to resign two years ago after holding secret meetings with Israeli ministers. The meetings included a visit to an Israeli army field hospital in the occupied Golan Heights, where wounded Al Qaeda and ISIS fighters were patched up and sent back to continue fighting against the pro-Christian government in Syria. Patel asked officials within her department to look into whether British aid money could be funneled into this medical centre.

The same dangerous obsequiousness to Israel has also been shown by Johnson’s new Chancellor, Sajid Javid. Two years after becoming MP, Javid told the Conservative Friends of Israel annual lunch that as a British born Muslim if he had to go and live in the Middle East, he would not go to a Muslim majority country: “There is only one place I could possibly go. Israel. The only nation in the Middle East that shares the same democratic values as Britain”.

He is talking, let us remind ourselves, about the last openly racist state on the planet, whose supporters around the world insist on the right of Jews to have their own exclusive homeland, at the very same time as denouncing any attempt by any white nation to restrict immigration or preserve traditional ethnic identities as ‘neo-Nazi’. And the state which has done more than any other –except Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Barak Obama’s White House – to fund, arm and aid the Islamist head-cutters at war in Syria.

In her resignation letter Patel admitted she “fell below the high standards that are expected of a Secretary of State.” Not for the first time! In the past she has been criticised for taking trips to Bahrain funded by that country’s repression Salafist regime, and attending a conference in Washington paid for by the Henry Jackson society.

As already noted, the Henry Jackson operation is one of the best-funded and most dangerous of all the trans-Atlantic neo-con think tanks. It constantly agitates for hostility to Russia, Iraq-war style meddling in the Middle East on behalf of Eretz Israel and Big Oil, and for a poisonous mixture of ultra-right-wing economics and social liberalism – including the privatisation of national assets and the promotion of LGBTQ+ agendas at the expense of traditional values.

The same sort of poison is promoted in Britain by the closely connected Policy Exchange think-tank. This was founded by Michael Gove, who Johnson just appointed as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, in many ways his political Chief of Staff in parliament.

Gove’s counterpart within the government itself is Munira Mirza, who Johnson just appointed Director of the Number 10 Policy Unit. She was previously Development Director at Policy Exchange and also worked on a range of its publications, including Living Apart Together: British Muslims and the paradox of multiculturalism.

As with all the other material coming out of the Johnson camp about multi-culturalism, this argued that the chief problem with Islam is that it hinders ‘integration’ – i.e. the process by which traditional British cultural and ethnic identity is replaced by the ultimate corporate dream of an atomised mass of rootless, identical consumers. And by which the traditional values once upheld by Christians and now defended mainly by Muslims are to be replaced by the anti-morality of the LGBTQ+ brigade and corporations greedy for pink pounds and rainbow dollars.

As with so many neo-cons on both sides of the Pond, Mirza started off as a Trotskyite. She was a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party. When it was dissolved in 1987 she followed other key comrades into the Living Marxism operation and then Spiked magazine, which has very successfully operated a policy of entryism into what passes for politica thought in Britain. Her Wiki entry quotes an article in the London Review of Books which noted that “Many of Munira’s ex party members have become influential in Conservative or Eurosceptic circles since the dissolution of their party, whilst remaining closely associated with each other’s endeavours.”

This includes the former party leader Frank Furedi, whose wife Ann is one of Britain’s most powerful abortionists. Strange ‘conservatives’ indeed! But, there again, one reading of these ‘ex’-Trotskyites’ new-found fondness for ultra-right-wing economics and privatisation is that the resulting exploitation and public anger will lead to the revolutionary crisis that eluded them when they were all wearing Che T-shirts in the late sixties! Or perhaps, it just pays better!

Coming back closer to Johnson, his campaign chief was Gavin Williamson. When Defence Secretary, Williamson was a notorious hawk against Russia and China, and for greater UK involvement in the Middle East. He also spoke out vigorously against Britain’s continued participation in Galileo, the global navigation satellite system created by the European Union. He is one of those pushing for a new UK system, compatible with the American GPS, and fully integrated with Five Eyes, the intelligence alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and the UK. As with all such manoeuvres, it is hard to see where money gives way to ideology and power-politics and, of course, they are hopelessly entangled.

