[NYP] One of the most galling aspects of the Hunter Biden laptop saga is that the 51 former intelligence officials who played such a critical role in suppressing The Post’s stories and giving Joe Biden cover before the 2020 election have never been brought to account.
The "Dirty 51" lied by painting our stories as Russian disinformation in an Oct. 19, 2020, letter they signed and delivered to Politico five days after The Post exposé and three days before the final presidential debate of the election campaign.
They used the institutional weight of their powerful former roles to legitimize partisan political propaganda designed to smear The Post and everyone associated with the story and dissuade the rest of the media from looking deeper into the laptop.
The letter, titled "Public Statement on the Hunter Biden emails," and signed by former CIA Directors John Brennan, Leon Panetta and Mike Hayden, former acting CIA Director Michael Morell, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and other ex-spooks, claimed the material on Hunter’s hard drive "has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation," although not one of them had seen it.
Their lie "probably affected the outcome" of the 2020 presidential race, as former Attorney General William Barr has said, describing the letter as "partisan hackery," "baseless" and signed by "a coterie of retired intelligence officials who had lost their professional bearings."
Yet they have never apologized or retracted their lie. In fact, when The Post contacted the group in March, after the New York Times belatedly acknowledged the laptop was real, some, like Clapper, doubled down.
#1
I utterly believe the intent of those 51 signatories to the letter (some of whom had careers worthy of actual respect) was to stop Trump by using their implied experience and wisdom to debunk the Hunter Biden story. I also believe many were always partisans whose experience was created by appointment, not a lifetime in the business. But sadly, the precise language of the statement they issued will protect them from any accountability beyond damage to their credibility and labeling as compromised sources.
This is the actual language from the letter:
"We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have
evidence of Russian involvement -- just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the
Russian government played a significant role in this case. If we are right, this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this."
The alibi is proof against liability beyond poor judgement, and the subsequent media stories about the NYP allegations being disproved are all spin about the actual letter answering the allegation.
Its dirty tricks by inference, and abuse of public trust, but I doubt it is actionable beyond public embarrassment.
#5
It appears to be actionable. Trump's lawyer Parlatore is pursuing multiple lines of attack. First, the CIA chiefs clearly failed to run their letter through the pre-publication security review process. Second, it's obviously a major campaign favor, so there's a strong case it was in effect an "in-kind" campaign contribution.
#4
For one, you got a blue chip like that serving on your board, s/he gets an all expense paid account food, room & board, transport, entertainment, no questions asked. Then one of your best goes through the receipts to make sure they are "properly named". $150k for a bottle of Chateau Lafite....non non non....history and culture tutor.
[YouTube] In this video I discuss a recent bill introduced in Congress which aims to create a federal license requirement to purchase and own firearms.
After a good deal of explication, the speaker states he doesn’t think it likely this bill will pass.
I think the Daily Wire is addressing the same proposed bill here:
Democratic Senators have introduced new gun control legislation that would, among other things, institute a federal license requirement to buy a gun.
Democratic New Jersey Senators Bod Menendez and Cory Booker, and Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal introduced the “Federal Firearm Licensing Act” Thursday. The bill would institute a requirement for gun purchasers to obtain a firearms license through the Department of Justice before buying or receiving a gun.
#5
Can’t get out of the Senate unless MCConnell turtles.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/20/2022 13:13 Comments ||
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#6
Quoting the US Constitution Bill of Rights.
“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
So, they need a Constitutional Amendment, not a new law or regulation.
[DailyCaller] The Biden administration privately acknowledged in late April that a mathematical error is delaying the federal offshore oil and gas program, in a letter to industry leaders.
Richard Spinrad, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said a subagency "discovered a miscalculation" that has caused a massive backlog in permitting, in the April 29 letter obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. Spinrad acknowledged the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) — the subagency tasked with analyzing the impact of offshore drilling projects on wildlife — has used faulty modeling on such impacts and, as a result, overestimated wildlife effects, delaying permitting on existing leases.
"NMFS understands the concerns of industry and is working with [the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)] to expeditiously develop ... revised regulations," Spinrad wrote in the letter to the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA). (RELATED: ’I’m Not Going To Respond To That’: Biden Cabinet Officials Can’t Get Their Story Straight On Energy Production)
The NOAA administrator’s letter came in response to an April 5 letter from NOIA, the American Petroleum Institute and the EnerGeo Alliance, warning that energy producers had experienced significant permitting delays. In particular, oil and gas companies have reported delays in obtaining letters of authorization (LOA) from the NMFS to conduct pre-drilling activity, including seismic surveying and geological exploration, in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Biden administration implemented the faulty modeling through an April 2021 regulation, according to the industry groups. A spokesperson for the Department of Commerce, which oversees NOAA and NMFS, said Thursday that the administration was "working to consider all possible solutions to expedite the rulemaking process to the greatest extent possible."
"NMFS is also engaged with affected members of industry and with industry trade associations as it considers both short-term and long-term solutions," the spokesperson told TheDCNF in an email. "The Commerce Department understands the concerns of industry and is working expeditiously to address the incorrect data it received for the initial rule and to proceed in earnest with the revised rule."
The spokesperson didn’t answer a question about the current size of the permit backlog.
"Gulf of Mexico seismic permitting delays — when coupled with the lack of progress on a new five-year offshore leasing program and the continuation of a multi-year gap in Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sales — undermine the predictability companies have relied on to make multi-billion-dollar investment decisions in the Gulf of Mexico," NOIA President Erik Milito told TheDCNF in a statement.
"At a time when energy issues are at the forefront, NMFS should address the problems as quickly as possible," Milito continued. "Companies must be able to continue to explore for and develop hydrocarbon resources in the Gulf of Mexico."
Milito and other industry leaders have warned the delays have "commercial, operational, and safety implications."
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and 19 fellow GOP senators wrote to the Department of Commerce Tuesday, expressing concern about the permitting delays caused by the mathematical error. The lawmakers demanded that the administration issue a new rule immediately, fixing the issue. We have our top men in the government. Top men.
#8
Math error my ass. Why is it under Obama gas and oil was restricted until we hit $4.00 a gallon gas. After Obama it went back down into the $2.00 range, and now Biden has it back up over $4.00 in a year. Its not a mistake, its part of the plan...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/20/2022 18:36 Comments ||
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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.
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.
[DailyCaller] The Biden administration privately acknowledged in late April that a mathematical error is delaying the federal offshore oil and gas program, in a letter to industry leaders.
