Hi there, !
Today Fri 12/23/2022 Thu 12/22/2022 Wed 12/21/2022 Tue 12/20/2022 Mon 12/19/2022 Sun 12/18/2022 Sat 12/17/2022 Archives
Rantburg
534764 articles and 1865099 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 60 articles and 226 comments as of 17:44.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion    Local News   
Sudan protesters face tear gas, stun grenades on uprising anniversary
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 6: Politix
7 22:09 CrazyFool [12] 
3 23:13 trailing wife [8] 
2 18:47 CrazyFool [7] 
1 22:56 746 [5] 
5 15:14 swksvolFF [9] 
1 13:14 Skidmark [11] 
12 12:39 M. Murcek [24] 
9 13:58 NoMoreBS [8] 
20 23:22 trailing wife [10] 
2 09:34 Warthog [11] 
4 11:17 M. Murcek [12] 
3 10:45 M. Murcek [12] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
10 17:41 rhodesiafever [13]
0 [8]
0 [7]
0 [12]
0 [7]
0 [6]
0 [11]
0 [12]
0 [8]
0 [7]
Page 2: WoT Background
0 [6]
3 23:57 ACA JOE [15]
0 [11]
0 [9]
1 10:33 Skidmark [5]
0 [10]
0 [10]
3 21:29 Muggsy Omuter9925 [17]
Page 3: Non-WoT
1 16:43 Besoeker [10]
1 22:44 Canuckistan sniper [10]
1 21:10 Muggsy Omuter9925 [8]
2 21:55 Anomalous Sources [9]
7 20:26 Muggsy Omuter9925 [9]
5 13:32 Frank G [7]
6 17:52 NN2N1 [9]
13 14:35 Raj [11]
7 09:36 Skidmark [7]
5 15:20 swksvolFF [13]
7 18:59 ed in texas [11]
2 14:37 Cesare [2]
1 09:40 Skidmark [3]
4 17:20 Anomalous Sources [5]
4 19:02 ed in texas [5]
5 21:51 Anomalous Sources [6]
8 10:24 Frank G [5]
7 15:26 CrazyFool [10]
6 15:05 magpie [10]
16 16:38 Mullah Richard [6]
Page 4: Opinion
2 18:20 NoMoreBS [4]
3 16:27 Rex Mundi [5]
10 22:38 trailing wife [3]
4 09:57 Skidmark [4]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
0 [3]
6 10:36 Skidmark [6]
4 08:12 Vinegar Spolusing6485 [6]
0 [4]
3 09:33 Omineling Forkbeard1962 [4]
0 [6]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried back in Bahamian custody after apparent confusion in court over extradition
[NBCNEWS] The 30-year-old FTX CEO was arrested Dec. 12 in the Bahamas and initially resisted extradition to the U.S. to face a spate of charges, including fraud.
Posted by: Fred || 12/20/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mix-ups can be costly. I look for him to be accidentally extradited to an ISIS encampment along with a crate of machetes that were w route to Brazil.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/20/2022 4:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Give him hope, then take it away.
Is he being interrogated?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2022 10:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Send in the US basketball star Brittney Griner extradition team with palletized USD. Hat tip to the Bahamians, the light bulb came on.

Enough money will solve almost anything.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2022 10:52 Comments || Top||

#4  His Epsteinization was delayed, not cancelled.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2022 11:17 Comments || Top||


-Great Cultural Revolution
Biden Invites Drag Queen to White House Who Said, ‘Kids Are Out to Sing and Suck D!'
[Breitbart] More has come to light regarding the past of the drag queen whom President Joe Biden invited to the White House for the “Respect for Marriage Act” signing this week, including a past tweet in which he said, “kids are out to sing and suck D!”

As Breitbart News reported on Monday, drag queen activist Marti Cummings celebrated being invited to the White House on Twitter and Instagram.