It is Williamson who has given one of the clearest glimpses into the Atlanticist obsession of the new regime: “Tthe cornerstone of European security is not the European Union, it is Nato. Let’s be absolutely clear. Our involvement in Nato is going to be there, long, enduring and for many, many defence secretaries after me.”

Another part of the Anglo-American elite can also be seen when you turn over another stone in the Johnson camp.

.Andrew Griffith, the new chief business adviser to Number 10 is a former Rothschild investment banker who joined Rupert Murdoch’s Sky in 1999, and became finance chief for the group in 2008.

Johnson has been spending up to 13 hours a day at Griffith’s lavish £9.5m townhouse,

A Johnson campaign source said Griffith had kindly opened up his home to let members of the transition team meet there. If paying the piper leads to the donor calling the tune, how much more power accrues to the Rothschild/Murdoch man providing the dancers with a 9.5 million pound house?

Finally, we just have time to consider Johnson’s new Chief Whip, Mark Spencer. Taking the new regime’s enthusiasm for LGBTQ+ issues towards its logical liberal intolerant end, he has said that Christian teachers who dare to voice opposition to same-sex marriage should be subject to ‘Extremism Disruption Orders’. In other words, legislation brought in supposedly to stop Islamist hate-preachers recruiting terrorists is to be used against Christians who stand by the teachings of the Bible!

So, yes, we can now expect Brexit from Johnson. But Britain is also going to get more mass immigration. And ruthless demonization of anyone who dares oppose it. More LGBTQ+ propaganda for children – and ruthless repression of anyone who dares oppose it.

More pressure for British participation in neo-con, Zionist and Salafist wars in Syria, Iran and Yemen. More insane and dangerous sabre-rattling against traditionalist and Christian Russia.

And more looting of what remains of Britain’s common wealth by the privatisation vultures. Finishing off the monetisation of the NHS is sure to surface as a great ambition for this corporate puppet regime sooner rather than later. Almost certainly a couple of months before Johnson delivers Brexit and obliterates Jeremy Corbyn in a snap general election.

It remains to be seen whether the globalist kleptomaniacs behind the new regime will also find a way to turn the removal of EU subsidies into an opportunity to arrange a massive transfer of farmland in Britain from farmers, workers’ pension funds and the old landed aristocracy and into the hands of global corporations. If that’s on the agenda too, remember where you heard it first!

All the above presupposes, of course, that the juvenile and utterly irresponsible anti-Russian, anti-Iranian and anti-Chinese sabre-rattling – of which the Johnson regime is as guilty as its predecessors – doesn’t actually start World War Three. Because, if it does, there’ll be nothing left to privatise and loot except the last tin of beans in the irradiated rubble.

Don’t get me wrong: This is not to condemn Brexit. The British people voted for it, and its delivery will be a Good Thing (not least because it has added, and will continue to add, to the instability in the EU which has disrupted the efforts of its bureaucratic rulers to maintain a firmly anti-Russian line, and because, however imperfect, Brexit is a blow for national sovereignty against a particularly nasty little imperial project.

All of us who, one way or another, helped set in motion or advance the process which defeated the pro-EU whores who had sold Britain to Brussels can be rightly proud of having done their bit to break the claws of the largest leopard in the London-based elite.

But you can also be sure that the British majority are going to be mightily disappointed with the new Johnson regime leopard and how Brexit turns out. They voted to restore the old Britain, particularly the Old England. What they will get instead is an even faster dissolution than we saw under EU rule.

They voted against ‘political correctness gone mad’ and in a bid to cling on to traditional values. What they will get is a quasi-Trotskyite cultural Marxist regime – all the more destructive for having the label ‘conservative’ – which grinds their faces – and especially the faces of their children and grandchildren – in LGBTQ+ filth.

They voted Brexit hoping to stop immigration. Instead, the next ten years will see an absolutely swamping change in Britain’s demographics, as the dying early Baby Boomers are replaced with Johnson’s ‘New Britons’ from all corners of the world.