“To be a non binary drag artist invited to the White House is something I never imagined would happen. Thank you President & Dr. Biden for inviting me to this historic bill signing. Grateful doesn’t begin to express the emotions I feel,” Cummings tweeted while sharing a screenshot of the White House invite.
Very unsafe for work tweets can be seen at the link. Nobody should appear in public dressed like that unless they have the body for it... and honestly not even then.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2022 01:38 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2022 1:40 Comments || Top||

#2  ^ Chickface!
Posted by: Muggsy Omuter9925 || 12/20/2022 2:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Are we sure it wasn’t a job interview for the open position in the Energy Dept. If it was based, on the headline, them is a shoe in.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/20/2022 5:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Only picture I have ever seen of Dee Snyder with a perm.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2022 7:37 Comments || Top||

#5  So the queen lines up with Biden's own interests.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/20/2022 8:10 Comments || Top||


#7  How can you even make a comment like that and not be investigated by someone not invited to the fuckin white house? IMO, if you condone statements like that, you're just as bad as them.
Posted by: Chris || 12/20/2022 11:41 Comments || Top||

#8  ^ Well, you know Joe.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/20/2022 13:00 Comments || Top||

#9  The diversity of the LGBTQXYZ power center of the demokrat party continues to emerge. We await with gag-reflex suppression the vast palate of kink as yet unrevealed, but looming as a coming attraction from the moral sump that has become the American left.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 12/20/2022 13:58 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
SCOTUS Delays End of Title 42
[PJMedia] In a blow to the Biden administration’s open-border free-for-all, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday issued a stay on the Department of Homeland Security’s plan to end Title 42 on Wednesday. Chief Justice John Roberts issued the temporary measure, which will remain in place until the full court has time to act on an emergency request. NBC reports:

Nineteen states led by Arizona and Louisiana filed an emergency request after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last week rejected their request to intervene in the case in a bid to prevent the policy, known as Title 42, being wound down.

“Getting rid of Title 42 will recklessly and needlessly endanger more Americans and migrants by exacerbating the catastrophe that is occurring at our southern border,” Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a statement.

During the COVID-19 chaos, then-President Donald Trump used the pandemic as cause to invoke Title 42, a section of federal law that grants the federal government enhanced powers to keep disease from spreading into the country. Since then, Title 42 has enabled the U.S. government to rapidly deport over 2 million would-be illegal immigrants.

Roberts has given the U.S. Department of Homeland Security until 5 p.m. Tuesday to file its response to the emergency request by the 19 states seeking relief from the Biden administration’s disastrous open-border policies.
Elmaper McGurque1612 gives us the original NBC report, which adds:
The brief order came after Republican-led states asked the Supreme Court to keep the policy in place.

In a separate case, the administration's previous effort to unwind the policy had been blocked by a federal judge.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/20/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Delayed for 24 hours.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/20/2022 4:50 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't trust Roberts. Think he's just doing this to claim "Due Process" later
Posted by: Warthog || 12/20/2022 9:34 Comments || Top||


Government Corruption
Are FBI And CIA Agents ‘Sheep Dipped' At Twitter And Other Tech Companies?
[The Federalist] According to the latest drop of "Twitter Files" from Michael Shellenberger, "As of 2020, there were so many former FBI employees — ’Bu alumni’ — working at Twitter that they had created their own private Slack channel and a crib sheet to onboard new FBI arrivals." It appears that Twitter still has 14 employees on the payroll who worked at the FBI and CIA.

The problem isn’t just confined to Twitter. My colleague and Federalist contributor Ben Weingarten recently wrote an article for the New York Post, "Inside revolving door between Democrat Deep State and Big Tech."

In addition to covering what was happening at Twitter, Weingarten details a broader number of suspicious links between Silicon Valley and U.S. intelligence agencies. Given the near-constant string of deep-state scandals and social media censorship we’ve endured in recent years, a big question we should all be trying to answer right now is, "What exactly are all these spooks doing at tech companies?"

So far, the answer appears to be: "They’re almost certainly up to no good." After the first batch of "Twitter Files" dropped, it was revealed that Elon Musk fired Twitter Deputy General Counsel James Baker. Prior to going to work at Twitter, Baker was a top lawyer at the FBI from 2014 to 2017. In that capacity, he played a significant role in shepherding FBI’s baseless and illegal Russiagate investigation.