They voted to kick out a Brussels Occupation Government. What they will get instead is a New York Occupation Government. Which is a polite way of putting it, for there is in fact really nothing American about America’s neocons.

“Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss”, is how the Who put it. But it was all summed up even better by the great English visionary William Morris, in A Dream of John Ball, his revolutionary classic about the very first English Peasants’ Revolt against an alien elite:

“I pondered all these things, and how men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name.”

#u.k

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thewebofslime · 5 years

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Long before the special counsel probe ended in confirming there was no collusion between President Trump and Russia, the U.S. government knew there was no evidence of a vast conspiracy between Trump and a foreign power. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate “ties between President Trump’s campaign and Russian officials” on May 17, 2017. President Obama’s director of national intelligence James Clapper had access and was privy to all the “evidence” the U.S. government collected since the Russia investigation began in July 2016. From July 2016 until Clapper’s appearance on “Meet the Press” in March 2017, not one shred of evidence linked anyone in Trump’s campaign to allegations listed in the Christopher Steele dossier or Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos’s meeting with Australian diplomat Alexander Downer. Clapper stated to Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on March 5, 2017 that the National Security Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Central Intelligence Agency had collected “no evidence” regarding “improper contacts” between Trump and Russia: CHUCK TODD: Well, that’s an important revelation at this point. Let me ask you this. Does intelligence exist that can definitively answer the following question, whether there were improper contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials? JAMES CLAPPER: We did not include any evidence in our report, and I say, ‘our,’ that’s N.S.A., F.B.I. and C.I.A., with my office, the Director of National Intelligence, that had anything, that had any reflection of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and the Russians. There was no evidence of that included in our report. CHUCK TODD: I understand that. But does it exist? JAMES CLAPPER: Not to my knowledge. CHUCK TODD: If it existed, it would have been in this report? JAMES CLAPPER: This could have unfolded or become available in the time since I left the government. CHUCK TODD: At some– JAMES CLAPPER: But at the time, we had no evidence of such collusion. So, President Obama’s top intelligence official and a man with access to FBI, CIA, and NSA surveillance on President Trump’s campaign stated categorically that no evidence existed of “any reflection of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and the Russians.” This was two months before Rosenstein appointed Mueller special counsel, and Clapper’s knowledge dated into 2017. So why did Rosenstein appoint Mueller? Furthermore, the intelligence gathered for the reports Clapper referenced was compiled in 2016 and resulted in assessments of confidence, not any guarantees or certainty of the Russians even hacking the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Clapper’s referenced joint Department of Homeland Security and FBI report begins with an actual warranty disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: This report is provided ‘as is’ for informational purposes only. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not provide any warranties of any kind regarding any information contained within. DHS does not endorse any commercial product or service referenced in this advisory or otherwise. This report makes serious allegations of election interference, alongside a disclaimer that states DHS “does not provide any warranties of any kind regarding any information” of Russia interfering in the election. The description of Russia’s cyber campaign against the United States is not backed by the United States in terms of a legal guarantee, as stated in the disclaimer. There is no certainty or guarantees regarding Democratic Party suspicion that Trump obtained Facebook ads or helped Russians hack the DNC in this report. The DHS report, like Clapper’s admission on “Meet the Press,” is simply a guess based on suspicion, not a statement on evidence. Like Obama CIA director John Brennan said during congressional hearings (0:15 on the link), “I don’t do evidence, I do intelligence.” As for the ODNI report Clapper compiled from the DHS report and intelligence derived from the NSA and possibly other agencies, there’s an even more amusing warranty disclaimer within Annex B, the last page of the document: Judgments are not intended to imply we have proof that shows something to be a fact. Assessments are based on collected information, which is often incomplete or fragmentary… High confidence generally indicates that judgments are based on high quality information from multiple sources. High confidence in a judgement; such judgments might be wrong. Therefore, if the FBI and CIA are highly confident that Russia hacked the DNC in order to embarrass Clinton, or that Facebook ads were part of a sophisticated Russian campaign, the ODNI report categorically states “such judgments might be wrong” and “judgments are not intended to imply we have proof that shows something to be a fact.” Americans still don’t know which Russian Facebook ads influenced a specific number of voters in certain swing states to vote Trump, nor did the U.S. government ever confirm the DNC-hired Crowdstrike’s analysis of DNC servers. Finally, the infamous Steele dossier is linked directly to Hillary Clinton, as explained in a Washington Post article titled “Clinton campaign, DNC paid for research that led to Russia dossier” by Adam Entous, Devlin Barrett, and Rosalind S. Helderman: The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund research that resulted in a now-famous dossier containing allegations about President Trump’s connections to Russia and possible coordination between his campaign and the Kremlin, people familiar with the matter said. Marc E. Elias, a lawyer representing the Clinton campaign and the DNC, retained Fusion GPS, a Washington firm, to conduct the research. After that, Fusion GPS hired dossier author Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer with ties to the FBI and the U.S. intelligence community… The Clinton campaign and the DNC, through the law firm, continued to fund Fusion GPS’s research through the end of October 2016, days before Election Day. Since both the DHS and ODNI reports have warranty disclaimers stating nothing written in them should be taken as fact, and the Steele dossier used by fired FBI officials James Comey, Peter Strzok, and Andrew McCabe is linked to Clinton’s funding, why was President Trump investigated by Mueller? The narrative of Russian meddling is only bolstered by “high” to “moderate” confidence assessments of the NSA, FBI, and CIA, not certainty. Mueller’s appointment, and the behavior of FBI and intelligence officials that preceded this two-year investigation, point to violations of U.S. Code 371 and a conspiracy to defraud the United States. If mere allegation, suspicion, and dossiers were enough to form investigations then Attorney General William Barr should simply pick up Peter Schweizer’s “Clinton Cash,” a book documenting alleged pay to play schemes of the Clinton Foundation, to generate evidence to open a special counsel into the Obama-era uranium deal. Democrats, however, would never allow what they did to President Trump to be leveled at them, and nothing about Clinton warrants suspicion in their minds. Ultimately, Barr and Republicans must uncover why Clapper and others investigated Clinton’s political rival with “no evidence” of a crime. H. A. Goodman is an author, columnist, and journalist published in The Hill, The Huffington Post, The Daily Caller, The Jerusalem Post, and other publications.