In fact, it’s probably safe to assume one of the reasons Baker exited the FBI was to dodge any accountability for the FBI’s reckless and politically motivated attempt to investigate the president of the United States. Twitter was a pretty soft landing.

Or at least it was, until it was revealed that Baker, who was still employed at Twitter as of a few weeks ago, got fired after he intercepted the internal company communications Musk was giving to journalists Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss to expose the censorship and misdeeds of the company’s previous management. Nobody has quite figured out what he was doing, but there’s widespread speculation Baker may have removed Twitter communications with the FBI or other damning info before it could become public.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2022 16:22 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nobody has quite figured out what he (Baker) was doing.

He was the Focal Point for Collection, Production, and Dissemination Management. Acted as the Intelligence Community (IC) single point of contact and liaison officer.

Performs other duties as assigned by senior IC representatives.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2022 16:28 Comments || Top||



#4  As this stuff continues to emerge, and it discloses a regime-change pattern domestically, the depth of the vitriol and effort by the IC to resist Trump and beleaguer his Presidency from Day One becomes clearer. My sense is that there are a number of factions within the IC who are "knowingly" all-in and have been for a while. If so, their downside if stopped is quite grim, hence the fervor.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 12/20/2022 18:28 Comments || Top||

#5  /\ Certainly appears that way NoMo.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2022 18:32 Comments || Top||

#6  Sheep Dip
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2022 21:39 Comments || Top||

#7  I can't help but think that those are only the Agents we know of... How many others are there...???
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/20/2022 22:09 Comments || Top||


Michael Shellenberger and Peter Schwitzer discuss the Biden Crime Family (video)
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2022 15:03 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, that sums it up nicely.

Why haven't these folks been taken outside at dawn, REDACTED and charged for the round of bullet?
(Can I say that)?
Posted by: rhodesiafever || 12/20/2022 18:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Apologies all round to the faint-hearted, but I have not, cannot, and will not change. Been here a long time and cannot believe the duplicity and bullshit going on.
Posted by: rhodesiafever || 12/20/2022 18:07 Comments || Top||

#3  It can be frustrating, dear rhodesiafever, but we don’t want to cause Fred malign attention for minor things.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/20/2022 23:13 Comments || Top||


Musk Asks Schiff If He Approved 'State Censorship'; Advocates Modern 'Church Commission' To Investigate FBI Corruption
[ZERO] In the wake of the most recent 'Twitter Files' release - which showed that the FBI infiltrated the social media giant, then primed its 'Trust & Safety' head to interpret things like the Hunter Biden release as foreign influence - CEO Elon Musk asked Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) whether he approved 'hidden state censorship in direct violation of the Constitution."

3dc gives us the scathing tweet:
[Twitter]

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2022 14:02 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  CEO Elon Musk asked Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) whether he approved 'hidden state censorship in direct violation of the Constitution."

Musk could possibly be asking a question he already has an electron answer to.

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2022 14:07 Comments || Top||

#2  "Church Comission"? Is that another way to spell "Inquisitor"?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/20/2022 18:47 Comments || Top||


FBI recruited and 'PAID' Twitter sources with US Taxpayer money..... as suspected
[Daily Caller] The FBI paid Twitter millions as a reimbursement for the time the company spent processing the FBI’s requests, according to internal documents published by author Michael Shellenberger Monday, in the most recent installment of Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s ongoing "Twitter Files."
Wait until it is discovered that these embedded 'former' intelligence agency Twitter employees were still on the FBI payroll and simply.... 'detailed' to Twitter.
In an email with the subject line "Run the business — we made money!" an employee, whose name was redacted, reports to then-Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker, that the FBI paid Twitter nearly $3.5 million dollars between October 2019 and February 2021, Shellenberger reported. Baker, a former FBI agent, was the agency’s general counsel during Operation Crossfire Hurricane, and approved the surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page via improper use of the Steele dossier, according to a report by the Justice Department’s inspector general.

The FBI and Twitter enjoyed a close relationship in the run-up to the 2020 elections, with the FBI promising "no impediments to information sharing" between the two groups in a Sept. 16, 2020 meeting between social media executives and intelligence community staff. In a previous installment of the "Twitter Files," journalist Matt Taibbi said he had not found evidence that the FBI or intelligence community was involved in Twitter’s decision to suppress access to a New York Post story about a laptop owned by Hunter Biden, but new documents from Shellenberger indicated that the FBI was, in fact, involved.

The Post’s original October 14, 2020, story was based on a laptop, apparently belonging to Biden, containing a 2015 email linking then-Vice President Joe Biden to his son Hunter’s business dealings with the Ukrainian gas company Burisma. Prior to the story’s release, the FBI issued warnings to social media platforms that there was likely to be a Russian "hack-and-leak" operation prior to the election — Twitter’s then-head of trust and safety Yoel Roth testified that he had been explicitly warned of a leak targeting Hunter Biden — despite not having any evidence of such an operation being underway, Shellenberger reported, citing the testimony of FBI Special Agent Elvis Chan.

"Everybody works for somebody."
~ John Kiriakou 'Doing Time Like A Spy', page 80.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2022 02:30 || Comments || Link || [24 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why must we be deluged by these senseless agent recruitment conspiracy theories ?

[sarc off]
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2022 2:39 Comments || Top||

#2  We simply must pass this Omnibus 2023 funding bill and ensure our FBI and other government agencies (OGA), have uninterrupted resources.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2022 3:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Does QuickBooks have standard accounting tools for when the FBI totally infiltrates your organization or is that in one of those upgrade packages that they use to hold you over a barrel after everyone in your offices gets used to using their tools?
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/20/2022 5:20 Comments || Top||

#4  There use to be a law against GIVERnment employees from working for political campaigns. I really do not see how the FBI can justify these activities as being investigations into crimes versus campaign activities.
Posted by: Airandee || 12/20/2022 6:50 Comments || Top||

#5 
The DC Swamp, States and Local Gov's are eating up well over 40% of our $$$$ using income, background and hidden taxes now.

I'd love to see a straight forward, simplified tax system, become a constitutional amemdment. A tax system that cannot be modified or adjusted by congress without voter approval.

Posted by: NN2N1 || 12/20/2022 7:11 Comments || Top||

#6  re: #4
They are the FBI they don't have to justify anything to anyone, and the CIA is no different...just like all Demonrats.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/20/2022 7:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Ref #6: Do you need a Waco Branch Davidian compound fire graphic to go with that ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2022 8:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Obviously the FBI has branched out. Their role now goes way beyond corrupt prosecution. They are now general enforcers of government power.
Posted by: Angstrom || 12/20/2022 11:12 Comments || Top||

#9  ^ Yeah that was previously known as the Gestapo.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 12/20/2022 11:51 Comments || Top||


#11 

Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2022 12:38 Comments || Top||

#12  I used the suggested parameters above, sorry for the overage.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2022 12:39 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Nunes accuses DOJ of seeking blackmail material during Russia probe after bombshell revelation
[JustTheNews] Legal expert Alan Dershowitz says DOJ use of subpoenas to target House Intelligence Committee staff phone and email records is likely unconstitutional.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2022 12:05 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats

#1  our brother Nunes, who works for a living, in a very complex job. We need to pay heed to this man even though we've been habituated to IGNORING him by the assh_OLES IN CHARGE
Posted by: 746 || 12/20/2022 22:56 Comments || Top||


Republicans Prepare to Betray Their Voters With Omnibus Monstrosity, and the Details Are Much Worse Than Imagined
[Red State] Republicans in the US Senate are preparing to betray their voters again. Somehow, against all odds, the surrender caucus has managed to up its game, this time looking to hand Joe Biden his entire agenda for 2023 just days before the GOP officially takes control of the House.

Mitch McConnell and his cohorts are apparently so terrified of fighting back that they are willing to concede the power voters just gave their party. Democrats must be giddy at their luck, having an "opposition" that refuses to actually oppose them.