#TheWebOfSlime

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todaynewsstories · 6 years

Text

EU ′can no longer rely on US,′ says France′s Macron | News | DW

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said his government would unveil proposals “in the coming months” to boost security across the EU, in a bid to diminish the bloc’s reliance on the US for its defense needs.

“Europe can no longer rely on the United States for its security,” Macron said during a speech to French diplomats and lawmakers. “It is up to us to guarantee European security.”

Macron said the EU needed to “take new initiatives, build new alliances” to ensure its preservation. “I want us to launch an exhaustive review of our security with all Europe’s partners, which includes Russia,” he added.

Differences on defense

Macron’s remarks come as the White House continues to question US relations with Europe. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on Washington’s commitment to the NATO military alliance, saying the US pays far more for defense than other member states.

In 2014, NATO nations agreed to stop cuts to defense spending and pursue a target of 2 percent of GDP by 2024. But Trump has called for alliance members to reach the goal sooner or see the US “moderate” its commitment.

Although their relationship has been dubbed a “bromance,” French President Emmanuel Macron has criticized US President Donald Trump’s decisions to pull out of the Iran deal and impose tariffs against EU steel and aluminum

‘Counterweight to the US’

But defense spending isn’t the only problem straining EU-US relations. Brussels has criticized the US for pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal and reimposing sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Meanwhile, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker last month managed to avert a trade war by negotiating a deal with Trump after Washington imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum exports against its economic ally, the EU.

Read more: When does a trade spat become an actual trade war?

Last week, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas made similar remarks to Macron’s in a guest article for German business newspaper Handelsblatt, saying Europe must “take an equal share of the responsibility” and “form a counterweight to the US.”

“If we go it alone, we will fail in this task,” Maas said. “The outstanding aim of our foreign policy is to build a sovereign, strong Europe. Only by joining forces with France and other European nations can a balance with the US be achieved.”