Now, the details of the coming gut punch have been released, and they are much worse than imagined. Don’t get me wrong, I knew this bill would be terrible, but this is next-level stuff
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2022 11:25 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lame duck sessions need to be outlawed. Votes happen just after Thanksgiving. Congress is not in session through December (unless major emergency) and the new congress takes over the second Tuesday of January. No laws from voting until new session.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/20/2022 12:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Republicans still afraid they'll get the blame for a government shutdown or RINOs just don't give a damn?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/20/2022 12:04 Comments || Top||

#3  RINOs just don't give a damn

All the beltway creatures are privy to the real, suppressed bad news. They know the gravy train is about to leap the tracks and they are grabbing with both hands.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2022 12:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Expect the court cases to boom next year when Reps try to move the monies.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2022 13:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Reading McCullough's The Path Between the Seas. In it he notes the financial accountability of the isthmus project was so tight initially the paperwork stifled the project.

Come a long way, baby!
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/20/2022 15:14 Comments || Top||


Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is heading to trial
[ConservativeTreehouse] Eight of the ten claims made by Arizona gubernatorial Kari Lake were dismissed by the state judge. The claims dismissed were for violations of freedom of speech, invalid signatures on mail-in ballots, equal protection, due process, secrecy clause, incorrect certification, inadequate remedy, and constitutional rights claims.

However, two claims were approved for trial, fraudulent tabulator configurations and violations pertaining to chain of custody for ballots. Mrs. Lake faces a steep hill to climb as the election results were certified as accurate and correct by county and state officials. Lake will have to prove any tabulation errors or ballot custody issues were the result of intentional wrongdoing by Maricopa County officials.

Posted by: Vespasian Ebboting9735 || 12/20/2022 08:20 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well then, she's going to court, not to trial.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2022 13:14 Comments || Top||


January 6 committee recommends charging Trump, branding him ‘unfit for any office’
[IsraelTimes] US House panel unanimously urges Justice Department to prosecute ex-president for inciting insurrection, obstructing an official proceeding, conspiring to defraud the government

The congressional committee that investigated last year’s attack on the US Capitol recommended Monday that criminal charges be filed against former US president Donald Trump
...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party...
The House panel unanimously urged the Justice Department to pursue Trump for inciting an insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiring to defraud the US government, and making false statements.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/20/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Branding him seems barbaric even for these clowns. Besides, we don’t know the chemical composition of the orange stuff. Unless it is French Dressing, heating his skin to 350F may off-gas something truly dangerous.

Snark O'The Day
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/20/2022 4:53 Comments || Top||

#2  ^ Early Snark O' The Day entry
Posted by: Frank G || 12/20/2022 6:36 Comments || Top||

#3 
Actually seen as ...

The LSD's / DC swamp are scared $hitless what Trump will do when he gets back in office.

As side from conducting a much-needed REAL & OPENLY conducted 2020 Election fraud & Treason investigation. He would likely start cleaning out the DC Swamp and arresting those for collecting pocket $$$$$$.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 12/20/2022 8:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Yes, the LSD's certainly fear him otherwise the 'Never Trump' virus would have moved on long ago.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2022 8:37 Comments || Top||

#5  "...unfit for any office"

Schiff, Stallwell, Pelosi, Cheney....
OK I think their "irony" gene must be defective.
Posted by: Mercutio || 12/20/2022 8:45 Comments || Top||

#6  This was their goal from the beginning. They could have done this without wasting time on hearings.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 12/20/2022 9:15 Comments || Top||

#7  Hope DeSantis is taking notes
Posted by: Frank G || 12/20/2022 9:32 Comments || Top||

#8  My 'shocked face' just exploded.
Posted by: Bobby || 12/20/2022 9:55 Comments || Top||

#9  Have they ever said what crime he committed?

The whole committee should be tried for treason.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/20/2022 10:05 Comments || Top||

#10  If Trump goes through these trials and comes out not-guilty the entire January 6 committee should lose their jobs, pensions, and any other benefits.

Make them pay for partisan witch hunts.
Posted by: ruprecht || 12/20/2022 10:28 Comments || Top||

#11  There would be no repercussions for them ruprecht (other than a lot of empty talk), and the media would cover their butts and bury those stories anyway.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/20/2022 10:56 Comments || Top||

#12  Alan C obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the government–whatever that means–and inciting or assisting an insurrection. Except there was no insurrection despite that Witch Hillary claiming it was "an armed insurrection".
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/20/2022 11:11 Comments || Top||

#13  That which not kills him, makes him stronger.
Posted by: mossomo || 12/20/2022 12:32 Comments || Top||

#14  ...the entire January 6 committee should lose their jobs, pensions, and any other benefits.

They should be lined up against the wall and REDACTED.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/20/2022 16:50 Comments || Top||

#15  As far as I remember a committee does not have the power to recommend charges be brought against anyone.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/20/2022 17:35 Comments || Top||

#16 
What's being called a "criminal referral" by the Jan 6 committee carries just as much legal weight as a letter written in magic marker by Bozo the Clown. Has no basis at all in any statute or House rule, they just put out a Word document and made up a serious-sounding name for it. Michael Tracey
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/20/2022 17:42 Comments || Top||

#17  Those venomous foks have nothing.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2022 17:51 Comments || Top||

#18  Turley Dissects How Poor A Case Has Been Made Legally. To me it is c;ear this is about a two year marathon redux of the Mueller Russia-Gate Theater to durty up a Trump Campaign for the great landscape of low-information voters.

https://jonathanturley.org/2022/12/20/a-case-of-hope-over-experience-the-j6-criminal-referral-falls-short-of-a-credible-criminal-case-against-trump/
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 12/20/2022 19:23 Comments || Top||

#19  i love you guys, but dont fall for it : they would only report it in the MSM if they wanted a reaction

Posted by: 746 || 12/20/2022 23:03 Comments || Top||

#20  Remember that this committee will not be continued when the next, Republican-controlled Congress is sworn in in January. So the January 6 House panel is just getting their pre-clusions (since conclusions come after information is collected, not before) on record, suitable for future speeches, op-eds, and political commercials.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/20/2022 23:22 Comments || Top||


Twitter Files Part 7: FBI, DOJ 'discredited' information about Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings
[FoxNews] Independent writer Michael Shellenberger released part 7 of the "Twitter Files" on Monday, delving into how the FBI and intelligence community "discredited factual information about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings."

The lengthy Twitter thread reveals what Shellenberger calls an "influence campaign" by the FBI that eventually "worked" when Twitter censored Hunter Biden’s scandalous laptop.

Elon Musk had been vocal about being transparent when it comes to Twitter's past and present actions curating content on the platform, including censored content. The Twitter owner has enlisted independent journalists to slowly release evidence of these actions in a series dubbed the "Twitter Files" that continue to expose once-secret communications.

"In Twitter Files #6, we saw the FBI relentlessly seek to exercise influence over Twitter, including over its content, its users, and its data," Shellenberger wrote, later adding, "We have discovered new info that points to an organized effort by the intel community to influence Twitter & other platforms."

"In Twitter Files #7, we present evidence pointing to an organized effort by representatives of the intelligence community (IC), aimed at senior executives at news and social media companies, to discredit leaked information about Hunter Biden before and after it was published," he continued. "The story begins in December 2019 when a Delaware computer store owner named John Paul (J.P.) Mac Isaac contacts the FBI about a laptop that Hunter Biden had left with him On Dec 9, 2019, the FBI issues a subpoena for, and takes, Hunter Biden's laptop."

"It's important to understand that Hunter Biden earned *tens of millions* of dollars in contracts with foreign businesses, including ones linked to China's government, for which Hunter offered no real work," Shellenberger wrote.

"During all of 2020, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies repeatedly primed Yoel Roth to dismiss reports of Hunter Biden’s laptop as a Russian ‘hack and leak’ operation," he wrote, screenshotting a sworn declaration by Roth discussing years of weekly meetings warning of such an operation happening right before the 2020 election.

Shellenberger noted that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg once said the FBI approached Facebook and also warned of Russian "propaganda" ahead of the 2022 election.

"Were the FBI warnings of a Russian hack-and-leak operation relating to Hunter Biden based on *any* new intel? No, they weren't," Shellenberger wrote in a tweet sharing comments from FBI agent Elvis Chan.

"Through our investigations, we did not see any similar competing intrusions to what had happened in 2016," Chan wrote.

The New York Times and The Washington Post both verified Hunter Biden's laptop after big tech dismissed the New York Post's bombshell reporting during the 2020 presidential election.
The New York Times and The Washington Post both verified Hunter Biden's laptop after big tech dismissed the New York Post's bombshell reporting during the 2020 presidential election. (Getty images | New York Post)
Shellenberger also noted that Twitter executives "repeatedly" indicated there was "very little" Russian activity on the platform.

Shellenberger wrote that Twitter even "debunked false claims by journalists of foreign influence on its platform," including polarizing NBC News reporter Ben Collins who reported White nationalists posing as Antifa called for violence on Twitter.

"We haven't seen any evidence to support that claim," former Twitter exec Yoel Roth wrote to Chan on June 2, 2020.

"It's not the first time that Twitter's Roth has pushed back against the FBI. In January 2020, Roth resisted FBI efforts to get Twitter to share data outside of the normal search warrant process," Shellenberger wrote before noting "pressure had been growing" and sharing an email in which a Twitter executive told Roth the intelligence community wanted the company to share more information and change API policies.

"They are probing & pushing everywhere they can (including by whispering to congressional staff)," Twitter's director of policy and philanthropy wrote.

"Time and again, FBI asks Twitter for evidence of foreign influence & Twitter responds that they aren’t finding anything worth reporting," Shellenberger wrote. "Despite Twitter’s pushback, the FBI repeatedly requests information from Twitter that Twitter has already made clear it will not share outside of normal legal channels."

"Then, in July 2020, the FBI’s Elvis Chan arranges for temporary Top Secret security clearances for Twitter executives so that the FBI can share information about threats to the upcoming elections," Shellenberger wrote, proving email evidence.

"On August 11, 2020, the FBI's Chan shares information with Twitter's Roth relating to the Russian hacking organization, APT28, through the FBI's secure, one-way communications channel, Teleporter," Shellenberger wrote.

Roth recently said during an interview that the Hunter Biden laptop set off his "finely tuned APT28 hack-and-leap campaign alarm bells." Shellenberger provided video of Roth's comments in the 24th portion of the lengthy thread.

Emails then revealed how Jim Baker, who previously served as the FBI's general counsel and was involved in the Russia probe, but was working for Twitter ahead of the 2020 election, got involved.

Journalist Matt Taibbi went viral with the first installment in early December with his "Twitter Files" focusing on Twitter's internal discussions leading to it censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story during the 2020 presidential election, with some officials struggling to explain how it violated its "hacked materials" policies.

It was later revealed that the first batch of "Twitter Files" were vetted without Musk's knowledge by Baker. Musk fired Baker shortly thereafter.

Baker was swept up by Taibbi's reporting about the suppression of the Hunter Biden story, telling his colleagues at the time, "I support the conclusion that we need more facts to assess whether the materials were hacked" but added, "it's reasonable for us to assume that they may have been and that caution is warranted."

Additionally, Taibbi initially reported, "Although several sources recalled hearing about a ‘general’ warning from federal law enforcement that summer about possible foreign hacks, there’s no evidence - that I've seen - of any government involvement in the laptop story." It is unclear whether Baker's involvement in vetting the "Twitter Files" led Taibbi to draw that conclusion and whether Baker omitted files that would have shown the federal government intervening in Twitter's suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story.

Shellenberger continued to put a spotlight on Baker.

"As of 2020, there were so many former FBI employees — ‘Bu alumni’ — working at Twitter that they had created their own private Slack channel and a crib sheet to onboard new FBI arrivals," Shellenberger wrote.

Shellenberger indicated that efforts "continued to influence" Roth.

"In Sept 2020, Roth participated in an Aspen Institute ‘tabletop exercise’ on a potential ‘Hack-and-Dump’ operation relating to Hunter Biden," Shellenberger wrote. "The goal was to shape how the media covered it — and how social media carried it."

Shellenberger wrote that "Chan & Roth had set up an encrypted messaging network so employees from FBI & Twitter could communicate" by September 2020 and they even agreed to create a "virtual war room."

Eventually, the FBI asked Twitter for a "classified briefing for Jim Baker, without any other Twitter staff, such as Yoel Roth, present," Shellenberger wrote.

"On Oct 14, shortly after @NYPost publishes its Hunter Biden laptop story, Roth says, ‘it isn’t clearly violative of our Hacked Materials Policy, nor is it clearly in violation of anything else,’ but adds, ‘this feels a lot like a somewhat subtle leak operation.’"

Hours later, emails indicate "Twitter execs had bought into a wild hack-and-dump story," with Baker pushing that claim.

"There is evidence that FBI agents have warned elected officials of foreign influence with the primary goal of leaking the information to the news media. This is a political dirty trick used to create the perception of impropriety," Shellenberger wrote. "In 2020, the FBI gave a briefing to Senator Grassley and Johnson, claiming evidence of ‘Russian interference’ into their investigation of Hunter Biden. The briefing angered the Senators, who say it was done to discredit their investigation."

"Notably, then-FBI General Counsel Jim Baker was investigated *twice,* in 2017 and 2019, for leaking information to the news media," Shellenberger wrote, proving a Politico report as evidence.

"In the end, the FBI's influence campaign aimed at executives at news media, Twitter, & other social media companies worked: they censored & discredited the Hunter Biden laptop story," Shellenberger wrote.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Seems like mostly they discredited themselves.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/20/2022 4:45 Comments || Top||


#3  GOPe will screech about this. And that's all they will do about it.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2022 10:45 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
43[untagged]
5Govt of Iran
2Islamic State
2Commies
1Hezbollah
1Houthis
1Migrants/Illegal Immigrants
1Sublime Porte
1Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
1Govt of Iran Proxies
1Govt of Sudan
1Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (al-Nusra)

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2022-12-20
  Sudan protesters face tear gas, stun grenades on uprising anniversary
Mon 2022-12-19
  Russia launches fresh wave of 35 Iranian-made suicide drones hitting Kyiv energy hub in huge explosion
Sun 2022-12-18
  Bomb blast kills at least 9 Iraqi police officers near Kirkuk - sources
Sat 2022-12-17
  Iranians hit the streets in restive southeast as protests enter 4th month
Fri 2022-12-16
  Oberlin College pays $36.6 million judgement in full
Thu 2022-12-15
  DOJ Arrests Sam Bankman-Fried For Running Out Of Bribery Money
Wed 2022-12-14
  Ugandan army says 11 Islamists killed
Tue 2022-12-13
  Ukraine tightens the noose on Putin's armies: 'Saboteurs' destroy bridge in Melitopol choking off key supply route for Russia's troops
Mon 2022-12-12
  Lockerbie bombing suspect in US custody two years after being charged
Sun 2022-12-11
  Mass graves of 800 civilians found in Severodonetsk
Sat 2022-12-10
  Bulgaria will send military aid to Ukraine for the first time
Fri 2022-12-09
  A Russian couple were detained by Mexican law enforcement in Tijuana, Baja California with $587,550 in cash with them
Thu 2022-12-08
  Five electricity substations in Oregon and Washington are attacked just days after two in North Carolina were shot up causing widespread power outages
Wed 2022-12-07
  Iraqi security arrests 11 ISIS terrorists in different governorates
Tue 2022-12-06
  ISIS Families Flee al-Hole In Syria's Hasakah


Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
3.149.29.112
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (10)    WoT Background (8)    Non-WoT (20)    Opinion (4)    Local News (6)